The nearly thirty Palaungic or Palaung–Wa 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 ...

Phonological developments

Most of the Palaungic languages lost the contrastive voicing of the ancestral Austroasiatic consonants, with the distinction often shifting to the following vowel. In the Wa branch, this is generally realized as

breathy voice Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...

vowel

phonation The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, ''phonation'' is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the defini ...

; in Palaung–Riang, as a two-way

register tone Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), t ...

system. The

Angkuic languages The Angkuic languages are spoken in Yunnan province, China and Shan State, Burma. Languages * U (P'uman) * Hu (Kongge, Kun'ge, Kon Keu) * Man Met (Kemie) *Mok * Muak Sa-aak * Va * Mong Lue (Tai Loi) ? Classification Andrew Hsiu (2015)Hsiu, An ...

have

contour tone A tone contour, or contour tone, is a tone in a tonal language which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. Tone contours are especially common in East, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Nilo-Saharan languages, Khois ...

— the

U language The U language or P'uman (), is spoken by 40,000 people in the Yunnan Province of China and possibly Myanmar. It is classified as an Austroasiatic language in the Palaungic branch. In China, U speakers are classified as ethnic Bulang. Locatio ...

, for example, has four tones, ''high, low, rising, falling,'' — but these developed from vowel length and the nature of final consonants, not from the voicing of initial consonants.

Homeland

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) suggests that the Palaungic

Urheimat In historical linguistics, the homeland or ''Urheimat'' (, from German '' ur-'' "original" and ''Heimat'', home) of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the r ...

(homeland) was in what is now the border region of

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

and

Sipsongpanna Xishuangbanna, Sibsongbanna or Sipsong Panna ( Tham: , New Tai Lü script: ; ; th, สิบสองปันนา; lo, ສິບສອງພັນນາ; shn, သိပ်းသွင်ပၼ်းၼႃး; my, စစ်ဆောင်� ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

, China. The Khmuic homeland was adjacent to the Palaungic homeland, resulting in many lexical borrowings among the two branches due to intense contact. Sidwell (2014) suggests that the word for 'water' (Proto-Palaungic *ʔoːm), which

Gérard Diffloth Gérard Diffloth (born in Châteauroux, France, 1939) is a French linguist who is known as a leading specialist in the Austroasiatic languages. As a retired linguistics professor, he was former employed at the University of Chicago and Cornell Univ ...

had used as one of the defining lexical innovations for his Northern Mon-Khmer branch, was likely borrowed from Palaungic into Khmuic.

Classification

Diffloth & Zide (1992)

The Palaungic family includes at least three branches, with the position of some languages as yet unclear. Lamet, for example, is sometimes classified as a separate branch. The following classification follows that of Diffloth & Zide (1992), as quoted in Sidwell (2009:131). *Western Palaungic (Palaung–Riang) ** Palaung *** Shwe (Gold Palaung, De'ang) ***De'ang ***

Pale Pale may refer to: Jurisdictions * Medieval areas of English conquest: ** Pale of Calais, in France (1360–1558) ** The Pale, or the English Pale, in Ireland *Pale of Settlement, area of permitted Jewish settlement, western Russian Empire (179 ...

(Silver Palaung, Ruching) *** Rumai ** Riang *** Riang proper, Yinchia ***? Danau (perhaps in Palaung–Riang) *Eastern Palaungic ** Angkuic *** Angku *** Hu *** Kiorr *** Kon Keu *** Man Met *** Mok ***

Samtao Blang (Pulang) is the language of the Blang people of Burma and China. Dialects Samtao of Burma is a dialect. Blang dialects include the following: *Bulang 布朗; ''representative dialect'': Xinman'e 新曼俄, Bulangshan District 布朗山� ...

(Samtau) *** Tai Loi *** U (Pouma) **Lametic *** Lamet (Xmet) *** Con **

Waic WAIC (91.9 FM) is the college radio station of American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is operated by the Five College Consortium's National Public Radio member station, WFCR, and serves as a relay of the all-news form ...

*** Blang ***Lawa **** La **** Lawa *** Wa **** Paraok (Standard Wa) **** Khalo ****

Awa Awa (or variants) may refer to: People * Awa (given name), notable people named Awa or Hawa * Awá (Brazil), an indigenous people of Brazil * Awa-Kwaiker, an indigenous people of Colombia and Ecuador Languages * Awa language (China) or Wa (Va) ...

Some researchers include the

Mangic 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 se ...

as well, instead of grouping them with the

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 se ...

Sidwell (2010)

The following classification follows the branching given by Sidwell (2010, ms). * Danau (Khano) *Palaungic proper **Western (Riang–Palaung) *** Palaung (De'ang: Shwe / Gold Palaung, Pale / Ruching / Silver Palaung, Rumai) *** Riang (Riang, Yinchia) ** Angkuic *** Hu *** U (P'uman) *** Kiorr (Kha Kior, Con) *** Kon Keu (Angku) *** Mok ( Man Met) *** Mong Lue (Tai Loi) *** Muak Sa-aak ** Lamet (Xmet) **

*** Blang (Samtao) ***Lawa **** Umpai Lawa **** Bo Luang Lawa ***Wa **** Paraok (Standard Wa) **** Khalo ****

**** Meung Yum **** Savaiq Sidwell (2014) proposes an additional branch, consisting of: * Bit–Khang **

Bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represente ...

** Kháng ** Bumang ** Quang Lam

Sidwell (2015)

Sidwell (2015:12) provides a revised classification of Palaungic. Bit–Khang is clearly Palaungic, but contains many Khmuic loanwords. Sidwell (2015:12) believes it likely groups within East Palaungic. On the other hand, Sidwell (2015) considers Danaw to be the most divergent Palaungic language. * Danaw *West Palaungic ** Palaung (Dara’ang, Da’ang, Palay, etc.) ** Rumai ** Riang (Riang-Lang, Riang-Sak, etc.) *East Palaungic **

*** Wa ( Praok,

, Vo, etc.) *** Lawa (Lawa Bo Luang, Lavua/Luwa, etc.) *** Bulang (Bulang, Plang/Samtao, Kawa, Kontoi, etc.) ** Angkuic: U, Hu, Man Met/Kemie, Muak/ Mok, Tai Loi, etc. **Lameet: Lameet, Con, Lua/Khamet **? Bit–Khang: (Kha)bit, Buxing, Quang Lam, Khang/Khao, Bumang

Lexical innovations

Diagnostic Palaungic lexical innovations as identified by

(2021) are:

Reconstruction

References

External links

RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)

Palaungic languages in RWAAI Digital Archive
{{Austroasiatic languages