1.1 Definition and genealogical position

‘Naxi’ (Nàxī 納西) is commonly used in Chinese scholarship as a cover term for a range of language varieties related to the Naxi language as spoken in Lìjiāng 麗江, in Northwestern Yúnnán. The same usage was followed until recently in the Ethnologue inventory of languages (code: NBF). The diversity of this set of "dialects" or "languages" is increasingly recognized, however, witness the creation of two distinct entries in Ethnologue as from May 2011: N…