Social:Dagur language

Short description: Mongolic language

Dagur
Dagur, Daghur, Dahur, or Daur language
Даор Усуву Template:ManchuSibeUnicode Daor Usuwu (Hailar) Template:ManchuSibeUnicode Dagur Kel (Qiqihar)
Pronunciation	[daɔr usuɣu]
Native to	China , Mongolia
Region	China : Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang Province, Xinjiang
Ethnicity	Daur
Native speakers	(China : 91,000 cited 1999)
Language family	Mongolic
Writing system	Latin script, Mongol script (Historically) and Cyrillic script.
Language codes
ISO 639-3	dta
Glottolog	daur1238

The Dagur, Daghur, Dahur, or Daur language, is a Mongolic language, as well as a distinct branch of the Mongolic language family, and is primarily spoken by members of the Dagur ethnic group.

There is no written standard in use, although a Pinyin-based orthography has been devised; instead the Dagur make use of Mongolian or Chinese, as most speakers know these languages as well. During the time of the Qing dynasty, Dagur was written with the Manchu alphabet.

Distribution

Dagur is a Mongolic language consisting of five dialects:

• Amur Dagur in the vicinity of Heihe (original homeland). About 400 people.
• Nonni Dagur on the west side of the Nonni River from south of Qiqihar up to Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner. Speakers of Nonni Dagur are usually grouped into the following 4 dialects:
  • Morin Daba Dagur, in Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner (Moli Daba) of Hulun Buir League, Inner Mongolia
  • Butha (Buteha) (Northern) Dagur, immediately south of Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner
  • Tsitsikar (Southern) Dagur, in Tsitsikar (Qiqihar) City and surrounding areas
  • Mergen Dagur or Nenjiang Dagur, in Nenjiang County (formerly Mergen County) of Heilongjiang Province
• Hailar Dagur to the south-east of Hailar in Ewenki Autonomous Banner
• Sinkiang Dagur in Xinjiang in the vicinity of Tacheng

Phonology

Dagur phonology is peculiar in that some of its dialects have developed a set of labialized consonants (e.g. /sʷar/ 'flea' vs. /sar/ 'moon'), while it shares palatalized consonants with most Mongolian dialects that have not been developed in the other Mongolic languages. It also has /f/, which is, however, limited to loan words. Word-final short vowels were lost and historically short vowels in non-initial syllables have lost phoneme status. Dagur is the only Mongolic language to share this development with Mongolian (i.e. Mongolian proper, Oirat, Buryat). Due to the merger of /ɔ/ and /ʊ/ with /o/ and /u/, vowel harmony was lost. According to Tsumagari (2003), vowel harmony is still a productive synchronic phonotactic aspect of Dagur in which initial syllable long vowels are divided into "masculine" (back), "feminine" (front), and neutral groups. Likewise, suffixal long vowels must agree in harmonic group with the root.

Vowels

Dagur vowels (Chuluu 1994)

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː	ə	əː	ɔ	ɔː
Open					a	aː

Consonants

Dagur consonants (Chuluu 1994)

		Labial			Alveolar			Postalveolar		Velar
		plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	pal.
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	p			t	tʷ	tʲ	tʃ	tʃʷ	k	kʷ	kʲ
	voiced	b		bʲ	d	dʷ	dʲ	dʒ	dʒʷ	ɡ		ɡʲ
Fricative		f			s	sʷ		ʃ		x	xʷ	xʲ
Nasal		m	mʷ	mʲ	n		nʲ			ŋ
Trill					r		rʲ
Lateral					l		lʲ
Semivowel							j				w

Writing system

Letters	Contextual forms			Transliteration		International Phonetic Alphabet
	Initial	Medial	Final	Latin	Cyrillic
ᠠ	ᠠ‍	‍ᠠ‍	‍ᠠ ‍ᠠTemplate:Fvs	a	а	/a/
ᠡ	ᠡ‍	‍ᠡ‍	‍ᠡ ‍ᠡTemplate:Fvs	e	э	/ə/
ᠢ	ᠢ‍	‍ᠢ‍	‍ᠢ	i	и	/i/
ᠣ	ᠣ‍	‍ᠣ‍	‍ᠣ	o	о	/ɔ/
ᠦ	ᡠ‍	‍ᡠ᠊Template:Fvs‍	‍᠊ᡠ	u	у	/u/
ᠨ	ᠨ‍	‍ᠨ‍ ‍ᠨTemplate:Fvs‍	‍ᠨ ‍ᠨTemplate:Mvs	n	н	/n/
ᠩ	—	‍ᠩ‍	‍ᠩ	ng	нг	/ŋ/
ᠪ	ᠪ‍	‍ᠪ‍	‍ᠪ	b	б	/b/
ᡦ᠊	ᡦ᠊‍	‍᠊ᡦ᠊‍	—	p	п	/p/
ᡥ᠊	ᡥ᠊‍ ‍ᡭ᠊Template:Mvs	‍᠊ᡥ᠊ ‍᠊ᡭ᠊Template:Mvs	—	h	х	/x/
ᠬ	ᠬ ‍ᠺ᠊Template:Mvs	‍ᠬ‍ ‍᠊ᠺ᠊Template:Mvs	‍ᠬ	k	к	/k/
ᡤ᠊	ᡤ᠊ ‍ᡬ᠊Template:Fvs‍	‍ᡤ᠊‍ ‍᠊ᡬ᠊Template:Fvs‍	‍‍ᠭ᠎	g	г	/g/
ᠮ	ᠮ‍	‍ᠮ‍	‍ᠮ	m	м	/m/
ᠯ	ᠯ‍	‍ᠯ‍	‍ᠯ	l	л	/l/
ᠰ	ᠰ‍	‍ᠰ‍	‍ᠰ	s	с	/s/
ᡧ᠊	ᡧ᠊‍	‍᠊ᡧ᠊‍	‍᠊ᡧ	x	ш	/ʃ/
ᠲ	ᠲ‍	‍ᠲ‍	‍ᠲ	t	т	/t/
ᡩ᠊	ᡩ᠊‍	‍᠊ᡩ᠊‍	‍ᡩ᠊	d	д	/d/
ᠴ	ᠴ‍	‍ᠴ‍	‍‍ᠴ	q	ч	/t͡ʃ/
ᠵ	ᠵ‍	‍ᠵ‍	‍‍‍ᠵ	j	ж	/d͡ʒ/
ᠶ	ᠶ‍	‍ᠶ‍	‍ᠶ	y	й	/j/
ᠸ	ᠸ‍	‍᠊ᠸ᠊‍	‍᠊ᠸ	w	в	/w/
ᠷ	ᠷ‍	‍ᠷ‍	‍ᠷ	r	р	/r/

Grammar

Dagur has a pronominal system that distinguishes between first person plural inclusive /bed/ and exclusive /baː/ and, even more archaic, it distinguishes between third person singular /iːn/ and plural /aːn/. While the phoneme /t͡ʃ/ (< *t͡ʃʰ) has been retained, the second person singular pronoun has become /ʃiː/ nevertheless, resembling a more thorough sound change in Khorchin Mongolian. The second person plural is retained as /taː/. The genitive and accusative have fused in some variants, becoming –ji, and the ablative may assume the form of the instrumental case. The old comitative has been lost, while the innovated comitative is the same as in Mongolian. In addition, several other cases have been innovated that are not shared by Mongolian, including a new allative, -maji.

Dagur has a fairly simple tense-aspect system consisting of the nonpast markers -/bəi/ and (marginally) -/n/ and the past forms -/sən/ and (marginally) /la/ and the non-finite imperfective marker -/d͡ʒa/-. These may be inflected for person. The attributive particle forms are limited to –/ɡʷ/ (< Written Mongolian -γ-a) for imperfective aspect and future tense, -sən (< -γsan) for perfective aspect, -/ɡat͡ʃ/ (< -gči) for habituality (instead of -daγ which used to fulfil this function) and -/mar/ for potential and probable actions. It has acquired a highly complex converbal system containing several innovations. Notably, -mar which is a participle in Mongolian serves as a converb as well.

Grammatical case suffix table

Case	Marker	Note	Example	Meaning (Chinese and Cyrillic)
Genitive	-ei	Added to words ending in a consonant (except j, q, x)	biteg + ei → bitegei	битегей 书的
			heleg + ei → helegei	хелегей 肝的
			adus + ei → adusei	адусей 牲口的
			aol + ei → aolei	аолэй 山的
	-ii	Added to words ending in j, q, x	kaiq + ii → kaiqii	кайчий 书的
			orj + ii → orjii	оржий 肝的
			tulx + ii → tulxii	тульший 牲口的
	-i	Added to words ending in a short vowel	mori + i → morii	морий 马的
			nowu + i → nowui	новуй 狗的
			danga + i → dangai	дангай 烟的
	-yi	Appended to words ending in long vowels and diphthongs	akaa + yi → akaayi	акааий 哥哥的
			kasoo + yi → kasooyi	касооий 铁的
			dao + yi → daoyi	даоий 歌的
Locative	-d	Added to the stem (if ending in a consonant d, t, k, s, j, q, x add an appropriate vowel before -d)	xiree + d → xireed	ширээд 于桌子
			horwu + d → horwud	хорвуд 于柜子
			tos + d → tosod	тосод 于油
Accusative	Same as genitive case
Sociative	-aar, -eer, -oor	Added to words ending in consonants (except j, q, x) according to vowel harmony	sarp + aar → sarpaar	сарпаар 用筷子
			lek + eer → lekeer	лэкээр 用磨石
			topoor + oor → topooroor	топоор用斧子
	-ier	Added to words ending in j, q, x	onq + ier → onqier	онкиэр用刀子
			orj + ier → orjier	оржиэр 用奶嘴
	-ar, -er, -or	Added according to vowel harmony to words ending in short vowels	danga + ar → dangaar	дангаар 用烟
			gali + er → galier	галиэр 用火
			mori + er → morier	мориэр 用马
			nowu + or → nowuor	новуор 用狗
	-yaar, -yeer	Added according to vowel harmony to words ending in long vowels and diphthongs	qoloo + yaar → qolooyaar	чолоояар 用铁
			kasoo + yaar → kasooyaar	касоояар 用奶嘴
Ablative	Same as sociative case		The ablative form is sometimes -aas, -ees, -oos, -ies, -as, -es, -os, -yaas, -yees.
和同格	-tii	Added to the word stem	akaa + tii → akaatii	акаатий 同哥哥一起
			ewee + tii → eweetii	эвээтий 同妈妈一起
程度格	-qaar, -qeer	Added to the word stem according to vowel harmony	soo + qaar → sooqaar	соочаар 到腋下
			sak + qaar → sakqaar	сакчаар 到踝骨处

Personal Reflexive Relationship Suffix Table

Pronoun	Number	Marker	Example	Meaning (Chinese)
1st	Singular	mini	жакмини jakmini	我的东西
			хороомини horoomini	我的手指头
	Plural (exclusive)	-maani	себмаани sebmaani	我们的老师
	Plural (inclusive)	-naani	себнаани sebnaani	咱们的老师
2nd	Singular	-xini	васкалшини waskalxini	你的衣服
	Plural	-taani	гэритаани geritaani	你们的房子
3rd	Singular	-ini	агини agini	我的东西
		-yini	экээйини ekeeyini	我的手指头
	Plural	-inaani	этэвуйнаани eteewuinaani	他们的祖母
		-yinaani	ачайинаани aqaayinaani	他们的父亲

Table of Imperative Verb Suffixes

Pronoun	Number	希望式	命令式	推迟式
1st	Singular	- яа - yaa		- гаан, -гээн gaan, geen
				-гаамини gaamini
				-гэмини ġeemini
	Plural (exclusive)			-гаамани gaamaani
				-гээмани geemaani
	Plural (inclusive)			-гааннаани gaannaani
				-гээннаани geennaani
2nd	Singular	-гаание gaanie	(word stem)	-гааншини gaanxini
		-геение geenie		-гээншини geenxini
	Plural	-гаантие gaantie	-ту tu	-гаантаани gaantaani
		-геентие geentie		-геентаани geentaani
3rd	Singular & Plural		-тгай tgai	-гаанини gaanini
				-гээнини geenini

Table of Declarative Verb Suffixes

Time	Suffix	Example	Meaning (Chinese)
Present future tense	-bei	идбей idbei (iden)	要吃
	-n	яобей (Явун) yaobei (yawun)	要走
Past tense	-sen	идсен idsen	吃了
		Яосен yaosen	走了

Table of pronouns verb suffix

Present future tensse

Pronoun	Number	Marker	Example	Meaning (Chinese)
1st	Singular	-wei(-w)	би харивей Bi hariwei(hariw).	我回去。
		-nbi	би харинби Bi harinbi.	我回去。
	Plural (exclusive)	-waa	баа хариваа Baa hariwaa.	我们回去。
		-nbaa	баа харинбаа Baa harinbaa.	我们回去。
	Plural (inclusive)	-wdaa	бид харивдаа Bid hariwdaa.	咱们回去。
		-ndaa	бид хариндаа Bid harindaa.	咱们回去。
2nd	Singular	-beixi(-bxi)	ши харибейши Xi haribeixi.	你回去。
		-nxi	ши харинши Xi harinxi.	你回去。
	Plural	-beitaa (-btaa)	таа харибейтаа Taa haribeitaa (haribtaa).	你们回去。
		-ntaa	таа харинтаа Taa harintaa.	你们回去。

Past tense

Pronoun	Number	Marker	Example	Meaning (Chinese)
1st	Singular	-senbi	би харисенби Bi harisenbi.	我回去了。
	Plural (exclusive)	-senbaa	баа харисенбаа Baa harisenbaa.	我们回去了。
	Plural (inclusive)	-sendaa	баа харисэндаа Bid harisendaa.	咱们回去了。
2nd	Singular	-senxi	ши харисенши Xi harisenxi.	你回去了。
	Plural	-sentaa	таа харисентаа Taa harisentaa.	你们回去了。

Table of adverb suffix

Suffix	Notes	Example	Meaning (Chinese)
-j	表示并列	Ийчиж ужсенби iiqij ujsenbi.	我去看了。
-jie (dii)	Indicates that two actions are performed simultaneously	Саожие усвулжьжабей Saojie (dii) uswuljjabei	坐着说话着呢。
-aar, -eer, -oor	Indicates that the behavior occurred successively	Гараар ирсэн Garaar irsen.	出来了。
		Энкуер яосэн Enkuer yaosen.	咬着走了。
-jii	Signifies the end of the act	Ужьжий яосэн Ujjii yaosen.	看完走的。
		Иджий яо! Idjii yao!	吃完走吧!
-n ...-n	Indicates behaviors that occur together	Гуйн кариен яосэн Guin karien yaosen.	连蹦带跳地走了。
-mkii,-mklii	Indicates that the behavior occurs immediately	Мадемький (мэдемький) ичсэн Medemkii(medemklii) iqsen.	一知道就去了。
-mder	Indicates that the behavior occurs immediately	Медемдерь (меднмкьлий) ичсэн Medemder (medemklii) iqsen.	一知道就去了。
-wueter	Indicates readiness	Елвуетерь медсен Elwueter medsen.	一说就知道了。
-aajaar, -eejeer (-eejaar), -oojaar	Indicates simultaneous act	Бариежаараа алдсэнх Bariejaaraa aldsen.	抓着抓着放掉了。
-rsaar, rseer	Indicates continuation and recurrence of behavior	Элерсеерь араан Elerseer araan bolsen.	说了多少遍才成了。
-aas, -ees, -oos	Express the condition of the behavior	Элеесшини укубей Eleesxini ukubei.	如果你说了会给的。
-tgai q	Indicates concessive act	Учийкэн аатгай чукаатий. Uqiiken aatgai qukaatii.	虽小但有智。
-worg, -wuar	Indicates the act to follow	Хийвуерь тортсен Hiiwuer tortsen.	决定做了。
-gaanie, -geenie	Expresses purpose	Уйгеени игсен Uigeenie igsen.	去看去了。
-tel	Indicates behavioral boundaries	Яотельмини аасен Yaotelmini aasen.	直到我走还在。
-tlaa(-tlaanie), tlee(-tleenie)	Expresses choice	Элтлеение хиисехдь уль денген. Eltleenie hiisehd ul dengen.	说倒不如去做。
-maak(-maaken), meek(-meken)	Indicates the proximity and proximity of behavior	Ванамаак (ванамаакен) Wanamaak (wanamaaken) bolsen.	快要倒。

Table of personal pronouns

	1st Person			2nd Person		3rd Person
	singular	plural		singular	plural	singular	plural
		exclusive	inclusive
Nominative	бий bii	биэде biede	баа baa	ший šii	таа taa	инг ing	аанг aang
Genitive	миний minii	биэдний biednii	мааний (maanii)	шиний šinii	тааний taanii	иний inii	ааний aanii
Dative	намд namd	биэдендэ biedende	маандэ maande	шамд šamd	таандэ taande	я́мд yamd (ind)	аандэ aande
Accusative	намий namii	биэдний biednii	мааний (maanii)	шамий šamii	Тааний Taanii	я́мий yamii	ааний aanii
Ablative	намаасэ namaase	биэденаас biedenaas	маанаас maanaas	шамаасэ šamaase	Таанаас taanaas	я́маас yamaas	аанаас aanaas
Instrumental	намаарэ namaare	биэдэнаар biedenaar	маанаар maanaar	шамаарэ šamaare	таанаар taanaar	я́маар yamaar	аанаар aanaar
Comitative	намтий namtii	биэдентий biedentii	маантий maantii	шамтий šamtii	таантий taantii	я́мтий yamtii	аантий aantii

Lexicon

It is estimated that out of Dagur's entire language vocabulary, over half is Mongolic in origin. Additionally, while Dagur has over 50% common Mongolic vocabulary, it has borrowed 5 to 10% of its words from Chinese, as well as 10% of its words from Manchu, and a small number vocabulary borrowed from Evenki and Russian – leaving about 20% vocabulary that is specific to Dagur only.

Middle Mongol words

Dagur retains quite a few archaic Mongolic words, and although they are not commonly found in the modern Mongolic languages, they do appear in Middle Mongol sources, like the Hua-Yi yiyu and the ‘Secret History’. These words include:

• tergul ~ terwul (тэргул ~ тервул) ‘road’ (in Mongol *jam)
• najir (нажийр) ‘summer’ (Mongol *jun)
• xeky (хэкый) ‘head’ (Mongol *tologai)
• sorby (сорбый) ‘staff’ (Mongol *tayag)
• kasoo (касоо) ‘iron’
• saur (саур) ‘spade’
• ogw (огв) ‘brain’
• basert (басерть) ‘kidney’
• twalcig (твалциг) ‘knee’
• kataa (катаа) ‘salt’
• warkel (варкэль) ‘clothes’
• el- (эл-) ‘to say’ (cf. Mongol *kele-)

Numerals

All basic numerals are of Mongolic origin.

	English	Classical Mongolian	Dagur (Hailar)	Dagur (Qiqihar)	IPA
1	One	Nigen	Нэкэн Neken	Neke	nəkən
2	Two	Qoyar	Хойир Hoir	Hoyir	hɔir
3	Three	Ghurban	Гуарбан Guarban	Guarbe	guarban
4	Four	Dorben	Дурубун Durbun	Durbu	durubun
5	Five	Tabun	Таавун Taawun	Taawu	taːwun
6	Six	Jirghughan	Жиргөө Jirwoo	Jirgoo	d͡ʒirwɔː
7	Seven	Dologhan	Долөөн Doloon	Doloo	dɔlɔːn
8	Eight	Naiman	Найман Naiman	Naime	naiman
9	Nine	Yisun	Йсэн Isen	Yise	isən
10	Ten	Arban	Харбан Harban	Harbe	harban

Bibliography

• Chuluu, Üjiyediin (1994), Introduction, Grammar, and Sample Sentences for Dagur, Sino-Platonic Papers, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp056_dagur_language.pdf 
• Engkebatu (2001): Cing ulus-un üy-e-dü dagur kele-ber bicigdegsen jokiyal-ud-un sudulul. Kökeqota: Öbür monggol-un yeke surgaguli-yin keblel-ün qoriy-a.
• Namcarai; Qaserdeni (1983), Daγur kele ba mongγul kelen-ü qaričaγulul, Öbür mongγul-un arad-un keblel-ün qoriy-a, OCLC 45024952 
• Oyunčimeg, ed. (2004), Mongγul sudulul-un nebterkei toli, Kökeqota: Öbür mongγul-un arad-un keblel-ün qoriy-a, ISBN 978-7-204-07745-8, OCLC 67279589 
• Sengge (2004): Daγur kele. In: Oyunčimeg 2004: 616-617.
• Sengge (2004a): Daγur kelen-ü abiy-a. In: Oyunčimeg 2004: 618.
• Sengge (2004b): Daγur kelen-ü üges. In: Oyunčimeg 2004: 619.
• Sengge (2004c): Daγur kelen-ü kele ǰüi. In: Oyunčimeg 2004: 618-622.
• Tsumagari, Toshiro (2003): Dagur. In: Janhunen, Juha (ed.) (2003): The Mongolic languages. London: Routledge: 129-153.
• Yu, Wonsoo, Jae-il Kwon, Moon-Jeong Choi, Yong-kwon Shin, Borjigin Bayarmend, Luvsandorj[in] Bold (2008): A study of the Tacheng dialect of the Dagur language. Seoul: Seoul National University Press

External links

• Unicode Manchu/Sibe/Dagur Fonts and Keyboards
• Learning Dagur (in Chinese)