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The Ulch language, or Olcha, is a Tungusic language spoken by the Ulch people in the Russian Far East. The language is moribund, with only 150 speakers (2010 census).
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | ɪ ~ e | ə | ʊ ~ o |
| Open | a |
- Vowel length is also distributed.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Alveolo- palatal |
Velar | Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | t͡ɕ | k | (q) |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʑ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | x | (χ) | |
| voiced | β | (ɣ) | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Approximant | (w) | j | ||||
- [f] is a rare sound in native words.
- /β ɡ/ have allophones of [w ɣ].
- /k x/ can become uvularized as [q χ] before vowels /a o/.[2]
Alphabet
| А а | (а̄) | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Дʼ дʼ | Е е |
| (е̄) | Ё ё | (ё̄) | Ж ж | З з | И и | (ӣ) | Й й |
| К к | Л л | М м | Н н | Нʼ нʼ | Ӈ ӈ | О о | (о̄) |
| П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | (ӯ) | Ф ф | Х х |
| Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | ъ | Ы ы | ь | Э э |
| (э̄) | Ю ю | (ю̄) | Я я | (я̄) |
In brackets are letters that are used in writing, though not officially included in the alphabet.
References
- ^ a b Ulch at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Sunik, 1985
Bibliography
- Bitkeeva, A.N.; V.Y. Gusev; O.A. Povoroznyuk; D.A. Funk; N.V. Khokhlov; K.G. Shakhovtsov (2005). "Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia". UNESCO Moscow Office. Archived from the original on 28 July 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- Sunik, O. P. (1985). Ul'chskij jazyk: issledovanija i materially. Leningrad: Nauka, Leningradskoe Otdelenie. 262pp.
External links
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