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The Austroasiatic languagesOSS-troh-ay-zee-AT-ik, AWSS- are a large language family spoken throughout mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Austroasiatic languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority populations within Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China. Approximately 117 million people speak an Austroasiatic language, of which more than two-thirds are Vietnamese speakers. Of the Austroasiatic languages, only Vietnamese, Khmer, and Mon have lengthy, established presences in the historical record. Only two are presently considered to be the national languages of sovereign states: Vietnamese in Vietnam, and Khmer in Cambodia. The Mon language is a recognized indigenous language in Myanmar and Thailand, while the Wa language is a 'recognized national language' in the de facto autonomous Wa State within Myanmar. Santali is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. The remainder of the family's languages are spoken by minority groups and have no official status.
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.
The Pearic languages are a group of endangered languages of the Eastern Mon–Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic language family, spoken by Pear people living in western Cambodia and eastern Thailand.
The Khasic or Khasian languages are a family of Austroasiatic languages native to the Shillong Plateau, spoken in the northeastern Indian state Meghalaya and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh.
The nearly thirty Palaungic or Palaung–Wa languages form a branch of the Austroasiatic languages.
The Khmuic languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic languages spoken mostly in northern Laos, as well as in neighboring northern Vietnam and southern Yunnan, China. Khmu is the only widely spoken language in the group.
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 separate branch within Austroasiatic.
The Khasi–Palaungic languages are a primary branch of the Austroasiatic language family of Southeast Asia in the classification of Sidwell. This is a departure from Diffloth (2005) classification of Khasi-Khmuic with Khmuic and Mangic (Pakanic) now being separate branches within Austroasiatic family.
The Kenyah languages are a group of half a dozen or so closely related languages spoken by the Kenyah peoples of Borneo. They are:
Proto-Austroasiatic is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austroasiatic languages. Proto-Mon–Khmer has been reconstructed in Harry L. Shorto's Mon–Khmer Comparative Dictionary, while a new Proto-Austroasiatic reconstruction is currently being undertaken by Paul Sidwell.
Proto-Hmong–Mien (PHM), also known as Proto-Miao–Yao, is the reconstructed ancestor of the Hmong–Mien languages. Lower-level reconstructions include Proto-Hmongic and Proto-Mienic.
Kháng, also known as Mang U’, is an Austroasiatic language of Vietnam. It is closely related to the Bumang language of southern Yunnan, China.
Kiorr is a Palaungic language of Luang Namtha Province, Laos.
The Angkuic languages are spoken in Yunnan province, China and Shan State, Burma.
The Bit–Khang languages consist of:
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 for his work on the historical linguistics of the Austroasiatic language family, and has published reconstructions of the Bahnaric, Katuic, Palaungic, Khasic, and Nicobaric proto-languages. Sidwell is currently the President of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS) and also regularly organises the International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics (ICAAL).
The East Asian languages are a language family proposed by Stanley Starosta in 2001. The proposal has since been adopted by George van Driem and others.
Proto-Aslian is the reconstructed proto-language of the Aslian languages of Peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand. It has been reconstructed by Timothy Phillips (2012).
The Proto-Khmeric language is the reconstructed proto-language of the Khmeric languages. It has been reconstructed by Sidwell & Rau (2015), whose reconstruction is based on the sound laws provided in Ferlus (1992). It is agreed by most scholars that this language was phased out by 300 CE.
Proto-Munda is the reconstructed proto-language of the Munda languages of South Asia. It has been reconstructed by Sidwell & Rau (2015). According to Sidwell Proto-Munda language split from proto- Austro-asiatic in Indo china and arrived in coast of Odisha around 4000-3500 year ago.
References
- ↑ Sidwell, Paul. 2015. The Palaungic Languages: Classification, Reconstruction and Comparative Lexicon Archived 2019-10-23 at the Wayback Machine . München: Lincom Europa.
- Sidwell, Paul and Felix Rau (2015). "Austroasiatic Comparative-Historical Reconstruction: An Overview." In Jenny, Mathias and Paul Sidwell, eds (2015). The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
- Sidwell, Paul. Proto Palaungic phonology: reconstructing vowel lengths and qualities in a partially restructured system.
- Shorto, Harry L. Sidwell, Paul, Doug Cooper and Christian Bauer, eds. 2006. A Mon–Khmer Comparative Dictionary. Canberra: Australian National University. Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0-85883-570-3.