Oroqen language

Oroqen (/ˈɒrətʃɛn, ˈɒroʊ-/; also known as Orochon, Oronchon, Olunchun, Elunchun or Ulunchun) is a Northern Tungusic language spoken in the People's Republic of China. Dialects are Gankui and Heilongjiang. Gankui is the standard dialect.[3] It is spoken by the Oroqen people of Inner Mongolia (predominantly the Oroqin Autonomous Banner) and Heilongjiang in Northeast China.

Oroqen
Native toChina
RegionInner Mongolia and Heilongjiang
Native speakers
1,200 (2009)[1]
Tungusic
  • Northern
    • Evenki
      • Oroqen
Language codes
ISO 639-3orh
Glottologoroq1238
ELPOroqen[2]

Since the 1980s, Oroqen-language materials were produced by teachers in Oroqen-speaking areas. They based the language's orthography either on IPA or Pinyin. A majority of Oroqen speakers use Chinese as a literary language and some also speak Daur.

Geographic distribution

Oroqen is spoken in the following counties of China (Ethnologue).

Dialects

The Gankui dialect is used as the standard dialect for the Oroqen language.

Phonology

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Affricate voiceless t͡ʃ
voiced d͡ʒ
Fricative ɸ ʃ x [ɣ] [h]
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Lateral l
Rhotic r
Approximant j w
  • Allophones of /x/ are heard as [ɣ], [h].
  • A bilabial /ɸ/ can also be heard as a labio-dental [f].
  • A rhotic trill /r/ tends to sound as a tap [ɾ], when occurring word-finally.

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i iː y u uː
Near-high ɪ ɪː ʊ ʊː
High-mid eː ə əː o oː
Low-mid ɛː ɔ ɔː
Low ɑ ɑː
  • /ə, əː/ are often heard as lower sounds [ɐ, ɐː].
  • Short allophones of /o, u/ are heard as [ɵ, ʉ].[4]

Notes
  1. "Oroqen". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Oroqen.
  3. Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005, Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  4. Hu, Zengyi (1986). Elunchun-yu jianzhi [Concise grammar of Oroqen]. Beijing: National Minorities Publ. pp. 3–19.


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