Dong (language)
Dong | ||
---|---|---|
Spoken in |
China | |
speaker | 2.4 million | |
Linguistic classification |
||
Language codes | ||
ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
ISO 639 -2 |
tai (other Kam-Tai languages) |
|
ISO 639-3 |
doc (Northern Dong), kmc (Southern Dong) |
Dong (own name: leec Gaeml ) is the mother tongue of the Dong of the same name - an indigenous ethnic group in China. It belongs to the Tai Kadai family and is distantly related to the Zhuang and Thai languages. As a complex tonal language , it has 13 different tones. The language is usually written down with Chinese characters. A Dong script based on the Latin alphabet, developed in 1958, was barely able to establish itself. The language is threatened in places as the younger generation mostly only speaks Chinese . Only in remote areas do the children still grow up with Dong as their mother tongue.
Ethnologue distinguishes two Dong dialects as separate languages with the codes doc and kmc .
According to Tilman Spengler, numerous subdialects can be distinguished in addition to the northern and southern dialect, such as the old dong , the light dong and the dong of dawn ; came lan , came dew and came tan . The name "dong" ( dòng , 侗) comes from Chinese, but was previously written with a character for cave (洞) in order to degrade the people as barbarians.
Phonology and Spelling
Initial sounds
Dong has 32 possible syllable sounds, seven of which (ʧ-, ʧʰ-, ʃ-, ɻ-, f-, ʦ- and ʦʰ-) occur only in foreign words from Chinese.
IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p | b | t | d | ʨ | j | k | G | ʧ | zh |
pʰ | p | tʰ | t | ʨʰ | q | kʰ | k | ʧʰ | ch |
m | m | n | n | nʲ | ny | ŋ | ng | ʃ | sh |
w | w | l | l | ɕ | x | H | H | ɻ | r |
p | bi | s | s | j | y | kʷ | gu | f | f |
pʰʲ | pi | lʲ | left | kʷʰ | ku | ʦ | z | ||
ŋʷ | ngu | ʦʰ | c |
Finals
Dong has 64 possible syllable endings, 14 of which only occur in Chinese foreign words and are not listed in the following table.
IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | a | ə | e | e | ee | i | i | O | O | u | u / uu | ||
aɪ | ai | əɪ | egg | oɪ | oi | uɪ | ui | ||||||
aʊ | ao | eʊ | eeu | iʊ | iu | oʊ | ou | ||||||
at the | at the | ɐm | aem | əm | em | em | eem | in the | in the | om | om | around | around |
on | on | ɐn | aen | ən | en | en | eem | in | in | on | on | U.N | U.N |
on | nec | ɐŋ | aeng | əŋ | closely | eŋ | eeng | in | ing | oŋ | ong | U.N | ung |
ap | from | ɐp | from | əp | eb | ep | eb | ip | ib | op | if | up | ub |
at | ad | ɐt | ad | ət | ad | et | ed | it | id | ot | or | ||
ak | ag | ɐk | ag | ək | eg | ek | eg | ik | ig | OK | above | uk | ug |
The sound value of the vowel in the finals written -ab, -ad and -ag is [ɐ] in syllables with the tones -l, -p and -c (see below), in syllables with the tones -s, - t and -x on the other hand [a]. The sound value of the vowel in the finals written -eb, -ed and -eg is [ə] in syllables with the tones -l, -p and -c, in syllables with the tones -s, -t and - x [e].
Sounds
Dong is a tonal language. Open syllables occur in nine different tones, closed syllables in six, so that some linguists distinguish 13 different tones. In the official spelling, the tones are designated by letters that are placed after the syllable.
course | 55 | 35 | 11 | 323 | 13 | 31 | 53 | 453 | 33 |
Gaeml | -l | -p | -c | -s | -t | -x | -v | -k | -H |
Example with an open syllable | bal | pap | bac | bas | qat | miax | bav | pak | bah |
meaning | fish | Gray | rake | aunt | light | knife | leaf | break something | chaff |
Example with a closed syllable | bedl | sedp | medc | bads | pads | bagx | |||
meaning | duck | seven | ant | Can? | blood | White |
Footnotes
- ^ Ethnologue: Language Family Trees - Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Kam-Sui
- ^ Tilman Spengler : Die Dong: A life like in the times of the emperor In: GEO , March 1991, pp. 111-124
literature
- Ōu Hēngyuán 欧亨 元: Cic deenx Gaeml Gax / Dòng-Hàn cídiǎn侗 汉 词典 ( Dong-Chinese dictionary ; Běijīng 北京, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族 出版社 2004), ISBN 7-105-06287-8 .
- Liáng Mǐn 粱 敏, Dòngyǔ jiănzhì 侗 语 简 志 (an outline of the Dòng language ; Běijīng 北京, Rénmín chūbǎnshè 人 民族 出版社 1980).