The Bahnar language or Ba-Na language () is a Central

Bahnaric language 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 Katui ...

. It has nine vowel qualities and phonemic

vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word ...

Subdivisions

Đào (1998) lists the following subgroups of Bahnar and their respective locations. *Bahnar Kon Tum: Kon Tum area *Bahnar Jơlong: northeastern Kon Tum Province *Bahnar Golar: northern

Pleiku Pleiku is a city in central Vietnam, located in the Central Highlands region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province. Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or D ...

An Lão District An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian an ...

( Bình Định Province) *Bahnar Chăm:

Vân Canh District V, or v, is the twenty-second and fifth-to-last letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''vee'' (pronounced ), plural ...

( Bình Định Province) *Bahnar But: forest areas; little communication with outsiders Bùi (2011:5-6) lists the following subgroups of Bahnar and their respective locations. *Tơ Lô: in Sơ Ró, Đắc Song, Chơ Loong, Yang Nam, and Đắc Tơ communes, which are in Kông Chro District and part of An Khê District ( Gia Lai Province) *Krem: in Vĩnh Thạnh District, as well as some in

, Hoài Ân District, and Tây Sơn District in Bình Định Province; some in Sơn Lang Commune, K'Bang District, Gia Lai Province *Vân Canh: mostly in Canh Liên, Canh Thuận, and Canh Hòa communes of

, Bình Định Province *Thồ Lồ: mostly in the upper part of Đồng Xuân District,

Phú Yên Province In chemistry, pH (), historically denoting "potential of hydrogen" (or "power of hydrogen"), is a scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Acidic solutions (solutions with higher concentrations of ions) are m ...

. Scattered in 9 communes throughout Đồng Xuân District, Sơn Hòa District, and

Sông Hinh District S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. History ...

. Descended from Tơ Lô people who were Tây Sơn soldiers fleeing from the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

200 years ago. They fled southeast to Thồ Lồ,

. The *Gơ Lar: mostly in Mang Yang District, Đắk Đoa District, and Chư Sê District of Gia Lai Province, and some living around Kon Tum town. There is also a subgroup called Bahnar Châng H'drung who live at the foot of Hàm Rồng Mountain. *Kon Tum: in 4 precincts and 9 communes of Kon Tum town *Jơ Lơng: in Kon Tum town, and Đắc Tơ Re, Đắc Ruồng, and Đắc Pne communes of

Kon Rẫy District Kon may refer to: Places * Koń, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland * Kon Tum province, Vietnam :*Kon Tum, capital of Kon Tum province, Vietnam. * Karkhaneh-ye Sefid Kon, a village in Lorestan Province, Iran * Kon, India, a town in th ...

, Kon Tum Province *Rơ Ngao (

Rengao Rengao is a North Bahnaric language 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 lexica ...

): in 29 villages. They live with the Kon Tum people in 5 communes of Kon Tum; with the Bahnar and Sedang peoples in 2 communes of Đắk Hà District; and with the

Sedang people The Sedang people (In Vietnamese: Xê Đăng or Xơ Đăng) are an ethnic group of Vietnam. They mainly inhabit the Kon Tum province, Quảng Nam province (Trà My and Phước Sơn districts), Quảng Ngãi province (Sơn Tây district). They ...

in Pô Cô Commune, Đắk Tô District, Kon Tum Province

Phonology

Consonants

*-In the final sequence /jh/, /h/ is not pronounced and /j/ is pronounced phonetically as a short vowel /i/. *

Vowels

Also used in Vietnam

Other minor groups include the Kon Kđe, Bơ Nơm, and A Roh subgroups in Kông Chro District and K'Bang District of Gia Lai Province (Bùi 2011:6). '' Ethnologue'' lists the following dialects of Bahnar. *Tolo *Golar *Alakong (A-La Cong) *Jolong (Gio-Lang, Y-Lang) *Bahnar Bonom (Bomam) *Kontum *Krem

References

External links

Database of audio recordings in Bahnar - basic Catholic prayers
Bahnaric languages {{AustroAsiatic-lang-stub