Sani–Azha languages
| Nisoish | |
|---|---|
| Southeastern Loloish | |
| Ethnicity | Yi people, Phula people |
| Geographic distribution |
Southern China, Vietnam |
| Linguistic classification |
Sino-Tibetan
|
| Glottolog | sout3212 |
The Nisoish languages, also known in reduced scope as Southeastern Loloish, are a branch of the Loloish languages in recent classifications. It was established by Bradley (2002) from Southern Loloish, and further refined by Pelkey (2011) and Lama (2012), who includes several of Thurgood's Northern Loloish languages.
Jamin Pelkey (2011) calls the clade Southeastern Loloish (or Southeastern Ngwi). Within it he lists:
Pelkey (2011:353) specifically excludes Pholo, noting that although it has been closely associated with speakers of Southeastern Ngwi languages historically, it does not share the defining features of the branch. Also, Pelkey (2011) notes that Southeastern Ngwi may be most closely related to Northern Ngwi (including Nosu and Nasu), which is in line with Lama's (2012) proposal of a Nisoish clade.
Pelkey (2011:356-365) lists the following sound changes from Proto-Ngwi as Southeastern Ngwi innovations.
Lama calls the clade Nisoish. He adds a couple northern languages such as Nuosu and Nasu which were not included in Pelkey, but does not directly classify many languages which are acknowledged to be closely related to ones which are included. The languages he does address he classifies into three groups, Nisoid, Axioid, and Puoi, and arranges as follows:
Lope (Awu)
Nuosu (incl. Qumusu, Niesu)
...
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