Oroqen ( ; Oroqen Urkun; ), also known as Orochon, Oronchon, Olunchun, Elunchun or Ulunchun, is a Northern Tungusic language spoken in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Dialects are Gankui and Heilongjiang. Gankui is the standard dialect. It is spoken by the Oroqen people of

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

(predominantly the Oroqin Autonomous Banner) and

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. 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: * Heilongjiang province ** Da Hinggan Ling: Huma County and Tahe County **

Heihe Heihe (; ; Russian language, Russian: Хэйхэ) is a prefecture-level city of northern Heilongjiang province, China, located on the Sino-Russian border, Russian border, on the south bank of the Amur River, Amur (Heilong) River, across the r ...

: Xunke County ** Yichun: Jiayin County and Heihe City * Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region **

Hulunbuir Hulunbuir or Hulun Buir, ''Hūlúnbèi'ěr''; , ''Khulunbuir'' is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Its administrative center is located at Hailar District, its largest urban area. Major scenic features are the high ...

: Oroqen Autonomous Banner

Phonology

Consonants

* Allophones of /x/ are heard as � * A bilabial /ɸ/ can also be heard as a labio-dental * A rhotic trill /r/ tends to sound as a tap � when occurring word-finally.

Vowels

* /ə, əː/ are often heard as lower sounds * Short allophones of /o, u/ are heard as

Sample text

Listed below are some Oroqen sentences. They are transcribed in Oroqen Phonetic Alphabet.

Notes

External links

Oroqen Vocabulary List
(from the World Loanword Database)
Oroqen Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words
(from Wiktionary'
Swadesh list appendix

from Omniglot {{DEFAULTSORT:Oroqen Language Agglutinative languages Languages of China Tungusic languages Endangered languages of China Languages of Heilongjiang Critically endangered languages