Lahu language

application) includes Yi (Lolo), Hani, Lahu, Lisu, Kachin (Jingpo), Kuki-Chin, the obsolete Xixia (Tangut), and other languages. The Tibetan writing system (which dates from the 7th century) and the Burmese (dating from the 11th century) are derived from the Indo-Aryan (Indic) tradition. The Xixia system (developed in the 11th–13th century…

…approximately 610,000 speakers in Yunnan; Lahu, with about 440,000 speakers in Yunnan; and Naxi, with approximately 300,000 speakers mostly in Yunnan and Sichuan. Other Sino-Tibetan languages in Yunnan and Sichuan are Kachin and the closely related Atsi (Zaiwa); Achang, Nu, Pumi (Primi), Qiang, Gyarung, Xifan; and Bai (Minjia, probably a…

For example, Lahu syllables lack prefixes, glides, or final consonants, but (unlike Tibetan) each Lahu syllable must carry one of seven distinctive tones, so Lahu syllable structure may be schematized as (C) V^T.

…languages such as Mandarin and Lahu, however, many once-distinct syllables have become homophonous, so that the vast majority of words are now disyllabic compounds, though almost all of them are still analyzable into their monosyllabic constituent morphemes. For example, Lahu has merged five distinct PTB etyma (*b-r-gya ‘hundred,’ *s-gla ‘moon,’…