Bit (Khabit, Bid, Psing, Buxing) is an

Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The te ...

language spoken by around 2,000 people in

Phongsaly Province Phongsaly province ( Lao ຜົ້ງສາລີ), also spelled ''Phôngsali'', is a province of Laos in the extreme north of the country. The capital of the province is the city of Phôngsali. Phongsaly is between Yunnan (China), and Điệ ...

, northern Laos and in

Mengla County Mengla County (; Tai Lue: , ''Mueang La''; lo, ເມືອງລ້າ; th, เมืองล้า) is a county under the jurisdiction of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, in far southern Yunnan province, China. ''Meng'' is a vari ...

, Yunnan, China.

Names

In China, the Buxing people (布兴, 布幸, or 布醒; IPA: ) are also called Kami (佧米人) or Kabi (佧比人, IPA: ). Yan & Zhou (2012:157) list the following names for Khabit. *', ' (autonyms) *' ( Dai exonym) *' (

Khmu The Khmu (; Khmu: ; lo, ຂະມຸ ; th, ขมุ ; vi, Khơ Mú; ; my, ခမူ) are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The majority (88%) live in northern Laos where they constitute the largest minority ethnic group, comprising elev ...

exonym) *''Kami'' (卡咪, Chinese exonym) The Khabit name for

is ''ta mɔi''.

Classification

Paul Sidwell Paul James Sidwell is an Australian linguist based in Canberra, Australia who has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian National University. Sidwell, who is also an expert and consultant in forensic linguistics, is most notable ...

(2014) and Svantesson (1990) classify Bit as

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 ...

. It is most closely related to Kháng and Quang Lam.

Distribution

Laos

In Laos, Bit is spoken by 2,000 people in the following villages. The speakers call themselves "Laubit". *Nam Lie *Nam Lan *Nam Liaŋ *Nam Pauk *Bɔn Tsɛm Mɑi *Nam Tha *Bɔn Hui Huo *Bɔn Bɔm Phiŋ *Nam Nɔi Kingsada (1999) covers the Khabit (''khaa bet'') language of Nale village, Bun Neua District, Phongsaly Province, Laos.

China

, Yunnan, China, Bit (Buxing) is spoken by 539 people as of 2000, in the following villages. *Nanqian (南欠村), Manzhuang Village (曼庄村), Mohan Township (磨憨镇) *Kami (卡咪村), Huiluo Village (回洛村), Kami Township (卡米镇) / Mengban (勐伴镇) In Menghai County, Yunnan, China, there is a group of people known as the Bajia (八甲人) of Menghun (勐混), not to be confused with the Tai-speaking Bajia of Meng'a Township (勐阿镇), Menghai County), which is close to the border with

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

, Myanmar. They live in Manbi Village (曼必村), Menghun Town (勐混镇), Menghai County, Yunnan (comprising 48 households and 217 persons), and have recently been classified by the Chinese government as ethnic Bulang people. Their autonym is Manbi (曼必) or Bi (必). The Bajia of Menghun believe that their ancestors had migrated from Laos. They are variously referred to by other ethnic groups as Kabi (卡必), Laos Bulang (老挝布朗), and Manbi people (曼必人). They do not consider themselves to be Bajia (八甲人), which is a name given to them by government officials, since they do not believe they are related to the Tai-speaking Bajia of Meng'a. Yunnan (1979) considers Bajia (八甲) to be a dialect of Tai Lue based on the group's autonym and language, with 225 Bajia people counted as of 1960. The Bajia had originally migrated from Bajia 八甲, Laojian Mountain 老肩山,

Jinggu County Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County () is an autonomous county under the jurisdiction of Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, China. Administrative divisions In the present, Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County has 6 towns and 4 townships. ;6 towns ;4 to ...

. Yunnan (1979) documents the location of Bajia as Jingbo Township (景播乡), Meng'a District (勐阿区), Menghai County. Yunnan (1979) reports that in Mengla County, the Khabit (Kabie, 卡别) have close relations with a group called the ''Bubeng'' (布崩), who numbered 15 households with about 100 people as of 1960, and speak a

Hani Hani may refer to: People * Hani (name) * Hani (producer), a record producer and remixer from New York City * Hani (singer), a South Korean singer and member of EXID * Hani people, an ethnic group of China and Vietnam Places * Hani, an island ...

language. Yunnan (1979) classifies both the Kabie (卡别) and Bubeng (布崩) as ethnic

Hani people The Hani or Ho people ( Hani: ''Haqniq''; zh, c=哈尼族, p=Hānízú; vi, Người Hà Nhì / 𠊛何贰) are a Lolo-speaking ethnic group in Southern China and Northern Laos and Vietnam. They form one of the 56 officially recognized na ...

References

External links

RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
* http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-9381-D@view (Bit in RWAAI Digital Archive) {{authority control Languages of Laos Languages of China Palaungic languages Khmuic languages