The Kra languages (also known as the Geyang 仡央 or Kadai languages) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family spoken in southern China (
Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
) and in northern
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
(
Hà Giang Province
Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean.
Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ.
Notable people with the surname Hà
* Hà Kiều Anh, ...
).
Names
The name ''Kra'' comes from the word C "human" as reconstructed by Ostapirat (2000), which appears in various Kra languages as ''kra'', ''ka'', ''fa'' or ''ha''. Benedict (1942) used the term ''Kadai'' for the Kra and Hlai languages grouped together and the term ''Kra-Dai'' is proposed by Ostapirat (2000).
The Kra branch was first identified as a unified group of languages by Liang (1990),Liang Min 梁敏. 1990 Geyang yuqun de xishu wenti 仡央语群的系属问题 / On the affiliation of the Ge-Yang group of languages." In ''Minzu Yuwen'' 民族语文 1990(6): 1-8. who called it the ''Geyang'' 仡央 languages. ''Geyang'' 仡央 is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsGelao and the last syllable of -''yang'' in Buyang. The name ''Kra'' was proposed by Ostapirat (2000) and is the term usually used by scholars outside China, whereas ''Geyang'' is the name currently used in China.
Significance
Several Kra languages have regionally unusual
consonant cluster
In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education f ...
s and
sesquisyllabic
Primarily in Austroasiatic languages (also known as Mon–Khmer), in a typical word a minor syllable is a reduced (minor) syllable followed by a full tonic or stressed syllable. The minor syllable may be of the form or , with a reduced vowel, as i ...
or disyllabic words, whereas other Kra–Dai languages tend to have only have single syllables. The disyllables in Buyang have been used by Sagart (2004) to support the view that the Kra-Dai languages are a subgroup within the Austronesian family. Unlike the Tai and Kam–Sui languages, most Kra languages, including Gelao and Buyang, have preserved the proto-Kra–Dai numerical systems. The only other Kra–Dai branch that preserves this is Hlai. Most other Kra–Dai languages adopted
Chinese numerals
Chinese numerals are words and characters used to denote numbers in Chinese.
Today, speakers of Chinese use three written numeral systems: the system of Arabic numerals used worldwide, and two indigenous systems. The more familiar indigenous s ...
over 1000 years ago.
As noted by Jerold A. Edmondson, the Kra languages contain words in metalworking, handicrafts and agriculture that are not attested in any other Kra–Dai language.Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, and Yongxian Luo ed. ''The Tai–Kadai Languages''. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press, 2008. This suggests that the Kra peoples may have developed or borrowed many technological innovations independently of the Tai and Kam-Sui peoples.
Reconstruction
The Proto-Kra language has been reconstructed by Weera Ostapirat (2000).
Classification
Morphological similarities suggest the Kra languages are closest to the Kam–Sui branch of the family. There are about a dozen Kra languages, depending on how languages and dialects are defined. Gelao, with about 8,000 speakers in China out of an ethnic population of approximately 500,000, and consists of at least four
mutually unintelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as a ...
language varieties
In sociolinguistics, a variety, also called an isolect or lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety.Meecham, M ...
, including Telue (White Gelao), Hagei (Blue or Green Gelao),
Vandu
Vandu is a village in Kadrina Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021)
Estonian Prime Minister and State Elder Otto Strandman
Otto August Strandman ( – 5 February 1941) was an Estonian politician, wh ...
(Red Gelao), A'ou (Red Gelao), and Qau (Chinese Gelao).
Ostapirat (2000)
The internal classification below is from Weera Ostapirat (2000), who splits the Kra branch into the Eastern and Western branches.
According to
Jerold Edmondson
Jerold Alan Edmondson (born 1941) (Chinese name: 艾杰瑞 Aì Jiéruì) is an American linguist whose work spans four subdisciplines: historical and comparative linguistics, Asian linguistics, field linguistics, and phonetics. He is a leading spe ...
(2002), Laha is too conservative to be in Western Kra, considered it to constitute a branch of its own. However, Edmondson (2011)Edmondson, Jerold. 2011 Notes on the subdivisions in Kra Published as Geyang yuyan fenlei buyi 仡央语言分类补议 in Journal of Guangxi University for Nationalities. 广西民族大学学报. 33.2.8-14. later reversed his position, considering Laha to be more closely related to
Paha
Paha () is a small settlement in the hills north of Otočec in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistic ...
.
Ethnologue mistakenly includes the
Hlai language
The Hlai languages () are a primary branch of the Kra–Dai language family spoken in the mountains of central and south-central Hainan in China by the Hlai people, not to be confused with the colloquial name for the Leizhou branch of Min Chi ...
Cun of Hainan in Kra; this is not supported by either Ostapirat or Edmondson.
Hsiu (2014)
Hsiu's (2014) classification of the Kra languages, based on computational phylogenetic analysis as well as Edmondson's (2011) earlier analysis of Kra, is as follows.
;Kra
*Northern Kra
** Lachi
** Gelao
***Red Gelao
****
Vandu
Vandu is a village in Kadrina Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021)
Estonian Prime Minister and State Elder Otto Strandman
Otto August Strandman ( – 5 February 1941) was an Estonian politician, wh ...
Paha
Paha () is a small settlement in the hills north of Otočec in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistic ...
Northern Tai
The Northern Tai languages are an established branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. They include the northern Zhuang languages and Bouyei of China, Tai Mène of Laos and Yoy of Thailand.
Languages Ethnologue
'' Ethnologue'' distingu ...
language spoken by 5 people in Dazhai 大寨, Fuchu Township 辅处乡,
Hezhang County
Hezhang () is a county in the northwest of Guizhou province, China, bordering Yunnan to the north. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Bijie.
Ethnic groups
The ''Hezhang County Gazetteer'' (2001:105-108) lists the follow ...
赫章县,
Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
, China, has a Kra
substratum
In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or su ...
Lolo–Burmese
The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan family.
Names
Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with derogatory characters in Chinese, and for this reaso ...
language spoken in Mengmei 孟梅,
Funing County, Yunnan
Funing County (; Zhuang language: ) is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in the east of Yunnan province, China. It is the easternmost county-level division of Yunnan, bordering Guangxi to the north, east and southeast, an ...
substratum
In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or su ...
(Hsiu 2014:68-69).
According to
Li Jinfang
Li Jinfang (; born October 1963 in Tianlin County, GuangxiLi Jinfang ��锦芳 2006. Studies on endangered languages in the Southwest China ��南地区濒危语言调查研究 Beijing: Minzu University.) is a Chinese linguist at Minzu Universit ...
(1999),Li Jinfang (1999). ''Studies in the Buyang Language''. Beijing: Central University for Nationalities Press. the Yang Zhuang people of southwestern Guangxi may have been Kra speakers who had switched toZhuang.
Demographics
The Kra languages have a total of about 22,000 speakers. In
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
, officially recognized Kra peoples are the Cờ Lao, La Chí, La Ha and Pu Péo. In China, only the Gelao (Cờ Lao) have official status. The other Kra peoples are variously classified as Zhuang, Buyi, Yi, and
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
.
Within China, "hotspots" for Kra languages include most of western
Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
, the
prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
During the Republican era, many of China' ...
of
Baise
Baise (; local pronunciation: ), or Bose, is the westernmost prefecture-level city of Guangxi, China bordering Vietnam as well as the provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan. The city has a population of 4.3 million, of which 1.4 million live in the ur ...
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in southeastern Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China and the easternmost prefecture-level division of the province. It borders Baise, Guangxi to the east, Vietnam ...
in southeastern
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
, as well as
Hà Giang Province
Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean.
Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ.
Notable people with the surname Hà
* Hà Kiều Anh, ...
in northern Vietnam. This distribution runs along a northeast-southwest geographic vector, forming what Jerold A. Edmondson calls a "language corridor."
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...
is common among Kra language speakers. For example, many Buyang can also speak Zhuang.李锦芳/Li, Jinfang and 周国炎/Guoyan Zhou. 仡央语言探索/Geyang yu yan tan suo. Beijing, China: 中央民族大学出版社/Zhong yang min zu da xue chu ban she, 1999.
*Western
** Lachi (拉基, La Chí) – 10,300 (7,863 in Vietnam in 1990; 2,500 in
Maguan County
Maguan County (, vi, Mã Quan) is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China, bordering Vietnam's Lào Cai
Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Provinc ...
, Yunnan, China in 1995)
** Gelao (仡佬, Cờ Lao) – 7,900 (spoken in Guizhou,
Longlin Various Nationalities Autonomous County
Longlin Various Nationalities (Gezu) Autonomous County () is an autonomous county, under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Baise, in the west of Guangxi, China, bordering Guizhou Province to the north. As of 2019, the county's popu ...
in Guangxi, and northern Vietnam)
** Laha (拉哈, La Ha) – 1,400 (officially recognized in Vietnam; most divergent western Kra language)
*Eastern
** Buyang 布央 dialect cluster – 2,000
***
Paha
Paha () is a small settlement in the hills north of Otočec in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistic ...
巴哈 (considered a separate language by Ostapirat; spoken in Yangliancun 央连村, Diyu Township,
Guangnan County
Guangnan County (; Zhuang: ) is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China. The seat of Guangnan, known today as Liancheng (), was the heart of the Gouding Kingdom () that lasted approximately 400 years, ...
广南县,
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
)
***Langjia 郎架 (spoken in Langjia,
Funing County, Yunnan
Funing County (; Zhuang language: ) is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in the east of Yunnan province, China. It is the easternmost county-level division of Yunnan, bordering Guangxi to the north, east and southeast, an ...
along the Guangxi border)
***Ecun 峨村 (spoken in Ecun, Funing County, Yunnan along the Guangxi border)
***Yalang 雅郎 (Yalhong; spoken in Rongtun 荣屯, Napo County, Guangxi)
** Qabiao (Pubiao 普标, Pu Péo) – 700
** En (Nùng Vên; spoken in northern Vietnam) – 250