Lalo dialects across time and space: subgrouping, dialectometry, and intelligibility

Abstract

This volume is the first work to systematically investigate the diachronic and synchronic relationships between regional varieties of Lalo, a Ngwi (Loloish) language cluster spoken in western Yunnan, China. The empirical basis for the research is linguistic data, as well as intelligibility tests and sociolinguistic interviews on contact, dialect perceptions, and ethnolinguistic vitality from nineteen Lalo-speaking villages. The volume uses these data to present a phonological and lexical reconstruction of Proto-Lalo, as well as a phylogenetic subgrouping of the different Lalo varieties. As a complement to this a synchronic classification of Lalo varieties according to phonetic distance, intelligibility, and speaker perceptions is also given. This combination of methodologies and results enable an integrated synchronic and diachronic depiction of Lalo dialect diversity