Oroqen language
Oroqen /ˈɒrətʃɛn, ˈɒroʊ-/ ORR-ə-chen, ORR-oh- ( Oroqen Urkun; ɔrɔtʃeen ulguur; also known as Orochon, Oronchon, Olunchun, Elunchun or Ulunchun) is a Northern Tungusic language spoken in the People's Republic of China. Dialects are Gankui and Heilongjiang. Gankui is the standard dialect.[1] It is spoken by the Oroqen people of Inner Mongolia (predominantly the Oroqin Autonomous Banner) and Heilongjiang in Northeast China.[2]
Oroqen | |
---|---|
Oroqen Language | |
Oroqen Urkun; ɔrɔtʃeen ulguur | |
Native to | China |
Region | China: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang |
Ethnicity | Oroqen |
Native speakers | c. 3,789 (2009)[1] |
Tungusic
| |
Dialects |
|
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | orh |
Glottolog | oroq1238 |
ELP | Oroqen |
Since the 1980s, Oroqen-language materials were produced by teachers in Oroqen-speaking areas. They based the language's orthography either on IPA or Pinyin. A majority of Oroqen speakers use Chinese as a literary language and some also speak Daur.
Geographic distribution
Oroqen is spoken in the following counties of China:[1]
Sample text
Listed below are some Oroqen sentences.[3] They are transcribed in Oroqen Fonetic Alphabet.
Arian has three elder brothers. | Arian ilan axtʃi. |
The children are all come in. | Kʊxɑː səl ku əmtʃə. |
Arian's elder brother is coming. | Arian axninin əmtʃə. |
I'm a student. | Pi pite turan. |
You're taller than me | ʃi mintu gʊkta. |
The house is neat and tidy. | Ər dʒuː tʃaldaː le |
Arian untied the rope | Arian uʃixəmʊə puditʃə |
How many children do you have? | ʃi ati kʊxa tʃi piʃiniʔ |
Arian took off his clothes |
Arian kantaxʊə purmə ədədʒə. |
Phonology
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | |
voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | ||
Fricative | ɸ | ʃ | x ~ [ɣ] ~ [h] | |||
Rhotic | r | |||||
Approximant | l | j | w |
- Allophones of /x/ are heard as [ɣ], [h].
- A bilabial /ɸ/ can also be heard as a labio-dental [f].
- A rhotic trill /r/ tends to sound as a tap [ɾ], when occurring word-finally.
Notes
- Oroqen at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- "Did you know Oroqen is severely endangered?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
- "WOLD -". wold.clld.org. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
- Hu, Zengyi (1986). Elunchun-yu jianzhi [Concise grammar of Oroqen]. Beijing: National Minorities Publ. pp. 3–19.
External links
- Oroqen Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database)
- Oroqen Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix)
- Oroqen alphabet from Omniglot