 There are 13,000 speakers according to Sun (1982).Yu (2012) lists three varieties of Ersu, all of which are spoken in southern Sichuan.Ersu is currently categorized as a member of the southern subgroup of the Qiangic branch within the Sino-Tibetan language family, though there is debate over the classification due to the lack of information about the language history and the precise criteria underlying the grouping not being specified.