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 in Laos include the Kuy, Bru, Ta'oih, Kantu, Dakkang, Triw, Chatong and Ngeq.
They subsist mainly on shifting cultivation, hunting and fishing. They traditionally lived in small villages centered on a communal house. Their religion revolves around the spirits of the forest, the Rice Mother and ancestor spirits. Even today, these groups retain most of their traditions and spirit beliefs. However, they have been heavily affected by the newly constructed Ho Chi Minh Highway, which cuts straight through the homeland of the Vietnamese Katuic groups.
The French military officer Le Pichon, who was stationed among the Katu in 1938, wrote a short book about entitled Les Chasseurs de Sang (The Blood Hunters) about the (now non-existent) practice of the Katu to hunt people to please certain spirits.
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The Ơ Đu (O'du) are an aboriginal ethnic group in Vietnam and Laos. Their total population is more than 570.
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 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 innovations, so they do not form a single branch of the Austroasiatic family, but form separate branches.
Kuy, also known as Kui, Suay or Kuay, is a Katuic language, part of the larger Austroasiatic family spoken by the Kuy people of Southeast Asia.
The Khmu are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The majority (88%) live in northern Laos where they constitute the largest minority ethnic group, comprising eleven percent of the total population. Alternative historical English spellings include Kmhmu, Kemu and Khammu, among others.
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 Katuic languages 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.
Phu Thai is a Southwestern Tai language spoken in Laos and Thailand. Although it appears different from the Isan and the Lao languages, it is spoken in areas where these languages are predominant and has been influenced by them. Comparisons of Phu Thai with other Tai languages such as Tay Khang have not yet been done systematically enough to yield convincing results.
Another aspect of Phu Thai is its contact with the Katuic languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic languages. Whether in the Phu Thai areas of Central Laos or in more recent locations of Northeastern Thailand, one can find, along with Phu Thai, a few Katuic dialects known locally as Bru, So or Katang. James R. Chamberlain (2012) focusing on anthropological issues describes “the Phou Thay – Brou relationship” as a “symbiosis” and states that “the Phou Thay – Brou relationship has never evolved into a feudal system”.
The Bru are an ethnic group living in Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. They speak a Katuic language, unlike the Brao, who speak a Western Bahnaric language. The Bru are not found in northeastern Cambodia. The Lun, Kreung, Kavet, Amba and Brao Tanap groups in northeastern Cambodia are actually sub-groups of the Brao, not the Bru. The Brao sub-groups in Laos are the Lun, Kavet, Jree, Ka-ying, and the Hamong
The Ksingmul, also known as Con Pua, Puộc, and Pụa, are an ethnic group in Vietnam and Laos. In Vietnam, they live primarily in the northwest, in the provinces of Sơn La and Lai Châu. The group numbers approximately 29,503 people and its language is in the Khmuic languages group of the Mon–Khmer language family.
Khmuic peoples refers to a group of ethnic groups of Southeast Asia.
Alak is a language spoken by some 4,000 people in southern Laos, especially in the Provinces of Salavan and Sekong. It is closely related to the language spoken by the Bahnars of Vietnam. It includes two dialects, Alak proper and Harak.
Bruu is a Mon–Khmer dialect continuum spoken by the Bru people of mainland Southeast Asia.
The Alak or Hrlak are an Austroasiatic ethnic group of southern Laos, living mainly in Salavan Province. They speak the Alak language. Little is known of their history, though as an Austroasiatic-speaking group, their origin is presumably in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
The Brao people are an ethnic group that live on both sides of the Cambodia-Laos border. There are approximately 60,000 Brao people, broadly defined, worldwide. They mainly live in Attapeu and Champasak Provinces in southern Laos, and Ratanakiri and Stung Treng Provinces in northeastern Cambodia. In Cambodia, the Brao include people from the following sub-groups: Amba, Kreung, Kavet, Brao Tanap, and Lun. In southern Laos, they belong to the Jree, Kavet, Lun, Hamong and Ka-ying sub-groups
The Katu people are an ethnic group of about 102,551 who live in eastern Laos and central Vietnam. Numbered among the Katuic peoples, they speak a Mon-Khmer language.
Katu, or Low Katu, is a Katuic language of eastern Laos and central Vietnam.
Ta'Oi is a Katuic dialect chain of Salavan and Sekong provinces in Laos, and in Thừa Thiên-Huế province in Vietnam.
Ksingmul is a Mon–Khmer language spoken by the Ksingmul people of Vietnam and Laos.
Taliang is a Bahnaric language spoken by the Jeh-Tariang people of Laos and Vietnam. It is possibly related to the Stieng language of Vietnam and Cambodia.
Oʼdu, or Iduh, is a Mon–Khmer language of Vietnam and Laos. Once spoken by about 300 people in Tương Dương district, Nghệ An province, Vietnam, it is now considered to be almost extinct.
The Kuy are an indigenous ethnic group of mainland Southeast Asia. The native lands of the Kuy range from the southern Khorat Plateau in northeast Thailand east to the banks of the Mekong River in southern Laos and south to north central Cambodia. The Kuy are an ethnic minority in all three countries, where they live as "hill tribes" or Montagnards. Their language is classified as a Katuic language of the Mon-Khmer language family and, as such, is related to the Khmer language of Cambodia. The Thais, Lao, and Khmer traditionally recognize the Kuy as the aboriginal inhabitants of the region and refer to them as Khmer boran (Khmer), meaning "ancient Khmer" or Khamen pa dong. The word kuy in the Kuy language means "people" or "human being"; alternate English spellings include Kui, Kuoy and Kuay, while forms similar to "Suay" or "Suei" are derived from the Thai/Lao exonyms meaning "those who pay tribute". The Kuy are known as skilled mahouts, or elephant trainers, and many Kuy villages are employed in finding, taming, and selling elephants.