Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Kulung language

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Native to
  
Nepal

ISO 639-3
  
kle

Native speakers
  
33,000 (2011 census)

Glottolog
  
kulu1253  (Kulung)

Language family
  
Sino-Tibetan Mahakiranti ? Kiranti Central Khambu Kulung

Kulung (autonym: Kulu rɩŋ, [kulu rɪŋ]) is a Kiranti language spoken by an estimated 33,000 people.

Contents

Locations

Kulung in some ten villages along the upper reaches of the Huṅga or Hoṅgu river (a tributary of the Dūdhkosī), in Solu Khumbu District of Sagarmāthā Zone, Nepal. The main Kulung-speaking villages are Chhemsi and Chheskam. The particular dialect of the language spoken in these two villages is considered by the Kulung to be the most original form of their language. Downstream, on both sides of the Huṅga river, in villages that are now called Luchcham, Gudel, Chocholung, Nāmluṅg, Pilmo, Bung, Chhekmā, and Sātdi, less prestigious varieties of Kulung are spoken.

Ethnologue lists the following Kulung villages.

  • Hongu River valley, Solukhumbu District, Sagarmatha Zone: Bung, Pelmang, Chhemsing, Chheskam, Lucham, Chachalung, Satdi, Gudel, Namlung, Sotang, and Chekma villages
  • Sankhuwasabha district, Kosi Zone: Mangtewa, Yaphu, and Seduwa VDC's
  • Bhojpur District, Kosi Zone: Phedi, Limkhim, Khartanga, and Wasepla VDC's
  • Vowels

    Kulung has six short vowels and six long vowels:

  • Front and central vowels are unrounded, whereas back vowels are rounded.
  • Consonants

    Dialects of the Kulung language include Sotang (Sotaring, Sottaring), Mahakulung, Tamachhang, Pidisoi, Chhapkoa, Pelmung, Namlung, and Khambu. Kulung distinguishes among eight vowels and 11 diphthongs. There are three series of stops: dorso-velar, dental, and labial, each series having an unaspirated voiceless, aspirated voiceless, and unaspirated voiced variant. There are three voiced nasals, four approximants, one vibrant, one fricative, and three affricates.

    Nominal morphology

    To the nominal categories belong the following parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals. There are unambiguous morphological criteria for distinguishing between nouns and verbs. Whereas nouns can be marked for case and number, finite verbs are marked for person, number, and tense. There is no grammatical gender in Kulung.

    Personal pronouns

    The ten Kulung personal pronouns have three number distinctions (singular, dual, and plural) and three person distinctions (first person, second person and third person) as well as an inclusive/exclusive distinction. There are no gender distinctions.

    Cases

    Kulung has thirteen cases. Case endings are attached to nouns with or without the non-singular suffix. Allomorphy of case endings depends on whether the noun ends in a vowel or consonant. Below the case endings of the noun lam 'road' are presented.

    Verbal morphology

    The Kulung verb is characterised by a system of complex pronominalisation, in which paradigmatic stem alternation is found. Personal endings consist of morphemes expressing notions like tense, agent, patient, number, and exclusivity. Depending on the number of verbal stems and their position in the verbal paradigm, every verb in Kulung belongs to a certain conjugation type. Complete conjugations of verbs belonging to the different conjugation types are presented in the second appendix. Like in other Kiranti languages, compound verbs are found in Kulung. These compound verbs consist of a verb stem and an auxiliary that adds semantic notions to the main verb. Other verbal constructions found in Kulung are a gerund, imperative, supine and an infinitive.

    References

    Kulung language Wikipedia