Languages with Few Speakers Nakhi or Moso

About the language Nakhi or Moso spoken in southern China one of the few pictographic systems in the world.

RARELY HEARD LANGUAGES

NAKHI

Box 1: The yak he dances there it is the custom

Box 2: on La-ts'u-hoddu gko

Box 3: the stag said he would like to dance there.

Box 4: For the stag

Box 5: to dance is not the custom,

Box 6: the elkskin shoes with the white front

Box 7: the sons of bitterness wear;

Box 8: the stag he dances there it is the custom.

Box 9: Where the pines are the young deer wanted to dance,

Box 10: the cloven-hoofed they sway in rhythm,

Box 11: they sway and dance as is the custom.

Box 12: All the people of the village.

Nakhi is spoken in Yunnan province, southern China, by about 140,000 people. Called Moso by the Chinese, its script represents one of the few pictographic systems still in use in the 20th century.

--Excerpt from Mun Ndzer A La Dzhu,

or Song of the Dead, Relating

the Origin of Bitterness