Dagur language
The Dagur, Daghur, Dahur, or Daur language, is a Mongolic language, as well as a distinct branch of the Mongolic language family, and is primarily spoken by members of the Daur ethnic group.
There is no written standard in use, although a Pinyin-based orthography has been devised; instead the Dagur make use of Mongolian or Chinese, as most speakers know these languages as well. During the time of the Qing dynasty, Dagur was written with the Manchu alphabet.
Distribution
Dagur is a Mongolic language consisting of five dialects:- Amur Dagur in the vicinity of Heihe. About 400 people.
- Nonni Dagur on the west side of the Nonni River from south of Qiqihar up to Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner. Speakers of Nonni Dagur are usually grouped into the following four dialects:
- *Morin Daba Dagur, in Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner of Hulun Buir League, Inner Mongolia
- *Butha 'Dagur, immediately south of Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner
- *Tsitsikar Dagur, in Tsitsikar City and surrounding areas
- *Mergen Dagur or Nenjiang Dagur, in Nenjiang County of Heilongjiang Province
- Hailar Dagur to the south-east of Hailar in Ewenki Autonomous Banner
- Sinkiang Dagur' in Xinjiang in the vicinity of Tacheng
Phonology
Dagur phonology is peculiar in that some of its dialects have developed a set of labialized consonants, while it shares palatalized consonants with most Mongolian dialects that have not been developed in the other Mongolic languages. It also has, which is, however, limited to loan words. Word-final short vowels were lost and historically short vowels in non-initial syllables have lost phoneme status. Dagur is the only Mongolic language to share this development with Mongolian. Due to the merger of and with and, vowel harmony was lost. According to Tsumagari, vowel harmony is still a productive synchronic phonotactic aspect of Dagur in which initial syllable long vowels are divided into "masculine", "feminine", and neutral groups. Likewise, suffixal long vowels must agree in harmonic group with the root.Grammar
Dagur has a pronominal system that distinguishes between first person plural inclusive and exclusive and, even more archaic, it distinguishes between third person singular and plural. While the phoneme has been retained, the second person singular pronoun has become nevertheless, resembling a more thorough sound change in Khorchin Mongolian. The second person plural is retained as. The genitive and accusative have fused in some variants, becoming –ji, and the ablative may assume the form of the instrumental case. The old comitative has been lost, while the innovated comitative is the same as in Mongolian. In addition, several other cases have been innovated that are not shared by Mongolian, including a new allative, -maji.Dagur has a fairly simple tense-aspect system consisting of the nonpast markers - and - and the past forms - and and the non-finite imperfective marker --. These may be inflected for person. The attributive particle forms are limited to – for imperfective aspect and future tense, -sən for perfective aspect, - for habituality and - for potential and probable actions. It has acquired a highly complex converbal system containing several innovations. Notably, -mar which is a participle in Mongolian serves as a converb as well.
Personal reflexive relationship suffixes
| Pronoun | Number | Marker | Example | Meaning |
| 1st | Singular | mini | жакмини jakmini | my stuff/thing |
| 1st | Singular | mini | хороомини horoomini | my finger |
| 1st | Plural | -maani | себмаани sebmaani | our teacher |
| 1st | Plural | -naani | себнаани sebnaani | our teacher |
| 2nd | Singular | -xini | васкалшини waskalxini | your clothing |
| 2nd | Plural | -taani | гэритаани geritaani | your home |
| 3rd | Singular | -ini | агини agini | his brother |
| 3rd | Singular | -yini | экээйини ekeeyini | his sister |
| 3rd | Plural | -inaani | этэвуйнаани eteewuinaani | their grandmother |
| 3rd | Plural | -yinaani | ачайинаани aqaayinaani | their father |
Imperative verb suffixes
| Pronoun | Number | Volitional | Imperative | Prohibitive |
| 1st | Singular | -яа -yaa | -гаан, -гээн -gaan, -geen | |
| 1st | Singular | -яа -yaa | -гаамини -gaamini | |
| 1st | Singular | -яа -yaa | -гэмини -geemini | |
| 1st | Plural | -яа -yaa | -гаамани -gaamaani | |
| 1st | Plural | -яа -yaa | -гээмани -geemaani | |
| 1st | Plural | -яа -yaa | -гааннаани -gaannaani | |
| 1st | Plural | -яа -yaa | -гээннаани -geennaani | |
| 2nd | Singular | -гаание -gaanie | -гааншини -gaanxini | |
| 2nd | Singular | -геение -geenie | -гээншини -geenxini | |
| 2nd | Plural | -гаантие -gaantie | -ту -tu | -гаантаани -gaantaani |
| 2nd | Plural | -геентие -geentie | -ту -tu | -геентаани -geentaani |
| 3rd | Singular & plural | -тгай -tgai | -гаанини -gaanini | |
| 3rd | Singular & plural | -тгай -tgai | -гээнини -geenini |
Declarative verb suffixes
| Time | Suffix | Example | Meaning |
| Present future tense | -bei | идбей idbei | will eat |
| Present future tense | -n | яобей yaobei | will go |
| Past tense | -sen | идсен idsen | ate |
| Past tense | -sen | яосен yaosen | went |
Pronouns' verb suffixes
Present future tense
| Pronoun | Number | Marker | Example | Meaning |
| 1st | Singular | -wei | Би харивей. Bi hariwei. | I return. |
| 1st | Singular | -nbi | Би харинби. Bi harinbi. | I return. |
| 1st | Plural | -waa | Баа хариваа. Baa hariwaa. | We return. |
| 1st | Plural | -nbaa | Баа харинбаа. Baa harinbaa. | We return. |
| 1st | Plural | -wdaa | Бид харивдаа. Bid hariwdaa. | We return. |
| 1st | Plural | -ndaa | Бид хариндаа. Bid harindaa. | We return. |
| 2nd | Singular | -beixi | Ши харибейши. Xi haribeixi. | You return. |
| 2nd | Singular | -nxi | Ши харинши. Xi harinxi. | You return. |
| 2nd | Plural | -beitaa | Таа харибейтаа. Taa haribeitaa. | You return. |
| 2nd | Plural | -ntaa | Таа харинтаа. Taa harintaa. | You return. |
Past tense
| Pronoun | Number | Marker | Example | Meaning |
| 1st | Singular | -senbi | Би харисенби. Bi harisenbi. | I returned. |
| 1st | Plural | -senbaa | Баа харисенбаа. Baa harisenbaa. | We returned. |
| 1st | Plural | -sendaa | Бид харисэндаа. Bid harisendaa. | We returned. |
| 2nd | Singular | -senxi | Ши харисенши. Xi harisenxi. | You returned. |
| 2nd | Plural | -sentaa | Таа харисентаа. Taa harisentaa. | You returned. |
| 2nd | - | - | - | - |
| 2nd | - | - | - | - |
Adverb suffixes
| Suffix | Notes | Example | Meaning |
| -j | Indicates parallel actions | Ийчиж ужсенби. iiqij ujsenbi. | I went to see. |
| -jie | Indicates that two actions are performed simultaneously | Саожие усвулжьжабей. Saojie uswuljjabei. | sits while talking. |
| -aar, -eer, -oor | Indicates that the behavior occurred successively | Гараар ирсэн. Garaar irsen. | came out. |
| -aar, -eer, -oor | Indicates that the behavior occurred successively | Энкуер яосэн. Enkuer yaosen. | ate it. |
| -jii | Signifies the end of the act | Ужьжий яосэн. Ujjii yaosen. | left after reading. |
| -jii | Signifies the end of the act | Иджий яо! Idjii yao! | Let's eat and go. |
| -n...-n | Indicates behaviors that occur together | Гуйн кариен яосэн. Guin karien yaosen. | jumped and bounced away. |
| -mkii,-mklii | Indicates that the behavior occurs immediately | Мадемький ичсэн. Medemkii iqsen. | went as soon as knew it. |
| -mder | Indicates that the behavior occurs immediately | Медемдерь ичсэн. Medemder iqsen. | went as soon as she knew it. |
| -wueter | Indicates readiness | Елвуетерь медсен. Elwueter medsen. | will know as soon as says it. |
| -aajaar, -eejeer, -oojaar | Indicates simultaneous act | Бариежаараа алдсэн. Bariejaaraa aldsen. | grabbed it and let it go. |
| -rsaar, rseer | Indicates continuation and recurrence of behavior | Элерсеерь араан болсен. Elerseer araan bolsen. | How many times have you said it? |
| -aas, -ees, -oos | Express the condition of the behavior | Элеесшини укубей. Eleesxini ukubei. | If you say so, I'll give it to you. |
| -tgai q | Indicates concessive act | Учийкэн аатгай чукаатий. Uqiiken aatgai qukaatii. | Small but wise. |
| -worg, -wuar | Indicates the act to follow | Хийвуерь тортсен. Hiiwuer tortsen. | decided to do. |
| -gaanie, -geenie | Expresses purpose | Уйгеени игсен. Uigeenie igsen. | went to see. |
| -tel | Indicates behavioral boundaries | Яотельмини аасен. Yaotelmini aasen. | be there until leaves. |
| -tlaa, tlee | Expresses choice | Элтлеение хиисехдь уль денген. Eltleenie hiisehd ul dengen. | It's better to do. |
| -maak, meek | Indicates the proximity of behavior | Ванамаак болсен. Wanamaak bolsen. | about to fall. |
Lexicon
It is estimated that out of Dagur's entire language vocabulary, over half is Mongolic in origin. Additionally, while Dagur has over 50% common Mongolic vocabulary, it has borrowed 5 to 10% of its words from Chinese, as well as 10% of its words from Manchu, and a small number vocabulary borrowed from Evenki and Russian – leaving about 20% vocabulary that is specific to Dagur only.Middle Mongol words
Dagur retains quite a few archaic Mongolic words, and although they are not commonly found in the modern Mongolic languages, they do appear in Middle Mongol sources, like the Hua-Yi yiyu and The Secret History of the Mongols. These words include:- ‘road’
- ‘summer’
- ‘head’
- ‘staff’
- ‘iron’
- ‘spade’
- ‘brain’
- ‘kidney’
- ‘knee’
- ‘salt’
- ‘clothes’
- ‘to say’
Numerals
All basic numerals are of Mongolic origin.| English | Classical Mongolian | Dagur | Dagur | |
| 1 | One | Nigen | Нэкэн Neken | Neke |
| 2 | Two | Qoyar | Хойир Hoir | Hoyir |
| 3 | Three | Ghurban | Гуарбан Guarban | Guarbe |
| 4 | Four | Dorben | Дурубун Durbun | Durbu |
| 5 | Five | Tabun | Таавун Taawun | Taawu |
| 6 | Six | Jirghughan | Жиргөө Jirwoo | Jirgoo |
| 7 | Seven | Dologhan | Долөөн Doloon | Doloo |
| 8 | Eight | Naiman | Найман Naiman | Naime |
| 9 | Nine | Yisun | Йсэн Isen | Yise |
| 10 | Ten | Arban | Харбан Harban | Harbe |