Côông language

Cốông is a Loloish language of Vietnam. It is spoken by approximate 1,500 speakers in Mường Tè District, Lai Châu Province, Vietnam. It is related to but quite distinct from Phunoi.

Distribution

According to Edmondson, Cốông is spoken in 5 villages of Mường Tè District, Lai Châu Province, Vietnam.

• Bo Lếch, Can Hồ commune
• Nậm Khao, Nậm Khao commune
• Nậm Pục, Nậm Khao commune
• Tác Ngá, Mường Mồ commune
• Nậm Kè, Mường Tong commune

According to Phạm Huy (1998:10), Côống is spoken in the following villages, all of which are in Mường Tè District except for Huổi Sâư.

• Bo Lếch, Can Hồ commune
• Nậm Luồng, Can Hồ commune (part of Bo Lếch before)
• Nậm Khao, Nậm Khao commune
• Nậm Pục, Nậm Khao commune
• Tác Ngá, Mường Mô commune
• Nậm Kè, Mường Toong commune
• Huổi Sâư, Chà Cang commune, Mường Lay district

Subdivisions

Phạm Huy (1998:12) lists the following two Côống ethnic subdivisions.

• Xí Tù Mạ (Silver Côống)
• Xám Khổng Xú Lứ (Golden Côống)

Phrases

Golden Côống and Silver Côống differ linguistically, as illustrated by the following phrases from Phạm (1998:13) in Vietnamese orthography (quốc ngữ).

• Golden Coong
  • Háng lế ('Who is there?')
  • Hàng chà ('eat rice')
  • Ý sộ tắng ('drink water')
• Silver Coong
  • À sáng lê ('Who is there?')
  • Hắng tà ('eat rice')
  • Lắng tắng ('drink water')

Golden Côống numbers are:

• 1. tìm
• 2. nhịp
• 3. xem
• 4. ừn
• 5. ngà
• 6. khô
• 7. xị
• 8. dẹ
• 9. quề
• 10. trse
• 11. trse tìm
• 12. trse nhịp
• 20. nhịp trse
• 21. nhịp trse tìm
• 30. xem trse
• 31. xem trse tìm
• 40. ừn trse
• 50. ngà trse
• 100. trse trse

References

• 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 (2002), pp. 1–13.
• Phạm Huy. 1998. Bước đầu tìm hiểu văn hóa dân tộc Côống. Lai Châu: Sở Văn Hóa Thông Tin Lai Châu.