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^{[citation needed]}

 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.