缅彝、壮侗、苗瑶语族和汉语在中国西南地区形成了一个联系松散的语言群体。 成百上千种语言共存于此，互相同化。它们有共同的语言表达方式， 诸如语法化了的介词、表示 “体” 的小品词等。 同时，各个语言也呈现出了显著的个性特征，这些个性特征并不存在于任何 与其系属或地域相同的语言中。本人在田野调查中发现了大量罕见的语音现象： 诺苏语中的双唇颤音，呢苏语的 11 个卷舌辅音，雄语中五对普通元音和鼻化 元音的对立；侗语中的九个声调，其中有两个是曲折调。 在形态上，罕见的现象包括：诺苏语中有语音象征性的指大/指小前缀； 倮倮语中的（未）完成双体小品词；纳瑟语中的两个认知情态小品词，北部侗语 的单/复数分类词；孤立语阿卯语中的屈折分类词。 在句法方面，有 4 种缅彝语在格标记和词序上表现出独特的表达方式。以及 三江侗语中的 6 个否定小品词，和牡语中的反事实连词。
The Burmese-Lolo, Tai-Kadai, Miao-Yao and Chinese languages form a loose Sprachbund in Southwest China with hundreds of languages coexisting and assimilating to each other. Shared language patterns include grammaticalized prepositions and aspect particles. Meanwhile individual languages showcase highly idiosyncratic properties not paralleled in any genetically or areally related language. In his fieldwork, the author encountered a range of rare sound phenomena: a bilabial trill in Nuosu, eleven retroflexive consonants in Neasu, five plain versus nasalized vowel pairs in Xong and nine contrastive tones in Kam two of which are undulated.
早在公元 650 年左右圣经部分经卷已经翻译为中古汉语。就古代圣经 翻译成果而言，中文与欧洲其他语言相当。至 2019 年中国 600 种 语言中，圣经经卷已被翻译成其中 70 种语言，比重占 12%。 本书分为两部分。第一部分陈述中国 70 种语言的圣经翻译历史。 第二部分描绘了中国西南地区四个少数民族群体（黔东南苗族、侗族、 黔西彝族、凉山彝族）的民族宗教图景。
Part of the Bible was translated into Middle Chinese as early as 650 A. D. placing Chinese at par with other European languages in terms of ancient Bible translations. By 2019, portions of the Bible were translated into 70 languages, a share of 12 percent of the approximately 600 languages spoken in China. This monograph is made up of two parts, frst, a state-of-the-art report of the Bible translation histories in 70 languages spoken in China and second, a collection of ethno-religious sketches of four ethnic groups residing in Southwest China: the Hmu (Miáo 苗 nationality), Kam (Dòng 侗 nationality), Neasu (Yí 彝 nationality) and Nuosu (Yí 彝 nationality) peoples.
This is the first modern grammar of Nuosu written in English. Nuosu belongs to a little known section of Tibeto-Burman. The 2.5 Million ethnic Nuosu are part of the Yi nationality and live in Sichuan (China). This grammar informs Tibeto-Burman linguists, typologists, scholars of language contact and foreign learners of Nuosu.
This monograph deals with grammaticalization of the verb in its early phase. The very productive metaphorical process which is in display in the verb-final languages ofthe Yi-group (Burmese-Lolo languages from south-West China) may be described by the Metaphor „States of affairs are objects“. This Metaphor and various other sub-Metaphors are based on the notion of Transfermetaphor and the hierarchie of metaphorical processes. grammaticalization motivated by the above Metaphor happens in the larger framework of PP (Predicate-Predicate) compounds and essentially leads to products lying in the realm of Delimitation, Phase, and Resultative State. This work is meant to draw the first half of the picture of all the products of grammaticalization in the damain of the verb. The focus is on Yi languages, but comparative data from the whole range of Bermese-Lolo languages will be presented in comprehensive tables. While the similarity in sound structure of these products of grammaticalization overwhelmingly points to the genetic relatedness of the Burmese-Lolo languages, the very ingredients of the underlying metaphorical processes are much less supportive of such a conclusion.