Endangered Languages Project

The Ethnologue Ersu [ers] contains three mutually unintelligible languages, i.e. Duoxu /do³³-ɕu³³-na³¹/ (central Ersu), Ersu /ə́˞súxò/ (eastern Ersu), and Lisu /lîzûhû/ or /lŷzûhû/ (western Ersu).

ALSO KNOWN AS		爾蘇語
CLASSIFICATION		Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Qiangic
ORTHOGRAPHY		Shaba; IPA; roman scripts
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		ers
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS		Note that is entry only contains information on Ersu (eastern Ersu). Documentation project “Ersu and Xumi: Comparative and Cross-Varietal Documentation of Highly Endangered Languages of South-West China” by CNRS-CRLAO (France), Sichuan Minorities Institute, and Xichang College, supported by the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (grant number MPD0257), 2013-2016.

Compare Sources (5)

Information from: “Personal communication on Ersu” . Chirkova, Katia (2015)

Threatened

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
~13000
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
16800 (Wang Dehe 2010)

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"fully proficient speakers are all in their 60s or older; children still learn the language at home. Ersu is essentially used as the primary language of oral communication in family and community events."

SPEAKER ATTITUDE

neutral to positive

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Southwestern Mandarin; Nuosu

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

"Older Ersu speakers (typically above their sixties) are mostly trilingual (Ersu, SW Mandarin, Nuosu). Over the last three decades, most Ersu speakers have been bilingual using SW Mandarin in daily life. The current trend for the school-going generation is to become practically monolingual in Mandarin."

Scripts (Writing system)

Shaba; IPA; roman scripts

More on Orthography

"Ersu has its own pictographic writing system, known as shaba (Ersu /ṣàpá/‘ritual priest’) writing, which is chiefly used by Bon priests. In 2014, Chirkova and Wang Dehe developed a Romanization system (see http://wdh51818.blog.163.com/blog/static/418964201532325438373/). It is currently used in Ersu traditional story annotations for ELAR (ELDP) and for the Ersu-Mandarin Dictionary (by Wang & Chirkova, in preparation)."

PLACES: China

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Five counties in Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China: (i) Ganluo, and (ii) Yuexi counties of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, (iii) Shimian and (iv) Hanyuan counties of Ya’an Municipality, and (iv) Jiulong, brgyad zur county of Ganzi, dkar mdzes Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
15,000
Native speakers worldwide

Threatened

40 percent certain, based on the evidence available
~15,000
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
~20,000

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: They are included in the Tibetan nationality, but speak a distinct Xifan language. The eastern part of their traditional territory is now heavily populated with Nuosu.

PLACES: China

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Southwestern Sichuan, eastern Jiulong, Mianning, western Puge, Yuexi, and Ganluo and northern Muli counties

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
9,000
Native speakers worldwide

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
20,000
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
20,000 (Shearer and Sun 2002). 500 monolinguals. Ersu (Eastern Ersu, 13,000), Duoxu (Central Ersu, 3000), Lizu (Western Ersu, 4000).

DATE OF INFO: 2002

PLACES: China;

	3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger				UNESCO Publishing	Paris	http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub		15,000		10000-99999									Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)							28.7778,102.1277
		2007	East and Southeast Asia	Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages	349-424	C. Moseley	London & New York: Routledge			David Bradley	Bradley, David. 2007. "East and Southeast Asia." In Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, edited by C. Moseley. 349-424. London & New York: Routledge.	HHOLD	~20,000	~15,000		10000-99999						They are included in the Tibetan nationality, but speak a distinct Xifan language. The eastern part of their traditional territory is now heavily populated with Nuosu.			Threatened (40 percent certain, based on the evidence available)				12	China	Southwestern Sichuan, eastern Jiulong, Mianning, western Puge, Yuexi, and Ganluo and northern Muli counties
November 12		2015	Personal communication on Ersu							Chirkova, Katia	Chirkova, Katia. 2015. Personal communication on Ersu (November 12).		16800 (Wang Dehe 2010)	~13000		10000-99999		official domains and daily life	Southwestern Mandarin; Nuosu	no	neutral to positive	"Older Ersu speakers (typically above their sixties) are mostly trilingual (Ersu, SW Mandarin, Nuosu). Over the last three decades, most Ersu speakers have been bilingual using SW Mandarin in daily life. The current trend for the school-going generation is to become practically monolingual in Mandarin."	no	all	Threatened (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	11	"fully proficient speakers are all in their 60s or older; children still learn the language at home. Ersu is essentially used as the primary language of oral communication in family and community events."	13	12	China	Five counties in Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China: (i) Ganluo, and (ii) Yuexi counties of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, (iii) Shimian and (iv) Hanyuan counties of Ya’an Municipality, and (iv) Jiulong, brgyad zur county of Ganzi, dkar mdzes Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	28.966069, 102.771749
			World Oral Literature Project						http://www.oralliterature.org		"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.			9,000		1000-9999									Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
	16	2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)			M. Paul Lewis	SIL International	Dallas, TX	http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub		20,000	2002	10000-99999	20,000 (Shearer and Sun 2002). 500 monolinguals. Ersu (Eastern Ersu, 13,000), Duoxu (Central Ersu, 3000), Lizu (Western Ersu, 4000).								Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)					China;

Ersu

Language metadata

Language information by source

Threatened

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~13000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

15,000

Threatened

40 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~15,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

9,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,000

Discussion

Ersu

Language metadata

Language information by source

Threatened

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~13000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

15,000

Threatened

40 percent certain, based on the evidence available

~15,000

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

9,000

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

20,000

Discussion

Suggest information or improvement

Download language data

Sources of information

Compare Sources