Pholo language
Pholo (autonym: pʰo˥lo˥) is an unclassified Loloish language of Yunnan, China. Although culturally associated with the Phula languages, Pelkey (2011) does not consider it to be linguistically related to the Phula languages.
| Pholo | |
|---|---|
| Black Phula | |
| Native to | China |
| Ethnicity | Phula |
Native speakers | 30,000 (2011)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yip |
| Glottolog | phol1235[2] |
Pholo speakers are also referred to as Black Phula and Flowery Phula (Pelkey 2011:176).
Classification
Pelkey (2011:353)[3] specifically excludes Pholo, noting that it does not share the defining features of Southeastern Loloish. However, Lama (2012) classifies Pholo as a Southeastern Loloish language, and considers it to be most closely related to Zokhuo
Distribution
Pholo speakers are most densely concentrated in (Pelkey 2011:176):
- Aji Township, Yanshan County
- eastern Tianxing Township, Qiubei County
Other Pholo speakers are found in (Pelkey 2011:176):
- eastern Yanshan County
- Pingzhai Township, Qiubei County
- western Guangnan County
- Xinzhai Township, Malipo County
Vocabulary
The following Pholo lexical items along with their Proto-Ngwi (Proto-Loloish) reconstructed proto-forms are from Pelkey (2011:390).
| Gloss | Pholo | Proto-Ngwi |
|---|---|---|
| bee | bjɯ˧ | *bya² |
| taro | bjɑ˥˧ | *blum² |
| silver | pʰi˧ | *plu¹ |
| face | pʰjɔ˥ | *pyu² |
| destroy | pe̠˦˥ | *pyakH |
| change | pʰjɑ̠˦˥ | *C-plekL |
| pus | ᵐbjɑ˧ | *m-bliŋ¹ |
| full | phɑ̠˨˩ | *m-bliŋ³ |
| fly (v.) | bi˥˧ | *b-yam¹ |
| lightning | *b-lyapL | |
| release | pʰjɑ˧ | *pyiŋ² |
| eagle | to˧ | *ʔ-glaŋ² |
| stab | *m-gya² | |
| excrement | tʰæ˧ | *ʔ-kle² |
| load (v.) | ʦɯ˥ | *ʔ-kun³/² |
Most, but not all, of the Pholo words above do not share the following innovations that define Southeastern Ngwi (Pelkey 2011:365).
- Proto-Ngwi *ʔ-k and *ʔ-ɡl > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *tɬ (modern reflexes: tɬ, kɬ, k, t, ɬ, etc.)
- Proto-Ngwi *pl/j and *ʔ-kl > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *tɬʰ (modern reflexes: tɬʰ, kɬʰ, kʰ, tʰ, ɬ, etc.)
- Proto-Ngwi *bl/j and *ɡl > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *dɮ (modern reflexes: dɮ, ɡɮ, ɡ, d, etc.)
- Proto-Ngwi *m-pl/j and *m-bl/j > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *ndɮ (modern reflexes: ndɮ, ŋɡɮ, nd, etc.)
Other Pholo words from Pelkey (2011:301):
- qɑ̠˦˥lɑ̠˦˥ (neck)
- ᵐbjɑ˥ʑɛ˨˩ (pus)
- phɑ̠˨˩ (full)
- χɑ˥ (long)
- mɑ˥ (name)
- mɑ̠˦˥ (cooked)
More Pholo words are documented in YYFC (1983),[4] part of which are quoted in Lama (2012).
References
- Pholo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Pholo". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- Jamin Pelkey, 2011, Dialectology As Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation
- YYFC (Yunnan University for Nationalities and Guiding Committee of Studying and Working on Yunnan Minority Languages 云南民族大学格云南民族语文指导工作委员会编). 1983. 云南彝语方言 词语汇编 [A Collection of Yi Dialects’ Lexicon in Yunnan] (Handwritten Mimeograph).
- Lama, Ziwo Qiu-Fuyuan. 2012. Subgrouping of Nisoic (Yi) Languages. Ph.D. thesis: University of Texas at Arlington.