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.[1] It is spoken by the Oroqen people of Inner Mongolia (predominantly the Oroqin Autonomous Banner), Heilongjiang in Northeast China and Tordoki Yani Region, located in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia.[2]

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

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:[1]

Dialects

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

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate		 voiceless p t t͡ʃ k
voiced b d d͡ʒ ɡ
Fricative ɸ ʃ x ~ [ɣ] ~ [h]
Rhotic r
Approximant l 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].[3]

Notes
  1. Oroqen at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. "Did you know Oroqen is severely endangered?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  3. Hu, Zengyi (1986). Elunchun-yu jianzhi [Concise grammar of Oroqen]. Beijing: National Minorities Publ. pp. 3–19.
Oroqen language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
Oroqen language test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator
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