Southern Anung (autonym: ; ; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Nung people in Fugong County, China, and Kachin State, Myanmar. The Anung language is closely related to the Derung and Rawang languages. Most of the Anung speakers in China have shifted to Lisu, although the speakers are classified as Nu people. The Northern Anung people speak a dialect of Derung, which is also called Anung (), but is not the same Anung discussed in this article.

The Burmese and Chinese dialects of Anung have 87% lexical similarity with each other. Anung has 73-76% lexical similarity with Derung, and 77-83% lexical similarity with the Matwang dialect of Rawang.

Demographics Besides China and Myanmar, there are Anong people in Thailand and India.

China Anong is spoken by over 7,000 people in China in the following townships. Shangpa (): 2,200 people Lijia (): 1,100 people Lumadeng (): 2,100 people Lishadi (): 2,200 people

Myanmar The majority of Anong speakers in Myanmar are found in Kachin State, specifically Myitkyina, Putao, Naungmun, Machanbaw, Tannai, and Khaunglangphu. There are over 5000 Naw (Anong) people in Kachin State, Myanmar.

Putao: 2000 people Myitkyina: 3000 people Tanai: 500 people

In Myitkyina and Putao, there are literacy and language trainings every year.

Some Naw people live in Shan State, but it is not clear whether they still use Anong or not. There are also many living in cities such as Yangon, Khamti, and Taunggyi. Naw people are still mixed with the Lisu population.

Phonology

Consonants Nung has 43 single consonants. LabialAlveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarGlottalNasalvoicelessvoicedPlosiveaspirated tenuis voiced Affricateaspirated tenuis voiced FricativevoicelessvoicedLateralvoiceless voiced Rhoticvoiced

Notes

References

Wu, Nye. 2013. A Sociolinguistic Study of the Vitality of Anung (Anong) In Myanmar. Master’s thesis, Payap University. Shintani, Tadahiko. 2018. The Khwingsang language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area, no. 113. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).