Mulam language


The Mulam language is a Kam–Sui language spoken mainly in Luocheng County, Hechi, Northern Guangxi by the Mulao people. The greatest concentrations are in Dongmen and Siba communes. Their autonym is mu6 lam1. The Mulam also call themselves kjam1, which is probably cognate with lam1 and the Dong people's autonym "Kam".

Phonology

The Mulam language, like Dong, does not have voiced stops, but does have a phonemic distinction between unvoiced and voiced nasals and laterals. It has a system of eleven distinct vowels. It is a tonal language with ten tones, and 65% of its vocabulary is shared with the Zhuang and Dong languages.

Dialects

The following Mulam dialects are listed in Wang & Zheng .
The following comparison of Mulam dialects is from Ni Dabai.
English glossChinese glossQiaotou 桥头Huangjin 黄金Siba 四把Dongmen 东门Long'an 龙岸
dietai1tai1pɣai1tai1tai1
medicineta2ta2kɣa2-tsa2
intestines肠子taːi3taːi3kɣaːi3khɣaːi3tsaːi3
cloudma3ma3kwa3kwa3fa3
bran细糠pwa6pwa6kwa6kwa6fa6
dogm̥a1m̥a1ŋwa1ŋ̥wa1m̥a1
hair, fur毛发pəm1pəm1pɣam1pɣam1kjam1