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Kathu (Chinese: 嘎苏话) is a Lolo-Burmese language of Balong (坝聋), Nanping Township (南屏镇), Guangnan County, Yunnan, China. The Kathu are locally known as the White Yi (白彝). Wu Zili (2004) estimates that Kathu has a total of more than 7,000 speakers in Guangnan County (including in Dayashao 大牙少), as well as in Jinping County, Yunnan. Ethnologue mentions a possible presence in Guangxi Province.

A related variety is known as Thou.

Kathu-Thou is notable for having initial consonant clusters, which within the Lolo-Burmese branch are also found in Written Burmese (Old Burmese) and Jinuo (Hsiu 2014:66). Wu (2004) lists the onset clusters pl, pʰl, bl, ml, kl, kʰl, gl, ql, qʰl, ɢl, ŋl.

Varieties

Hsiu (2014:65) identifies two varieties, both spoken in Nanping Township (南屏镇).

• Kathu (autonym: ka33 θu33), spoken in Anwang village 安王村
• Thou (autonym: θou̯53), spoken in Balong village 坝聋村

Classification

Kathu vocabulary is largely similar to those of other Mondzish languages. However, there are various words that do not appear to be of Lolo-Burmese origin, and are derived from an unknown Tibeto-Burman branch (Hsiu 2014). Hsiu (2014) suggests that Kathu could be added to George van Driem's list of Trans-Himalayan "fallen leaves."

Bradley (1997) classified Kathu as a Northern Loloish language, while Bradley (2007) classified it as a Southeastern Loloish language. However, Pelkey (2011:458) notes that Kathu and Mo'ang are not Southeastern Loloish languages.

See also

• Kathu word list (Wiktionary)

References

1. Kathu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-12-30. Retrieved 2018-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2015-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. ^ Hsiu, Andrew. 2014. "Mondzish: a new subgroup of Lolo-Burmese Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine". In Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14). Taipei: Academia Sinica.
5. Bradley, David. 1997. "Tibeto-Burman languages and classification". In Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas, Papers in South East Asian linguistics. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
6. Bradley, David. 2007. East and Southeast Asia. In Moseley, Christopher (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, 349-424. London & New York: Routledge.
7. Pelkey, Jamin. 2011. Dialectology as Dialectic: Interpreting Phula Variation. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

• Wu Zili . 2004. "Gasu language ". In Studies on selected languages of Yunnan , 486-513. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press . ISBN 7536730624

Further reading

• Hsiu, Andrew. 2014. "Mondzish: a new subgroup of Lolo-Burmese Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine". In Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14). Taipei: Academia Sinica.
• Wu Zili . 1994. A preliminary study of the Gasu language of Guangnan County, Yunnan Province . Minzu Yuwen 2. http://wuxizazhi.cnki.net/Search/MZYW402.006.html
• Wu Zili . 2004. "Gasu language ". In Studies on selected languages of Yunnan , 486-513. Kunming: Yunnan People's Press . ISBN 7536730624

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

• Mondzish languages