Lisu (Fraser alphabet: , or ; Latin: ; Lisu syllabary: 60px; ; , ) is a tonal Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Yunnan (Southwestern China), Northern Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand and a small part of India. Along with Lipo, it is one of two languages of the Lisu people. Lisu has many dialects that originate from the country in which they live. Hua Lisu, Pai Lisu and Lu Shi Lisu dialects are spoken in China. Although they are mutually intelligible, some have many more loan words from other languages than others.<!--Which ones? There are only three.-->
The Lisu language is closely related to the Lahu and Akha languages and is also related to Burmese, Jingphaw and Yi languages.
Demographics
In China, the Lisu people are mostly found in Yunnan, the majority living mainly in Nujiang and Weixi, but also in Baoshan, Dehong, Dêqên, Lijiang, Lincang, Pu'er, Chuxiong, Luquan and Dali. In Liangshan and Panzhihua, Sichuan, where they make a small minority, some speak Lisu and others speak Lipo, and some are classified under the Yi nationality. A number of Lisu can also be found in southern Tibet.
In Myanmar, it is spoken in Shan State, Kachin State, Sagaing Division and Mandalay Division. The two states are bordered by Yunnan. The Fraser script was invented in Myanmar by Sara Ba Thaw.
In India, it is spoken in the Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh and possibly in the Tinsukia District of Assam. See for more information. Lisu people in India are called Yobin.
In Northern Thailand, it is spoken mainly in the provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son and Kamphaeng Phet.
Possibly, there are also perhaps some Lisu speakers in Laos and in Vietnam. The Lisu villages in Laos and Vietnam are rare and isolated from the outside world, and are difficult to distinguish among the Hmong and Yao villages, which make up the majority.
Dialects
Three dialects can be distinguished: northern, central and southern, with northern being the standard.
Bradley (2003)
Bradley (2003) lists the following three Lisu dialects.
- Northern (, 'Black Lisu' (autonym), , 'Northern Lisu' (name given by other Lisu)): Northwest Yunnan, Kachin State, Mandalay region, Sagaing Region and India
- Central (, Flowery Lisu or Hua Lisu): Western Yunnan, Burma
- Southern (, 'Yellow Lisu'): extreme Southwestern Yunnan, Shan State of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam
Mu and Sun (2012)
In their study of Lisu dialects, Mu and Sun (2012) split Lisu into three dialects.
- Nujiang 怒江方言: 550,000 speakers in Nujiang Prefecture (all counties), Baoshan Prefecture (all counties), Dehong Prefecture (some counties), Lincang Prefecture (some counties), Dali Prefecture (a few counties) and Weixi County
- Luquan 禄劝方言: 65,000 speakers in parts of Chuxiong Prefecture (in Luquan County, Wuding County, etc.) and parts of neighboring prefectures
- Yongsheng 永胜方言: 18,000 speakers in the counties of Yongsheng, Huaping, Panzhihua, Muli, Yanyuan and others
Mu and Sun (2012) compare a total of five datapoints in their comparative vocabulary table.
Latin Lisu alphabet
A new Lisu alphabet based on pinyin was created in 1957, but most Lisu continued to use the old alphabet. The Fraser alphabet was officially recognized by the Chinese government in 1992, since which time its use has been encouraged.
Burmese Lisu script
In a few places in Myanmar in which Lisu is spoken, an orthography based on the Burmese alphabet has been developed and is taught to speakers and used in several publications and school books.
Thai script
In the 1970s, missionary Edward Hope of OMF International created a variant of the Thai script for the Lisu of Thailand. In doing so, he was guided by the policy of the Thai authorities, who believed that the writing systems of the country's national minorities should be based on the Thai script. However, this alphabet did not gain any popularity.
Thai alphabet for Lisu:
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; "
! colspan="42" | Consonants
|-style="font-size: 150%"
| ก || ข || ค || ฆ || ง || จ || ฉ || ช || ซ || ฌ || ญ || ฎ || ด || ดส || ดซ || ต || ตส || ตซ || ถ || ท || ทส || ทซ || น || บ || ป || ผ || ฝ || พ || ฟ || ม || ย || ฦ || ล || ว || ส || ห || อ || ฮ
|-----
| /k/ || /kʰ/ || /kʰ/ || /x/ || /ŋ/ || /tɕ/, /tʂ/ || /tɕʰ/, /tʂʰ/ || /tɕʰ/, /tʂʰ/ || /s/, /ɕ/, /ʂ/|| /dʑ/, /dʐ/ || /z/, /ʐ/ || /g/ || /d/ || /dz/ || /dz/ || /t/ || /ts/ || /ts/ || /tʰ/ || /tʰ/ || /tsʰ/ || /tsʰ/ || /n/, /ɲ/ || /b/ || /p/ || /pʰ/ || /f/ || /pʰ/ || /f/ || /m/ || /y, ʑ/ || /ɣ/ || /l/ || /v, w/ || /s/, /ɕ/, /ʂ/ || /h/ || /ʔ/ || /h/
|}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; "
! colspan="42" |Vowels
|-style="font-size: 150%"
| ะ || า || ิ || ี || ึ || ื || ุ || ู || เ-ะ || เ || แ-ะ || แ || เ-าะ || อ || เ-อะ || เ-อ
|-----
| /ɑ/ || /ɑ/ || /i/ || /i/ || /ɯ/, /ɤ/ || /ɯ/, /ɤ/ || /u/, /y/ || /u/, /y/ || /e/ || /e/ || /ɛ/ || /ɛ/ || /o/ || /o/ || /e/ || /ø/
|}
Tones are marked with ่, ๋, ๊.
Phonology
The Lisu phonological inventory is as follows. The distinction originates from proto-Lolo–Burmese consonant clusters of the type *kr or *kj, which elsewhere merge, but where Lisu normally develops , they remain distinct with the latter producing the type , the former the type . Inherited palatal affricates + also become .
In Central Lisu, is heard as a syllabic when after alveolar sibilant sounds, and as when after retroflex sibilant sounds. is heard as more fronted when following alveolo-palatal sounds.
is variable across dialects. It may be either endolabial or exolabial, central or even merged with . The distinction between and is marginal, and both are written in pinyin.
Tones
Lisu has six tones: high , mid creaky , mid , low , rising and low checked (that is, ). In some dialects the creaky tone is higher than mid tone, in others they are equal. The rising tone is infrequent, but common in baby talk (which has a stereotypical disyllabic low–rising pattern); both high and rising tone are uncommon after voiced consonants.
Consonants
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Lisu consonants
!colspan=2 rowspan=2|
!rowspan=2| Labial
!colspan=2| Alveolar
! rowspan="2" |Retroflex
! rowspan="2" | (Alveo-)<br>Palatal
!rowspan=2| Velar
!rowspan=2| Glottal
|-
!
!
|-
!colspan=2|Nasal
|
|
|
|
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|
| ,
|-
!rowspan=3| Plosive/<br>Affricate
!
|
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|-
!
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|-
!
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|-
!rowspan=2| Fricative
!
| ()
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|-
!
| rowspan="2" | ~
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| rowspan="2" |
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! colspan="2" |Continuant
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|}
and are in complementary distribution, with before front vowels. is marginal, occurring in a few words before or . The subdialect Fraser first encountered also distinguishes a retroflex series, , but only before .
Medial glides appear before . These are with velars and with bilabials and . The latter consonant (see rhinoglottophilia) has a non-nasal allophone in the imperative particle . is only distinctive before and in some dialects is merged with .
In Central Lisu, can be heard as an alveolo-palatal when before .