Pholo language


Pholo is an unclassified Loloish language of Yunnan, China. Although culturally associated with the Phula languages, Pelkey does not consider it to be linguistically related to the Phula languages.
Pholo speakers are also referred to as Black Phula and Flowery Phula.

Classification

Pelkey specifically excludes Pholo, noting that it does not share the defining features of Southeastern Loloish. However, Lama classifies Pholo as a Southeastern Loloish language, and considers it to be most closely related to Zokhuo

Distribution

Pholo speakers are most densely concentrated in :
Other Pholo speakers are found in :
The following Pholo lexical items along with their Proto-Ngwi reconstructed proto-forms are from Pelkey.
GlossPholoProto-Ngwi
bee*bya²
taro*blum²
silver*plu¹
face*pyu²
destroy*pyakH
change*C-plekL
pus*m-bliŋ¹
full*m-bliŋ³
fly *b-yam¹
lightning*b-lyapL
release*pyiŋ²
eagle*ʔ-glaŋ²
stab*m-gya²
excrement*ʔ-kle²
load *ʔ-kun³/²

Most, but not all, of the Pholo words above do not share the following innovations that define Southeastern Ngwi.
  1. Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *
  2. Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *
  3. Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *
  4. Proto-Ngwi * and * > Proto-Southeastern Ngwi *
Other Pholo words from Pelkey :
More Pholo words are documented in YYFC, part of which are quoted in Lama.