Kathu language

{{Infobox language

|name=Kathu

|altname=Thou

|states=China

|region=Guangnan County

|ethnicity=Yi

|speakers=5,000

|date=2007

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Sino-Tibetan

|fam2=Lolo-Burmese

|fam3=Mondzish

|dia1=Kathu

|dia2=Thou

|iso3=ykt

|glotto=kath1251

|glottorefname=Thou-Kathu

}}

Kathu ({{zh|嘎苏话}}) is a Lolo-Burmese language of Balong (坝聋), Nanping Township (南屏镇), Guangnan County, Yunnan, China.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ynszxc.net/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=229605 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-12-30 |archive-date=2018-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230185756/http://www.ynszxc.net/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=229605 |url-status=dead }} The Kathu are locally known as the White Yi (白彝). Wu Zili (2004) estimates that Kathu has a total of more than 7,000 speakers in Guangnan County (including in Dayashao 大牙少{{Cite web |url=http://www.ynszxc.gov.cn/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=229567 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-09-10 |archive-date=2017-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914083027/http://www.ynszxc.gov.cn/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=229567 |url-status=dead }}), as well as in Jinping County, Yunnan. Ethnologue mentions a possible presence in Xilin County, Guangxi Province.

A related variety is known as Thou.

Kathu-Thou is notable for having initial consonant clusters, which within the Lolo-Burmese branch are also found in Written Burmese (Old Burmese) and Jinuo (Hsiu 2014:66). Wu (2004) lists the onset clusters pl, pʰl, bl, ml, kl, kʰl, gl, ql, qʰl, ɢl, ŋl.

Varieties

Hsiu (2014:65) identifies two varieties, both spoken in Nanping Township (南屏镇).

Kathu (autonym: {{IPA|ka33 θu33}}), spoken in Anwang village 安王村
Thou (autonym: {{IPA|θou̯53}}), spoken in Balong village 坝聋村

Classification

Kathu vocabulary is largely similar to those of other Mondzish languages. However, there are various words that do not appear to be of Lolo-Burmese origin, and are derived from an unknown Tibeto-Burman branch (Hsiu 2014).Hsiu, Andrew. 2014. "[http://iscll-14.ling.sinica.edu.tw/files-pdf/Papers/Session2/Hsiu.pdf Mondzish: a new subgroup of Lolo-Burmese] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231541/http://iscll-14.ling.sinica.edu.tw/files-pdf/Papers/Session2/Hsiu.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }}". In Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14). Taipei: Academia Sinica. Hsiu (2014) suggests that Kathu could be added to George van Driem's list of Trans-Himalayan "fallen leaves."

Bradley (1997)Bradley, David. 1997. "[http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/bradley1997tibeto-burman.pdf Tibeto-Burman languages and classification]". In Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. classified Kathu as a Northern Loloish language, while Bradley (2007)Bradley, David. 2007. East and Southeast Asia. In Moseley, Christopher (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, 349-424. London & New York: Routledge. classified it as a Southeastern Loloish language. However, Pelkey (2011:458)Pelkey, Jamin. 2011. Dialectology as Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. notes that Kathu and Mo'ang are not Southeastern Loloish languages.

References

Wu Zili [武自立]. 2004. "Gasu language [嘎僳话]". In Studies on selected languages of Yunnan [云南特殊语言研究], 486-513. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press [云南民族出版社]. {{ISBN|7536730624}}

Kathu language

Varieties

Classification

See also

References

Further reading