Dialects: Dulong River (Central Dulongjiang, Derung River, Northern Dulongjiang, Southern Dulongjiang), Nu River (Nujiang Dulong). Dialects reportedly inherently intelligible (Thurgood and LaPolla 2003). Nu River Drung is not the same as Tibeto-Burman Anong ,, which is also in Myanmar. Different from Rawang , in Myanmar. Other possible dialect names are Melam, Metu, Tamalu, and Tukiumu. Lexical similarity: 74% with Matwang dialect of Rawang ,.
Status Notes: Language of recognized nationality: Dulong.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 14,000 in China (2000 census). 8,500 in Nu River dialect, 5,500 in Dulong River dialect. Total population all countries: 14,000. Population total all countries: 14,225. 13,300 monolinguals. L2 users: Other speakers living among them use Drung as L2.
Language Use: Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use Burmese [mya], Lisu [lis], Mandarin Chinese [cmn].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 68%–73% (2000 census, Nu nationality). 68%–73%.
Typology: SOV; 2 tones.
Writing System: Latin (Pinyin-based)
Nation of Origin: China
Other Comments: Ethnonym: Qiuzu is an old term for the people. Traditional religion.