The Pumi language (also known as Prinmi) is a Qiangic language used by the Pumi people, an ethnic group from Yunnan, China, as well as by the Tibetan people of Muli in Sichuan, China. Most native speakers live in Lanping, Ninglang, Lijiang, Weixi and Muli.

The autonym of the Pumi is pʰʐə̃55mi55 in Western Prinmi, pʰɹĩ55mi55 in Central Prinmi, and pʰʐõ55mə53 in Northern Prinmi with variants such as pʰɹə̃55mə55 and tʂʰə̃55mi53.

In Muli Bonpo-Buddhist priests read religious texts in Tibetan, which needs to be interpreted into Prinmi.[citation needed] An attempt to teach Pumi children to write their language using the Tibetan script has been seen in Ninglang. A pinyin-based Roman script has been proposed, but is not commonly used.

Dialects

Earlier works suggest there are two branches of Pumi (southern and northern), and they are not mutually intelligible. Ding (2014) proposes three major groups: Western Prinmi (spoken in Lanping), Central Prinmi (spoken in southwestern Ninglang, Lijiang, Yulong and Yongsheng) and Northern Prinmi (spoken in northern Ninglang and Sichuan).

Lu (2001)

Dialects of Pumi include the following (Lu 2001).

Southern (22,000 speakers)

Northern (55,000 speakers)

Sim (2017)

Sims (2017) lists the following dialects of Pumi.

  • Northern Sanyanlong 三岩龙 [Jiulong County] (B. Huang & Dai 1992) Taoba 桃巴 [Muli County] (Sun 1991) Shuiluo 水洛 [Muli County] (Jacques 2011)
  • Central Wadu 瓦都 [Ninglang County] (Daudey 2014) Niuwozi 牛窝子 [Ninglang County] (Ding 2001, etc.)
  • Southern Dayang [Lanping County] (Matisoff 1997) Qinghua 箐花 [Lanping County] (Sun 1991; B. Huang & Dai 1992)

Sims (2017) reconstructs high tones and low tones for Proto-Prinmi.

Documentation

Transcribed, translated and annotated audio documents in the Pumi language are available from the Pangloss Collection. They concern Northern dialects of Pumi.

Phonology

Pumi Consonants
LabialDentalRetroflexPalatalVelar
Nasalvoiceless[m̥][n̥][ŋ̊]
voiced[m][n][ŋ]
Plosivevoiceless[p][t][ʈ][k]
aspirated[pʰ][tʰ][ʈʰ][kʰ]
voiced[b][d][ɖ][ɡ]
Affricatevoiceless[ts][ʈʂ][tɕ]
aspirated[tsʰ][ʈʂʰ][tɕʰ]
voiced[dz][ɖʐ][dʑ]
Fricativevoiceless[s][ʂ][ɕ][x]
voiced[z][ʐ][ʑ][ɣ]
Lateralvoiceless[ɬ]
voiced[l]
Approximantvoiceless[ɹ̥]
voiced[w][ɹ][j]
Oral Vowels of Pumi
FrontCentralBack
Close[i/iᵊ][ɨ][ʉ][u]
Close-Mid[e][ɤ][o]
Mid[ə]
Open-Mid[ɛ][ɜ]
Near-Open[ɐ]
Open[a][ɑ]
Nasal Vowels of Pumi
FrontCentralBack
Close[ĩ]
Close-Mid[õ]
Mid[ə̃]
Open-Mid[ɛ̃]
Near-Open[ɐ̃]

Orthography

The pinyin-based Roman script for Pumi has been proposed, but yet to be promoted.

Initials:
LetterIPALetterIPALetterIPALetterIPALetterIPA
b[p]p[pʰ]bb[b]m[m]hm[m̥]
d[t]t[tʰ]dd[d]n[n]hn[n̥]
g[k]k[kʰ]gg[ɡ]h[x]hh[ɣ]
j[tɕ]q[tɕʰ]jj[dʑ]x[ɕ]xx[ʑ]
z[ts]c[tsʰ]zz[dz]s[s]ss[z]
zh[ʈʂ]ch[ʈʂʰ]zzh[ɖʐ]sh[ʂ]ssh[ʐ]
zr[ʈ], [ʈʂ/kʴ]cr[ʈʰ], [ʈʂʰ/kʴʰ]zzr[ɖ], [ɖʐ/ɡʴ]l[l]lh[ɬ]
brpʴprpʴʰbbrbʴr[ɹ]hr[ɹ̥]
ng[ŋ]hng[ŋ̊]w[w]y[j]
Rimes:
LetterIPALetterIPALetterIPALetterIPA
i[i/iᵊ]u[u]ui[ɥi/wi]e[ə]
ie[jɛ/e]iu[ju]uee[ɥe/we]
ii[ɨ/ə]uu[uə/ʉ]ue[ɥɛ/wɛ/wə]üa[ɥɐ]
in[ĩ/ə̃]ien[(j)ɛ̃/ĩ]uen[ɥɛ̃/wɛ̃/wĩ]uin[ɥĩ]
o[o/ɤ]io[(j)ɐw/ɨɤ]on[õ]ion[jõ]
a[ɑ]ia[jɐ/jɜ]ua[wɑ/wɜ]uan[wɐ̃/wɜ̃]
aa[a]uaa[wa]an[ɐ̃]
ea[ɜ/ɛ]ai[ɜj]uai[wɜj]

Tones:

  • Monosyllabic words f – falling tone v – high tone none – rising tone
  • Polysyllable words f – nonspreading of the high tone v – spreading of the high tone to the next syllable r – rising tone none – default low tone

Grammar

A reference grammar of the Wadu dialect of Pumi is . A grammar of Central Pumi is also available.

Example

PumiEnglish
Tèr gwéjè dzwán thèr phxèungphxàr sì. Timitae llìnggwe zreungzrun stìng.He has broken several hammers. This man is crying and shouting all the time.

Bibliography

  • Ding, Sizhi (1998). Fundamentals of Prinmi (Pumi): A Tibeto-Burman Language of Northwestern Yunnan, China (Ph.D. thesis). Australian National University. doi:. hdl:.
  • Daudey, Henriëtte (2014). (Ph.D. thesis). La Trobe University. hdl:.
  • Ding, Picus (2014). . Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region 14. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004279773.
  • Jacques, Guillaume (2011a). . Lingua. 121 (9): 1518–1538. doi:. S2CID .
  • Jacques, Guillaume (2011b). (PDF). Language and Linguistics. 12 (2): 359–392.
  • Lu, Shaozun 陆绍尊 (2001). Pŭmĭyŭ fāngyán yánjiū 普米语方言硏究 [A Dialectal Study of the Pŭmĭ Language] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.