Alternate Names: Ai Sui, Shui, Sui Li, Suipo
Dialects: Pandong, Sandong (Central Sui, Southern Sui), Yang’an. Some communication difficulty between dialects. Sandong (Central) is the standard and most intelligible in the area (Castro 2011).
Status Notes: Language of recognized nationality: Shui.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 300,000 in China (Bradley 2007). Population total all countries: 300,120. Ethnic population: 407,000 (2000 census).
Language Use: Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Positive attitudes. 100,000 also use Chinese [zho]. Bilingualism is low in the main areas. Written Chinese is in use. Used as L2 by Bouyei [pcc].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 0%. Literacy rate in L2: 78% in any language for Shui nationality (2000 census). Not formally taught. Poetry. Dictionary.
Typology: SVO; noun head initial; 70 onsets, 50 rhymes; 8 tones (Wei and Edmondson 2008).
Writing System: Han (Hanzi), Han (Kanji), Han (Hanja)
Nation of Origin: China
Other Comments: Traditional religion.