Social:Gepo language

From HandWiki
Short description: Loloish language spoken in Yunnan, China
Gepo
Gepo Language.png
Native toChina
EthnicityYi
Native speakers
100,000 (2007)[1]
Sino-Tibetan
  • (Tibeto-Burman)
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
ygp – Gupo
yyz – Ayizi
Glottologgepo1234[2]

Gepo (Köpu; autonym: ko˧pʰo˥[3] or ko˥pʰu˨˩[4]) is a Loloish language of Yunnan, China spoken by 100,000 people. The speakers' autonym is kɔ˨˩, while the "-po" of "Gepo" means 'people'.[5] It is spoken in 6 villages of Fumin County, eastern Luquan County, and other adjacent counties to the northeast.

Gao (2017)[6] classifies Geipo (autonym: ke˥pʰo˨˩) as a Central Ngwi language. In Wuding County, it is spoken by 250 people in Gubai Village, Shishan Township and by 30 people in Yaoying Village, Shishan Township in Micha-majority villages.

Distribution and varieties

Gupo 古泼 (autonym: ko˥pʰo˨˩) is spoken in Mile, Songming, Xundian, Zhanyi, Luoping, Shizong, Luxi, Shilin, Luliang, Yiliang, Fuyuan, Qiubei, Luquan, Huize, and Yiliang counties by about 100,000 speakers.[7] Gupo speakers are also referred as the White Yi 白彝, Gan Yi 甘彝, and Little White Yi 小白彝.[7]

The Ayizi 阿夷子 of Aimailong Village 爱买龙,[8] Shilin County refer to themselves as Ge, and may thus speak a language related to Gepo (Bradley 2007).[9] It is also spoken in Banqiao Township 板桥乡, and other parts of Beidacun 北大村乡.[10]

Epo 峨颇 (autonyms: ŋo˧phu˨˩, ŋo˧) is an Eastern Yi language variety spoken by about 8,000 people in the following villages of Longlin, Napo, and Xilin counties in western Guangxi.[11]

  • Longlin County (5,000+ people)
    • De'e Township 德峨乡: Agao 阿稿 (main datapoint), Nadi 那地, Zhebang 者帮, Nongbao 弄保, Tangshi 塘石, etc., in 10 villages total
    • scattered in the townships of Zhelang 者浪, Zhuchang 猪场, Changfa 场发, Kechang 克场, and Yancha 岩茶
  • Napo County (2,000+ people): Dala 达腊, Zhexiang 者祥, Nianbi 念毕, Powu 坡五, etc.
  • Xilin County (about 1,000 people): Bada Town 八达镇 (Yanla 岩腊 village, etc.)

A similar dialect called Wopu 窝普 is reported in Xingyi, Guizhou and Luoping County, Yunnan.[12] The Luoping County Gazetteer (1995:601) reports that Wopu 窝普 (also called Large Black Yi 大黑彝) is spoken in:

  • Majie township 马街镇: Dayiben 大以本, Jiudaogou 九道沟, Jigu 吉古
  • Agang township 阿岗乡: Satuge 洒土格

Guopu 果铺 is reported in Weining County, Guizhou.[13]

References

  1. Gupo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Ayizi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Gepo". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/gepo1234. 
  3. Chen Shilin [陈士林], et al. 1985. Yiyu jianzhi [彝语简志], p.108. Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House [民族出版社].
  4. Yunnan Province Ethnic Minority Languages Gazetteer (云南省志:少数民族语言文字志), p.30
  5. Bradley, David. 2005. "Sanie and language loss in China".International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Volume 2005, Issue 173, Pp. 159–176.
  6. Gao, Katie B. 2017. Dynamics of Language Contact in China: Ethnolinguistic Diversity and Variation in Yunnan. PhD Dissertation: University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Wang Chengyou [王成有]. 2003. Yiyu Fangyan Bijiao Yanjiu [彝语方言比较研究]. Chengdu: Sichuan People's Press [四川民族出版社]. ISBN:7540927658
  8. "石林彝族自治县石林镇小密枝村委会爱买龙自然村". http://www.ynszxc.gov.cn/villagePage/vIndex.aspx?departmentid=60567. 
  9. Bradley, David. 2007. "East and Southeast Asia."
  10. https://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/uploads/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/A/Ayizi.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  11. Li Shengfu 李生福. 2007. 彝语峨颇话概况. 《民族语文》2007年第6期.
  12. http://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/themes/asia/docs/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/W/Wopu.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  13. http://asiaharvest.org/wp-content/themes/asia/docs/people-groups/China/chinaPeoples/G/Guopu.pdf [bare URL PDF]