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Bisu

A language of China

ISO 639-3: bzi

Population	240 in China (Xu 2005). No monolinguals. Population total all countries: 1,240. Ethnic population: 240.
Region	Southwest Yunan Province, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Menghai County, Mengzhe village; Simao Prefecture, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, Zhutang, Laba, Donglang, and Fubang villages; Meglian Dai, Lahu, and Va autonomous counties, Jingxin, Fuyan, and Nanya villages; parts of Ximeng Va Autonomous County. Possibly also in Laos. Also in Myanmar, Thailand.
Language map	Southwestern China
Alternate names	Misu, Mibisu, Mbi, Laopin, Lawa, Lua, Pin
Dialects	Lanmeng, Huaipa, Dakao. Similar to Mpi [mpz], Pyen [pyy], Phunoi [pho]. Some dialect differences based on Dai [dij] versus Lahu [lhu] loanwords. Lexical similarity: 36% with Hani [hni], 32% with Lahu, 31% with Lisu [lis].
Classification	Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Burmic, Ngwi, Southern
Language use	Shifting to Lahu or Lu [khb]. Home, village. Positive attitude. Most also use Lu [khb], Lahu [lhu], or Chinese. 10% can speak all of those and Hani [hni].
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: 70%. Grammar.
Writing system	Thai script.
Comments	Some classified as Hani nationality, others classified as ‘Nationality Not Yet Determined’. Some view Bisu as an important link to their culture and hope to preserve it. SVO; simple syllable structure; certain obstruent onsets may be prenasalized, aspirated, or palatalized, but otherwise no consonant clusters; syllables may be closed by stop or nasal; 3 tones, tone sandhi; words have 1 or 2 syllables; modifiers follow heads; loanwords from Dai and Chinese. Agriculturalists. Traditional religion.

Also spoken in:

Thailand

Language name	Bisu
Population	1,000 in Thailand (1987 E. Purnell).
Region	Southwest Chiangrai, North Lampang. 2 main villages, the largest with 100 houses.
Language map	Northern Thailand, reference number 3
Alternate names	Mbisu, Mibisu
Language use	Vigorous. All ages.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: Below 5%.
Comments	Traditional religion.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

PERSON, Kirk R., author. 1999. "Writing Bisu: a community-based approach to orthography development."

PERSON, Kirk R., author. 1999. The kinship system of the Bisu of Chiang Rai.

PERSON, Kirk R., author. 2000. Sentence final particles in Bisu narrative.

PERSON, Kirk R., author. 2005. "Language revitalization or dying gasp? Language preservation efforts among the Bisu of Northern Thailand."