Between the 14th and 15th editions this language code was retired from use.
Reason: The speech varieties denoted by the code were split into two or more distinct languages.
Remedy:
Change each instance of PIQ to one of:
The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
SIL code: PIQ
ISO 639-2: sit
| Population | 900,000 speakers (1990 J-O Svantesson), out of ethnic group of 1,594,827 (1990 census). |
| Region | Northwest Yunnan, between the Lancang (Mekong) and Jinsha rivers, on the Dali Plain. 85% of Bai are in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, others elsewhere in Yunnan Province, some in Hunan, Sichuan, and Guizhou provinces. |
| Alternate names | PAI, MINJIA, MINCHIA, MINKIA, LABBU, NAMA, LEME |
| Dialects | DALI (TALI-XIANGYUN, XIANGYUN-DALI, SOUTHERN BAI), JIANCHUAN (CENTRAL BAI, HEQING-JIANCHUAN, HOKING-JIANCHUAN), BIIJIANG (LANBI, BIJIANG-LANPING, LANPING-BIJIANG, NORTHERN BAI). |
| Classification | Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Bai. |
| Comments | Classification difficult because of heavy borrowing (60% to 70%) from Chinese. The 3 dialects may be separate languages. An official nationality. Dictionary. Grammar. SVO, attributives precede heads, number classifier constructions follow heads, no consonant clusters, no checked syllables, has tense-lax vowel distinction, 5-8 tones. Literacy rate in second language: 70% Chinese, Jianchuan County, 1985. Roman orthography based on the Jianchuan dialect as spoken in Jinhuatownship in Jianchuan County, taking two other dialects into consideration. An old script dates from the 8th century, called 'Bowen' or 'Lao Baiwen', based on Chinese characters, but this was never standardized. Poetry, radio programs. Agriculturalists. 2,000 meters and higher. Polytheist, Buddhist, Daoist. |
