Southern Kam (South Dong)

E899588

Southern Kam (South Dong) is a major variety of the Kam (Dong) language spoken by the Dong ethnic group in southern China, particularly noted for its rich tonal system and oral folk traditions.

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Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Southern Kam 0
Kam language 0

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Dong language variety
Kam language variety
Kra–Dai language
Sinitic language variety
alternateName South Dong
Southern Dong NERFINISHED
country China
culturalRole marker of Dong ethnic identity
medium of transmission of Dong oral heritage
distinctFrom Central Kam NERFINISHED
Northern Kam NERFINISHED
endangeredStatus vulnerable
ethnicity Dong people NERFINISHED
family Kra–Dai language family NERFINISHED
hasDialectContinuumWith other Kam varieties
hasFeature antiphonal singing
complex tone sandhi
contrastive aspiration in stops
folk epics
lexical tone
oral folk traditions
rich tonal system
rich vowel inventory
syllable-final nasals
traditional narrative songs
ISOStatus covered by Kam (Dong) macrolanguage
languageBranch Kam branch of Kam–Sui NERFINISHED
partOf Kam language
region Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region NERFINISHED
Guizhou Province NERFINISHED
southern China
sociolinguisticSituation bilingualism with Chinese is common
spokenBy Dong ethnic group NERFINISHED
subfamilyOf Kam–Sui languages NERFINISHED
Kam–Sui languages NERFINISHED
subjectOf field studies in Kam–Sui linguistics
research on tone systems in Kra–Dai
usedAlongside Southwestern Mandarin NERFINISHED
Standard Chinese NERFINISHED
usedIn daily communication in Dong communities
folk songs
oral literature
ritual performances
writingSystem Chinese characters (limited use)
Latin-based orthography

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Kam language hasSubgroup Southern Kam (South Dong)