Pumi, Northern
A language of China
| Population | 35,000 (1999). 10,000 monolinguals. 24,000 as Pumi nationality, 30,000 as Tibetan nationality (1994). |
| Region | Southwest Sichuan, Muli, Yanyuan, and Kiulong counties; northwest Yunnan, Ninglang County, Yongning District. |
| Language map |
Southwestern China |
| Alternate names | Ch’rame, Pimi, Primmi, Pruumi, P’ömi, P’rome, P’umi |
| Dialects | Taoba. Northern Pumi has 4 subdialects. Intelligibility with Southern Pumi [pmj] is low. Lexical similarity: between Northern and Southern is 60%, grammatical differences minor. |
| Classification | Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Tangut-Qiang, Qiangic |
| Language use | Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Positive attitude. Also use Mandarin Chinese [cmn], Tibetan [bod], Lisu [lis], Bai [bca], Naxi [nbf], or Lipo [lpo]. |
| Language development | Literacy rate in L2: 70%. Taught in primary schools. |
| Comments | Most classified as Tibetan nationality rather than as Pumi nationality. SOV; adjectives and numbers follow noun heads; no uvular obstruents; no initial ‘s’ or consonant clusters; different vowels from Southern Pumi [pmj]; loans mainly from Tibetan (10% of the vocabulary); tonal, 3 tones. Agriculturalists; animal husbandry. Buddhist (Lamaist). |
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