Samei language
language
Samei (autonym: sa21 ni53) is a Loloish language of Yunnan, China closely related to Sani. It is spoken in 47 villages in and around Ala Township 阿拉彝族乡, located in eastern Guandu District just southeast of downtown Kunming, as well as in 7 villages in western Yiliang County (Ethnologue). There are about 20,000 speakers out of an estimated 28,000 ethnic population.
Documentation
Ye (2020) contains a detailed description and 3,000-word list of Samei.
Samei lexical data is also documented in Satterthwaite-Phillips (2011).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Samei language” is language. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Samei and language, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “language” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7409269. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 2011.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Samei language”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Samei language primary sources, Samei language archive and Samei research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Samei language”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Samei language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.