| Kam | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaeml | ||||
| Spoken in | China | |||
| Region | Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi | |||
| Native speakers | 1.46 million (2003) | |||
| Language family | ||||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | either: doc – Northern Dong kmc – Southern Dong |
|||
|
||||
The Kam language, also known as Gam (autonym: lix Gaeml), or in Chinese, Dong or Tung-Chia, is the language of the Dong people. Ethnologue distinguishes two Kam dialects as separate but closely related languages with the codes doc and kmc.[1]
Contents |
Kam has 32 syllable-initial consonants; seven of them (tʃ-, tʃʰ-, ʃ-, ɻ-, f-, ts- and tsʰ-) only occur in recent loanwords from Chinese.
| IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | b | t | d | tɕ | j | k | g | tʃ | zh |
| pʰ | p | tʰ | t | tɕʰ | q | kʰ | k | tʃʰ | ch |
| m | m | n | n | nʲ | ny | ŋ | ng | ʃ | sh |
| w | w | l | l | ɕ | x | h | h | ɻ | r |
| pʲ | bi | s | s | j | y | kʷ | gu | f | f |
| pʲʰ | pi | lʲ | li | kʷʰ | ku | ts | z | ||
| ŋʷ | ngu | tsʰ | c |
Kam has 64 syllable finals; 14 of them occur only in Chinese loans and are not listed in the table below.
| IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml | IPA | Gaeml |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | ə | e | e | ee | i | i | o | o | u | u/uu | ||
| aɪ | ai | əɪ | ei | oɪ | oi | uɪ | ui | ||||||
| aʊ | ao | eʊ | eeu | iʊ | iu | oʊ | ou | ||||||
| am | am | ɐm | aem | əm | em | em | eem | im | im | om | om | um | um |
| an | an | ɐn | aen | ən | en | en | een | in | in | on | on | un | un |
| aŋ | ang | ɐŋ | aeng | əŋ | eng | eŋ | eeng | iŋ | ing | oŋ | ong | uŋ | ung |
| ap | ab | ɐp | ab | əp | eb | ep | eb | ip | ib | op | ob | up | ub |
| at | ad | ɐt | ad | ət | ad | et | ed | it | id | ot | od | ||
| ak | ag | ɐk | ag | ək | eg | ek | eg | ik | ig | ok | og | uk | ug |
The phonetic value of the vowel in the finals spelled -ab, -ad and -ag, is [ɐ] in syllables that have the tones -l, -p and -c (see table below); in syllables with tones -s, -t and -x, it is [a]. The phonetic value of the vowel in the finals spelled -eb, -ed and -eg, is [ə] in syllables that have the tones -l, -p and -c; in syllables with tones -s, -t and -x, it is [e].
Kam is a tonal language. Open syllables can occur in one of nine different tones, checked syllables in six tones (so-called entering tones), so that the traditional approach counts fifteen tones. As with the Hmong alphabet, the orthography marks tones with a consonant at the end of each syllable.
| tone contour: | ˥ | ˧˥ | ˩ | ˧˨˧ | ˩˧ | ˧˩ | ˥˧ | ˦˥˧ | ˧ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | high rising | low | dipping | low rising | low falling | high falling | peaking | mid | |
| /55/ | /35/ | /212/ | /323/ | /13/ | /31/ | /53/ | /453/ | /33/ | |
| Orthography: | -l | -p | -c | -s | -t | -x | -v | -k | -h |
| example (open syllable) |
bal | pap | bac | bas | qat | miax | bav | pak | bah |
| "fish" | "grey" | "rake" | "aunt" | "light" | "knife" | "leaf" | "destroy" | "chaff" | |
| example (checked syllable) |
bedl | sedp | medc | bads | pads | bagx | |||
| "duck" | "seven" | "ant" | "can"? | "blood" | "white" | ||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||