Oroqen ( ; Oroqen Urkun; ), also known as Orochon, Oronchon, Olunchun, Elunchun or Ulunchun, is a Northern Tungusic language spoken in the People's Republic of China. Dialects are Gankui and Heilongjiang. Gankui is the standard dialect. It is spoken by the Oroqen people of Inner Mongolia (predominantly the Oroqin Autonomous Banner) and Heilongjiang in Northeast China.
Since the 1980s, Oroqen-language materials were produced by teachers in Oroqen-speaking areas. They based the language's orthography either on IPA or Pinyin. A majority of Oroqen speakers use Chinese as a literary language and some also speak Daur.
Geographic distribution Oroqen is spoken in the following counties of China: Heilongjiang province Da Hinggan Ling: Huma County and Tahe County Heihe: Xunke County Yichun: Jiayin County and Heihe City Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Hulunbuir: Oroqen Autonomous Banner
Phonology Consonants LabialAlveolarPost-alveolarVelarGlottalNasalPlosive/AffricatevoicelessvoicedFricative ~ ~ RhoticApproximant
Allophones of /x/ are heard as [ɣ], [h]. A bilabial /ɸ/ can also be heard as a labio-dental [f]. A rhotic trill /r/ tends to sound as a tap [ɾ], when occurring word-finally.
Vowels FrontCentralBackHigh Near-high High-mid Low-mid Low
/ə, əː/ are often heard as lower sounds [, ]. Short allophones of /o, u/ are heard as [, ].
Sample text Listed below are some Oroqen sentences. They are transcribed in Oroqen Phonetic Alphabet. Arian has three elder brothers. Arian ilan axči The children are all come in. Kúxä səl ku əmčə Arian's elder brother is coming. Arian axninin əmčə I'm a student. Pi pite turan You're taller than me ši mintu gúkta The house is neat and tidy. Ər jü čaldä le Arian untied the rope Arian ušixəmúə pudičə How many children do you have? ši ati kúxa či pišiniʔ Arian took off his clothes Arian kantaxúə purmə ədəjə
Notes
Further reading
Морозова Ольга Николаевна, Булатова Надежда Яковлевна, & Андросова Светлана Викторовна (2020). "РЕАЛИЗАЦИЯ ПЕРЕДНЕЯЗЫЧНОГО ЩЕЛЕВОГО /S/ В ЭВЕНКИЙСКОМ И ОРОЧОНСКОМ ЯЗЫКАХ" [Realization of front fricative /S/ in the Evenki and Oroqen languages]. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Труды института лингвистических исследований, 2 (XVI), 582-607. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/realizatsiya-peredneyazychnogo-schelevogo-s-v-evenkiyskom-i-orochonskom-yazykah (дата обращения: 06.05.2024).
External links Oroqen Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database) Oroqen Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix) Oroqen alphabet from Omniglot