Solon
Suolun, Solong, Sulong, Haila’er Evenki[1][2]
Native to	China
Region	Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang
Ethnicity	20,000-25,000 Solons[3]
Native speakers	20,000 (2020)[4]
Language family	Tungusic Northern Ewenic Evenki group Evenki Solon
Dialects	Amur Solon Hulun Buir Solon Morigele Nonni Solon Ongkor Solon †
Writing system	Latin, Mongolian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	solo1263
ELP	Solon
Linguasphere	44-CAA-bc
Map of the Tungusic languages.   Solon
Solon is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. [5]

Solon is a language or dialect descended from Tungusic that was spoken by the Solons in China. Solon is a Manchurian Evenki dialect, which was created due to the settlement of Solons in Hulunbuir during the 17th century.^[6][7] The Solon language is mainly concentrated in the Ewenki Autonomous Banner in Inner Mongolia.^[8]

The term "Solon" is believed to have come from the Evenki word sologon, which means 'upstream inhabitant', with solo- defined as 'to go upstream'.^[9] Solon was originally used for Evenki and Dagur speakers from the Amur valley and was probably used when the Solons were formed as distinct from the Evenki.^[7][9] After migrations in the 16th-17th century from multiple ethnic groups, the name Solon was used for modern Solon, Dagur and Oroqen speakers. After being moved to Hulunbuir in 1732, the modern Solons and Solon dialect were designated and distinguished from other ethnic groups.^[7]

Solons were also called Ongkors, which has been changed to designate Solons from Xinjiang and their dialect.^[7] The Chinese name for the Solon language is the Haila’er (Hailar) dialect of Evenki.^[2]

The dialects of Solon are Amur, Hulun Buir (Huihe), Morigele, Nonni (Nenjiang) and Ongkor Solon.^[10] There is also a different grouping for the Solon's dialects that are made up of 3 different dialect groups, Hailar, Nonni and Ongkor Solon.^[11][9] The Ongkor Solon dialect has been extinct since the 1990s.^[12] The Hailar dialect has been significantly influenced by the Mongolic, while the Nonni dialect has been significantly influenced by Chinese and Dagur.^[11]

According to Juha Janhunen's research, the numerous dialects of the Ewenki language can be divided into two major groups: those of the Solons (which he labels "Solon Ewenki") and those of the Ewenki of Siberia (as well as the Oroqen and the "Manchurian Reindeer Tungus" of China), which he calls "Siberian Evenki". Solon is mutually unintelligable with the other Evenki dialects.^[2] The Ewenki dialects of the bilingual Khamnigan show features characteristic of both "Manchurian" and "Siberian" groups, as well as peculiar Khamnigan innovations.^[13]

The Solon being closely associated with the Dagur, many (around half of them, according to Janhunen's field research in the 1990s) Solon people are bilingual in the Dagur.^[14][2][15] During the Qing Empire, many Solon (as well as members of many other native groups of Manchuria) were able to speak Manchu,^[16] while in modern China Mandarin Chinese is universally taught.

Solon has also been classified as a separate language, with Janhunen classifying it as a part of the Ewenic languages.^[17]

Malcolm Ross proposed the term "lect" in 2001 to not distinguish between Solon being a dialect or language due to the difficulty of its classification.^[3]

According to Juha Janhunen and Toshiro Tsumagari, the language currently has approximately 15,000 speakers.^[18][8] In 2010, Christopher Moseley stated that there were 10,000 speakers.^[15][19] However, Nargil states that in the 2020 census, there are 20,000 Solon speakers, 10,000 of which come from the Ewenki Autonomous Banner.^[4]

According to UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Solon is classified as a language definitely endangered.^[5] Juha Janhunen and Toshiro Tsumagari classified Solon as endangered, with the language being nearly extinct locally.^[8]

In rural Solon areas, Solon children are able to speak Solon fluently, Han Chinese and Mongols living in these Solon rural regions learn basic sentences of Solon to talk to Solons.^[20]

Tsumagari states there are 17 consonant phonemes in the Solon language, which are p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, c, [쥰], j, [쥵], s, x, l, r, w, y and [j]. The /h/ phoneme is also sometimes considered a separate phoneme, but is also interpreted as an allophone of s.^[21] However, Kazama states there are 19 consonant phonemes, that are p, t, č, k, b, d, ǰ, g, m, n, ň, ŋ, s, š, x, w, j, r and l.^[22]

There are 12 vowel phonemes in the Solon language, which are H, i, ə, ɵ, u, S, ι, a, o, u, e and ee.^[22]

The syllable structure of Solon is shown as (C)V(V)(C).^[21][22]

Solon's morphological process has agglutinative suffixes, which is shown in the xaxraa-sül-nii-s (of your chickens). Regressive assimilation has also occurred in Solon, resulting in alterations in the stem's final consonant, which is shown in is-ca being used for has reached over it-caa.^[23]

Solon has 13 different cases that includes an established genitive and a unmarked nominative form that serves as a stem of oblique cases. Some case-endings in Solon also include allomorphs which include the stem-final phonemic structure (-V♯/-C♯). The following list includes the Solon words beye (man) and morin (horse) that comes from Toshiro Tsumagari.^[23]

Case	beye (man)	morin (horse)
Nominative	beye	morin
Genitive	beye-nii	morin-ii
Accusative	beye-we	morin-ba
Indefinite Accusative	beye-ye	morin-a
Dative	beye-dii	morin-du
Locative	beye-lee	morin-dulaa
Directive	beye-txii	morin-tixii
Prolative	beye-lii	morin-dulii
Ablative	beye-diixi	morin-duxi
Elative	beye-giiji	morin-giiji
Delative	beye-leexi	morin-dulaaxi
Instrumental	beye-ji	morin-ji
Comitative	beye-gilii	morin-gilii

The following list includes the nominative form and other case forms in Solon with endings that indicate the person and their number, which comes from Toshiro Tsumagari.^[24]

	Singular	Plural
1st person	-bi［-beye～-weye]	-mun～-mün (exclusive) -t(i) (inclusive)
2nd person	-s(i) (～C-ci)	-sun～-sün (～C-cun～-cün)
3rd person	-nin(i)［-ni	same as singular
Reflexive	［-bi～-wi]	［-beli～-weli］

Plurality in Solon is represented by the suffix -sal, which is attached to humans, animals and innaminate objects such as omolƐƐ -sal (grandsons), xolƐƐ -sal/＜xolƐƐn (snakes) and jolo-sol (stones). Unmarked forms are also used for referring to plural entities, which is more common when there is a quantitative adjective or it is preceded by a numeral such as ilan iite (three sons) and baraan xonin (many sheep). The suffix -sƐƐn is also added in Solon to place names or personal names and will mean "those who live somewhere" and "someoneʼs family, someone and others", which is shown by imin-sƐƐn (those who live in Imin) and ülji-sƐƐn (the Uljis). The noun ulur or possibly olor (people, fellow) has also been used in Solon for human nouns such as sawi ulur (students).^[25]

Most of the personal pronouns in Solon are infected with alternative stems given in square brackets. The case-endings are similar to the noun case-endings, with the restructuring of actual occurrence for case-endings. For 3rd person pronouns, demonstrative pronouns such as eri/tari (this/that), usually employs plural forms ersel/tarsal～taccil (these/those) and elür/talur (＜eri/tari ulur) (these/those people). The original 3rd person pronoun nugan, with a plural form of nugan-sal, is rarely used and expresses politeness to the referent. This is shown in the following table, that comes from Toshiro Tsumagari.^[25]

	Singular	Plural
1st person	bii ［min-,accusative case minewe]	büü［mün-,accusative case münewe (exclusive) miti (inclusive)
2nd person	sii ［sin-,accusative case sinewe]	süü［sün-,accusative case sünewe］

The word meeni (oneself) is used for both numbers and has the stem meen-, a case-ending and a singular reflexive-ending. The word meeni has a dative case of meen-dü-wi, a instrumental case of meen-ji-wi and a accusative case of meen-bi, with the accusative case not having and any case-markings.^[25]

The words eri (this) and tari (that) are used attributively and independently, with some case forms having both having reduced stems and derivative forms. The case forms with reduced stems are the dative case of e-dü/ta-du and the locative case of e-lee/ta-laa, while the derivative forms are eyye/tayya (this/that with a contemptuous tone), ennegen/tannagan (like this/that which is attributive) and ettü/tattu (in this/that way).^[25]

The following table includes interrogative pronouns from Toshiro Tsumagari:^[26]

English	Solon
what	ii, oxon
who	aawu, nii
which	iir, iggü
how many, how much	ooxi, adi

The following table also includes interrogative pronouns from Toshiro Tsumagari which have some case forms and derivative forms serve as interrogative adverbs.^[26]

English	Solon
when	ooxidu
where	iilee
how	iittü
why, how	yoodon
what kind of	oondii

Adjectives in Solon are converted into nouns instead of having inflections and take number, case and personal markings, as shown by nisüxün-sel-we-ni (the small ones). Conversion or adding instumental case-endings could also change the adjectives function to be an adverb, as shown by sii ayaxan/ayaxan-ji aasin-caa-si-gii? (Did you sleep well?).^[26]

In Solon, there is an adjective suffix -si, which means having/with, could and sometimes has a semantic change. The following table includes Solon's words with the suffix -si and in both Solon and English from Toshiro Tsumagari.^[26]

Words	Words with suffix -si
mügün (money)	mügün-si (having money, rich)
antan (taste)	antan-si (ʻtasteful, delicious, sweet)
naalla (hand)	naalla-si (crafty)

The addition of different suffixes could change the semantic differences of words such as aya (good), which can be changed into aya-xan (rather good, healthy), aya-xaya (almost good) and aya-kkan (very good).^[26]

A partial reduplication is employed in Solon for an emphatic expression, almost exactly the way it is expressed in Mongolic and Turkic, while also being similar to Chinese Tungusic, but not Russian Tungusic. This is shown with ab aya (very good), xob xonnorin (coal-black) and nem nemikkün (very thin).^[26]

Adjectives for colours also include another type of reduplication that combines with suffixation. This is shown in siŋarin (yellow), siŋa siŋa-ljaxun (deep yellow), ularin (red), ula ulari-ljaxun (deep red).^[26]

The following table includes the Solon's words for numerals from Toshiro Tsumagari and Shinjiro Kazama.^[27][28]

Number	Solon
1	əmun/emün
2	ǰuur/jüür
3	ilan
4	digin
5	tuŋa/toŋa
6	niŋun/niŋün
7	nadan
8	ǰaxun
9	jəgin/yegin
10	ǰaan
11	jaan emün
12	jaan jüür
20	orin
30	gotin
40	dexi
50	toŋŋεε/tornii
60	niŋüŋŋεε/niŋürnii
70	nadanŋŋεε/nadanrnii
80	jaxuŋŋεε/jaxurnii
90	yereen
100	namaaji
200	jüür namaaji
1,000	miŋgan
10,000	tümün

The numerals 20, 30, 40, 90, 1,000 and 10,000 (orin, gotin, dexi, yereen, miŋgan and tümün) are shown to be borrowed from Manchu (orin, γusin, dexi, and tumen) and Mongolian (χorin, γucin, yiren, miŋgan, tümen).^[29]

Ordinal numerals have the suffix -si/-ci added to them, such as ila-si. Manchu supplementive forms are also adopted for first "üjü" (＜Ma. uju ʻid.＜head) and second "jai" (＜Ma.jai ʻid.＜next).^[29]

The following is derivational suffixes of Solon from Toshiro Tsumagari.^[29]

Case	Suffix
Iterative	-raa
Collective	-nnεε
Distributive	-tal
Restrictive	-xxan

Derivational suffixes are used in verb stems in Solon to change the primary stem's meaning, which includes its voice. The following table includes Solon's suffix's used as verb stems in Solon words with the English translation from Toshiro Tsumagari.^[29]

Suffix name	Suffix	Example in Solon and English
Passive	-wu～-guu	jawa-wu (to be held)
Causative	-xaan	eme-xeen (to make someone come)
Reciprocal	-ldi	jawa-ldi (to grasp each other)
	-maasi	taa-maasi (to pull each other)
Progressive	-ji	imanda-ji (to be snowing)
Purposive	-naa	jawa-naa (to go to catch)
Regressive	-rgi	eme-rgi (to come back)
Optative	-muun	jeb--müün (to want to eat)

Historically, Solon has not have a literary form or script. In the 1980s, standardisation of the language had started, which included the creation of a script system that based itself off of the Mongolian script.^[30] In 2005, the Ewenke Study Association started to use Latin as a script for researchers and Solons, but this wasn't adopted by Solon community.^[31] In the modern day, Solon uses both the Latin, Manchu and Mongolian script.^[32][33] The Solon still remains virtually unwritten as it lacks a commonly accepted writing system.^[32][34]

Both Solon and Dagur have strongly influenced each other linguistically due to both ethnic groups living near each other.^[35][36] Solons speak Dagur as a second language and approximately 100 words in Solon could be directly attributed to Solon.^[37][35] Some examples include xaxraa (chicken) and düsee (wall).^[38]

As in Dagur, Solon has the Mongolic consonants b, g, d and s be replaced by the consonant r. The following table shows words from Solon, Dagur and other Mongolic languages that depict this consonant replacement.^[39]

English	Solon	Dagur	Literary Mongolian	Buryat	Khamnigan Mongol	Khalkha Mongolian
threshold	basarga/basagga	basarga	bosoγ-a	bogoho	bosoga	bosgo
to break	erde-	erde-/erede-	ebde-	ebde-		ewde-
people, nation	olur	olor	ulus	ulad	ulus	uls
chopsticks	sarpa	sarpa/sarepe	sabq-a	sabxa		sawx
devil	širkül	širkul/šurkul	čidkür	šüdxer	čidkür	čötgör
to squeeze	xarči-	karči-	qabči-	xabša-		xawči-
bowstring	xürči	kürči	köbči	xübše;	kübtši	xöwč

As in Dagur, Solon has changes in the vowels ö and o, which is changed into ü and u for both languages. The following table shows words from Solon, Dagur and other Mongolic languages that depict this vowel change.^[40]

English	Solon	Dagur	Literary Mongolian	Buryat	Khamnigan Mongol	Khalkha Mongolian
scum on boiled milk	ürüm	urum	örüme	ürme		öröm
orphan	ünči	unčin	önöcin	ünšen		öncin
hunchbacked; horse croup	büktür	bükütür	bökötü	büxe		böx
stirrup	dürēñki	dürēngi	dörüge		dürȫ	dörȫ(n)
rebirth	türül	türe-	töröl < törö-	türe		törö

Solon uses many Chinese loanwords, which include soŋko (window), xooco (train), dεεnsi (television), gaŋbii (pen) and liibεε (week). Solon loanwords from Chinese also include adverbs (maaſan - promptly), interjections (wei - hi, hello) and grammatical particles (si - a subject/topic marker, baa - an sentence-final marker). Chinese words in Solon use verb-formative suffixes to create verbs, such as gaŋbii-da (to use a pen,to write with a pen).^[41]

Solon's lexical influence from Chinese has also been used for compounds and phrases. The following table from Toshiro Tsumagari includes words from Solon and Chinese with their literal transations into English.^[38]

Chinese	Solon
tielu (iron road)	sel teggü (railway)
zhongguo (central country)	doligu gürün (China)
chouyan (to pull tobacco)	daŋga taan- (to smoke)
da dianhua (to hit telephone)	dεεŋxo munda- (to make a telephone call)

The following are Solon words of Russian origin with their English translation from Toshiro Tsumagari.^[38]

Solon	English
kinoo	movie
xarandaa	pencil
xileeb	bread
doottor	doctor
mεεter	meter

The following list of Solon words comes from Shinjiro Kazama.^[42]

English	Solon
head	dıl
hair	nuuttə, iŋatta
eye	iisal
nose	ňeenči
ear	seen
mouth	amma
tooth, teeth	iittə
hand	naala
finger	unaxan
foot, leg	bəldiir
skin	nanda
blood	səəči
bone	gıranda
flesh	uldə
body	bəjə
diseases, illness, sickness	ənux
medicine	əəŋ
salt	doosun
oil	immičči
liquor, wine	arixi
tabacco	daŋga
food	ǰittərə jəm
egg	umutta
bird	dəgii
knife	usxən
thread	širtə
clothes, clothing	təggačči
paper	saasun
thing	jəm
worm, insect	xulixan
fish	osxon
dog	nınaxın
house, home	ǰuu
money	məgun
tree	moo
grass	orotto
leaf	načči
flower, blossom	iggaa
seed	ur
field, acres, rice-field	taragan
way, road	təggu
river	doo
mountain	ur
water	muu
stone	ǰolo
earth	sirtan
fire	tog
wind	ədin
cloud	təčči
rain	tugdə
sky	bokkon
sun	sigun
moon	beega
star	oositta
day, afternoon	inigə
month	beega
year	anee
morning	əddə
night	dobbo
yesterday	tiinugu
tomorrow	timaasin
today	əri inigə
now	əsi
when	ooxidu
hour, time	ərin
how much	ooxii
how many	adii
altogether, all, whole	xokko
age	nasun
husband	ədəxən
wife	asi
father, papa	abaa, ami
mother, mama	əňəə, əməə
son	ukkəəxən
daughter	unaaǰi
elder brother	axaa, axin
elder sister	ədaa, əxin
younger brother	əkkəəxən nəxun
younger sister	unaaǰi nəxun
friend, mate	axaa nəxun
male	nirug bəj
female	axii bəj
person, man, one	bəj
I	bii
you	sii
he	tari
who	awu
name	gəbbi
letter	bitəg
voice	diggan
god	bokkon
this one	əri
it, that one	tari
which one	ijə
what	uxuŋ
why	ittu
here	ədu
there, that place, over there	tadu talaa
where, anywhere	iləə
left	jəəŋguu
right	bəruuŋguu
front	ǰuldəədə
back	amidaata
inside, inward, interior	doolo
out, outside, exterior	tuldəə
up	oroondo
down	əggilə

• Janhunen, Juha (1996), Manchuria: an ethnic history, Volume 222 of Suomalais-ugrilaisen Seuran toimituksia, Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura, Finno-Ugrian Society, ISBN 9789519403847
• Janhunen, Juha (1996b), "Mongolic languages as idioms of intercultural communication in Northern Manchuria", in Wurm, Stephen Adolphe; Mühlhäusler, Peter; Tryon, Darrell T. (eds.), Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia and the Americas, Walter de Gruyter, pp. 827–835, ISBN 978-3-11-013417-9
• Tsumagari, Toshiro (2009). A sketch of Solon grammar. Journal of the Graduate School of Letters. Hokkaido University. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
• Khabtagaeva, Bayarma (2012). "The Dagur elements in Solon Evenki". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 65: 335–346. JSTOR 43282466. Retrieved 11 May 2026.
• Kazama, Shinjiro (2003). Basic vocabulary (A) of Tungusic languages (in Japanese). Osaka Gakuin University. pp. 12–80. ISSN 1346-082X. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
• Nargil (March 2025). "The Language Ecology and Endangerment of Solon, a Tungusic Language Spoken in China". Sibirica. 24 (1). ResearchGate. doi:10.3167/sib.2025.240101. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
• Christopher Moseley; Alexandre Nicolas (2010). Atlas of the world's languages in danger. UNESCO. Retrieved 2026-06-01.
• Baek, Sangyub (31 August 2023). Vovin, Alexander; Alonso de la Fuente, José Andrés; Janhunen, Juha (eds.). "Solon". The Tungusic Languages. Routledge: 206–233. doi:10.4324/9781315728391-9. ISBN 978-1-138-84503-9.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)