Brao is a Mon–Khmer language of Cambodia and Laos.
Phonology
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Dorsal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | ʰm m | ʰn n | ɲ | ʰŋ ŋ | |
| Obstruents | pʰ p b ʔb | tʰ t d ʔd | ç c ɟ ʔɟ | kʰ k ɡ ʔɡ | ħ ʔ |
| Trill | r | ||||
| Approximant | l | j | w |
Varieties
According to Ethnologue, there are four distinct but mutually intelligible varieties, sometimes considered separate languages: Lave (Brao proper), Kru’ng (Kreung), and Kavet (Kravet), the latter spoken by only a couple thousand.
Sidwell (2003) also lists four communities of speakers, three of which are in Cambodia.
- Laveh (Lave, Rawe): spoken in Attapeu Province, Laos south of the capital city of Attapeu. Laveh is the official designation given by the Laotian government.
- Krung (Krüng): spoken around Ban Lung in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia
- Kavet (Kravet): spoken in Voeun Sai District, Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia
- Brao (Brou, Palaw, Preou): spoken in and around the town of Taveng in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia
Lun, spoken in Stung Treng Province, Cambodia, is related to Lave and Kavet (Philip Lambrecht 2012).[4]
Demographics
Sidwell (2003) suggests the possibility of a total of 50,000 speakers, while Bradley (1994:161) gives an estimate of 35,000. All estimates below are drawn from Sidwell (2003:30).
- Laos: The 1995 Laotian census places the Laveh population at 17,544.
- Cambodia: The Asian Development Bank gave an estimate of 29,500 speakers as of the early 2000s.
- Vietnam: About 300 Brau live in Đắc Mế village, Bờ Y commune, Ngọc Hồi district, Kon Tum province (Đặng, et al. 2010:112).[5] Parkin (1991:81) also estimates several hundred Brao in Vietnam.
- Thailand: Parkin (1991:81) estimates a Brao population of 2,500 in Thailand.
References
- ^ Lave at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Krung at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Kavet at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) - ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Laveh–Brao". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ Keller, Charles E. (April 1999). "Brao-Krung Phonology" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. 31. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
- ^ http://li.payap.ac.th/images/stories/survey/khmer_khes_report_final.pdf
- ^ Đặng Nghiêm Vạn, Chu Thái Sơn, Lưu Hùng. 2010. Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam. Hà Nội: Thế Giới Publishers.
- Sidwell, Paul (2003). A Handbook of comparative Bahnaric, Vol. 1: West Bahnaric. Pacific Linguistics, 551. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
Further reading
- Keller, C. E. (1976). A grammatical sketch of Brao, a Mon–Khmer language. Grand Forks, N.D.: Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session. OCLC: 2915938
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