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It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005).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: MLM
ISO 639-2: mis
| Population | 159,328 (1990 census). |
| Region | Luocheng Mulam Autonomous County (90% in Dongmen and Siba communes), and adjacent counties in north central Guizhou Province; and in Majiang and Kaili City in Guizhou Province. |
| Alternate names | MULAO, MOLAO, MULOU, MULIAO, MULAO MIAO, ABO, AYO |
| Classification | Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Kam-Sui. |
| Comments | Close to Kam. 65% lexical similarity with Dong (probably Southern Dong); 53% with Zhuang (probably Northern Zhuang). Chinese is used as second language. Written Chinese in common use. Many use Northern Zhuang. Most Mulam people use Mulam extensively. Many Han Chinese and Zhuang are bilingual in Mulam. An official nationality. They live close to the Han, Zhuang, Dong, Hmong, and Mien. They call themselves 'Mulam'. Some around Luocheng call themselves 'Kyam.' SVO; reduplication; aspirated, palatalized, labialized, voiceless nasal, lateral onsets; nasal and stop finals; 6 tone categories in unchecked syllables, 2 in checked (split into 4 according to vowel length); many Chinese loans. Literacy rate in second language: 65%. Agriculturalists. Buddhist. |
