Native to China Ethnicity Nu Dialects Lang'e | Region Yunnan Native speakers 14,000 (2007) | |
Language family Sino-Tibetan
(Tibeto-Burman)
Lolo–Burmese
Loloish
Lisoish
Lalo–Lavu
Lavu–Kuansi
Lavu | ||
Lavu (Chinese: 拉乌; autonym: lɑ˥vu̠˥), also known as Talu 他鲁 (tʰa˧˩lu˥ su˥) or Tagu 他谷, is a Loloish language of Yongsheng County, Yunnan, China.
Varieties
The names Lavu, Talu, Tagu are among a number of small ethnicities which speak varieties of a single, mutually intelligible language. Others are Liude 六得, Nazha 纳渣, and perhaps Shuitian 水田, Zhili 支里, Luo 倮, Ziyi 子彝, and Liming 黎明. Lavu is the name chosen by Lama (2012), Talu by Ethnologue and Glottolog.
Tagu is spoken in parts of Dongshan and Sina townships in southeeastern Yongsheng County by at least 2,000 people (Bradley 2004).
Zhou (2004:1) reports that Talu is spoken by just over 10,000 speakers in Yongsheng and Huaping counties. Zhou (2004) focuses on the Talu dialect of Liude Township 六德乡. Bradley (2004) reports that Talu (autonym: tʰɑ21 lu̱55) is spoken in Yongsheng, Ninglang and Huaping counties by 10,138 people, mainly in 4 villages of Liude Township 六德乡 in northeastern Yongsheng County. There are also Talu speakers in adjacent parts of Ninglangping Township, southern Ninglang County, and Tongda Township 通达傈僳族乡 in northeastern Huaping County. Talu has voiceless nasals as also the voiceless lateral. It is related to Lolopo.
According to Bradley (2004), Lang’e (autonym: la21 u21) is spoken in 12 villages of Lang’e village cluster in Changhai Township, southwestern Yongsheng County by about 2,500 people.