The Yi Language
The Yi 彝 language, also known historically as Lolo, belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibeto-Burman family of the Sino-Tibetan phylum, and is spoken by between 4 and 5 million people in south-west China (provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi).
The Yi language is divided into six major dialects by Chinese linguists :
- Northern dialect : South-western Sichuan (principally the Liangshan Yi Nationality Autonomous Region 凉山彝族自治州), and Northern Yunnan; typified by the speech of Xide 喜德 district in Sichuan.
- Western dialect : Western Yunnan; typified by the speech of Nanjian Yi Nationality Autonomous District 南涧彝族自治县.
- Central dialect : Southern Central Yunnan; typified by the speech of Nanhua 南华 district.
- Southern dialect : Southern Yunnan; typified by the speech of Mojiang 墨江 district.
- South-Eastern dialect : South-eastern and Eastern Yunnan; typified by the speech of Mile 弥勒 district.
- Eastern dialect : North-eastern Yunnan, Southern Sichuan, Western Guizhou, and Western Guangxi; typified by the speech of Dafang 大方 district in Guizhou.
As may be expected with a population that is widely dispersed across mountainous terrain, the dialects of Yi vary considerably, and are generally not mutually intelligible.
The Northern dialect, with some 1.6 million speakers, is the largest and linguistically most coherant of these dialects. As the heartland of the Northern dialect are the Greater and Lesser Liangshan 凉山 Mountains of Southern Sichuan and neighbouring parts of Yunnan and Guizhou this dialect is commonly known as the Liangshan Yi dialect.
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