The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: KMC
ISO 639-2: mis
| Population | 1,480,750 speakers out of 2,514,014 in the official nationality (1990 census). 62% of the 2,388,310 Dong speakers speak Southern Dong. |
| Region | Area where southeastern Guizhou (Yuping Autonomous County), western Hunan, and northern Guangxi provinces meet, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 20 contiguous counties. |
| Alternate names | KAM, GAM, TONG, TUNG, TUNG-CHIA |
| Classification | Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Kam-Sui. |
| Comments | Reported to be close to Mulam. 93% lexical similarity within Southern Dong, 71% between Northern Dong and Southern Dong. 49% lexical similarity with Northern Zhuang, 46% with Laka, 29% with Laqua, 28% with Buyang, 26% with Hlai, 24% with Gelo, 22% with Lati, 6% with Hmong, 4% with Mien. Speakers of Northern Dong are more bilingual than those of Southern Dong. Speakers use Mandarin for literature. An official nationality in China. 'Kam' is their own name, 'Dong' is the Chinese name. Traditional way of life is relatively undisturbed. Investigation needed: intelligibility with dialects, N. Dong. Dictionary. 9 tones. Has an official orthography. Magazines. Agriculturalists: rice, tung oil, tea oil; forestry. Polytheist. |
