The Bahnaric languages are a group of about thirty

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 700,000 people in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, and Laos.

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 notab ...

notes that Austroasiatic/

Mon–Khmer 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 ...

are lexically more similar to Bahnaric and

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 ...

the closer they are geographically, independently of which branch of the family they belong to, but that Bahnaric and Katuic do not have any shared innovations that would suggest that together they form a branch of the Austroasiatic family, rather forming separate branches.

Internal controversy

Internal diversity suggests that the family broke up about 3,000 years ago. North Bahnaric is characterized by a

register 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), th ...

contrast between breathy and modal voice, which in Sedang has tensed to become modal–creaky voice. Lamam is a clan name of the neighboring Tampuon and Kaco’. Sidwell (2009) tentatively classifies the Bahnaric languages into four branches, with Cua (Kor) classified independently as East Bahnaric. Unclassified Bahnaric languages of Cambodia include Mel, Khaonh, Ra’ong, and Thmon.Barr, Julie and Eric Pawley. 2013.
Bahnaric Language Cluster survey of Mondul Kiri and Kratie Provinces, Cambodia
'. SIL International. ;Bahnaric *West Bahnaric ** Jru' ( Laven), Juk, Su' ** Nyaheun ** Oi,

The ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, Sok, Sapuan, Cheng ** Brao, Laveh, Krung, Kravet *Central Bahnaric ** Taliang ( Kasseng) ** Alak **Central South *** Tampuon *** Bahnar ***South Bahnaric **** Chrau **** Sre **** Stieng **** Mnong *North Bahnaric ** Halang, Kayong **

Jeh Jahi is the Avestan language name of Zoroastrianism's demoness of "lasciviousness." As a hypostatic entity, Jahi is variously interpreted as "hussy," "rake," "libertine," "courtesan" and "one who leads a licentious life." Her standard epithet i ...

**Kotau ** Tadrah, Modrah ** Sedang ** Hrê ** Monom (Bonam) ** Rengao ** Kaco’, Ramam *East Bahnaric ** Cua (Kor)

North Bahnaric

North Bahnaric consists of a

dialect chain A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

spoken to the north of the Chamic languages. Sedang and Hre have the most speakers, each with about 100,000. Other Northern Bahnaric languages, too poorly known to classify further, are Duan and Katua.

West Bahnaric

West Bahnaric is a dialect chain to the west of North Bahnaric, Unlike the other Bahnaric languages to the east, the West Bahnaric languages were under Khmer rather than Chamic influence, and also by the Katuic languages as part of a Katuic-West Bahnaric sprachbund (Sidwell 2003). *West Bahnaric **Brao–Kavet: Lave (Brao), Kru'ng, Kravet ** Laven, Sou plit?** Nyaheun **Oi–The: Jeng; Oy, Sok, Sapuan,

Sidwell (2003) proposes the following West Bahnaric groupings, with Lavi branching off first, Jru'/Laven, Su', and Juk as forming a branch that had branched off secondarily, and the rest within a core group. Jru' and Brao each have tens of thousands of speakers, while the other languages have no more than 1,000 speakers each. *West Bahnaric ** Lavi **(branch) *** Jru'/ Laven, Su', Juk ***(branch) **** Nyaheun **** Sapuan **** Oi/Sok/ Cheng ****Laveh/ Brao

Central Bahnaric

Central Bahnaric is a language family divided by the Chamic languages, Bahnar, Mnong, and Sre (Koho) each have over 100,000 speakers. *Central Bahnaric ** Alak ** Cua ** Taliang ( Kassang) **Central South: to the southwest of Chamic: *** Tampuon *** Bahnar ***South Bahnaric ****Stieng–Chrau: Chrau, Stieng (Bulo, Budeh) ****Sre–Mnong: Koho, Mnong Kassang is a Bahnaric language (Sidwell 2003), though ''Ethnologue'' lists it as Katuic. Sidwell (2002, quoted in Sidwell 2003) gives the following classification for the Central Bahnaric languages. Note that Sidwell (2009) later classifies Cua as an independent branch, namely East Bahnaric. *Central Bahnaric **North Central *** Alak (Halak) **West Central *** Kasseng/ Taliang ***Yaeh **East Central *** Cua **South Central *** Tampuon *** Bahnar ****South Bahnaric ***** Chrau ***** Koho *****Ma' ***** Stieng ***** Mnong

Language diagrams

;North Bahnaric (2022)

Lexical innovations

(2015:183)Sidwell, Paul. 2015. "Austroasiatic classification." In Jenny, Mathias and Paul Sidwell, eds (2015). ''The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages''. Leiden: Brill. lists the following Bahnaric lexical innovations 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 a ...

forms.

References

External links

*http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage) * http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-6711-8@view Bahnaric languages in RWAAI Digital Archive {{authority control Languages of Cambodia Languages of Laos Languages of Vietnam