Oroqen language

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Oroqen
Oroqen Language
Oroqen Urkun;
óróčən ulgür
Native toChina
RegionChina: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang
EthnicityOroqen
Native speakers
c. 3,789 (2009)[1]
Tungusic
Dialects
  • Gankui and Selpechen
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3orh
Glottologoroq1238
ELPOroqen

Oroqen /ˈɒrəɛn, ˈɒr-/ ORR-ə-chen, ORR-oh- ( Oroqen Urkun; óróčən ulgür; also known as Orochon, Oronchon, Olunchun, Elunchun or Ulunchun) is a Northern Tungusic language spoken in the People's Republic of China. Dialects are Gankui and Heilongjiang. Gankui is the standard dialect.[1] It is spoken by the Oroqen people of Inner Mongolia (predominantly the Oroqin Autonomous Banner) and Heilongjiang in Northeast China.[2]

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:[1]

Sample text

Listed below are some Oroqen sentences.[3] They are transcribed in Oroqen Fonetic Alphabet.

Arian has three elder brothers. Arian ilan axči
The children are all come in. Kúxä səl ku əmčə
Arian's elder brother is coming. Arian axninin əmčə
I'm a student. Pi pite turan
You're taller than me ši mintu gúkta
The house is neat and tidy. Ər jü čaldä le
Arian untied the rope Arian ušixəmúə pudičə
How many children do you have? ši ati kúxa či pišiniʔ
Arian took off his clothes

Arian kantaxúə purmə ədəjə

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t t͡ʃ k
voiced b d d͡ʒ ɡ
Fricative ɸ ʃ x ~ [ɣ] ~ [h]
Rhotic r
Approximant l j w
  • Allophones of /x/ are heard as [ɣ], [h].
  • A bilabial /ɸ/ can also be heard as a labio-dental [f].
  • A rhotic trill /r/ tends to sound as a tap [ɾ], when occurring word-finally.

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i y u
Near-high ɪ ɪː ʊ ʊː
High-mid ə əː o
Low-mid ɛː ɔ ɔː
Low ɑ ɑː
  • /ə, əː/ are often heard as lower sounds [ɐ, ɐː].
  • Short allophones of /o, u/ are heard as [ɵ, ʉ].[4]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Oroqen at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Did you know Oroqen is severely endangered?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  3. ^ "WOLD -". wold.clld.org. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  4. ^ Hu, Zengyi (1986). Elunchun-yu jianzhi [Concise grammar of Oroqen]. Beijing: National Minorities Publ. pp. 3–19.

External links