Kucong (Khucong, Cosung), orLahlu, is aLoloish language of Yunnan, China and Vietnam, primarily spoken by theKucong people. In Vietnam, the speakers' autonym iskʰu33tsʰɔ33, and they are also known as theLa Hủ Na 'Black Lahu'.[2] The language is very closely related toLahu.
The Kucong, or Black Lahu, live adjacently to the La Hủ Sủ (Yellow Lahu) and La Hủ Phung (White Lahu). TheYellow Lahu are distributed in the following locations.
Pa Vệ Sủ Commune
Pa Ủ Commune
Ca Lăng Commune (in Là Pé, Nhu Tè, and Hóm Bô)
TheWhite Lahu live in the following locations, often together with the Yellow Lahu.
Pa Ủ Commune (in Xà Hồ, Ử Ma, Pha Bu, Pa Ử, and Khồ Ma)
Ca Lăng Commune (in Hà Xe)
The Kucong and related Lahu groups had originally come from theJinping County area of southern Yunnan, China.[2]
Sun Hongkai (1992) reports 30,000 Kucong speakers in Yunnan, China. Chang (2011:5) recognizes three branches of Kucong.
Black Kucong 黑苦聪 (Lahu Na; autonymGuocuo 锅搓 orGuochou 郭抽) is spoken in Zhenyuan, Mojiang, Jiangcheng, Yuanjiang, and Mengla counties, and inMường Tè District, Vietnam. Chang Suanzhi (2011) covers the Black Kucong dialect of Shaohuiqing[zhai], Dangduo Village, Yangjie Township,Yuanjiang County (元江县羊街乡党舵村烧灰箐寨).[3] Their autonym in Yuanjiang County iskɔ³¹tsʰɔ³³.[4]
Yellow Kucong 黄苦聪 (Lahu Shi) is spoken inJinping County.
White Kucong 白苦聪 (Lahu Pu) is spoken in two villages of Zhemi Township (者米乡),Jinping County.
Li & Zhang (2003)[5] report that there are about 30,000 Kucong people in Yunnan. Zhenyuan County has more than 13,000 Kucong people, western Jinping County has more than 6,000 Kucong people, and Xinping County has more than 4,000 Kucong people. Li & Zhang (2003) cover the Kucong dialect of Kudumu Village (库独木村), Pingzhang Township (平掌乡), Xinping County (新平县). In Xinping County, their autonym iskɔ³³tsʰɔ⁵³, which means 'mountain people.'
InYuanjiang County, Kucong (960 people total) is spoken in the following villages.[4]
Xingfu Village (幸福村), Dong'e Town (东峨镇, 536 people)
Damansha Village (大漫沙村), Mili Township (咪哩乡,[6] 129 people)
Chang, Junzhi 常俊之 (2011).Yuánjiāng Kǔcōnghuà cānkǎo yǔfǎ元江苦聪话参考语法 [A Reference Grammar of Yuanjiang Kucong] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe.
Edmondson, Jerold A. (2002).The Central and Southern Loloish Languages of Vietnam. Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on Tibeto-Burman and Southeast Asian Linguistics. pp. 1–13.doi:10.3765/bls.v28i2.1042.
