Kam-Tai

Infobox Language family
name=Kam-Tai
altname=Zhuang-Dong, Be-Kam-Tai
region=Southern China, Southeast Asia, Hainan
familycolor=Tai-Kadai
child1=Be
child2=Tai
child3=Kam-SuiThe Kam-Tai languages, or Be-Kam-Tai, are a proposed primary branch of the Tai-Kadai language family, and include all major languages of that family.

Based on the large number of vocabulary they share, three of the five branches of Tai-Kadai, namely Kam-Sui, Be, and Tai, are often classified together as Kam-Tai or Be-Kam-Tai. However, this is negative evidence, and morphological similarities suggest that Kam-Sui should instead be grouped with Kra, one of the other branches, as Northern Tai-Kadai, and that Tai should be grouped with the final branch, Hlai, as Southern Tai-Kadai (Ostapirat 2005).

References

*Ostapirat W (2005). "Kra-dai and Austronesian: notes on phonological correspondences and vocabulary distribution." pp 107–131 in Sagart L, Blench R & Sanchez-Mazas A (eds.) "The peopling of East Asia: putting together archaeology, linguistics and genetics." London/New York: Routledge-Curzon.