Name
Yi

Total Speakers
1,600,000 (1991)

Usage by Country
Officially Recognized Language: China

Background
It is a language used by the Yi people of China. It belongs to the Chinese-Tibetan tree, Tibetan-Burmese family, and Yi branch. The Yi people are the most populous minority in the Southwestern China. The number of Yi people in China is 5.45 million. It is the fourth largest minority group in China. They are mainly spread in the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guiz hou. There are also some in the Guangxi autonomous region. Some 5.06 million Yi people speak Yi while some 380,000 Yis' cannot speak Yi. There are differences among the various Yi dialects. Chinese is the language use d for communication among Yi people with different dialects.