Cun language

Cun (Chinese: 村语; meaning "village language/speech"), also known as Gelong (仡隆语 / 哥隆语) or Ngan-Fon, is a Kra–Dai language spoken on Hainan Island.[2] It is a part of the Hlai languages branch and has a lexical similarity with standard Hlai at 40%.[1] The language has approximately 80,000 speakers, 47,200 of which are monolingual. Cun is a tonal language with 10 tones, used depending on whether a syllable is checked or unchecked. The speakers of this language are classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Han; in Hainan, Nadou[3] and Lingao speakers are also classified as ethnic Han.[4]

Cun
仡隆语
Gelong
Native toChina
Regionwestern Hainan
Native speakers
80,000 (1999)[1]
Kra–Dai
  • Hlai
    • Central
      • North
        • Cun
Dialects
  • Nadou
Language codes
ISO 639-3cuq
Glottologcunn1236
ELPNadouhua

The Cun are descended from Han Chinese migrants to Hainan Island who intermarried with the local Li people. As a result, Cun has more Chinese loanwords than other Hlai languages.[5]

Nearby, the Fuma (Chinese: 付马话, 府玛话, or 富马话) dialect, a variety of Chinese similar to Gan-Hakka that has been strongly influenced by Cun, is spoken in Fuma Village 付马村, Sigeng Town 四更镇, Dongfang City.[6] It had about 800 speakers in 1994.[7]

References
  1. Cun at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Ouyang, Jueya 欧阳觉亚 (1998). Cunyu yanjiu 村语研究. Shanghai: Shanghai Far East Publishing House 上海远东出版社.
  3. Fu, Changzhong 符昌忠 (2020). Nadouyu yanjiu 那斗语研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe 民族出版社. OCLC 1294545717.
  4. Liang, Min 梁敏 (1997). Língāo yǔ yánjiū 临高语研究 [A Study of Lingao] (in Chinese). Shanghai: Shanghai yuandong chubanshe 上海远东出版社.
  5. Norquest, Peter K. 2015. A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai. Languages of Asia, Volume 13. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-30052-1
  6. Wang, Xueyan 王雪燕. 2016. Hainan Fumahua diaocha baogao 海南付马话调查报告. Beijing: Capital Normal University, Literature Institute 首都师范大学文学院.
  7. Fuma (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-02, retrieved 2012-10-16 – via asiaharvest.org
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