Pumi language

The Pumi language (also known as Prinmi) is a Qiangic language used by the Pumi people, an ethnic group from Yunnan, China, as well as by the Tibetan people of Muli in Sichuan, China. Most native speakers live in Lanping, Ninglang, Lijiang, Weixi and Muli.

The autonym of the Pumi is in Western Prinmi, in Central Prinmi, and in Northern Prinmi with variants such as and .

In Muli Bonist priests read religious texts in Tibetan, which needs to be interpreted into Prinmi. An attempt to teach Pumi children to write their language using the Tibetan script has been seen in Ninglang. A pinyin-based Roman script has been proposed, but is not commonly used.

Dialects

Earlier works suggest there are two branches of Pumi (southern and northern), and they are not mutually intelligible. Ding (2014) proposes three major groups: Western Prinmi (spoken in Lanping), Central Prinmi (spoken in southwestern Ninglang, Lijiang, Yulong and Yongsheng) and Northern Prinmi (spoken in northern Ninglang and Sichuan).

Lu (2001)

Dialects of Pumi include the following (Lu 2001).

Southern (22,000 speakers)

• Qinghua 箐花村, Lanping County, Yunnan
• Ludian 鲁甸县, Yunnan
• Xinyingpan 新营盘乡, Ninglang County, Yunnan

Northern (55,000 speakers)

• Taoba 桃巴村, Muli County, Sichuan
• Tuoqi 拖七村, Ninglang County, Yunnan
• Zuosuo 左所区, Yanyuan County, Sichuan
• Sanyanlong 三岩龙乡, Jiulong County, Sichuan

Sim (2017)

Sims (2017) lists the following dialects of Pumi.

• Northern
  • Sanyanlong 三岩龙 [Jiulong County] (B. Huang & Dai 1992)
  • Taoba 桃巴 [Muli County] (Sun 1991)
  • Shuiluo 水洛 [Muli County] (Jacques 2011)
• Central
  • Wadu 瓦都 [Ninglang County] (Daudey 2014)
  • Niuwozi 牛窝子 [Ninglang County] (Ding 2001, etc.)
• Southern
  • Dayang [Lanping County] (Matisoff 1997)
  • Qinghua 箐花 [Lanping County] (Sun 1991; B. Huang & Dai 1992)

Sims (2017) reconstructs high tones and low tones for Proto-Prinmi.

Documentation

Transcribed, translated and annotated audio documents in the Pumi language are available from the Pangloss Collection. They concern Northern dialects of Pumi.

Phonology

Pumi Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	voiceless	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink			Template:IPAblink
	voiced	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink			Template:IPAblink
Plosive	voiceless	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink		Template:IPAblink
	aspirated	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink		Template:IPAblink
	voiced	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink		Template:IPAblink
Affricate	voiceless		Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
	aspirated		Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
	voiced		Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
Fricative	voiceless		Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
	voiced		Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
Lateral	voiceless		Template:IPAblink
	voiced		Template:IPAblink
Approximant	voiceless		Template:IPAblink
	voiced	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink		Template:IPAblink

Oral Vowels of Pumi

	Front	Central		Back
Close	[[[:Template:IPA link]]/]	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
Close-Mid	Template:IPAblink			Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
Mid		Template:IPAblink
Open-Mid	Template:IPAblink	Template:IPAblink
Near-Open		Template:IPAblink
Open	Template:IPAblink			Template:IPAblink

Nasal Vowels of Pumi

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPAblink
Close-Mid			Template:IPAblink
Mid		Template:IPAblink
Open-Mid	Template:IPAblink
Near-Open		Template:IPAblink

Orthography

The pinyin-based Roman script for Pumi has been proposed, but yet to be promoted.

Initials:

Letter	IPA	Letter	IPA	Letter	IPA	Letter	IPA	Letter	IPA
b	Template:IPAblink	p	Template:IPAblink	bb	Template:IPAblink	m	Template:IPAblink	hm	Template:IPAblink
d	Template:IPAblink	t	Template:IPAblink	dd	Template:IPAblink	n	Template:IPAblink	hn	Template:IPAblink
g	Template:IPAblink	k	Template:IPAblink	gg	Template:IPAblink	h	Template:IPAblink	hh	Template:IPAblink
j	Template:IPAblink	q	Template:IPAblink	jj	Template:IPAblink	x	Template:IPAblink	xx	Template:IPAblink
z	Template:IPAblink	c	Template:IPAblink	zz	Template:IPAblink	s	Template:IPAblink	ss	Template:IPAblink
zh	Template:IPAblink	ch	Template:IPAblink	zzh	Template:IPAblink	sh	Template:IPAblink	ssh	Template:IPAblink
zr	Template:IPAblink, [[[:Template:IPAlink]]/]	cr	Template:IPAblink, [[[:Template:IPAlink]]/]	zzr	Template:IPAblink, [[[:Template:IPAlink]]/]	l	Template:IPAblink	lh	Template:IPAblink
br		pr		bbr		r	Template:IPAblink	hr	Template:IPAblink
ng	Template:IPAblink	hng	Template:IPAblink	w	Template:IPAblink	y	Template:IPAblink

Rimes:

Letter	IPA	Letter	IPA	Letter	IPA	Letter	IPA
i		u	Template:IPAblink	ui		e	Template:IPAblink
ie		iu		uee
ii		uu		ue		üa
in		ien		uen		uin
o		io		on	Template:IPAblink	ion
a	Template:IPAblink	ia		ua		uan
aa	Template:IPAblink			uaa		an	Template:IPAblink
ea		ai		uai

Tones:

• Monosyllabic words
  • f – falling tone
  • v – high tone
  • none – rising tone
• Polysyllable words
  • f – nonspreading of the high tone
  • v – spreading of the high tone to the next syllable
  • r – rising tone
  • none – default low tone

Grammar

A reference grammar of the Wadu dialect of Pumi is available online. A grammar of Central Pumi is also available.

Example

Pumi	English
Tèr gwéjè dzwán thèr phxèungphxàr sì. Timitae llìnggwe zreungzrun stìng.	He has broken several hammers. This man is crying and shouting all the time.