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Kam language

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Not to be confused with Kam language (Nigeria).
Kam
Gaeml
Native toChina
RegionGuizhou, Hunan, Guangxi
Native speakers
(undated figure of 1½ million)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
doc – Northern Dong
kmc – Southern Dong
cov – Cao Miao
Glottologkami1255
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Kam language, also known as Gam (autonym: lix Gaeml), or in Chinese, Dong or Tung-Chia, is the language of the Dong people. Ethnologue distinguishes two Kam dialects as separate but closely related languages with the codes doc and kmc.

Dialects

The Kam language can be divided into two major subdivisions, Southern Kam and Northern Kam (Yang & Edmondson 2008).[2] Northern Kam displays more Chinese influence and lacks vowel length contrast, while Southern Kam is more conservative.

Southern Kam
  • First lectal area: Róngjiāng Zhānglǔ (榕江县章鲁村), Lípíng Hóngzhōu (黎平县洪州镇), Jǐnpíng Qǐméng (锦屏县启蒙镇) in Guizhou; Tōngdào (通道县) in Hunan; Longsheng (龙胜县) and Sanjiang Dudong (三江侗族自治县独峒乡) in Guangxi
  • Second lectal area: Lípíng Shuǐkǒu (黎平县水口镇), Cóngjiāng Guàndòng (从江县贯洞镇), Róngjiāng Píngjiāng (榕江县平江乡) in Guizhou; Sānjiāng Hélǐ (三江侗族自治县和里村) in Guangxi
  • Third lectal area: Zhènyuǎn Bàojīng (镇远县报京乡) in Guizhou
  • Fourth lectal area: Róngshuǐ (融水苗族自治县) in Guangxi
Northern Kam
  • First lectal area: Tiānzhù Shídòng (天柱县石洞镇), Sānsuì Kuǎnchǎng (三穗县款场), Jiànhé Xiǎoguǎng (剑河县小广侗寨) in Guizhou
  • Second lectal area: Tiānzhù Zhǔxī (天柱县注溪乡) in Guizhou
  • Third lectal area: Jǐnpíng Dàtóng (锦屏县大同乡) in Guizhou

Long (2012)[3] classifies the Kam lectal areas (dialects) as follows.

Southern Kam
Northern Kam

In Congjiang County, Dong consists of three dialects: Jiudong 九洞 (similar to Chejiang 车江 Dong), Liudong 六洞 (similar to Liping 黎平 Dong), and another dialect spoken in Xishan 西山, Bingmei 丙梅, and Guandong 贯洞 (similar to Sanjiang 三江 Dong) (Congjiang County Almanac 1999:109).

In Suining County, Hunan, Dong is spoken in Lianfeng 联丰 (including Duolong 多龙村), Huangsangping 黄桑坪, Le'anpu 乐安铺, and other nearby locations.[4] In Chengbu County, Hunan, Dong is spoken in Yanzhai 岩寨, Chang'anying 长安营, and Jiangtousi 江头司.[5]

Kam is also spoken in the single village of Đồng Mộc, Trung Sơn Commune, Yên Sơn District, Tuyên Quang Province, northern Vietnam,[6] where there are about 35 Kam people (Edmondson & Gregerson 2001).[7] The Kam of Đồng Mộc had migrated to Vietnam from China about 150 years ago. The Kam variety spoken in Đồng Mộc is most similar to that of Lípíng Shuǐkǒu (黎平县水口镇) in southeastern Guizhou, China.

In China, a total of six counties designated as Dong Autonomous Counties (侗族自治县).

Cao Miao

Cao Miao is a variety of Dong (Kam) according to Shi Lin (2012).[8] Dialects include Liushi ("Sixty") Miao 六十苗, Sishi ("Forty") Miao 四十苗, and Ershi ("Twenty") Miao 二十苗 (also known as Flowery Miao 花苗). The Flowery Miao 花苗 do not consider themselves to be Cao Miao 草苗, although they speak a similar language.

Sishi Miao 四十苗 is spoken in these townships:[8]

Below are languages and their respective locations studied by Shi Lin (2012).[8]

  • Liushi Miao 六十苗: Qifan 起凡 (in Liping), Dagaoping 大高坪 (in Tongdao), Gaoyu 高宇 (in Sanjiang)
  • Sishi Miao 四十苗: Tanghua 堂华 (in Tongdao)
  • Ershi Miao 二十苗: Kenxi 肯溪 (in Tongdao)
  • Southern Dong: Longcheng 陇城 (in Tongdao), Chengyang 程阳 (in Sanjiang)
  • Northern Dong: Xiudong 秀洞 (in Jinping), Sanmentang 三门塘 (in Tianzhu)

Ethnic Cao Miao also live in the following townships.[9]

The Flowery Miao live in Luoxiang 洛香镇, Congjiang County; Wochong 锅冲乡 and Gaodaping 大高坪, Tongdao County; Deshun 德顺乡, Liping County. In Liping County, they are also known as the "Flowery-Clothed Miao" (花衣苗) (Liping County Almanac 1989:153). According to Shi Lin (2012), Flowery Miao 花苗 (Ershi Miao 二十苗) is spoken in these townships:[8]

Others

According to the Shaoyang Prefecture Gazetteer (1997), language varieties closely related to Southern Kam are spoken in Naxi 那溪, Dongkou County (which had 4,280 ethnic Yao in 1982 (Chen 2013:39)) and Lianmin 联民, Suining County. However, they are officially classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Yao, not Dong. Chen Qiguang (2013:39)[10] reports that the ancestors of Naxihua 那溪话 speakers had migrated to their current location from Tianzhu, Liping, and Yuping counties of southeastern Guizhou during the early 1400s.

Phonology and orthography

Initials

Kam has 32 syllable-initial consonants; seven of them (tʃ-, tʃʰ-, ʃ-, ɻ-, f-, ts- and tsʰ-) only occur in recent loanwords from Chinese.

IPA Gaeml IPA Gaeml IPA Gaeml IPA Gaeml IPA Gaeml
p b t d tɕ j k g tʃ zh
pʰ p tʰ t tɕʰ q kʰ k tʃʰ ch
m m n n nʲ ny ŋ ng ʃ sh
w w l l ɕ x h h ɻ r
pʲ bi s s j y kʷ gu f f
pʲʰ pi lʲ li kʷʰ ku ts z
ŋʷ ngu tsʰ c

Finals

Kam has 64 syllable finals; 14 of them occur only in Chinese loans and are not listed in the table below.

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 ei oɪ oi uɪ ui
aʊ ao eʊ eeu iʊ iu oʊ ou
am am ɐm aem əm em em eem im im om om um um
an an ɐn aen ən en en een in in on on un un
aŋ ang ɐŋ aeng əŋ eng eŋ eeng iŋ ing oŋ ong uŋ ung
ap ab ɐp ab əp eb ep eb ip ib op ob up ub
at ad ɐt ad ət ad et ed it id ot od
ak ag ɐk ag ək e.g. ek e.g. ik ig ok og uk ug

The phonetic value of the vowel in the finals spelled -ab, -ad and -ag, is [ɐ] in syllables that have the tones -l, -p and -c (see table below); in syllables with tones -s, -t and -x, it is [a]. The phonetic value of the vowel in the finals spelled -eb, -ed and -eg, is [ə] in syllables that have the tones -l, -p and -c; in syllables with tones -s, -t and -x, it is [e].

Tones

Kam is a tonal language. Open syllables can occur in one of nine different tones, checked syllables in six tones (so-called entering tones), so that the traditional approach counts fifteen tones. As with the Hmong alphabet, the orthography marks tones with a consonant at the end of each syllable.

tone contour: ˥ ˧˥ ˩ ˧˨˧ ˩˧ ˧˩ ˥˧ ˦˥˧ ˧
high high rising low dipping low rising low falling high falling peaking mid
/55/ /35/ /212/ /323/ /13/ /31/ /53/ /453/ /33/
Orthography: -l -p -c -s -t -x -v -k -h
example
(open syllable)		 bal pap bac bas qat miax bav pak bah
"fish" "grey" "rake" "aunt" "light" "knife" "leaf" "destroy" "chaff"
example
(checked syllable)		 bedl sedp medc bads pads bagx
"duck" "seven" "ant" "can"? "blood" "white"

References

  1. ^ Northern Dong at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) Closed access icon
    Southern Dong at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) Closed access icon
    Cao Miao at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Yang Tongyin and Jerold A. Edmondson (2008). "Kam." In Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, and Yongxian Luo ed. The Tai–Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press, 2008.
  3. ^ Long Yaohong [龙耀宏]. 2012. [http://lib.cnki.net/cdmd/10270-1012455401.html A study of Dong dialectology] [侗语方音研究 Dongyu fangyin yanjiu]. Ph.D. dissertation, Shanghai Normal University [上海师范大学]. http://www.taodocs.com/p-5926320.html
  4. ^ Suining County Almanac (1997)
  5. ^ Shaoyang Prefecture Almanac (1997)
  6. ^ http://danviet.vn/que-nha/nguoi-tong-o-dong-moc/112705p1c29.htm
  7. ^ Edmondson, J.A. and Gregerson, K.J. 2001, "Four Languages of the Vietnam-China Borderlands", in Papers from the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, ed. K.L. Adams and T.J. Hudak, Tempe, Arizona, pp. 101-133. Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
  8. ^ a b c d Shi Lin [石林] (2012). The Cao Miao language of three provinces and its relationship to Dong [三省坡草苗的语言及其与侗语的关系]. In Minzu Yuwen [民族语文] 2012, no. 4. Beijing: China Social Sciences Academy [中国社会科学院].
  9. ^ http://www.caomiao.net/cz/
  10. ^ Chen, Qiguang [陈其光] (2013). Miao and Yao language [苗瑶语文]. Beijing: China Minzu University Press.
  • Ōu Hēngyuán 欧亨元: Cic deenx Gaeml Gax / Dòng-Hàn cídiǎn 侗汉词典 (Kam–Chinese dictionary; Běijīng 北京, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 2004), ISBN 7-105-06287-8.

Further reading

  • Long, Y., Zheng, G., & Geary, D. N. (1998). The Dong language in Guizhou Province, China. Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington publications in linguistics, publication 126. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 1-55671-051-8
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