The Mulam language (
Chinese: 仫佬;
pinyin: Mùlǎo) is a
Kam–Sui language spoken mainly in
Luocheng County,
Hechi, Northern
Guangxi by the
Mulao people. The greatest concentrations are in Dongmen and Siba communes. Their
autonym is mu6 lam1.[2] The Mulam also call themselves kjam1, which is probably cognate with lam1 and the
Dong people's autonym "Kam" (Wang & Zheng 1980).
Phonology
The Mulam language, like
Dong, does not have voiced stop, but does have a phonemic distinction between unvoiced and voiced nasals and laterals. It has a system of eleven distinct
vowels. It is a tonal language with ten
tones, and 65% of its vocabulary is shared with the
Zhuang and Dong languages.[citation needed]
^Guangxi Minority Languages Orthography Committee. 2008. Vocabularies of Guangxi ethnic languages [广西民族语言方音词汇]. Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House [民族出版社].
^Ni Dabai [倪大白]. 2010. 侗台语概论 [An introduction to Kam-Tai languages]. Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House [民族出版社].
ISBN978-7-105-10582-3
Further reading
Edmondson, Jerold A. and David B. Solnit, eds. Comparative Kadai: Linguistic studies beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics, 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington, 1988.
王均, 郑国乔 / Wang Jun, Zheng Guoqiao. 仫佬语简志 / Mulao yu jian zhi (A Sketch of Mulao [Mulao]). Beijing: 民族出版社: 新華書店发行 / Min zu chu ban she: Xin hua shu dian fa xing, 1980.
Zheng, G. 1988. The influences of Han on the Mulam language. In Edmondson, Jerold, A (ed). Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. SIL International Publications in Linguistics.
Thurgood, G. Tai-Kadai and Austronesian: The Nature of the Historical Relationship University of Hawaiʼi Press. Oceanic Linguistics. 1962–2012.
"The Mulam Ethnic Group." MSD China. Web. 1 May 2016.