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.

All labels observed (3)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Dong language variety
Kam language variety
Kra–Dai language
Sinitic language variety
alternateName South Dong
Southern Dong
country China
culturalRole marker of Dong ethnic identity
medium of transmission of Dong oral heritage
distinctFrom Central Kam
Northern Kam
endangeredStatus vulnerable
ethnicity Dong people
family Kra–Dai language family
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
linked to: Kam–Sui languages
partOf Kam language
region Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
linked to: Guangxi Province

Guizhou Province
southern China
sociolinguisticSituation bilingualism with Chinese is common
spokenBy Dong ethnic group
linked to: Dong people
subfamilyOf Kam–Sui languages
Kam–Sui languages
subjectOf field studies in Kam–Sui linguistics
research on tone systems in Kra–Dai
usedAlongside Southwestern Mandarin
Standard Chinese
usedIn daily communication in Dong communities
folk songs
oral literature
ritual performances
writingSystem Chinese characters (limited use)
Latin-based orthography

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

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

Kam language hasSubgroup Southern Kam (South Dong)
Southern Kam hasDialect Southeastern Southern Kam
linked to: Southern Kam (South Dong)
Central Kam closelyRelatedTo Southern Kam
linked to: Southern Kam (South Dong)
Kam language hasDialect Southern Kam
subject linked to: nort3180
linked to: Southern Kam (South Dong)
Northern Kam closelyRelatedTo Southern Kam
subject linked to: Northern Kam (North Dong)
linked to: Southern Kam (South Dong)