The Mulam language () is a
Kam–Sui language spoken mainly in
Luocheng County,
Hechi
Hechi ( zh, c=河池) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, bordering Guizhou to the north. The actual inner city itself is referred as Jinchengjiang ( zh, c=金城江). ...
, Northern
Guangxi
Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
by the
Mulao people
The Mulao people (; own name: ''Mulam'') are an ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. In their name, ''Mulam'', ''mu''6 is a classifier for human beings and ''lam''1 (in some ...
. The greatest concentrations are in Dongmen and Siba communes. Their
autonym is ''mu6 lam1''.
[See Proto-Tai language#Tones for an explanation of the tone codes.] The Mulam also call themselves ''kjam1'', which is probably cognate with ''lam1'' and the
Dong people's autonym "Kam" (Wang & Zheng 1980).
Phonology
The Mulam language, like
Dong, does not have voiced stops, but does have a phonemic distinction between unvoiced and voiced nasals and laterals. It has a system of eleven distinct
vowel
A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
s. It is a tonal language with ten
tones, and 65% of its vocabulary is shared with the
Zhuang and Dong languages.
Dialects
The following Mulam dialects are listed in Wang & Zheng (1980) (all of which are spoken in
Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County).
* Dongmen 东门镇 (in Dayin 大银, Dafu 大福村, Le'e 勒俄村 etc.); documented in detail by Wang & Zheng (1980)
* Long'an 龙岸镇 (in Liangsi 良泗, etc.)
* Huangjin 黄金镇 (in Zhongjian 中间寨, etc.); documented in Qiu (2004)
* Qiaotou 桥头镇 (in Dongnong 洞弄屯, etc.)
* Siba 四把镇 (in Dawu 大梧, Miao'er 苗儿屯, Shuangzhai 双寨村, etc.); documented in Guangxi (2008)
* Xiali 下里乡 (in Xiecun 谢村, etc.)
The following comparison of Mulam dialects is from Ni Dabai (2010:221-222).
[Ni Dabai ��大白 2010. ''侗台语概论 n introduction to Kam-Tai languages'. Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House ��族出版社 ]
References
Further reading
* Edmondson, Jerold A. and David B. Solnit, eds. ''Comparative Kadai: Linguistic studies beyond Tai''. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics, 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington, 1988.
* 王均, 郑国乔 / Wang Jun, Zheng Guoqiao. 仫佬语简志 / Mulao yu jian zhi (A Sketch of Mulao ulao. Beijing: 民族出版社: 新華書店发行 / Min zu chu ban she: Xin hua shu dian fa xing, 1980.
* Zheng, G. 1988. The influences of Han on the Mulam language. In Edmondson, Jerold, A (ed). Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. SIL International Publications in Linguistics.
* Thurgood, G. Tai-Kadai and Austronesian: The Nature of the Historical Relationship University of Hawaiʼi Press. Oceanic Linguistics. 1962–2012.
* "The Mulam Ethnic Group." MSD China. Web. 1 May 2016.
External links
Mulam (Dongmen) word list from the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary DatabaseMulam (Siba) word list from the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary DatabaseThe Endangered Languages Project
* An audio sample of the Mulam language can be listened throug
Global Recordings Network
Mulam Phonology
{{Tai-Kadai languages
Languages of Guangxi
Kam–Sui languages