Nusu language

The Nusu language is a Loloish language spoken by the Nu people of China and Myanmar. There are three dialects: Northern, Southern, and Central. The Central dialect of Miangu is the prestige dialect and is understood fairly well by speakers of other dialects.^[1]

Nusu
Native to	China, Myanmar
Ethnicity	Nu
Native speakers	13,000 (2007)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Lolo–Burmese Loloish Nusoish Nusu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nuf
Glottolog	nusu1239

Lama (2012) observes a sound change, *r- > Ø- from Proto-Loloish, as a Nusoish innovation.

Distribution

The three Nusu dialects are spoken in the following locations (Nusuzu Nusuyu Jianzhi 怒族怒苏语简志 1986).

• Southern, also known as the Guoke-Puluo (果科-普洛) dialect: northern Lushui County 泸水县, in Guoke 果科,^[2] Puluo 普洛,^[3] Tongping 同坪,^[4] Jiajia 加甲^[5] (3,000 speakers)
• Central, also known as the Zhizhiluo-Laomudeng (知之罗-老姆登) dialect: southern Fugong County 福贡县, in Pihe 匹河怒族乡,^[6] Zhizhiluo 知之罗,^[7][8] Laomudeng 老姆登,^[9] Miangu 棉古,^[10] Shawa 沙瓦,^[11] Zileng 子楞^[12] (4,000 speakers)
• Northern, also known as the Wawa-Kongtong (瓦娃-空通) dialect: Fugong County 福贡县, in Wawa 瓦娃,^[13][14] Kongtong 空通,^[15][16] Youduoluo 有夺洛^[17] (2,000 speakers)

The divergent Liangsu dialect (良苏话) is spoken in by about 3,000 people in the following locations of Fugong County, Yunnan.^[18][19]

• Zilijia Township 子里甲乡: Jianu 甲怒, Mazudi 马祖底, Jiada 甲打, Lamujia 腊母甲, Jiache 加车
• Jiakedi Township 架科底乡: Jiake 架科, La'anjia 腊安甲

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in Nusu

		Labial	Alveolar		Retroflex	(Alveolo-) Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	sibilant
Nasal	voiced	m	n			ɲ	ŋ
	unvoiced	m̥	n̥
Stop/ Affricate	voiced	b	d	dz	ɖʐ	dʑ	ɡ
	unvoiced	p	t	ts	ʈʂ	tɕ	k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tsʰ	ʈʂʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ
Fricative	unvoiced	f		s	ʂ	ɕ	x	h
	voiced	v		z	ʐ	ʑ	ɣ
Approximant	voiced		l			j	w
	unvoiced		l̥

Tones

Nusu has seven tones:

Tone	IPA
High	˥
High falling	˥˧
Creaky low	˩ˀ
Low	˩
Creaky high	˥ˀ
Rising-falling	˨˦˨
Mid	˧

Writing system

Nusu uses the Latin script. It has 65 letters

 The following list shows the letters of the Nusu alphabet in both uppercase and lowercase forms and their pronunciation in the IPA:

• K k (/k/)
• Kh kh (/kʰ)
• G g (/g/)
• Gh gh (/h/)
• Ng ng (/ŋ/)
• S s (/s/)
• Sh sh (/ɕ/)
• Dz dz (/d͡z/)
• Z z (/z/)
• Ts ts (/t͡s/)
• Tz tz (/t͡sʰ/)
• T t (/t/)
• Th th (/tʰ/)
• D d (/d/)
• C c (/c/)
• Ch ch (/cʰ)
• J j (/ɟ/)
• Ph (/pʰ/)
• P p (/p/)
• B b (/b/)
• N n (/n/)
• Ny ny (/ɲ/)
• F f (/f/)
• V v (/v/
• M m (/m/)
• Y y (/j/)
• W w (/w/)
• L l (/l/)
• Zh zh (/ʑ/)
• H h (/x/)
• Qh qh (/ɣ/)
• R r (/ʐ~ɻ/)
• Shr shr (/ʂ/)
• Cr cr (/ʈ͡ʂ/
• Chr chr (/ʈ͡ʂʰ/)
• Jr jr (/ɖ͡ʐ/)
• Mh mh (/m̥/)
• Nh nh (/n̥/)
• Lh lh (/ɬ/)
• Hn hn (/hn/)
• Mm mm (/mː/)
• Nn nn (/nː/)
• Yy yy (/jː/)
• Ll ll (/lː/)
• Ww ww (/wː/)
• Rr rr (/ɻː/)
• A a (/ɑ/)
• Ae ae (/ɛ/)
• E e (/e/)
• Er er (/ɚ/)
• Oe (/ɵ/)
• I i (/i/)
• U u (/u/)
• Iu iu (/ɯ/)
• Ur ur (/ɹ̩/)
• Eu eu (/ɨ/)
• O o (/o/)
• Iv (/y/)
• Ai ai (/aɪ̯/)
• Ao ao (/ɔ/)
• On on (/ɔ̃/)
• Om om (/om/)
• Ou ou (/oʊ̯/)
• An an (/ɛ̃/)
• En en (/ɑ̃/)^[20]

Tones

Nusu has 7 tones. Tones are marked with final consonant letters:

• High tone: c
• High falling tone: z
• Creaky low tone: q
• Low tone: x
• Creaky high tone: k
• Rising-falling tone: ^ (Caret)
• Mid tone: Unmarked.