Kam language
Spoken in
- Tai - Kadai languages Kam - Tai languages Kam - Sui languages Dong
-
Tai ( other Kam - Tai languages)
Doc ( Northern Dong ) kmc, ( Southern Dong )
Dong ( proper name: LEEC Gaeml ) is the native language of the same name Dong - an indigenous ethnic group of China. It belongs to the family of Tai - Kadai languages, and is distantly related to the Zhuang and Thai languages . Being a complex tonal language, it has 13 different tones. The language is usually written down in Chinese characters. A developed in 1958, based on the Latin alphabet Dong- writing could hardly prevail. The language is at times under threat as the younger generation usually only speaks Chinese. Only in remote areas, children are still growing with Dong on as their mother tongue.
Ethnologue distinguishes two Dong dialects as separate languages with the codes doc and kmc.
Phonology and orthography
Initial sounds
Dong has 32 possible Silbenanlaute, of which seven ( ʧ, ʧ ʰ -, ʃ, ɻ, f, ʦ and ʦ ʰ - ) occur only in loanwords from Chinese.
End of a word
Dong has 64 possible Silbenauslaute, 14 of which occur only in Chinese and foreign words are not listed in the following table.
The phonetic value of the vowel in the Auslauten, the - from, -ad and ag are written, is [ ɐ ] in syllables with tones -l,- p, and- c (see below), in syllables with tones -s, - t and x, however, [a]. The phonetic value of the vowel in the Auslauten that -eb be written, - ed and - ec is [ ə ] in syllables with tones -l,- p, and- c, in syllables in the tones -s,- t and - x [ s ].
Tones
Dong is a tonal language. Open syllables come in nine different colors, so some linguists distinguish closed syllables in six 13 different tones. In the official spelling the sounds are designated by letters that are readjusted the syllable.