The Palaungic or Palaung–Wa languages are a group of nearly 30

Austroasiatic languages The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...

, with scholars disagreeing on exactly which languages to include in the classification. They are spoken in scattered pockets across an inland region of Southeast Asia, centered on the borders between Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China.

Phonological developments

Most of the Palaungic languages lost the contrastive voicing of the ancestral Austroasiatic consonants, with the distinction often shifting to the following vowel. In the Wa branch, this is generally realized as

breathy voice Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like s ...

vowel

phonation The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, ''phonation'' is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the defi ...

; in Palaung–Riang, as a two-way

register tone Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...

system. The

Angkuic languages The Angkuic languages are spoken in Yunnan province, China and Shan State, Burma. Languages * U (P'uman) * Hu (Kongge, Kun'ge, Kon Keu) * Man Met (Kemie) * Mok * Muak Sa-aak * Va * Mong Lue (Tai Loi) ? Classification Andrew Hsiu (2015)Hsiu, Andr ...

have

contour tone A tone contour or contour tone is a tone in a tonal language which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. Tone contours are especially common in East Asia, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Nilo-Saharan languages, Kh ...

— the

U language The U language, or P'uman (), is spoken by 40,000 people in the Yunnan Province of China and possibly Myanmar. It is classified as an Austroasiatic language in the Palaungic branch. In China, U speakers are classified as ethnic Bulang. Locati ...

, for example, has four tones, ''high, low, rising, falling,'' — but these developed from vowel length and the nature of final consonants, not from the voicing of initial consonants.

Homeland

Paul Sidwell 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 nota ...

(2015) suggests that the Palaungic

Urheimat In historical linguistics, the homeland or ( , from German 'original' and 'home') of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the reconstructed or historicall ...

(homeland) was in what is now the border region of

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 ...

and

Sipsongpanna Xishuangbanna, sometimes shortened to Banna, is one of the eight autonomous prefectures of Yunnan Province. The autonomous prefecture for Dai people is in the extreme south of Yunnan province, China, bordering both Myanmar and Laos. Xishuangbanna ...

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, China. The

Khmuic 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. Homeland Paul Sidwell ...

homeland was adjacent to the Palaungic homeland, resulting in many lexical borrowings among the two branches due to intense contact. Sidwell (2014) suggests that the word for 'water' (Proto-Palaungic *ʔoːm), which

Gérard Diffloth Gérard Diffloth (13 February 1939 – 14 August 2023) was a French linguist known as a leading specialist in the Austroasiatic languages. As a linguistics professor, he was employed at the University of Chicago and Cornell University. He receiv ...

had used as one of the defining lexical innovations for his Northern Mon-Khmer branch, was likely borrowed from Palaungic into Khmuic.

Classification

Diffloth & Zide (1992)

The Palaungic family includes at least three branches, with the position of some languages as yet unclear. Lamet, for example, is sometimes classified as a separate branch. The following classification follows that of Diffloth & Zide (1992), as quoted in Sidwell (2009:131). *Western Palaungic (Palaung–Riang) ** Palaung *** Shwe (Gold Palaung, De'ang) ***De'ang ***

Pale Pale may refer to: Jurisdictions * Medieval areas of English conquest: ** Pale of Calais, in France (1360–1558) ** The Pale, or the English Pale, in Ireland *Pale of Settlement, area of permitted Jewish settlement, western Russian Empire (179 ...

(Silver Palaung, Ruching) *** Rumai ** Riang *** Riang proper, Yinchia ***? Danau (perhaps in Palaung–Riang) *Eastern Palaungic ** Angkuic *** Angku *** Hu *** Kiorr *** Kon Keu *** Man Met *** Mok *** Samtao (Samtau) *** Tai Loi *** U (Pouma) **Lametic *** Lamet (Xmet) *** Con ** Waic *** Blang ***Lawa **** La **** Lawa *** Wa **** Paraok (Standard Wa) **** Khalo **** Awa Some researchers include the

Mangic languages 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 sepa ...

as well, instead of grouping them with the

Pakanic languages 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 se ...

Sidwell (2010)

The following classification follows the branching given by Sidwell (2010, ms). * Danau (Khano) *Palaungic proper **Western (Riang–Palaung) *** Palaung (De'ang: Shwe / Gold Palaung, Pale / Ruching / Silver Palaung, Rumai) *** Riang (Riang, Yinchia) ** Angkuic *** Hu *** U (P'uman) *** Kiorr (Kha Kior, Con) *** Kon Keu (Angku) *** Mok ( Man Met) *** Mong Lue (Tai Loi) *** Muak Sa-aak ** Lamet (Xmet) ** Waic *** Blang (Samtao) ***Lawa **** Umpai Lawa **** Bo Luang Lawa ***Wa **** Paraok (Standard Wa) **** Khalo **** Awa **** Meung Yum **** Savaiq Sidwell (2014) proposes an additional branch, consisting of: * Bit–Khang **

Bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented as ...

** Kháng ** Bumang ** Quang Lam

Sidwell (2015)

Sidwell (2015:12) provides a revised classification of Palaungic. Bit–Khang is clearly Palaungic, but contains many

loanwords. Sidwell (2015:12) believes it likely groups within East Palaungic. On the other hand, Sidwell (2015) considers Danaw to be the most divergent Palaungic language. * Danaw *West Palaungic ** Palaung (Dara’ang, Da’ang, Palay, etc.) ** Rumai ** Riang (Riang-Lang, Riang-Sak, etc.) *East Palaungic ** Waic *** Wa ( Praok, Awa, Vo, etc.) *** Lawa (Lawa Bo Luang, Lavua/Luwa, etc.) *** Bulang (Bulang, Plang/Samtao, Kawa, Kontoi, etc.) ** Angkuic: U, Hu, Man Met/Kemie, Muak/ Mok, Tai Loi, etc. **Lameet: Lameet, Con, Lua/Khamet **? Bit–Khang: (Kha)bit, Buxing, Quang Lam, Khang/Khao, Bumang

Lexical innovations

Diagnostic Palaungic lexical innovations as identified by

(2021) are:

Reconstruction

References

External links

RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)

Palaungic languages in RWAAI Digital Archive
{{Austroasiatic languages