Kam–Sui languages

Kam–Sui
Dong–Shui
Geographic distribution:	eastern Guizhou, western Hunan, and northern Guangxi
Linguistic classification:	Tai–Kadai Northern Lakkja–Kam? Kam–Sui
Subdivisions:	—

The Kam–Sui languages (Chinese: 侗水語支; pinyin: Dòng-Shǔi) are a branch of the Tai–Kadai languages spoken by the Kam–Sui peoples. They are spoken mainly in eastern Guizhou, western Hunan, and northern Guangxi in southern China. Small pockets of Kam–Sui speakers are also found in northern Vietnam and Laos.^[1]

Classification

Kam–Sui includes a dozen languages. The Lakkja and Biao languages are sometimes separated out as a sister branch to Kam–Sui within a "Be–Kam–Tai" branch of Kradai, but this is not well supported. Otherwise the languages are not subclassified.

The better known Kam–Sui languages are Dong (Kam), with over a million speakers, Mulam, Maonan, and Sui. Other Kam–Sui languages include Ai-Cham, Mak, and T’en, and Chadong, which is the most recently discovered Kam–Sui language. Ethnologue also lists Kang (Tai Khang), which is spoken in Laos and Yunnan in China, as a Kam–Sui language.

Graham Thurgood (1988) presents the following tentative classification for the Kam–Sui branch.^[2] Chadong, a language which has only been recently described by Chinese linguist Jinfang Li, is also included below. It is most closely related to Maonan.^[3]

Kam–Sui	Mulam Kam (Dong) Then Maonan Chadong[3] Sui Mak Ai-Cham[4]

Biao and Lakkja, which are of uncertain classification, may be the closest relatives of the Kam–Sui branch; Biao may even be a divergent Kam–Sui language.

Demographics

Nearly all speakers of Kam–Sui languages originate in the Qiandongnan (Dong) and Qiannan (Sui, Then, Mak, Ai-Cham) Prefectures of Guizhou, as well as the prefecture-level cities of Hechi (Mulam and Maonan) and Guilin (Chadong) in northern Guangxi. Many Kam–Sui speakers have also migrated to farther urban areas such as Guangzhou.

By language

• Mulam 佬 – Luocheng Mulao Autonomous County 罗城仫佬族自治县, Hechi, northern Guangxi; Qiandongnan Prefecture, southeastern Guizhou
• Dong 侗 – Qiandongnan Prefecture, southeastern Guizhou
• Then 佯僙/佯爷 – Pingtang County 平塘县, Qiannan Prefecture, southern Guizhou
• Maonan 毛南 – Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County 环江毛南族自治县, Hechi, northern Guangxi
• Chadong 茶洞 – Chadong Township, Lingui County 临桂县, Guilin, northeastern Guangxi
• Sui 水 – Sandu Shui Autonomous County 黔南布依族苗族自治州, Qiannan Prefecture, southern Guizhou
• Mak 莫 – Libo County 荔波县, Qiannan Prefecture, southern Guizhou
• Ai-Cham 锦 – Libo County 荔波县, Qiannan Prefecture, southern Guizhou

By location

(Listed counterclockwise)

• Guizhou
  • Qiandongnan – Dong; 1,500,000 speakers
  • Qiannan
    • Sandu County – Sui; 300,000 speakers
    • Pingtang County – Then; 15,000 speakers
    • Libo County – Mak and Ai-Cham; 10,000 and 2,700 speakers
• Guangxi
  • Hechi
    • Luocheng County – Mulam; 86,000 speakers
    • Huanjiang County – Maonan; 30,000 speakers
  • Guilin (Lingui County) – Chadong; 20,000 speakers

By population

There is a total of about 2 million Kam–Sui speakers.

The four largest Kam–Sui ethnic groups, the Dong, Shui, Mulao, and Maonan, are officially recognized by the Chinese government. Non-recognized Kam–Sui ethnic groups (Chadong, Then, Mak, Ai-Cham) who can still speak their own languages number less than 50,000.

1. Dong: about 1,500,000 speakers; 1.7 million in 1995
2. Sui: 300,000 speakers
3. Mulam: 86,000 speakers (ethnic population: 200,000)
4. Maonan: 30,000 speakers (ethnic population: 100,000)
5. Chadong: 20,000 speakers
6. Then: 15,000 speakers
7. Mak: 10,000 speakers
8. Ai-Cham: 2,700 speakers

Reconstruction

A preliminary of reconstruction of Proto-Kam–Sui had been undertaken by Graham Thurgood.^[2]

References

1. ^ http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/research/map.html
2. ^ ^{a b} Thurgood, Graham. 1988. "Notes on the reconstruction of Proto-Kam–Sui." In Jerold A. Edmondson and David B. Solnit (eds.), Comparative Kadai: Linguistic studies beyond Tai, 179-218. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics, 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.
3. ^ ^{a b} Li, Jinfang. 2008. "Chadong, a Newly-Discovered Kam–Sui Language in Northern Guangxi." In Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, & Yongxian Luo, ed. The Tai–Kadai languages, 596-620. New York: Routledge.
4. ^ Lin, Shi and Cui Jianxin. 1988. "An investigation of the Ai-Cham language." In Jerold A. Edmondson and David B. Solnit (eds.), Comparative Kadai: Linguistic studies beyond Tai, 59-85. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics, 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.

Further reading

• Tai–Kadai Languages. (2007). Curzon Pr. ISBN 9780700714575
• Diller, A. (2005). The Tai–Kadai languages. London [etc.]: Routledge. ISBN 070071457X
• Edmondson, J. A., & Solnit, D. B. (1988). Comparative Kadai: linguistic studies beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics publications in linguistics, no. 86. [Arlington, Tex.]: Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 0883120666
• Thurgood, Graham. 1988. "Notes on the reconstruction of Proto-Kam–Sui." In Jerold A. Edmondson and David B. Solnit (eds.), Comparative Kadai: Linguistic studies beyond Tai, 179-218. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics, 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.

External links

• ABVD: Proto-Kam–Sui word list