Nung language (Sino-Tibetan)

Nawpha
Anong
Native to	Fugong County, China
Ethnicity	Nung[1]
Native speakers	450 (2000–2007)[2]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Nungish Nawpha
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nun
Glottolog	nung1282[3]

Nung, or Anong [ɑ˧˩nuŋ˧˩], is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Nung people in Fugong County, China and Kachin State, Burma. Anong is closely related to the Derung and Rawang languages. Most of the Nung people in China have shifted to Lisu. In Myanmar, Anong is considered as one of the clans of the Lisu family, called nopha (meaning "bean" in Lisu). the number of Anong speakers are decreasing year after year. The population of Anong people can't be easily known because they are mixed with the Lisu population. Only older people in this age can speak and write in Anong language. All the young generation use Lisu rather than Anong even at home. The majority of Anong speakers in Myanmar are found in Putao township and Myitgyina township in Kachin state. There are many other living in different cities such as Yangon, Khanti and Taunggy etc. But they couldn't use their language anymore. Instead they use Lisu. Therefore, Anong language is one of the endangered languages in the world. Besides in China and Myanmar, Anong people can also be found in Thailand and India. .

Demographics

Anong is spoken by over 7,000 people in China, in the following townships (Sun & Liu 2005).

• Shangpa 上帕镇: 2,200 people
• Lijia 里甲乡: 1,100 people
• Lumadeng 鹿马登乡: 2,100 people
• Lishadi 利沙底乡: 2,200 people

There could be many more Anong speakers in neighboring Kachin State, Burma, although their current status is unknown.

Phonology

Consonant

Nung has 43 single consonants.

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiceless	m̥	n̥	ɳ̥	ɲ̥	ŋ̊
	voiced	m	n	ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
	tenuis	p	t	ʈ		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	ɖ		ɡ
Affricate	aspirated		tsʰ	tʂʰ	tɕʰ
	tenuis		ts	tʂ	tɕ
	voiced		dz	ɖʐ	dʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f	ɳ	ʂ	ɕ	x	h
	voiced	v	z	ʐ	ʑ	ɣ
Lateral	voiceless		l̥
	voiced		l	m
Rhotic	voiced			ɹ

^[4]

References

1. The spurious "Ayi" is a misreading of Chinese 阿侬 Anong as *阿依 Ayi
2. Nawpha at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
3. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nung (Myanmar)". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
4. 孙宏开，刘光，p.26－31．

• 孙宏开; 刘光坤 (2005). 阿侬语研究. 民族出版社, 北京. ISBN 978-7-105-06814-2.

This book in English:

• Sun Hongkai; Liu Guangkun (2009). A Grammar of Anong. Language Death Under Intense Contact. Brill, Leiden • Boston. ISBN 90-04-17686-1.

External links

• Introduction to the Rawang-Dulong-Anong culture