| Hu | |
|---|---|
| Kon Keu | |
| Pronunciation | [xúˀ] |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Yunnan |
Native speakers | 1,000 (2006)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:huo – Hukkn – Kon Keu (duplicate code) |
| Glottolog | huuu1240 Hukonk1268 Kon Keu |
| ELP | Hu |
Hu (Hu pronunciation:[xúˀ],Chinese:户语;pinyin:Hùyǔ), alsoAngku orKon Keu, is aPalaungic language ofXishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture,Yunnan,China. Its speakers are an unclassified ethnic minority; the Chinese government counts the Angku as members of theBulang nationality, but theAngkuic languages is not intelligible withBulang.[2]
According to Li (2006:340), there are fewer than 1,000 speakers living on the slopes of the "Kongge" Mountain ("控格山") in Na Huipa village (纳回帕村), Mengyang township (勐养镇),Jinghong (景洪市, acounty-level city).[3]
Hu speakers call themselves thexuʔ55, and the localDai peoples call them the "black people" (黑人), as well asxɔn55kɤt35, meaning 'surviving souls'.[4] They are also known locally as the Kunge people (昆格人) or Kongge people (控格人).[1]
The Hu data presented in the studies was collected from the Xiao Mĕngyăng area inJǐnghóng County, Yunnan, China.
Hu phonological word strongly tends to be monosyllabic. Disyllabic words are alliambic. There is one trisyllabic form in the data:ʔapalàw "fish".[5] Thus, the maximal structure in Hu is (C₁(a(C₂))).ˈCᵢ(Cₘ)V(Cf)ᵀ.
Hu has twotones: high and low.[6] The tonal system reflects historical vowel length contrasts (low < long; high < short) that are no longer phonemic today, with residual length distinctions still perceptible.[7]
Subsequent secondary changes and mergers have introduced distributional asymmetries: syllables with final glottal stops consistently bear high tone; the high vowels /i, u/ take high tone in closed syllables, but low tone only in open syllables and before /-ʁ/.[5]
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | sibilant | |||||||
| Plosive | plain | p | t | c | k | ʔ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | cʰ | kʰ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | θ | s | x | h | |||
| voiced | ʁ | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t | c | k | ʔ | |
| Fricative | ʁ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Semivowel | w | j |
Hu complex onsets found in the files are /pʁ pʰʁ pʰl kʁ kl ŋkh ŋʁ sʁ/.[5]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | ʔɔ́ʔ | ʔàj | ʔéʔ |
| 2nd person | méʔ | pʰáw | pʰéʔ |
| 3rd person | ʔə́n | káw | kéʔ |
Comparison of Hu numerals with proto-Palaungic reconstructions by Sidwell (2015). Numbers larger than five have been replaced by Tai loans.
| Gloss | Hu | proto-Palaungic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ʔàmo | *moːh |
| 2 | kaʔà | *ləʔaːr |
| 3 | kaʔɔ̀j | *ləʔɔːj |
| 4 | ʔapʰòn | *poːn |
| 5 | paθán | *pəsan |
| 6 | (Tai loan) | *tɔːl |
| 7 | – | *təpuːl |
| 8 | – | *taːʔ |
| 9 | – | *tiːm |
| 10 | – | *kɤːl |
| 100 | – | *prjah |
| 1000 | – | *sreːŋ |
| Gloss | Hu | proto-Palaungic |
|---|---|---|
| hair | θúk | *suk |
| bone | kaʔàŋ | *cəʔaːŋ |
| foot | cèŋ | *ɟɤːŋ |
| nose | katə́ʔ | *kəɗɤːʔ |
| belly | katúl | *kəɗɤl |
| ear | nasòk | *ʰjoːk |
| eye | saŋàj | *ˀŋaːj |
| tongue | ntʰàk | *-taːk |
| arm | tʰíʔ | *tiːʔ |
| breast | tʰút | *tuːs |
| Gloss | Hu | proto-Palaungic |
|---|---|---|
| buffalo | tʰʁàk | *traːk |
| ant/termite | maʁúɲ | *ŋruːɲ |
| horse | maʁáŋ | *mraŋ |
| bear | ʔaxèt | *kreːs |
| sambar deer | pʰòt | *poːs |
| pig | lèk | *-leːk |
| bird | ʔasím | *ciːm |
| louse | nsíʔ | *ciːʔ |
| dog | sɔ́ʔ | *cɔːʔ |
| fowl | ʔìʁ | *ʔiɛr |