Pholo language
Pholo (autonym: pʰo55 lo55) 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 |
Pholo speakers are also referred to as Black Phula and Flowery Phula (Pelkey 2011:176).
Classification
Pelkey (2011:353)[2] 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 | bjɯ³³ | *bya² |
| taro | bjɑ⁵³ | *blum² |
| silver | pʰi³³ | *plu¹ |
| face | pʰjɔ⁵⁵ | *pyu² |
| destroy | pe̠⁴⁵ | *pyakH |
| change | pʰjɑ̠⁴⁵ | *C-plekL |
| pus | ᵐbjɑ³³ | *m-bliŋ¹ |
| full | phɑ̠²¹ | *m-bliŋ³ |
| fly (v.) | bi⁵³ | *b-yam¹ |
| lightning | *b-lyapL | |
| release | pʰjɑ³³ | *pyiŋ² |
| eagle | to³³ | *ʔ-glaŋ² |
| stab | *m-gya² | |
| excrement | tʰæ³³ | *ʔ-kle² |
| load (v.) | ʦɯ⁵⁵ | *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):
- qɑ̠⁴⁵lɑ̠⁴⁵ (neck)
- ᵐbjɑ⁵⁵ʑɛ²¹ (pus)
- phɑ̠²¹ (full)
- χɑ⁵⁵ (long)
- mɑ⁵⁵ (name)
- mɑ̠⁴⁵ (cooked)
More Pholo words are documented in YYFC (1983),[3] part of which are quoted in Lama (2012).
References
- Pholo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- 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.