| Cun | |
|---|---|
| 仡隆语 Gelong | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | westernHainan |
Native speakers | (80,000 cited 1999)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cuq |
| Glottolog | cunn1236 |
| ELP | Nadouhua |
Cun (Chinese:村语; meaning "village language/speech"), also known asGelong (仡隆语 / 哥隆语) orNgan-Fon, is aKra–Dai language spoken onHainan Island.[2] It is a part of theHlai 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 atonal 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] andLingao speakers are also classified as ethnic Han.[4]
The Cun are descended from Han Chinese migrants to Hainan Island who intermarried with the localLi 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 toGan-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]
The tables below show the vowel[8] and consonant[9] phonemes of Cun:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɯ,u | |
| Mid | e | (ə) | o |
| Open | a | ɔ |
Cun has manydiphthongs. 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].
Cun is atonal language with ten tones. Five of the tones occur only in syllables ending with a consonant:t,k, orp.[10]
| Tone | Pitch Value | Example[11] | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35 | ʔeŋ35 | field |
| 2 | 44 | lai44 | ear |
| 3 | 42 | nam42 | water |
| 4 | 21 | ʔɔu21 | to scratch, to scrape |
| 5 | 13 | loŋ13 | path, road |
| 6 | 55 | kaːŋ55 | to speak |
| 7 | 33 | tʃhut33 | cloth |
| 8 | 42 | khat42 | dog |
| 9 | 21 | ʔɛp21 | frog |
| 10 | 13 | het13 | thorn |