Mulam language

Mulam
Spoken in	China
Region	Luocheng County, Hechi, northern Guangxi
Ethnicity	210,000 (2000)
Native speakers	86,000  (2005) < 10,000 monolinguals
Language family	Tai–Kadai Kam–Sui Mulam
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mlm

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. The Mulam also call themselves kjam1, which is probably cognate with lam1 and the Dong people's autonym "Kam" (Wang & Zheng 1980).

The Mulam language, like Dong, does not have voiced stops. However, it does contain unvoiced and voiced nasals and laterals. Its vowel system contains eleven vowels. It is a tonal language with ten tones and 65% of their vocabulary is shared with the Zhuang and Dong languages.

Since the Ming Dynasty, Chinese characters have been utilized to read and write the Mulam language. The majority of the Mulam also speak Chinese as well as the Zhuang and Dong languages.

Dialects

Mulam dialects as described by Wang & Zheng (1980) include (all of which are spoken in Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County):

• Dongmen 东门镇
• Long'an 龙岸镇
• Huangjin 黄金镇
• Qiaotou 桥头镇
• Siba 四把镇

References

• 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.

External links

• Mulam (Dongmen) word list from the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database