Cun language

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title: "Cun language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-hainan", "hlai-languages"] description: "Kra–Dal language of Hainan Island, China" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cun_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Kra–Dal language of Hainan Island, China ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Cun
states	China
region	western Hainan
speakers	80,000
date	1999
ref	e18
familycolor	Tai–Kadai
fam2	Hlai
fam3	Central
fam4	North
dia1	Nadou
iso3	cuq
glotto	cunn1236
glottorefname	Cun
altname	仡隆语
Gelong
::

| name = Cun | states = China | region = western Hainan | speakers = 80,000 | date = 1999 | ref = e18 | familycolor = Tai–Kadai | fam2 = Hlai | fam3 = Central | fam4 = North | dia1 = Nadou | iso3 = cuq | glotto = cunn1236 | glottorefname = Cun | altname = 仡隆语 Gelong

Cun (; meaning "village language/speech"), also known as Gelong (仡隆语 / 哥隆语) or Ngan-Fon, is a Kra–Dai language spoken on Hainan Island. It is a part of the Hlai languages branch and has a lexical similarity with standard Hlai at 40%. The language has approximately 80,000 speakers, 47,200 of which are monolingual. Cun is a tonal language with 10 tones, used depending on whether a syllable is checked or unchecked. The speakers of this language are classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Han; in Hainan, Nadou and Lingao speakers are also classified as ethnic Han.

The Cun are descended from Han Chinese migrants to Hainan Island who intermarried with the local Li people. As a result, Cun has more Chinese loanwords than other Hlai languages.

Nearby, the Fuma (Chinese: 付马话, 府玛话, or 富马话) dialect, a variety of Chinese similar to Gan-Hakka that has been strongly influenced by Cun, is spoken in Fuma Village 付马村, Sigeng Town 四更镇, Dongfang City. It had about 800 speakers in 1994.

Phonology

The tables below show the vowel and consonant phonemes of Cun:

Vowels

::data[format=table]

Front	Central	Back	Close	Mid	Open
		,
	()
::

Diphthongs

Cun has many diphthongs. With : , . With : , . With : , , , , , , . With : , , , , , , , , .

Consonants

::data[format=table]

Bilabial	Alveolar	Alv.-palatal	Velar	Glottal	Median	Lateral	Plosives	Voiceless	Aspirated	Glottalized	Fricatives	Voiceless	Voiced	Affricates	Voiceless	Aspirated	Liquids	Nasals	Voiced	Labialized	Semivowels
::

Tones

Cun is a tonal language with ten tones. Four of the tones occur only in syllables ending with a consonant: , , or .

::data[format=table] | Tone || Pitch Value || Example || Meaning | |---| | | 1 | | | 2 | | | 3 | | | 4 | | | 5 | | | 6 | | | 7 | | | 8 | | | 9 | | | 10 | ::

References

• http://www.language-archives.org/language/cuq

References

1. Ouyang, Jueya 欧阳觉亚. (1998). "Cunyu yanjiu 村语研究". Shanghai Far East Publishing House 上海远东出版社.
2. Fu, Changzhong 符昌忠. (2020). "Nadouyu yanjiu 那斗语研究". Minzu chubanshe 民族出版社.
3. Liang, Min 梁敏. (1997). "Língāo yǔ yánjiū". Shanghai yuandong chubanshe 上海远东出版社.
4. Norquest, Peter K. 2015. [https://brill.com/view/title/32092 ''A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai'']. Languages of Asia, Volume 13. Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN. 978-90-04-30052-1
5. Wang, Xueyan 王雪燕. 2016. ''Hainan Fumahua diaocha baogao'' 海南付马话调查报告. Beijing: [[Capital Normal University]], Literature Institute 首都师范大学文学院.
6. "Fuma".
7. Ni 1990, p. 173.
8. Ni 1990, p. 172.
9. Ni 1990, p. 178.
10. From Ni 1990, pp. 174–178.

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