Bruu (also spelled Bru, B'ru, Baru, Brou) is a
Mon–Khmer dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
spoken by the
Bru people
The Bru (also Bruu, or Bru-Vân Kiều; ; Lao: wikt:บรู, ບຣູ ; Thai: wikt:บรู, บรู; which literally means "people living in the woods") are an indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group living in Thailand, Laos, Vietna ...
of mainland Southeast Asia. Sô and Khua are dialects.
Names
There are various local and dialect designations for Bru (Sidwell 2005:11).
*So ~ Sô
*Tri (So Tri, Chali)
*Van Kieu
*Leu ~ Leung (Kaleu)
*Galler
*Khua
*Katang (not the same as
Kataang)
Distribution
The distribution of the Bru language spreads north and northeast from
Salavan,
Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
, through
Savannakhet,
Khammouane, and
Bolikhamsai, and over into neighboring
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
and
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
(Sidwell 2005:11). In Vietnam, Brâu (Braò) is spoken in Đắk Mế, Bờ Y commune,
Đắk Tô District,
Kon Tum Province.
Dialects
Thailand has the following Western Bru dialects (Choo, et al. 2012).
*Bru Khok Sa-at of
Phang Khon District and
Phanna Nikhom District,
Sakon Nakhon Province
*Bru Woen Buek of Woen Buek (Wyn Buek),
Ubon Ratchathani Province (more similar to Katang)
*Bru Dong Luang of
Dong Luang District,
Mukdahan Province
The following Bru subgroups are found in
Quảng Bình Province
Quảng Bình was formerly a southern coastal Provinces of Vietnam, province in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Việt Nam, Vietnam. It borders Hà Tĩnh province, Hà Tĩnh to the north, Quảng Trị province, ...
(Phan 1998).
[Phan Hữu Dật. 1998. "Về tên gọi các tộc người nói ngôn ngữ Môn-Miên ở miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình." In ''Một số vấn đề về dân tộc học Việt Nam'', p.476-482. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội.]
*Vân Kiêu: 5,500 persons in
Lệ Thủy District and
Vĩnh Linh District (in
Quảng Trị Province)
*Măng Coong: 600 persons in
Bố Trạch District
*Tri: 300 persons in
Bố Trạch District
*Khùa: 1,000 persons in
Tuyên Hóa District
Below is a comparative vocabulary of Vân Kiêu, Măng Coong, Tri, and Khùa from Phan (1998:479-480),
with words transcribed in
Vietnamese orthography.
Phonology
Consonants
The consonant sounds in both East and West dialects consist of the following:
* is typically pronounced as labiodental fricative or approximant when occurring in initial position. In final position, it is always heard as .
* can be heard as either a trill or a tap .
* as a consonant cluster, can be phonetically heard as in the Western dialect.
* can also be heard as a voiced glottal when a preceding a breathy vowel sound in the Western Bru dialects. It can also be heard as nasal when preceding a nasal vowel in the Western dialects.
* Plosive sounds in final position are heard as unreleased .
Vowels
Breathy vowels
Vowel sounds may also be distinguished using breathy voice:
Nasal vowels
Nasal vowel sounds may occur in the Western Bru dialect:
References
Further reading
*Choo, Marcus, Jennifer Herington, Amy Ryan and Jennifer Simmons. 2012
''Sociolinguistic Survey Of Bru In Phang Khon And Phanna Nikhom Districts, Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand''. Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University.
*Choo, Marcus. 2012
''An investigation of intelligibility between So varieties in Northeast Thailand: the Bru in Khok Saat''. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
*Choo, Marcus. 2008
''Sociolinguistic survey of So in Northeastern Thailand''. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
*Khồng Diễn (1975). "Về nhóm người Khùa (Bru) ở Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. ''Về vấn đề xác định thành phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam'', 538–548. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
*Migliazza, Brian. 2002
Multilingualism Among the So People of Issan
*Phạm Đức Dương (1975). "Về mối quan hệ cộng đồng tộc người giữa các ngôn ngữ thuộc nhóm Việt - Mường miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. ''Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam'', 500–517. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
*Phan Hữu Dật (1975). "Về tên gọi các tộc người nói ngôn ngữ Môn - Miên ở miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. ''Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam'', 531–537. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
*
Sidwell, Paul. (2005). ''
he Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon'. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 58. Muenchen: Lincom Europa.
*Yotmanisakun, Sarocha. 2022.
Preliminary Phonological Description of Southern Katang'. M.A. dissertation. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
External links
RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
* http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-AD64-5@view Bru in the RWAAI Digital Archive
{{Austro-Asiatic languages
Katuic languages
Languages of Laos
Languages of Thailand
Languages of Vietnam