Alternate Names: Daguor, Dagur, Dawar, Dawo’er, Tahuerh, Tahur
Dialects: Buteha (Aihui, Bataxan, Butah, Darbin, Mergen, Nawen, Nemor), Haila’er (Hailar, Mokertu, Nantun), Ili, Qiqiha’er (Fularji, Jiangdong, Jingxi, Qiqihar, Tsitsikhar). Definitely distinct from other Mongolian languages (Voegelin and Voegelin 1977). Some identify Haila’er dialect as a dialect of Evenki ,.
Status Notes: Language of recognized nationality: Daur.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 96,100 in China (1999 D. Ying), decreasing. 35,000 Buteha dialect, 35,000 Qiqiha’er dialect, 15,500 Haila’er dialect, 4500 Ili dialect. 24,300 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 132,000 (2000 census).
Language Use: In Hulun Buir the language is being retained well; in Heilongjiang not transmitted to children among most groups (Bradley 2007). All domains. Mainly adults. Neutral attitudes. Also use Evenki [evn], Kazakh [kaz], Manchu [mnc], Mandarin Chinese [cmn], Oroqen [orh], Peripheral Mongolian [mvf]. Used as L2 by Evenki [evn], Oroqen [orh].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 97% (2000 census, Daur nationality). Some literacy in Mongolian among those 30 to 50 years of age in Hala’er. Poetry. Radio programs. Films. Dictionary. Grammar.
Typology: SOV; grammatical function marked mainly by suffixes; some vowel harmony; many consonant clusters; palatalized and labialized consonants; loans from Chinese, Manchu, Evenki.
Writing System: Cyrillic, Han (Simplified), Latin, Mongolian (Manchu)
Nation of Origin: China
Other Comments: Traditional religion.