| Kulung | |
| Nativename: | kulu riŋ |
| States: | Nepal and India (Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong) |
| Date: | 2011 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam2: | Tibeto-Burman |
| Fam3: | Mahakiranti (?) |
| Fam4: | Kiranti |
| Fam5: | Central |
| Fam6: | Khambu |
| Dia1: | Chukwa |
| Iso3: | kle |
| Lc1: | cuw |
| Ld1: | Chukwa |
| Glotto: | kulu1253 |
| Glottoname: | Kulung |
| Glottorefname: | Kulung (Nepal) |
| Glotto2: | chuk1270 |
| Glottoname2: | Chukwa |
| Elp2: | 4060 |
| Elpname2: | Chukwa |
Kulung (autonym: Kulu riŋ, [kulu rɪŋ]) is one of the Kiranti languages. It is spoken by an estimated 33,000 people. Van Driem (2001) includes Chukwa as a dialect.
Kulung in some ten villages along the upper reaches of the Huṅga or Hoṅgu River (a tributary of the Dūdhkosī), in Solukhumbu 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:
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.[1]
Kulung has six short vowels and six long vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /iː/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /uː/ | |||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /əː/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ɔː/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /aː/ | |||||
| Nasals | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| voiceless unaspirated | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiceless aspirated | pronounced as /pʰ/ | pronounced as /tʰ/ | pronounced as /tɕʰ/ | pronounced as /kʰ/ | |||
| Fricatives | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Flaps | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Approximants | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| pronounced as //k// | pronounced as //koŋ// | pronounced as /[kɔŋ]/ | 'I' | |
| pronounced as //kʰ// | pronounced as //kʰoŋ// | pronounced as /[kʰɔŋ]/ | 'brass bowl' | |
| pronounced as //g// | pronounced as //goŋ// | pronounced as /[gɔŋ]/ | 'division of a clan' | |
| pronounced as //p// | pronounced as //mampai// | pronounced as /[mampai]/ | 'It didn't leak.' | |
| pronounced as //pʰ// | pronounced as //mampʰai// | pronounced as /[mampʰai]/ | 'He didn't reverse it.' | |
| pronounced as //b// | pronounced as //mambai// | pronounced as /[mambai]/ | 'He didn't come.' | |
| pronounced as //t// | pronounced as //tite// | pronounced as /[tite]/ | 'It burns.' | |
| pronounced as //tʰ// | pronounced as //tʰite// | pronounced as /[tʰite]/ | 'He is awake.' | |
| pronounced as //d// | pronounced as //dite// | pronounced as /[dite]/ | 'It lays an egg.' | |
| pronounced as //tɕ// | pronounced as //tɕi// | pronounced as /[tɕi]/ | 'poison' | |
| pronounced as //tɕʰ// | pronounced as //tɕʰi// | pronounced as /[tɕʰi]/ | 'marrow' | |
| pronounced as //dʑ// | pronounced as //dʑi// | pronounced as /[dʑi]/ | 'happiness' | |
| pronounced as //s// | pronounced as //si// | pronounced as /[si]/ | 'louse' | |
| pronounced as //m// | pronounced as //ma// | pronounced as /[ma]/ | 'mother' | |
| pronounced as //n// | pronounced as //na// | pronounced as /[na]/ | 'elder sister' | |
| pronounced as //ŋ// | pronounced as //ŋa// | pronounced as /[ŋa]/ | 'fish' | |
| pronounced as //ɾ// | pronounced as //ɾiŋ// | pronounced as /[ɾiŋ]/ | 'language, word' | |
| pronounced as //l// | pronounced as //liŋ// | pronounced as /[liŋ]/ | 'yeast' | |
| pronounced as //j// | pronounced as //ja// | pronounced as /[ja]/ | 'edge of a blade' | |
| pronounced as //w// | pronounced as //wa// | pronounced as /[wa]/ | 'rain' | |
| pronounced as //ɦ// | pronounced as //ɦu// | pronounced as /[ɦu]/ | 'arm' | |
| pronounced as //ʔ// | pronounced as //ʔa// | pronounced as /[ʔa]/ | '(ergative case marker)' |
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.
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.
| Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
| 1st exclusive | koŋ 'I' | kaska 'we (he/she and I)' | keika 'we (all of them, and I)' | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st inclusive | - | kas 'we (you and I)' | kei 'we (all of you, and I)' | |
| 2nd | an 'you' | anci 'you (two)' | anni 'you (guys)' | |
| 3rd | ŋkə 'he/she' | - | ŋkəs 'they' |
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.
| Suffix | English prep. | Example | Translation | ||
| - | - | lam | road | ||
| -mi | lam-mi | of (a) road/ road's | |||
| -ʔa | - | lam-ʔa | road | ||
| -ʔa | by | lam-ʔa | by the road | ||
| -ʔa | - | lam-ʔa | o road | ||
| -pi | at, on, in | lam-pi | on the road | ||
| -to | at, on, in | lam-to | on the road (at a higher level) | ||
| -pu | at, on, in | lam-pu | on the road (at a lower level) | ||
| -pa | at, on, in | lam-pa | on the road (at same level) | ||
| -lo | with | lam-lo | with the road | ||
| -ka | from | lam-ka | from the road | ||
| -pika | from out of | lam-pika | from out of the road | ||
| -la | via, by way of | lam-la | by the road |
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.[1] 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.[1]
| Non-preterite | Preterite | Negated preterite | ||
| 1s | per-o: | pero | mam-per-ŋa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1di | per-ci | per-a-ci | mam-per-ci | |
| 1de | per-ci-ka | per-a-ci-ka | mam-per-s-ka | |
| 1pi | per-ya | per-i | mam-per-i | |
| 1pe | per-ya-ka | per-i-ka | mam-per-i-ka | |
| 2s | per-e | per-a | mam-per-na | |
| 2d | per-ci | per-a-ci | mam-per-nci | |
| 2p | per-ni | per-a-ni | mam-per-ni | |
| 3 | per-e | per-a | mam-per |
Book: Tolsma, Gerard Jacobus. A Grammar of Kulung. Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region. 5/4. Leiden, Boston. 2006. 9789004153301.