Lahu Na (Black Lahu) is the northern and standard Lahu dialect and is spoken in most of Yunnan, China, in Kengtung District of Shan State, Myanmar and in most parts of Thailand. It should not be confused with Lahu Aga (Black Lahu of Laos (See below) or Kucong (Black Lahu of Vietnam).
Lahu Phu (White Lahu) is the southern and most spoken dialects of the Lahu language. It is spoken all five countries wher it is spoken, including in Muong Te District of Lai Châu Province.
Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu) is only spoken in Thailand, including in the southern Yala Province.
The Lahu language, along with the closely related Kucong language, is classified as a separate branch of Loloish by Ziwo Lama (2012),[5] but as a Central Loloish language by David Bradley (2007).[6] Lahu is classified as a sister branch of the Southern Loloish branch in Satterthwaite-Phillips' (2011) computational phylogenetic analysis of the Lolo-Burmese languages.[7]
Dialects
Matisoff (2006)
A few dialects are noted, which are each known by a variety of names:[8]
Lahu Na (Black Lahu, Musser Dam, Northern Lahu, Loheirn)
Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu, Kutsung); the divergent la53xu31sɯ33 dialect is spoken in Nanduan 南段村 (Lahu: na31tɔ35) Village, Nuofu Township 糯福乡, Lancang County, China[9][10]
Menghai dialect 勐海土语群片 (in Menghai, Jinghong, Mengla, Lancang counties (in Jiujing 酒井, Yakou 雅口, Qianliu 谦六 townships, etc.); Lahu Shi)
Jinping-Lüchun dialect 金绿土语群片 (in Jinping and Lüchun counties)
Traditionally Lahu folk taxonomy splits the Lahu people into the two groups of Black Lahu and Yellow Lahu; Red Lahu and White Lahu are new dialect clusters originating in messianic movements within the past few centuries.[12] Black Lahu is the standard dialect in China,[2] as well as the lingua franca among different groups of Lahu in Thailand.[3] However, it is intelligible to speakers of Yellow Lahu only with some difficulty.[2]
Bradley (1979)
Based on the numbers of shared lexical items, Bradley (1979) classifies the Lahu dialects as follows:[13]
Common Lahu
Black Lahu
Shehleh
(Core)
Black Lahu proper
Red Lahu
Yellow Lahu
Bakeo
Banlan
Lama (2012)
Lama (2012) gives the following tentative classification for what he calls Lahoid.
Lahoid
Lahu-Xi (Yellow Lahu)
(Black Lahu cluster)
Lahu-Na (Black Lahu)
Lahu-Ni (Red Lahu)
Lahu-Pu (White Lahu)
Lahu-Shehleh
Jin (2007)
Jin Youjing (2007)[14] classifies the Lahu dialects as follows.
Lahu Na 拉祜纳 (Black Lahu 黑拉祜): about 80% of all Lahu
Xia'nanxian 下南现 (Nanling Township 南岭乡) dialect
Dongkahe 东卡河 (Laba Township 拉巴乡) dialect
Lahu Xi 拉祜西 (Yellow Lahu 黄拉祜): about 20% of all Lahu
Lahu Alai 拉祜阿莱: located in Alai Dazhai 阿莱大寨, Fubang Township 富邦乡, Lancang County and a few other nearby villages
Kucong 苦聪: located in Jinping, Lüchun, Zhenyuan, and other counties
Jin Youjing (1992)[15] covers Lahu linguistic geography and dialectology in detail.
Heh (2008)
Heh (2008)[16] lists Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu) dialects as:
Mikeng
Nakeo
Lahu Aga (also called Aphubele; spoken in Laos)
Bakeo
Balan
Lahu Aga was classified as Lahu Shi by Bradley (1979), but Heh (2008) found that it is actually linguistically closer to Lahu Na (Black Lahu). In Laos, there are about 9,000 Lahu Aga located in Bokeo Province (Tonpheung district, Muang Muang district, Houj Xai
district, and the special region of Nam Yut) and Luang Namtha Province (Vieng Phoukha district, Boten district, and Muang Long district) (Heh 2008:161). In Laos, the Lahu Aga are most numerous in Tonpheung district (in Baan Dong Keap, Baan Sam Sip, Baan Khi Lek, Baan Beu Neong, Baan Hoe Ong, and Baan Nan Fa villages) and Vieng Phoukha district (in Baan Na Kat Tai, Baan Na Kat Neua, Baan Pamak, Baan NaNoi, Baan NaVa, Baan NaPhe, and Baan Na Shin villages) (Heh 2008:161-162). The Yellow Lahu are also called Lahu Kui Lung in Laos (Schliesinger (2003:110), with Kui meaning 'people'. There are about 21 Lahu Aga villages in Bokeo and Luang Namtha provinces, including in Ban Don Keao, Bokeo, and Ban Na Kat Neua, who had originally migrated from Yunnan, China. (Heh 2008:8). There are also 11 Lahu Aga families living in Baan Son Pu Nong, Chiang Saen District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Heh (2008) provides comparative Lahu Aga dialectal data for:
Na Kat Neua village, Vieng Phoukha district, Luang Namtha province
Don Keao village, Tonpheung district, Bokeo province
Na Kha village, Muang Muang Township, Bokeo province
Palatal consonant sounds when occurring before a close central vowel /cɨ,cʰɨ,ɟɨ,ʃɨ,jɨ/ are heard as dental affricate sounds [tsɹ̩,tsʰɹ̩,dzɹ̩,sɹ̩,zɹ̩]. Stop sounds may also be heard as palato-alveolar sounds [tʃ,tʃʰ,dʒ] elsewhere, in free variation.[17]
/h/ may also be heard as a velar fricative [x], in free variation.
/n/ before /i/, can be articulated as a palatal nasal [ɲ].
Labial sounds before a close back vowel /pu,pʰu,bu,mu/ have affricated variants, heard as [pfɯ,pfʰɯ,bvɯ,mvɯ].
^Bradley, David. 2007. East and Southeast Asia. In Moseley, Christopher (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, 349-424. London & New York: Routledge.
^Satterthwaite-Phillips, Damian. 2011. Phylogenetic inference of the Tibeto-Burman languages or On the usefulness of lexicostatistics (and "Megalo"-comparison) for the subgrouping of Tibeto-Burman. Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University.
^Jin Youjing 金有景, et al. 1992. 中国拉祜语方言地图集 = Cokawr Ladhof khawd fayer diqthurcir = the linguistic atlas of Lahu in China. Tianjin: Tianjin she hui ke xue yuan chu ban she 天津社会科学出版社.
^Heh, Sa Mollay Kya. 2008. ;;A sociolinguistic comparison of Lahu Aga with Lahu Na. Master’s thesis.