Kathu
Audio recordings (Kathu of Anwang, 2013): Andrew Hsiu. (2017). Kathu (Anwang) audio word list (2013). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1123235
Audio recordings (Kathu of Balong, 2013): Andrew Hsiu. (2017). Kathu (Balong) audio word list (2013). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1123233
Audio recordings (Kathu of Balong, 2015): Andrew Hsiu. (2017). Kathu (Balong) audio word list (2015). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1123357
Additional transcribed words (2015)
Comparative word list of 2014 Kathu data in Mondzish lexical database (2017)
May 7, 2015
The road to the Kathu villages is extremely rocky, and only one driver (“Xiaoliu” 小刘 who was from that area himself) was willing to take me up there, out of nearly 10 different drivers who said they wouldn't take anyone up there even if they were offered 500-600 yuan. A few decades ago, Kathu children had to walk 4 hours each way to school in Nanping Town, Guangnan County, Yunnan, China and then another 4 hours back, in addition to having to cook for themselves.
Kathu speakers said their ancestors came from “Jiangxi” 江西.
My Kathu informants were:
Wang Anxing 王安兴 (M), 60
Tian Huiping 田桂平 (F), 56
Kathu is also spoken in Dayashao 大牙扫, which also has many Zhuang speakers, just like in Balong.
The Kathu are known by many other local ethnic groups as “Flowery Buttocks” 花屁股.
There are 3 more Kathu villages located outside Nanping Township, namely Jiala 甲腊, Jiamu 甲墓, and Bazi 坝子, which are located in Laojing Village 老井村 of Dongbao Township 董堡乡 (located on the southern banks of the Xiyang River 西洋江). They had reported migrating over from the Anwang-Balong area, and the dialect is slightly different. All children speak the language.
May 18, 2015 was a festival during which the mouth-organ is played, and the dragon is worshiped. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to see the festival.
On April 20, 2013, I had also recorded Kathu of Nabi 那比 (locally Na4bi4), Nanping Township 南屏镇 and interviewed Wang Pingjin 王平金, a 49-year-old man.
Thou (autonym: θou⁵³) is spoken in Balong village 坝聋村, while Kathu (ka³³θu³³) is spoken further downhills in Anwang village 安王村. They are known locally to other ethnic groups as the White Yi. Both administrative villages are adjacent to each other, and are administered as part of Nanping Town, Guangnan County, Yunnan.
References
Hsiu, Andrew. 2014. "Mondzish: a new subgroup of Lolo-Burmese". In Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics (IsCLL-14). Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.