Lhao Vo language

Lhao Vo
Maru
Native toMyanmar, China
Native speakers
(100,000 cited 1997)
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3mhx
Glottologmaru1249

Lhaovo (the Burmese name: လော်ဝေါ်), also known as Maru (မရူ) and Langsu (the Chinese name: 浪速), is a Burmish language spoken in Myanmar (Burma) and by a few thousand speakers in China.

Distribution

Dai Qingxia (2005:3) reports 5,600 Langsu speakers in China. Many thousands more are dispersed across the eastern edge of Kachin State, Myanmar. In Myanmar, they are primarily focused around Chipwi township.

The Langsu people call themselves lɔ̃³¹vɔ³¹ (Chinese: Lang'e 浪峨)

Varieties

The standard Lhaovo dialect is that of the Dago’ (tăkoʔ) hill area, on the east side of N'Mai River valley in Kachin State.

Sawada (2017) lists the following patois (subvarieties) of Lhaovo.

Langsong

The Langsong (浪宋) are found in Zaoyang (早阳) in Yunlong County (in the Chinese province of Yunnan) as well as in Baocun (表村), Laomo (老末), and Sancha (三岔). They reportedly speak a highly endangered language that may be possibly related to Langsu.

Phonology

Consonants

Lhao Vo has the following consonant sounds:

Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
plain pal. plain pal.
Plosive voiceless p pʲ t k kʲ (ʔ)
aspirated pʰ pʰʲ tʰ kʰ kʰʲ
Affricate voiceless t͡s̪ t͡ʃ
aspirated t͡s̪ʰ t͡ʃʰ
Fricative voiceless f s̪ ʃ x
voiced v ɣ ɦ
Nasal m mʲ n ɲ ŋ
Tap ɾ
Approximant l j

Vowels

There is a distinction among creaky vowel sounds:

Front Central Back
plain creaky plain creaky plain creaky
Close i ḭ u ṵ
Mid e ø ḛ ø̰ o o̰
Open a a̰
Diphthong au a̰ṵ

When preceding a final glide /-j/, each vowel has the following allophones:

Phoneme Allophones
/aj/ [aɪ̆], [ɛ]
/auj/ [auɪ̆], [ɔɪ̆]
/uj/ [uɪ̆], [ʉ], [ʉɪ̆]
/ej/ [əɪ̆]

Tones

Lhao Vo has three lexical tones: high, low and falling. Low tone may be a different analysis of creaky vowels. In Latin script, falling tone is unmarked, e.g. ⟨lo⟩ etc.; low tone is ⟨lo꞉⟩ etc., and high tone is ⟨loˮ⟩ etc. (or ⟨lobʼ⟩ etc. with a final b, d, g). Final glottal stop is written ⟨lo,⟩ etc. in falling tone, ⟨lo;⟩ etc. in low tone, and ⟨loʼ⟩ in high tone.

References

  1. ↑ Lhao Vo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Dai (2005), p. 3.
  3. ↑ Dai (2010), p. 10.
  4. 1 2 Sawada, Hideo (2017). Two Undescribed Dialects of Northern Burmish Sub-branch: Gyannoʔ and Thoʔlhang. Presented at ICSTLL 50, Beijing, China.
  5. ↑ "Yúnlóng Xiàn Miáowěi Lìsùzú Xiāng Zǎoyáng" 云龙县苗尾傈僳族乡早阳 [Zaoyang, Miaowei Lisu Ethnic Township, Yunlong County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2018-05-04.
  6. ↑ "Yúnlóng Xiàn Miáowěi Lìsùzú Xiāng Biǎocūn Biǎocūn" 云龙县苗尾傈僳族乡表村表村 [Baocun, Baocun, Miaowei Lisu Township, Yunlong County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2016-10-10.
  7. ↑ "Yúnlóng Xiàn Miáowěi Lìsùzú Xiāng Biǎocūn Sānchà" 云龙县苗尾傈僳族乡表村三岔 [Sancha, Baocun, Miaowei Lisu Township, Yunlong County]. ynszxc.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2018-05-04.
  8. ↑ Zhongguo shao shu minzu shehui lishi diaocha ziliao congkan xiuding bianji weiyuanhui 中国少数民族社会历史调查资料丛刊修订编辑委员会 (2009). Jǐngpǒzú shèhuì lìshǐ diàochá 景颇族社会历史调查 (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe. p. 57.
  9. 1 2 Hideo, Sawada (1999). Outline of Phonology of Lhaovo (Maru) of Kachin State. In Linguistic & Anthropological Study of the Shan Culture Area, report of research project, Grant-in-Aid for International Scientific Research (Field Research): Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. pp. 97–147.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  10. ↑ "Lhaovo". Kachin Portal Site. Archived from the original on 2022-10-01. Retrieved 2023-07-17.

Further reading