Bugun language

Bugun, also known as Khowa, is a small possible language isolate spoken in Arunachal Pradesh state of India by the Bugun. They numbered about 1,700 in 2011.

Bugun
Khowa
Native to	India
Region	Arunachal Pradesh
Ethnicity	Bugun (Khowa)
Native speakers	900 (2001)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan? Kho-Bwa? Bugun
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bgg
Glottolog	bugu1246
ELP	Bugun

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		ä

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Post- velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Stop	voiceless	p	t	ʈ		k
	voiced	b	d	ɖ		ɡ	ɢ
	breathy	bʱ	dʱ	ɖʱ		ɡʱ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	ʈʂ	tɕ
	voiced		dz	ɖʐ	dʑ
	breathy		dzʱ	ɖʐʱ	dʑʱ
Fricative	voiceless		s	ʂ	ɕ	x
	voiced	v	z	ʐ	ʑ	ɣ		ɦ
Approximant			l ɫ		j
Rhotic			ɾ

Classification

Bugun is classified as a Kho-Bwa language in Blench & Post (2013), although Blench (2015)^[2] believes Bugun may actually be unrelated to the rest of the Kho-Bwa languages.

Dialects

Lieberherr & Bodt (2017)^[3] list the following Bugun dialects along with their numbers of speakers.

• Dikhyang (100 speakers)
• Singchung (680 speakers)
• Wangho (220 speakers)
• Bichom (630 speakers)
• Kaspi (80 speakers)
• Namphri (180 speakers)

Distribution

Bugun is spoken in the following villages in southern West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh (Dondrup 1990:iv).^[4] The total population numbered 800 in 1981. Names in parentheses are spellings as given in Ethnologue.

• Wanghoo (Wangho)
• Singchung
• Kaspi (New Kaspi)
• Lichini
• Ramo (Ramu)
• Namphri
• Chithu (Situ)
• Sachida (Sachita)
• Pani-Phu
• Ditching (Diching)
• Dikhiyang (Dikiang)
• Bicham (Bichom) (a recently founded hamlet)

Ethnologue also lists Mangopom village. These villages are located on the mountains on both sides of Rupa River.