Chesu language

Chesu
Native to	China
Ethnicity	Yi
Native speakers	3,300 (2007)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Lolo–Burmese Loloish Nisoish Northern Loloish Nasoid Chesu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ych
Glottolog	ches1238
ELP	Chesu

Chesu 车苏 is a Loloish language spoken in southern Shuangbai County, northern Xinping County, and Eshan County in Yunnan, China.

The Chesu refer to themselves as tsu su³³pa²¹[2] or tɕi²¹su⁵⁵pho²¹ (Jishupo 吉输颇).[3] Yunnan (1955) reports that Chesu is spoken mostly in Taihe Township 太和乡, with a population of over 360 as of 1955.[2] Ethnologue reports 3,300 Chesu speakers out of an ethnic population of 6,600 people, as of 2007.[1]

Bradley (2007) reports that Chesu is closely related to Nasu and classifies it as a Nasoid language. Chesu speakers consider themselves to be a separate ethnic group from the surrounding Nisu speakers. The Chesu language is currently being replaced by Nisu and Chinese.[4]

In Eshan County, Chesu is also used as a second language by Hlersu speakers.[1]

References

1. Chesu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. 云南民族识别参考资料 (1955), p.40
3. Long Luogui 龙倮贵. 2007. Honghe yizu zuyuan zucheng ji qi renkou fenbu 红河彝族族源族称及其人口分布 Archived 2017-12-22 at the Wayback Machine.
4. Bradley, David. 2007. East and Southeast Asia. In Moseley, Christopher (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, 349-424. London & New York: Routledge.