The fifteen Katuic languages form a branch of the

Austroasiatic languages 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 t ...

spoken by about 1.3 million people in Southeast Asia. People who speak Katuic languages are called the

Katuic peoples The Katuic peoples live mainly in central Vietnam's Truong Son region and the highlands of south eastern Laos and speak the Katuic languages. The peoples include the Katu, Ta Oi, Pacoh, Bru (Van Kieu) in Vietnam and the Kuy. The Katuic groups i ...

. 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 innovation In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor and then extrapolating backwards t ...

s, 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 Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

was performed by

Summer Institute of Linguistics SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is an evangelical Christian non-profit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to ex ...

linguists David Thomas and Richard Phillips. This study resulted in the recognition of two distinct new subbranches of Austroasiatic, namely Katuic and Bahnaric (Sidwell 2009). Sidwell (2005) casts doubt on Diffloth's Vieto-Katuic hypothesis, saying that the evidence is ambiguous, and that it is not clear where Katuic belongs in the family. Sufficient data for use in the sub-classification of the Katuic languages only become available after the opening of

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

to foreign researchers in the 1990s.

Sidwell (2005)

The sub-classification of Katuic below was proposed by Sidwell (2005). Additionally, Sidwell (2009) analyzes the Katu branch as the most conservative subgroup of Katuic. *West Katuic branch: ** Kuy languages: ***Kuy, Souei ** Bru languages: ***Bru, So, etc. *Ta'Oi branch: ** Ta'Oi, Katang, Talan/Ong/ Ir/Inh **Kriang/Ngeq *Katu branch: **

Katu KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on N ...

, Phuong, Kantu, Triw, Dak Kang *Pacoh branch: ** Pacoh

Gehrmann (2019)

Gehrmann (2019) proposes the following classification of the Katuic languages. ;Proto-Katuic *Proto-West Katuic **

Kuay language Kuy, also known as Kui, Suay or Kuay ( th, ภาษากูย; km, ភាសាកួយ), is a Katuic language, part of the larger Austroasiatic family spoken by the Kuy people of Southeast Asia. Kuy is one of the Katuic languages wit ...

s **

Bru language Bruu (also spelled Bru, B'ru, Baru, Brou) is a Mon–Khmer dialect continuum spoken by the Bru people of mainland Southeast Asia. Sô and Khua are dialects. Names There are various local and dialect designations for Bru (Sidwell 2005:11). *So ...

s *Proto-Pacoh-Ta'oi **

Ta'oi language Ta'Oi (Ta'Oih, Ta Oi) is a Katuic dialect chain of Salavan and Sekong provinces in Laos, and in Thừa Thiên-Huế province in Vietnam (Sidwell 2005:12). Varieties Sidwell (2005) lists the following varieties of Ta'Oi, which is a name appli ...

s ** Pacoh languages *

Kriang language Ta'Oi (Ta'Oih, Ta Oi) is a Katuic dialect chain of Salavan and Sekong provinces in Laos, and in Thừa Thiên-Huế province in Vietnam (Sidwell 2005:12). Varieties Sidwell (2005) lists the following varieties of Ta'Oi, which is a name appli ...

s *

Katu language Katu, or Low Katu, is a Katuic language of eastern Laos and central Vietnam. In Vietnam, it is spoken in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province, including in A Lưới commune. According to the 2009 Vietnamese census A census is the procedure of sy ...

s ''Ethnologue'' also lists Kassang (the

Tariang language Taliang (Tariang, Talieng, Trieng) is a Bahnaric language spoken by the Jeh-Tariang people of Laos and Vietnam. It is possibly related to the Stieng language Stieng (, Vietnamese: Xtiêng, Khmer: ) is the language of the Stieng people of s ...

), but that is a

Bahnaric language The Bahnaric languages are a group of about thirty Austroasiatic languages spoken by about 700,000 people in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Paul Sidwell notes that Austroasiatic/Mon–Khmer languages are lexically more similar to Bahnaric and Katui ...

(Sidwell 2003). Lê, et al. (2014:294) reports a Katu subgroup called ''Ba-hi'' living in mountainous areas of Phong Điền District, Vietnam, but Watson (1996:197) speaks of "Pacoh Pahi" as a Pacoh variety. Kuy and Bru each have around half a million speakers, while the Ta’Oi cluster has around 200,000 speakers.

Proto-language

Reconstructions of Proto-Katuic, or its sub-branches, include: *Thomas (1967): ''A Phonology Reconstruction of Proto-East-Katuic'' *Diffloth (1982): ''Registres, devoisement, timbres vocaliques: leur histoire en katouique'' *Efinov (1983): ''Problemy fonologicheskoj rekonstrukcii proto-katuicheskogo jazyka'' *Peiros (1996): ''Katuic Comparative Dictionary'' *Therapahan L-Thongkum (2001): ''Languages of the Tribes in Xekong Province, Southern Laos'' *Paul Sidwell (2005): ''The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon'' Sidwell (2005) reconstructs the consonant inventory of proto-Katuic as follows: This is identical to reconstructions of

proto-Austroasiatic 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 ...

except for , which is better preserved in the Katuic languages than in other branches of Austro-Asiatic, and which Sidwell believes was also present in Proto-Mon Khmer.

Lexical isoglosses

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 ...

(2015:185-186) lists the following lexical innovations unique to Katuic that had replaced original

Proto-Austroasiatic 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 ...

forms. Sidwell (2015:173) lists the following lexical

isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss (see Etymology below), is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Major d ...

es shared between Katuic and Bahnaric. Furthermore,

Gerard Diffloth Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

(1992) lists the words 'centipede', 'bone', 'to cough', 'to fart', 'to breathe', and 'blood' as

es shared between Katuic and Vietic. A Vieto-Katuic connection has also been proposed by Alves (2005).Alves, Mark. 2005.
The Vieto-Katuic Hypothesis: Lexical Evidence
" In ''SEALS XV: Papers from the 15th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2003'', edited by Paul Sidwell. 169-176. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.

*Gehrmann, Ryan. 2018
Katuic presyllables and derivational morphology in diachronic perspective
In Ring, Hiram & Felix Rau (eds.), ''Papers from the Seventh International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics'', 132–156. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Special Publication No. 3. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. *Gehrmann, Ryan. 2017
The Historical Phonology of Kriang, A Katuic Language
Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 10.1, 114–139. *Gehrmann, Ryan. 2016
''The West Katuic languages: comparative phonology and diagnostic tools''
Chiang Mai: Payap University MA Thesis. *Gehrmann, Ryan. 2015
Vowel Height and Register Assignment in Katuic
''Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society'' 8. 56–70. *Gehrmann, Ryan and Johanna Conver. 2015
Katuic Phonological Features
''Mon-Khmer Studies'' 44. 55–67. *Choo, Marcus. 2012
''The Status of Katuic''
Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University. *Choo, Marcus. 2010.
''Katuic Bibliography with Selected Annotations''
Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University. *Choo, Marcus. 2009
''Katuic Bibliography''
Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University. *Sidwell, Paul. 2005.
The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon
'. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics 58. Munich: LINCOM Europa. *Sidwell, Paul. 2005
Proto-Katuic phonology and the sub-grouping of Mon-Khmer languages
In Paul Sidwell (ed.), ''SEALSXV: Papers from the 15th Meeting of the South East Asian Linguistics Society'', 193–204. Pacific Linguistics PL E1. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. *Theraphan L-Thongkum. 2002. The Role of endangered Mon-Khmer languages of Xekong Province, Southern Laos, in the reconstruction of Proto-Katuic. In Marlys Macken (ed.), ''Papers from the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society''. 407–429. Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University. *Theraphan L-Thongkum. 2001. ภาษาของนานาชนเผ่าในแขวงเซกองลาวใต้. ''Phasa khong nanachon phaw nai khweng Sekong Lao Tai''. anguages of the tribes in Xekong province, Southern Laos Bangkok: The Thailand Research Fund. *Peiros, Ilia. 1996. ''Katuic comparative dictionary''. Pacific Linguistics C-132. Canberra: Australian National University. *Miller, John & Carolyn Miller. 1996
Lexical comparison of Katuic Mon-Khmer languages with special focus on So-Bru groups in Northeast Thailand
''Mon-Khmer Studies'' 26. 255–290. *Migliazza, Brian. 1992
Lexicostatistic analysis of some Katuic languages
In Amara Prasithrathsint & Sudaporn Luksaneeyanawin (eds.), ''3rd International Symposium on Language and Linguistics'', 1320–1325. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University. *Gainey, Jerry. 1985. ''A comparative study of Kui, Bruu and So phonology from a genetic point of view''. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University MA thesis. *Effimov, Aleksandr. 1983. Проблемы фонологической реконструкции прото-катуического языка. ''Probljemy phonologichjeskoj rjekonstruktsii Proto-Katuichjeskovo jazyka''. ssues in the phonological reconstruction of the Proto-Katuic language Moscow: Institute of Far Eastern studies Moscow dissertation. *Diffloth, Gérard. 1982
Registres, dévoisement, timbres vocaliques: leur histoire en Katouique
egisters, devoicing, vowel phonation: their history in Katuic ''Mon-Khmer Studies'' 11. 47–82. *Thomas, Dorothy. M. (1967). ''A phonological reconstruction of Proto–East Katuic''. Grand Forks: University of North Dakota MA thesis.

References

* Sidwell, Paul. (2005).
The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon
'. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 58. Muenchen: Lincom Europa. * Sidwell, Paul. (2009).
Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art
'. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 76. Munich: Lincom Europa.

External links

Frank Huffman Katuic Audio Archives
*http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage) * http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-6712-F@view Katuic languages in RWAAI Digital Archive {{Austro-Asiatic languages Languages of Laos Languages of Thailand Languages of Vietnam