A Study of the Genetic Affiliation (Branch Classification) of the Namuyi Language
This technical linguistics article compares Namuyi — a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by several thousand people classified as ethnic Tibetans in Sichuan's Liangshan and Ganzi prefectures — against the Qiangic and Yi (Loloish) branches, including Naxi, to resolve a disputed branch classification. Comparing phonology (uvulars, affricate inventories, prenasalized consonants, consonant codas, tone), vocabulary (cognate percentages against thirteen Tibeto-Burman languages, with sound-correspondence analysis against Qiang, Yi, and Naxi), and grammar (verb person/number marking, directional categories, mood/aspect marking), the author argues Namuyi lacks the complex consonant clusters, verb agreement, and directional prefixes typical of Qiangic languages, while sharing the simpler phonology, fixed tone, and analytic grammar of the Yi branch. Cognate rates are highest with Naxi (52.26%) and Yi (47.45%), far exceeding Qiang (about 22%). The author concludes Namuyi belongs to the Yi branch, not Qiangic, and is most closely related to Naxi.
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