Nung language (Tai)


Nùng is a Tai–Kadai language spoken mostly in Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn provinces in Vietnam. It is also known as Bu-Nong, Highland Nung, Nong, Tai Nung, Tay, and Tày Nùng. Nung is the name given to the various Tai languages of northern Vietnam that are spoken by peoples classified as Nùng by the Vietnamese government.
In the 1999 census, it had about 856,000 speakers. It had about 968,800 speakers in the 2009 census.

Phonology

The following are the sounds of the Nung language:

Consonants

PhonemeAllophone
//
//
//,

Vowels

PhonemeAllophoneNotes
//in closed syllables
//
//
//
//in closed syllables
//before //
//before //
//
//before //

Tone

The Nung language has six tones:

Varieties

Nung consists of many varieties, some of which are listed below.
Nùng Vên, a language formerly undistinguished from surrounding Central Tai dialects, was discovered to be a Kra language by Hoàng Văn Ma and Jerold A. Edmondson in 1998. Its speakers are classified as Nùng by the Vietnamese government.