A Study Of The Legalization Of The Yi Language In

The Yi language belongs to the Lolo-Burmese branch of the Tibetan-Burmese family in Sino-Tibetan stock, and it can be classified into Northern dialect, Eastern dialect, Southern dialect, Southeastern dialect, Western dialect and Central dialect.The Northeast Yunnan sub-dialect of the Eastern Yi dialect falls into five varieties,such as Wulu, Qiaojia, Wuding, Xundian and Quan’an. All those varieties can be mutually intelligible. Apart from comparatively more research findings on Northern dialect, there is no other further survey into the other five dialects. This dissertation provides the first in-depth descriptive study of Luquan Yi variety in terms of the first-hand data from field investigation and individual introspectiveness of the Nasu branch in the Yi ethnic minority, who call themselves as “Nasupo”. The Nasupho variety belongs to Northeast Yunnan sub-dialect of the eastern Yi dialect.This dissertation mainly describes and discusses the construction and features of phonology, morphology, syntax and discourse of the Nasu variety, one of Luwu local dialect, in Northeast Yunnan sub-dialect of the eastern Yi dialect. It is a case study on the description and investigation of Nasu language—one of eastern Yi dialects.The dissertation orientates at the disruption of ontology language based on mother tongue. In the connection of theory and research method, it is guided by descriptive linguistics and structuralism theory, employing functional and typological theories and methods, and as well as minority language interlinearization internationally popular in contemporary natural discourses based on the abundant records of discourse materials and field investigation program. On the level of study,the synchronic description dominates, whereas diachronic comparative study supplements. This dissertation comprises of eight chapters.Chapter 1 is the introduction. It expatiates on and sorts out systematically a brief introduction to Yi ethnic group, the history of ethnic origin and self proclamation, the distribution of Yi dialects, the ownership of dialects, the history, status quo and deficiency of Nasu Yi dialect study in China and abroad. Then, specifically it provides the framework and research method of the study, the sources of data and field investigation. Finally it enlightens the significance of this selected topic.Chapter 2 introduces the sound system of the Nasupho variety of the Yi language, including examples of consonants, vowels and tones, sound changes,syllable structures.Chapter 3 describes classification of lexicon, word-formation, loanwords,semantic relation of the word and the Nasupho cultural-specific religious words.Chapter 4 describes the phrasal morphology of the Nasupho, including the agentive and non-agentive marking of nominal phrase, the genitive marking, the locative marking, the associative marking, the ablative marking, the instrumental marking, morphology of verb and adjectiveChapter 5 gives an overview of word classes and their grammatical functions that comprise word classes, such as noun, pronoun, numeral, classifier, adjective, verb,adverb, conjunction and subordinator, word-formation, description of their grammatical functions and sentential-types.Chapter 6 describes and analyzes simple constructions, including the basic word order, the topic-comment constructions, the topicalization, the locative-existential constructions, the interrogative constructions, the negative constructions and the comparative constructions.Chapter 7 gives an overview on the complex constructions that comprise the types and grammaticalization of the serial verb constructions, the types and strategies of relativization, coordination and disjunction, the types and word orders of subordinate constructions.Chapter 8 discuss spatial representation in Nasupho, and we focus on how Nasupho grammar encodes spatial conception, including topological relation, the frame of reference and spatial motion.Appendix provides narrative texts and lexicon that comprise 5 interlinear glossed texts, 1000 corresponding words of the 8 subdialects in the Yi language,glossary and the religious words of Nasupho, 300 basic sentences.