Solon is a language or dialect descended from Tungusic that was spoken by the Solons in China. Solon is a Manchurian Evenki dialect that was created when Solons were relocated from the Upper and Middle Amur basin to Hulunbuir during the 17th century. The Solon language is mainly concentrated in the Ewenki Autonomous Banner in Inner Mongolia, which was previously named the Solon Banner until 1958.
Name The term "Solon" is believed to have come from the Evenki word sologon, which means 'upstream inhabitant', with solo- defined as 'to go upstream'. Solon was originally used for Evenki and Dagur speakers from the Amur valley and was probably used when the Solons were formed as distinct from the Evenki. After migrations in the 16th-17th century from multiple ethnic groups, the name Solon was used for modern Solon, Dagur and Oroqen speakers. After being moved to Hulunbuir in 1732, the modern Solons and Solon dialect were designated and distinguished from other ethnic groups.
Solons were also called Ongkors, which has been changed to designate Solons from Xinjiang and their dialect. The Chinese name for the Solon language is the (Hailar) dialect of Evenki.
The Solons call themselves the "Ewenke", which is the term also used by China for the entire Ewenke minority groups that include the Khamnigan Evenki and the Aoluguya Evenki. When conversing with Nargil, Solons state that Ewenke refers to Solon, and the other Ewenke minority groups should have a modifier for their names to disgtinguish those groups from Solon.
Dialects Glottolog states that the dialects of Solon are Amur, Hulun Buir (Huihe), Morigele, Nonni (Nenjiang) and Ongkor Solon. Piispanen states the Solon dialects are Huihe, Hailar/Bouthka, Orončo, Manegir, Onkor/Xinjian and Turkestan Solon, with the latter 2 most likely being an identical dialect.
There is also a different grouping for the Solon's dialects that are made up of 3 different dialect groups, Hailar, Nonni and Ongkor Solon. The Hailar dialect has been significantly influenced by Mongolic, while the Nonni dialect has been significantly influenced by Chinese and Dagur. The Nonni dialect is considered to be more endangered due to its worse preservation.
The Ongkor Solon dialect has been extinct since the 1990s.
Classification According to Juha Janhunen's research, the numerous dialects of the Ewenki language can be divided into two major groups: those of the Solons (which he labels "Solon Ewenki") and those of the Ewenki of Siberia (as well as the Oroqen and the "Manchurian Reindeer Tungus" of China), which he calls "Siberian Evenki". Solon is mutually unintelligable with the other Evenki dialects. The Ewenki dialects of the bilingual Khamnigan show features characteristic of both "Manchurian" and "Siberian" groups, as well as peculiar Khamnigan innovations.
The Solon being closely associated with the Dagur, many (around half of them, according to Janhunen's field research in the 1990s) Solon people are bilingual in the Dagur. During the Qing Empire, many Solon (as well as members of many other native groups of Manchuria) were able to speak Manchu, while in modern China Mandarin Chinese is universally taught.
Solon has also been classified as a separate language as it is archaic, atypical and has had a strong influence from neighbouring languages like Manchu and Dagur. Juha Janhunen classifies Solon as a part of the Ewenic languages.
Malcolm Ross proposed the term "lect" in 2001 to not distinguish between Solon being a dialect or language due to the difficulty of its classification.
Status Solon is considered the most vital Tungusic language. According to UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Solon is classified as a language definitely endangered. Juha Janhunen and Toshiro Tsumagari classified Solon as endangered, with the language being nearly extinct locally.
Solon is considered the most vital Tungusic language. Solons generally also have a positive attitude towards their languages and culture, with the language being used in everyday activities.
Solons access to education in Mongolian or Mandarin as well as TV and social media has resulted in many Solons being bilingual or even trilingual. Solons also potentially due to their close interactions, have some levels of proficiency with Dagur, Khamnigan Evenki and Oroqen, although this is rarer for the younger generations. Some Solon speakers also have learnt English, Japanese and Russian, although these are even rarer and are considered foreign languages.
Currently, urbanisation has resulted in challenges with the language being maintained as Solon speakers leaving rural areas have their language become socially disadvantaged. However, in general, a majority of Solons only speak Solon commonly, which is different between older and younger generations that have only 45.9% of younger Solons only speak Solon commonly.
In rural Solon areas, Solon children are able to speak Solon fluently, Han Chinese and Mongols living in these Solon rural regions learn basic sentences of Solon to talk to Solons.
Population According to Juha Janhunen and Toshiro Tsumagari, the language currently has approximately 15,000 speakers. In 2010, Christopher Moseley stated that there were 10,000 speakers.
However, Nargil states that in the 2020 census, there are 20,000 Solon speakers, which are up from 8,700 speakers in 1964 and 17,500 speakers in 1982. From the 20,000 speakers in 2020, 10,000 come from the Ewenki Autonomous Banner, 4,900 speakers from the Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner, 2,200 speakers from the Arun Banner, 2,200 speakers from the Oroqen Autonomous Banner, 2,000 speakers from Hailar and 1,200 speakers from Zalantun. In the Ewenki Autonomous Banner, the Solon account for 7% of the population, which is lower in urban areas where Mandarin and Mongolian are more commonly used.
Conservation The Ewenke Autonomous Banner's government holds events that promote Solon identity and language that include festivals and school activities. There were various policies and organisations created for the protection of Solon, that includes the Ewenke Study Association, the Ewenke Language Centre and the Ewenke Language Tutorial that introduced a Latin script, have adopted weekly education programs including an curriculum for schools and televised an animated series and an TV program in Solon.
Phonology Consonants Tsumagari states there are 17 consonant phonemes in the Solon language, which are p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, c, tʃ, j, dʒ, s, x, l, r, w, y and [j]. The /h/ phoneme is also sometimes considered a separate phoneme, but is also interpreted as an allophone of s. However, Kazama states there are 19 consonant phonemes, that are p, t, č, k, b, d, ǰ, g, m, n, ň, ŋ, s, š, x, w, j, r and l. Baek also states that there are 17 consonants, which are m, n, ŋ, b, d, j, g, p, t, c, k, s, x, w, y, l and r. The following table shows all of the consonants Solon uses.
+Solon consonants Labial Dental Palatal Retroflex Alveolar Post-alveolar Velar GlottalNasal Plosivevoiceless voiced Fricative Approximant
Vowels Kazama states there are 12 vowel phonemes in the Solon language, which are H, i, ə, ɵ, u, S, ι, a, o, u, e and ee. However, Baek states there are 9 vowels, that are u, i, ʊ, ɪ, ɵ, e, o, iě and a. The following table shows all of the vowels Solon uses.
+ Solon vowels Front Central Backunroundedroundedroundedunroundedrounded Close , , , Near-close Mid , , , , Open ,
Syllable structure The syllable structure of Solon is shown as (C)V(V)(C).
Morphology Morphological process Solon's morphological process has agglutinative suffixes, which is shown in the xaxraa-sül-nii-s (of your chickens). Regressive assimilation has also occurred in Solon, resulting in alterations in the stem's final consonant, which is shown in is-ca being used for has reached over it-caa.
Nouns Declension Solon has 13 different cases that includes an established genitive and a unmarked nominative form that serves as a stem of oblique cases. Some case-endings in Solon also include allomorphs which include the stem-final phonemic structure (-V♯/-C♯). The following list includes the Solon words beye (man) and morin (horse) that comes from Toshiro Tsumagari.
Casebeye (man)morin (horse)Nominative beye morinGenitive beye-nii morin-iiAccusative beye-we morin-baIndefinite Accusative beye-ye morin-aDative beye-dii morin-duLocative beye-lee morin-dulaaDirective beye-txii morin-tixiiProlative beye-lii morin-duliiAblative beye-diixi morin-duxiElative beye-giiji morin-giijiDelative beye-leexi morin-dulaaxiInstrumental beye-ji morin-jiComitative beye-gilii morin-gilii
Personal endings The following list includes the nominative form and other case forms in Solon with endings that indicate the person and their number, which comes from Toshiro Tsumagari.
Singular Plural 1st person -bi［-beye～-weye] -mun～-mün (exclusive)-t(i) (inclusive) 2nd person -s(i) (～C-ci) -sun～-sün (～C-cun～-cün) 3rd person -nin(i)［-ni same as singular Reflexive［-bi～-wi] ［-beli～-weli］
Plural suffix Plurality in Solon is represented by the suffix -sal, which is attached to humans, animals and innaminate objects such as omolƐƐ -sal (grandsons), xolƐƐ -sal/＜xolƐƐn (snakes) and jolo-sol (stones). Unmarked forms are also used for referring to plural entities, which is more common when there is a quantitative adjective or it is preceded by a numeral such as ilan iite (three sons) and baraan xonin (many sheep). The suffix -sƐƐn is also added in Solon to place names or personal names and will mean "those who live somewhere" and "someoneʼs family, someone and others", which is shown by imin-sƐƐn (those who live in Imin) and ülji-sƐƐn (the Uljis). The noun ulur or possibly olor (people, fellow) has also been used in Solon for human nouns such as sawi ulur (students).
Pronouns Personal pronouns Most of the personal pronouns in Solon are infected with alternative stems given in square brackets. The case-endings are similar to the noun case-endings, with the restructuring of actual occurrence for case-endings. For 3rd person pronouns, demonstrative pronouns such as eri/tari (this/that), usually employs plural forms ersel/tarsal～taccil (these/those) and elür/talur (＜eri/tari ulur) (these/those people). The original 3rd person pronoun nugan, with a plural form of nugan-sal, is rarely used and expresses politeness to the referent. This is shown in the following table, that comes from Toshiro Tsumagari.
Singular Plural 1st person bii ［min-,accusative case minewe] büü［mün-,accusative case münewe (exclusive)miti (inclusive) 2nd person sii ［sin-,accusative case sinewe] süü［sün-,accusative case sünewe］
Reflexive pronouns The word meeni (oneself) is used for both numbers and has the stem meen-, a case-ending and a singular reflexive-ending. The word meeni has a dative case of meen-dü-wi, a instrumental case of meen-ji-wi and a accusative case of meen-bi, with the accusative case not having and any case-markings.
Demonstrative pronouns The words eri (this) and tari (that) are used attributively and independently, with some case forms having both having reduced stems and derivative forms. The case forms with reduced stems are the dative case of e-dü/ta-du and the locative case of e-lee/ta-laa, while the derivative forms are eyye/tayya (this/that with a contemptuous tone), ennegen/tannagan (like this/that which is attributive) and ettü/tattu (in this/that way).
Interrogative pronouns The following table includes interrogative pronouns from Toshiro Tsumagari:
EnglishSolonwhat ii, oxonwho aawu, niiwhich iir, iggühow many, how much ooxi, adi
The following table also includes interrogative pronouns from Toshiro Tsumagari which have some case forms and derivative forms serve as interrogative adverbs.
EnglishSolonwhen ooxiduwhere iileehow iittüwhy, how yoodonwhat kind of oondii
Adjectives Conversion