ěrsū / 尔苏
Ersu
Sino-Tibetan (Qiangic)
Data sources: Wikipedia (Ersu language; Ersu Shaba script), Ethnologue, Glottolog, Journal of the International Phonetic Association article by Chirkova et al. (2015), Endangered Languages Archive. Geographic center based on Ganluo County (primary Ersu-speaking region in Liangshan). Vocabulary data derived from limited accessible published sources; confidence MEDIUM-LOW due to difficulty accessing the comprehensive 5,000-entry Ersu-Chinese Dictionary in ELAR. IPA transcriptions represent Ersu hi [Provisional - limited documentation; readings pending native-speaker verification.]
Where it is spoken
20 core words in Ersu
Water
ḍẓó
/ɖʐó/
Fire
pʰù
/pʰù/
Sun
ȵo˥ma˥
/ɲɔ˥ma˥/
Moon
ȵo˥ma˥
/ɲɔ˥ma˥/
Mother
ɑmà
/ɑma/
Father
ɑpà
/ɑpa/
Eat
tʂʰə
/tʂʰə/
Drink
ɕə
/ɕə/
Love
ŋɑ́
/ŋɑ/
Heart
tʂʰɑ́
/tʂʰɑ/
Tree
ʂɑ˥
/ʂɑ˥/
House
kʰɔ
/kʰɔ/
Dog
ʈɽʰò
/ʈɽʰò/
Cat
bv̩
/bvə̃/
Hand
phɔ́
/pʰɔ/
Eye
mík
/mik/
Hello
ni
/ni/
Thank you
kʰa˩dʑí
/kʰa˩dʑi/
One
tə
/tə/
Good
zə́
/zə/
Words compared
Compared with related Sino-Tibetan (Qiangic) languages
| Meaning | Ersu | Drung | Amdo Tibetan | Southern Qiang | Mru | Ladakhi | Classical Tibetan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | ḍẓó /ɖʐó/ | ʃə /ʃə/ | ཆུ་ /tʂʰu/ | tʃʰu /tʃʰu/ | o /ɔ/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ | ཆུ /tɕʰu/ |
| Fire | pʰù /pʰù/ | məə /məː/ | མེ་ /mɛ/ | miː /miː/ | mai wa /mɑɪ wɑ/ | མེ /me/ | མེ /me/ |
| Sun | ȵo˥ma˥ /ɲɔ˥ma˥/ | nɯ /nɯ/ | ཉི་མ་ /ɲəmɑ/ | ɲit /ɲit/ | thum /θum/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ | ཉི་མ /ɲima/ |
| Moon | ȵo˥ma˥ /ɲɔ˥ma˥/ | məŋ /məŋ/ | ཟླ་བ་ /dʐɑwɑ/ | ʐwaː /ʐwaː/ | la /lə/ | ཟླ་བ /zlawa/ | ཟླ་བ /dawa/ |
| Mother | ɑmà /ɑma/ | ma /ma/ | ཨ་མ་ /ɑ mɑ/ | miː /miː/ | au /əʔu/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ | ཨ་མ /ama/ |
| Father | ɑpà /ɑpa/ | pa /pa/ | ཕ་ /pʰɑ/ | pə /pə/ | pa /pə/ | ཨ་པ /apa/ | ཕ /pʰa/ |
| Eat | tʂʰə /tʂʰə/ | ʃə /ʃə/ | ཟ་ /zɑ/ | tʃʰə /tʃʰə/ | tsa /tsɑ/ | ཟ /za/ | བཟའ /za/ |
| Drink | ɕə /ɕə/ | pə /pə/ | ཐུང་ /tʰuŋ/ | ʂu /ʂu/ | kham /kʰɑm/ | འཐུང /tʰuŋ/ | འཐུང /tʰuŋ/ |
| Love | ŋɑ́ /ŋɑ/ | ʃit /ʃit/ | དགའ་ /ɡɑ/ | pʰo /pʰo/ | akiet /əkiɛt/ | དགའ /ɡa/ | དགའ་བ /ɡawa/ |
| Heart | tʂʰɑ́ /tʂʰɑ/ | ʃəŋ /ʃəŋ/ | སེམས་ /sɛm/ | ɲit /ɲit/ | tsak /tsʰɑk/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ | སྙིང /ɲiŋ/ |
| Tree | ʂɑ˥ /ʂɑ˥/ | sim /sim/ | ཤིང་ /ʂɪŋ/ | tʃʰoː /tʃʰoː/ | tshing /tsʰɪŋ/ | ཤིང /ʃiŋ/ | ཤིང /ɕiŋ/ |
| House | kʰɔ /kʰɔ/ | im /im/ | ཁང་ /kʰɑŋ/ | kʰə /kʰə/ | khim /kʲɪm/ | ཁང་པ /kʰaŋpa/ | ཁྱིམ /tɕʰim/ |
| Dog | ʈɽʰò /ʈɽʰò/ | kʰja /kʰja/ | ཁྱི་ མོ་ /tʂʰə mɔ/ | kʰwe /kʰwe/ | takui /təkuɪ/ | ཁྱི /kʰi/ | ཁྱི /tɕʰi/ |
| Cat | bv̩ /bvə̃/ | tsa /tsʰa/ | ཀུ་ཕ་ /kufa/ | maː /maː/ | tamin /təmɪn/ | བྱི་ལ /pila/ | བྱི་ལ /bila/ |
| Hand | phɔ́ /pʰɔ/ | kə /kə/ | ལག་པ་ /læɡ hɑ/ | kʰaː /kʰaː/ | bong /boŋ/ | ལག་པ /lakpa/ | ལག་པ /lakpa/ |
| Eye | mík /mik/ | mik /mik/ | མིག་ /mik/ | mit /mit/ | mik /mɪk/ | མིག /mik/ | མིག /mik/ |
| Hello | ni /ni/ | ŋeŋ /ŋeŋ/ | བདེ་མོ་ /bdeː mo/ | niə /niə/ | namaskaro /nɑməskɑro/ | ཇུ་ལེ /dʑule/ | བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས /tʂaʃi deleks/ |
| Thank you | kʰa˩dʑí /kʰa˩dʑi/ | tʃʰɔ /tʃʰɔ/ | དགེ་ /ŋeɕɑ ŋeɕɑ/ | — /—/ | dhanyabad /dʰənəbɑd/ | ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ /tʰuktɕetɕʰe/ | ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ /tʰukdʑe tɕʰe/ |
| One | tə /tə/ | tik /tik/ | གཅིག་ /tʂik/ | tʃʰik /tʃʰik/ | lok /ləkː/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ | གཅིག /tɕik/ |
| Good | zə́ /zə/ | la /la/ | ཡག་པོ་ /jɑkpɑ/ | kʰo /kʰo/ | ayong /əjoŋ/ | ཡག་པོ /jakpo/ | ཡག་པོ /jakpo/ |
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