Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility
Lalo is a Central Ngwi (Loloish) language cluster spoken in western Yunnan, China by fewer than 300,000 speakers. Previously, most Lalo varieties were undocumented, and Lalo was thought to have only two dialects. This paper presents the first rigorous classification of Lalo languages, based on...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177644 |
| _version_ | 1811692131733995520 |
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| author | Yang, Cathryn |
| author2 | SIL International |
| author_facet | SIL International Yang, Cathryn |
| author_sort | Yang, Cathryn |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Lalo is a Central Ngwi (Loloish) language cluster spoken in western
Yunnan, China by fewer than 300,000 speakers. Previously, most Lalo varieties
were undocumented, and Lalo was thought to have only two dialects. This paper
presents the first rigorous classification of Lalo languages, based on a
dialectological study conducted in eighteen Lalo villages, which included the
recording of 1,001-item vocabularies, comprehension tests, and sociolinguistic
interviews. Synthesizing results from diachronic subgrouping, intelligibility, and
phonetic distance measured by Levenshtein distance, this paper argues that the Lalo
cluster actually comprises at least seven closely related languages. Phonetic distance
correlates strongly with comprehension, and the NeighborNet network based on
phonetic distance concurs with the diachronic subgrouping at shallow time depths,
providing further validation of the dialectometric techniques. This paper suggests
that such techniques are useful in the classification of lesser-known, endangered,
indigenous languages, which often have an urgent need for language maintenance
efforts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:30:55Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/177644 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:30:55Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1776442024-05-29T07:58:28Z Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility Yang, Cathryn SIL International Arts and Humanities Lalo Classification Lalo is a Central Ngwi (Loloish) language cluster spoken in western Yunnan, China by fewer than 300,000 speakers. Previously, most Lalo varieties were undocumented, and Lalo was thought to have only two dialects. This paper presents the first rigorous classification of Lalo languages, based on a dialectological study conducted in eighteen Lalo villages, which included the recording of 1,001-item vocabularies, comprehension tests, and sociolinguistic interviews. Synthesizing results from diachronic subgrouping, intelligibility, and phonetic distance measured by Levenshtein distance, this paper argues that the Lalo cluster actually comprises at least seven closely related languages. Phonetic distance correlates strongly with comprehension, and the NeighborNet network based on phonetic distance concurs with the diachronic subgrouping at shallow time depths, providing further validation of the dialectometric techniques. This paper suggests that such techniques are useful in the classification of lesser-known, endangered, indigenous languages, which often have an urgent need for language maintenance efforts. Published version 2024-05-29T07:58:28Z 2024-05-29T07:58:28Z 2012 Journal Article Yang, C. (2012). Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 35(2), 113-137. https://dx.doi.org/10.32655/LTBA.35.2.06 0731-3500 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177644 10.32655/LTBA.35.2.06 2 35 113 137 en Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area © 2012 The Editor(s). All rights reserved. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Arts and Humanities Lalo Classification Yang, Cathryn Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility |
| title | Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility |
| title_full | Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility |
| title_fullStr | Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility |
| title_full_unstemmed | Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility |
| title_short | Classifying Lalo languages: subgrouping, phonetic distance, and intelligibility |
| title_sort | classifying lalo languages subgrouping phonetic distance and intelligibility |
| topic | Arts and Humanities Lalo Classification |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177644 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yangcathryn classifyinglalolanguagessubgroupingphoneticdistanceandintelligibility |