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Austro-Asiatic
The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are the majority languages of Vietnam and Cambodia. There are around 117 million speakers of Austroasiatic languages. Of these languages, only Vietnamese, Khmer, and Mon have a long-established recorded history. Only two have official status as modern national languages: Vietnamese in Vietnam and Khmer in Cambodia. The Mon language is a recognized indigenous language in Myanmar and Thailand. In Myanmar, the Wa language is the de facto official language of Wa State. Santali is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. The rest of the languages are spoken by minority groups and have no official status. ''Ethnologue'' identifies 168 Austroasiatic languages. These form thirteen established families (plus perhaps Shompen, which is poorly atteste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Munda Languages
The Munda languages are a group of closely related languages spoken by about nine million people in India and Bangladesh. Historically, they have been called the Kolarian languages. They constitute a branch of the Austroasiatic language family, which means they are more distantly related to languages such as the Mon and Khmer languages, to Vietnamese, as well as to minority languages in Thailand and Laos and the minority Mangic languages of South China. Bhumij, Ho, Mundari, and Santali are notable Munda languages. The family is generally divided into two branches: North Munda, spoken in the Chota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Odisha, and South Munda, spoken in central Odisha and along the border between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. North Munda, of which Santali is the most widely spoken, has twice as many speakers as South Munda. After Santali, the Mundari and Ho languages rank next in number of speakers, followed by Korku and Sora. The re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Austroasiatic Language
Proto-Austroasiatic is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austroasiatic languages. Proto-Mon–Khmer (i.e., all Austroasiatic branches except for Munda) has been reconstructed in Harry L. Shorto's ''Mon–Khmer Comparative Dictionary'', while a new Proto-Austroasiatic reconstruction is currently being undertaken by Paul Sidwell. Scholars generally date the ancestral language to 5,000-4,000 B.P. (i.e. 3,000-2,000 BCE) with a homeland in southern China or the Mekong River valley. Sidwell (2022) proposes that the locus of Proto-Austroasiatic was in the Red River Delta area about 4,000-4,500 years before present. Phonology Shorto (2006) The Proto-Mon–Khmer language is the reconstructed ancestor of the Mon–Khmer languages, a purported primary branch of the Austroasiatic language family. However, Mon–Khmer as a taxon has been abandoned in recent classifications, making Proto-Mon–Khmer synonymous with Proto-Austroasiatic;Sidwell, Paul (2009)The Austroasiatic Central Riverin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mon Language
The Mon language (, mnw, ဘာသာမန်, links=no, (Mon-Thai ဘာသာမည်) ; my, မွန်ဘာသာ; th, ภาษามอญ; formerly known as Peguan and Talaing) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon people. Mon, like the related Khmer language, but unlike most languages in mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recognised indigenous language in Myanmar as well as a recognised indigenous language of Thailand. Mon was classified as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's 2010 ''Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger''. The Mon language has faced assimilative pressures in both Myanmar and Thailand, where many individuals of Mon descent are now monolingual in Burmese or Thai respectively. In 2007, Mon speakers were estimated to number between 800,000 and 1 million. In Myanmar, the majority of Mon speakers live in Southern Myanmar, especially Mon State, followed by Tanintharyi Region and Kayin State. History Mon is an i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pakanic Languages
The Pakanic languages constitute a branch of two Austroasiatic languages, Bolyu and Bugan. They are spoken in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces of southern China. Mang was formerly included, but is now considered by Paul Sidwell to form its own separate branch within Austroasiatic.Sidwell, Paul. (2021)''Austroasiatic Dispersal: the AA "Water-World" Extended'' Classification Jenny & Sidwell (2015) consider Pakanic to be an independent branch of Austroasiatic. Various classifications had previously been proposed for individual Pakanic languages. In 1990, Paul K. Benedict argued that Bolyu constitutes a separate Mon-Khmer branch. Edmondson & Gregerson (1996) listed many phonological and lexical similarities shared by Bolyu and Vietic languages. However, Gérard Diffloth later suggested that Pakanic (i.e., Bolyu and Bugan) shares an affinity with Palaungic languages and was part of a wider Northern Mon-Khmer group. ''Mangic'' proposal ''Mangic'', a proposed language grouping that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wa Language
Wa (Va) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Wa people of Myanmar and China. There are three distinct varieties, sometimes considered separate languages; their names in ''Ethnologue'' are Parauk, the majority and standard form; Vo (Zhenkang Wa, 40,000 speakers) and Awa (100,000 speakers), though all may be called ''Wa'', ''Awa'', ''Va'', ''Vo''. David Bradley (1994) estimates there are total of 820,000 Wa speakers. Distribution and variants Gerard Diffloth refers to the Wa geographic region as the "Wa corridor", which lies between the Salween and Mekong Rivers. According to Diffloth, variants include South Wa, "Bible Wa" and Kawa (Chinese Wa). Christian Wa are more likely to support the use of Standard Wa, since their Bible is based on a standard version of Wa, which is in turn based on the variant spoken in Bang Wai, 150 miles north of Kengtung (Watkins 2002). Bang Wai is located in Northern Shan State, Burma, close to the Chinese border where Cangyuan County is located ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicobarese Languages
The Nicobarese languages or Nicobaric languages, form an isolated group of about half a dozen closely related Austroasiatic languages, spoken by most of the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands of India. They have a total of about 30,000 speakers (22,100 native). Most Nicobarese speakers speak the Car language. Paul Sidwell (2015:179) considers the Nicobarese languages to subgroup with Aslian. The Nicobarese languages appear to be related to the Shompen language of the indigenous inhabitants of the interior of Great Nicobar Island (Blench & Sidwell 2011), which is usually considered a separate branch of Austroasiatic. However, Paul Sidwell (2017) classifies Shompen as a Southern Nicobaric language rather than as a separate branch of Austroasiatic. The morphological similarities between Nicobarese and Austronesian languages have been used as evidence for the Austric hypothesis (Reid 1994).Reid, Lawrence A. 1994. Morphological evidence for Austric. Oceanic Linguistics 33(2):323-34 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monic Languages
The Monic languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic language family descended from the Old Monic language of the kingdom of Dvaravati in what is now central Thailand. The Nyahkur people continue directly from that kingdom, whereas the Mon are descendants of those who migrated to Pegu after the 11th century Khmer conquest of Dvaravati. Classification Paul Sidwell (2009:114) proposes the following tree ("stammbaum") for Monic, synthesizing past classifications from Theraphan L-Thongkum (1984) and Gérard Diffloth (1984). *Old Mon / Proto-Monic ** Nyah Kur ***North ***Central ***South **Middle Mon ***Literary Mon ***Mon Ro: Northernmost dialect, spoken in the Pegu- Paung- Zingyaik area ****West Mon Ro variety: Spoken from north of Martaban to Thaton ****East Mon Ro variety: Spoken in a small area on the south bank of the Gyaing River ***Mon Rao: Spoken around Moumein, extending several hundred kilometers south to Tavoy ****North Mon Rao **** Kamawet area Mon ****South Mon Rao ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pearic Languages
The Pearic languages (alternatively called the Chongic languages) are a group of endangered languages of the Eastern Mon–Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic language family, spoken by Pear people (the ''Por'', the ''Samré'', the ''Samray'', the ''Suoy'', and the ''Chong'') living in western Cambodia and eastern Thailand. Pearic languages are remnants of the aboriginal languages of much of Cambodia, but have dwindled in numbers due to assimilation. "Pear" is a pejorative term meaning 'slave' or 'caste'. Classification Paul Sidwell proposed the following classification of the Pearic languages in Sidwell (2009:137), synthesizing analyses from Headley (1985), Choosri (2002), Martin (1974), and Peiros (2004)Sidwell, Paul (2009)"Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art" ''LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics'', 76. Munich: Lincom Europa. He divides Pearic into two primary branches (''Pear'' and ''Chong''), with ''Chong'' being further divided into four gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katuic Languages
The fifteen Katuic languages form a branch of the Austroasiatic languages spoken by about 1.3 million people in Southeast Asia. People who speak Katuic languages are called the Katuic peoples. Paul Sidwell is the leading specialist on the Katuic languages. He notes that Austroasiatic/Mon–Khmer languages are lexically more similar to Katuic and Bahnaric the closer they are geographically. He says this geographic similarity is independent of which branch of the family each language belongs to. He also says Katuic and Bahnaric do not have any shared innovations, so they do not form a single branch of the Austroasiatic family, but form separate branches. Classification In 1966, a lexicostatistical analysis of various Austroasiatic languages in Mainland Southeast Asia was performed by Summer Institute of Linguistics linguists David Thomas and Richard Phillips. This study resulted in the recognition of two distinct new subbranches of Austroasiatic, namely Katuic and Bahnaric (Sidwell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khasi–Palaungic Languages
The Khasi–Palaungic languages are a primary branch of the Austroasiatic language family of Southeast Asia in the classification of Sidwell (2011, 2018). This is a departure from Diffloth (2005) classification of Khasi-Khmuic with Khmuic and Mangic (Pakanic) now being separate branches within Austroasiatic family. Languages As per the classification of Sidwell (2011) and (2018), the Khasi–Palaungic languages are as follows: * Khasi–Palaungic ** Khasic: War, Lyngngam, Khasi... ** Palaungic The nearly thirty Palaungic or Palaung–Wa languages form a branch of the Austroasiatic languages. Phonological developments Most of the Palaungic languages lost the contrastive voicing of the ancestral Austroasiatic consonants, with the disti ...: Palaung, Riang, Blang , Wa... Footnotes References *Diffloth, Gérard 2005. "The contribution of linguistic palaeontology and Austroasiatic". in Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, eds. ''The Peopling of Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khmuic Languages
The Khmuic languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic languages spoken mostly in northern Laos, as well as in neighboring northern Vietnam and southern Yunnan, China. Khmu is the only widely spoken language in the group. Homeland Paul Sidwell (2015) suggests that the Khmuic Urheimat (homeland) was in what is now Oudomxay Province, northern Laos. Languages The Khmuic languages are: *Mlabri (Yumbri) * Kniang (Phong 3, Tay Phong) * Ksingmul (Puok, Pou Hok, Khsing-Mul) * Khmu’ *Khuen * O’du * Prai * Mal (Thin) * Theen (Kha Sam Liam) There is some disagreement over whether Bit is Khmuic or Palaungic; Svantesson believes it is most likely Palaungic, and it is sometimes placed in Mangic, but most classifications here take them as Khmuic. Similarly, Phuoc (Xinh Mul) and Kháng are also sometimes classified as Mangic, and Kháng is classified as Palaungic by Diffloth. The recently discovered Bumang language is also likely a Khmuic or Palaungic language. Jerold A. Edmondson con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vietic Languages
The Vietic languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic language family, spoken by the Vietic peoples in Laos and Vietnam. The branch was once referred to by the terms ''Việt–Mường'', ''Annamese–Muong'', and ''Vietnamuong''; the term ''Vietic'' was proposed by La Vaughn Hayes, who proposed to redefine ''Việt–Mường'' as referring to a sub-branch of Vietic containing only Vietnamese and Mường. Many of the Vietic languages have tonal or phonational systems intermediate between that of Viet–Muong and other branches of Austroasiatic that have not had significant Chinese or Tai influence. Vietnamese, today, has had significant Chinese influence especially in vocabulary and tonal system. Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary accounts for about 30–60% of Vietnamese vocabulary, not including calques from Chinese. Origins The ancestor of the Vietic language is traditionally assumed to have been located in today's North Vietnam. However, the origin of the Vietic languages rem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
