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Cun language
Kra–Dal language of Hainan Island, China From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Cun (Chinese: 村语; meaning "village language/speech"), also known as Gelong (仡隆语 / 哥隆语) or Ngan-Fon, is a Kra–Dai language spoken on Hainan Island.[2] It is a part of the Hlai languages branch and has a lexical similarity with standard Hlai at 40%.[1] The language has approximately 80,000 speakers, 47,200 of which are monolingual. Cun is a tonal language with 10 tones, used depending on whether a syllable is checked or unchecked. The speakers of this language are classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Han; in Hainan, Nadou[3] and Lingao speakers are also classified as ethnic Han.[4]
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The Cun are descended from Han Chinese migrants to Hainan Island who intermarried with the local Li people. As a result, Cun has more Chinese loanwords than other Hlai languages.[5]
Nearby, the Fuma (Chinese: 付马话, 府玛话, or 富马话) dialect, a variety of Chinese similar to Gan-Hakka that has been strongly influenced by Cun, is spoken in Fuma Village 付马村, Sigeng Town 四更镇, Dongfang City.[6] It had about 800 speakers in 1994.[7]
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Phonology
The tables below show the vowel [8] and consonant [9] phonemes of Cun:
Vowels
Diphthongs
Cun has many diphthongs. With [a]: [ia], [ua]. With [ə]: [uə], [iə]. With [i]: [ai], [aːi], [ɛi], [ei], [ɔi], [oi], [ui]. With [u]: [au], [aːu], [iau], [eu], [iu], [iːu], [ɔu], [ou], [əu].
Consonants
Tones
Cun is a tonal language with ten tones. Five of the tones occur only in syllables ending with a consonant: t, k, or p[10].
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References
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