The Kam or Gam language (), also known as Dong (), is a Kam–Sui language spoken by the Dong people. Ethnologue distinguishes three Kam varieties as separate but closely related languages.

Demographics

Southern Dong
Almost 1.5 million speakers of Southern Dong were counted in the 1990 language census, from a total of 2.5 million people in the Dong ethnic group. The Southern Dong live primarily in Rongjiang, Jinping, Liping, Zhenyuan, and Congjiang counties in Guizhou Province; Longsheng, Sanjiang, and Rongshui counties in northeastern Guangxi; and Tongdao County in Hunan Province. Two Dong villages are also located in northern Vietnam, although only one individual in Vietnam is still able to speak Dong.

Dialects
The Kam language can be divided into two major subdivisions: Southern Kam and Northern Kam. Northern Kam displays more Chinese influence and lacks vowel length contrast, while Southern Kam is more conservative. Language varieties closely related to or part of Kam include Cao Miao and Naxi Yao. A northern Pinghua variety called Tongdao Pinghua, spoken in Tongdao County, Hunan, has also been significantly influenced by Kam.

Southern Kam
First lectal area: Róngjiāng Zhānglǔ (), Lípíng Hóngzhōu (), Jǐnpíng Qǐméng () in Guizhou; Tōngdào () in Hunan; Longsheng () and Sanjiang Dudong () in Guangxi
Second lectal area: Lípíng Shuǐkǒu (), Cóngjiāng Guàndòng (), Róngjiāng Píngjiāng () in Guizhou; Sānjiāng Hélǐ () in Guangxi
Third lectal area: Zhènyuǎn Bàojīng () in Guizhou
Fourth lectal area: Róngshuǐ () in Guangxi

Northern Kam
First lectal area: Tiānzhù Shídòng (), Sānsuì Kuǎnchǎng (), Jiànhé Xiǎoguǎng () in Guizhou; also Jǐnpíng Jiǔzhài () in Guizhou
Second lectal area: Tiānzhù Zhǔxī () in Guizhou
Third lectal area: Jǐnpíng Dàtóng () in Guizhou

Long (2012:19-20) classifies the Kam lectal areas (dialects) as follows.

Southern Kam
Lectal area 1
Chejiang, Rongjiang County 
Longcheng, Tongdao County 
Pingdeng, Longsheng County 
Chengyang, Sanjiang County 
Hongzhou, Liping County 
Lectal area 2
Zhaihao, Rongjiang County 
Shuikou, Liping County 
Guidong, Congjiang County 
Heli, Sanjiang County 
Lectal area 3
Zhaihuai, Rongshui County 
Lectal area 4
Pindong, Rongshui County 

Northern Kam
Lectal area 1 (Highland Dong )
Shidong, Tianzhu County 
Kuanchang, Sansui County 
Jiuzhai, Jinping County 
Xiaoguang, Jianhe County 
Lectal area 2 (River Dong )
Datong, Jinping County 
Sanmentang, Tianzhu County 
Lannichong, Jingzhou County 
Lectal area 3
Zhuxi, Tianzhu County 
Zhongzhai, Xinhuang County 
Lectal area 4
Qimeng, Jinping County 
Lectal area 5
Baojing, Zhenyuan County 

In Congjiang County, Dong consists of three dialects: Jiudong   (similar to Chejiang  Dong), Liudong  (similar to Liping  Dong), and another dialect spoken in Xishan , Bingmei , and Guandong  (similar to Sanjiang  Dong) (Congjiang County Gazetteer 1999:109).

In Suining County, Hunan, Dong is spoken in Lianfeng  (including Duolong ), Huangsangping , Le'anpu , and other nearby locations. In Chengbu County, Hunan, Dong is spoken in Yanzhai , Chang'anying , and Jiangtousi .

Kam is also spoken in the single village of Đồng Mộc, Trung Sơn Commune, Yên Sơn District, Tuyên Quang Province, northern Vietnam, where there are about 35 Kam people (Edmondson & Gregerson 2001). The Kam of Đồng Mộc had migrated to Vietnam from China about 150 years ago. The Kam variety spoken in Đồng Mộc is most similar to that of Lípíng Shuǐkǒu () in southeastern Guizhou.

In China, a total of seven counties designated as Dong Autonomous Counties ().
Yuping Dong Autonomous County, Guizhou
Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, Guangxi
Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi
Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan
Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan
Jingzhou Miao and Dong Autonomous County, Hunan
Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, Hunan

Others
According to the Shaoyang Prefecture Gazetteer (1997), language varieties closely related to Southern Kam are spoken in Naxi , Dongkou County (which had 4,280 ethnic Yao in 1982 (Chen 2013:39)) and Lianmin , Suining County. However, they are officially classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Yao, not Dong. Chen Qiguang (2013:39) reports that the ancestors of Naxihua  speakers had migrated to their current location from Tianzhu, Liping, and Yuping counties of southeastern Guizhou during the early 15th century.

Sanqiao 三锹 (三橇) is a mixed Dong–Miao language spoken in Liping County and Jinping County, Guizhou, China by about 6,000 people.

Phonology and orthography

Kam has two main orthographies: the Chinese academic developed system and the independently developed system by Ngo Van Lyong for Southern Kam as spoken in Rongjiang. The Chinese system is most commonly used by linguists and has similarities to other Chinese Kra–Dai language orthographies (such as Zhuang). The Ngo Van Lyong system was inspired by the Vietnamese alphabet and is made for speakers and learners.

While the Chinese system is the most well known, most Kam speakers are not literate.

Initials

The Chinese orthography for Kam orthography has 32 syllable-initial consonants; seven of them (, , , , ,  and ) only occur in recent loanwords from Chinese.

The Ngo Van Lyong orthography for Southern Kam has 28 syllable-initial consonants.

Finals
The Chinese orthography for Kam has 64 syllable finals; 14 of them occur only in Chinese loans and are not listed in the table below.

The phonetic value of the vowel in the finals spelled -ab, -ad and -ag, is  in syllables that have the tones -l, -p and -c (see table below); in syllables with tones -s, -t and -x, it is . The phonetic value of the vowel in the finals spelled -eb, -ed and -eg, is  in syllables that have the tones -l, -p and -c; in syllables with tones -s, -t and -x, it is .

The Ngo Van Lyong orthography for Southern Kam has 116 syllable finals.

Tones
Kam is a tonal language. Open syllables can occur in one of nine different tones, checked syllables in six tones (so-called entering tones), so that the traditional approach counts fifteen tones. As with the Hmong alphabet, the Chinese orthography marks tones with a consonant at the end of each syllable.

The Ngô Văn Lương orthography marks tones via diacritics written above or below the vowel as with the Vietnamese alphabet and only features 6 tones.

References

 Ōu Hēngyuán 欧亨元: Cic deenx Gaeml Gax / Dòng-Hàn cídiǎn 侗汉词典 (Kam–Chinese dictionary; Běijīng 北京, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 2004), .

Further reading
Long, Y., Zheng, G., & Geary, D. N. (1998). The Dong language in Guizhou Province, China. Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington publications in linguistics, publication 126. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics. 
Yang, Tongyin & Edmondson, Jerold A. (2008). Kam. In Anthony V. N. Diller and Jerold A. Edmondson and Yongxian Luo (eds.), The Tai-Kadai Languages, 509-584. London & New York: Routledge.

External links
 Southern Dong word list from the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
 Dong-language Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

Kam–Sui languages
Languages of Guizhou
Languages of Hunan
Languages of Guangxi
동어(侗語, )는 중국 동족()이 쓰는 크라다이어족 언어이다. 예로부터 한자로 쓰여왔으나, 이후 한자를 모방한 동자(字佄)로 쓰이기도 하였으며, 1958년 라틴 문자에 기반한 동문(侗文)이 만들어졌으나, 사람 수가 적고 인쇄물이 많지 않아 널리 쓰이지는 않는다.

동어는 남북의 두 방언으로 나뉘며 이를 두 개의 별개 언어로 보기도 한다. 남부 방언의 ISO 639-3코드는 kmc, 글로토코드는 sout2741이며, 화자 수는 백만 명 가량이다. 북부 방언의 ISO 639-3코드는 doc, 글로토코드는 nort2735이며, 화자 수는 50만명 가량이다. 양쪽 방언은 또다시 네 가지의 토어(土語)로 나뉜다. 동어방안 (侗文方案)의 초안 규정은 "귀주성의 용강화(榕江話)의 발음을 표준 발음으로 한다"고 명시하고 있다. 용강화(榕江話)는 용강현(榕江縣) 차강향(車江鄉) 동족촌채(侗族村寨)에서 사용되는 동어의 발음이며, 남부방언의 제1토어이다. 더 구체적으로는 장로촌(章魯村)의 발음을 표준으로 한다.

동어 어휘의 중요한 일부로서는 중국어 차용어가 있다. 고대의 차용어와 중고 한어의 음운은 일정한 대응 관계가 있으며, 현대의 차용어는 일반적으로 현지의 한어방언인 서남 관화, 주로 잠강(岑江) 사투리의 발음에 근접하다.

음운 및 문자 
동어의 음절은 성모와 운모와 성조 세 요소로 나눌 수 있다.

성모 
성모는 음절 첫머리의 자음이며, 동어에는 32가지 성모가 있다. 그 중 f, z, c, zh, ch, sh, r의 일곱은 중국어 차용어에서 유래한 것이며 동어 고유어에는 권설음이 없다.

성모의 글자 순서는 다음과 같다: b, p, m, w; d, t, n, s, l; bi, pi, mi, li; gu, ku, ngu; j, q, ny, x, y; g, k, ng, h; f, z, c, zh, ch, sh, r.

운모 
동어는 64개 운모가 있으며, 그 중 14개는 한어 차용어에서 유래한 것이므로 하단에 표기하지 않았다.

구개음화 성모인 bi, pi, mi, li 뒤의 운모 u는 uu로 쓴다.

운모 ab, ad, ag이 단입조(-l, -p, -c)와 이어질 때, 모음의 음가는 이며, 장입조(-s, -t, -x)와 이어질 때는 이다.

운모 eb, ed, eg이 단입조(-l, -p, -c)와 이어질 때, 모음의 음가는 이며, 장입조(-s, -t, -x)와 이어질 때는 이다.

성조 
동어는 성조 언어이다. 전통 음운학의 관점으로는 동어는 15개 성조가 있으며 그중 9개는 서성(舒聲), 6개는 입성(入聲)이다. 입성은 파열음 종성을 갖고 있는 음절에서 나타나는 성조이며, 서성은 개음절과 비음 종성을 갖고있는 음절에서 나타난다. 입성조의 음가와 서성의 음가는 대응 관계에 있으므로 관점에 따라 동어가 아홉 개 성조가 있다고 볼 수도 있다. 성조는 어말의 라틴 문자로 표기하며 아홉 가지 부호가 있다.

무성 무기 파열음 성모 b, bi, d, j, g, gu은 전음조와 양조의 음절에서만 나타나며, 무성 유기 파열음 p, pi, t, q, k, ku는 차음조의 음절에서만 나타난다.

동어의 현대 중국어 차용어도 동문의 일반 규칙에 따라 적는다.

표의 문자 

동어는 한때 방괴동자라 불리는 표의문자를 사용했다. 베트남어의 쯔놈처럼 한자에 기반한 체계이다.

방언 
남부방언, 화자 수 백만 명
제1토어: 귀주 용강(榕江) 차강(車江), 면병(錦屏) 계몽(启蒙), 여평(黎平) 홍주(洪州), 호남(湖南) 통도(通道) 농성(隴城), 광서 용승(龍勝) 평등(平等), 삼강 (三江) 독동(獨峒)
제2토어: 귀주 여평(黎平), 종강(從江) 대부(大部), 용강(榕江) 북부, 광서 삼강현(三江縣) 양구향화리(良口鄉和里)
제3토어: 광서 용수(融水) 채회(寨懷)
제4토어: 광서 용수(融水) 빙동(聘洞)
북부방언, 화자 수 50만 명
제1토어: 귀주 천주(天柱) 석동(石洞), 검하현(劍河縣) 소광(小廣), 삼수(三穗) 관장(款場)
제2토어: 귀주 천주(天柱) 주계(柱溪), 호남 신황(新晃) 중채(中寨)
제3토어: 귀주 면병(錦屏) 대동(大同), 호남 정주(靖州) 남니충(濫泥冲)
제4토어: 귀주 진원(鎮遠) 보경(報京)

참고 문헌 

欧亨元: 侗汉词典 (Cic deenx Gaeml Gax); 北京, 民族出版社 2004, ISBN 7-105-06287-8.
Long, Y., Zheng, G., & Geary, D. N. (1998). The Dong language in Guizhou Province, China. Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington publications in linguistics, publication 126. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 1556710518

각주

외부 링크 

中国民族语言研究网

중국의 언어
크라다이어족