ABSTRACT
The Bai language is spoken today by more than 1 million people of the Bai nationality, a scheduled minority ethnic group of the People’s Republic of China since the establishment of an autonomous prefecture of the same name in 1956. Speaker strength and density are concentrated in and around communities such as Xiaguan, Dali, Yunlong, Eryuan, Jianchuan, and Heqing, all located within the borders of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwest Yunnan. But Bai speakers are also found in other communities radiating outward in all directions from the autonomous prefecture: to the northwest in Weixi, northwards in Lijiang, to the southwest in Baoshan, southeast in Chuxiong, and in the Kunming area. Many native speakers of Bai are bilingual; in addition to bilingualism involving Chinese, depending on the situation, bilingualism involving Lisu, Yi, or Naxi is also common. Yunnan census data for 1990 report the Bai population within the province as 1.3 million. Bai population statistics should be viewed against the population of Yunnan as a whole, which in 1990 amounted to 36.9 million, of whom 24.6 million were Han Chinese. Compared to other ethnic minorities in Yunnan, the Bai people are second in numbers only to the Yi, of whom there were 4.5 million in 1990.
