| Bit–Khang | |
| Familycolor: | Austro-Asiatic |
| Glotto: | khao1243 |
| Glottorefname: | Khao–Bit |
The Bit–Khang languages consist of:
The Bit–Khang languages are spoken in southern China, northern Laos, and northwestern Vietnam. The Bit-Khang branch was first proposed by Paul Sidwell (2014).
At first, Bit–Khang languages were usually classified as Khmuic, but Sidwell (2014) has since demonstrated the Palaungic affiliation of Bit-Khang, as well as its unity. Paul Sidwell (2014)[1] proposes that these languages constitute a subgroup of Palaungic, since they display lexical innovations characteristic of the Palaungic branch such as 'eye', 'fire', 'blood', and 'laugh'.
| Gloss | Proto-Palaungic lexical innovation[2] | |
|---|---|---|
| eye |
| |
| blood |
| |
| fire |
| |
| laugh |
|
Sidwell (2014) suggests that Bit–Khang may have originally been Eastern Palaungic, due to various isoglosses shared with Waic, Lametic, and Angkuic, but was later heavily relexified by Khmuic as Bit-Khang speakers migrated eastward into Khmuic territory.