| Cuói | |
| Nativename: | Thổ |
| States: | Vietnam, Laos |
| Ethnicity: | Thổ |
| Date: | 1999 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austro-Asiatic |
| Fam2: | Vietic |
| Dia1: | Cuối Chăm |
| Dia2: | Làng Lỡ |
| Lc1: | tou |
| Ld1: | Tho |
| Lc2: | hnu |
| Ld2: | Hung |
| Glotto: | cuoi1242 |
| Glottorefname: | Cuoi |
| Lingua: | 46-EAD-a |
Cuối, known as Thổ,[1] is a dialect cluster spoken by around 70,000 Thổ people in Vietnam and a couple thousand in Laos, mainly in the provinces of Bolikhamsai and Khammouane.
The consonant inventory of the Làng Lỡ dialect, as cited by Michel Ferlus:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Plosive | tenuis | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| glottalized | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| aspirated | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| glottalized | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ ~ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Close-mid/ Mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open-mid/ Open | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ă/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ |
| pronounced as /ɨə/ | pronounced as /uə/ | pronounced as /eə/ | pronounced as /oə/ |
There're eight tones in the Làng Lỡ. Tones 1 to 6 are found on sonorant-final syllables (a.k.a. 'live' syllables): syllables ending in a vowel, semi-vowel or nasal. Tones 7 and 8 are found on obstruent-final syllables (a.k.a. 'stopped' syllables), ending in -p -t -c -k. This is a system comparable to that of Vietnamese.
The data is from Cuoi Cham vocabulary recordings and the Mon-Khmer Etymological Dictionary.
| English | Cuối Chăm | Làng Lỡ | North Vietnamese | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cloud | pronounced as /mʌl¹/ | pronounced as /mʌn¹/ | pronounced as /məj˧˧/ | Vietnamese: mây | |
| rain | pronounced as /mɐː²/ | pronounced as /mɨə¹/ | pronounced as /mɨə˧˧/ | Vietnamese: mưa | |
| wind | pronounced as /sɒː³/ | pronounced as /juə³/ | pronounced as /zɔ˧˦/ | Vietnamese: gió | |
| thunder | pronounced as /kʰrʌm⁴/ | pronounced as /ʂəm⁴/ | pronounced as /səm˧˦/ | Vietnamese: sấm | |
| earth, land | pronounced as /tʌt⁷/ | pronounced as /tʌt⁷/ | pronounced as /ʔɗət̚˧˦/ | Vietnamese: đất | |
| cave | pronounced as /haːŋ¹/ | pronounced as /haːŋ¹/ | pronounced as /haːŋ˧˧/ | Vietnamese: hang | |
| deep | pronounced as /kʰruː²/ | pronounced as /ʂuː²/ | pronounced as /səw˧˧/ | Vietnamese: sâu | |
| water | pronounced as /daːk⁷/ | pronounced as /daːk⁷/ | pronounced as /nɨək̚˧˦/ | Vietnamese: nước | |
| river | pronounced as /kʰrɔŋ¹/ | pronounced as /ʂɔːŋ¹/ | pronounced as /səwŋ͡m˧˧/ | Vietnamese: sông | |
| puddle | pronounced as /puŋ⁶/ | - | pronounced as /vʊwŋ͡m˦ˀ˥]/ | Vietnamese: vũng | |
| mud | pronounced as /puːl²/ | pronounced as /vuːn²/ | pronounced as /ʔɓun˨˩/ | Vietnamese: bùn | |
| rock, stone | pronounced as /taː³/ | pronounced as /δaː³/ | pronounced as /ʔɗaː˧˦/ | Vietnamese: đá | |
| bark | pronounced as /pɒː⁵/ | pronounced as /ʂɔː⁵⁶/ | pronounced as /vɔ˧˩/ | Vietnamese: vỏ | |
| dog | pronounced as /cɒː³/ | pronounced as /cɔː³/ | pronounced as /t͡ɕɔ˧˦/ | Vietnamese: chó | |
| cultivated field | pronounced as /rɔːŋ²/ | pronounced as /ʂɔːŋ²/ | pronounced as /zuəŋ˧˨ʔ/ | Vietnamese: ruộng | |
| to go | pronounced as /tiː²/ | pronounced as /tiː²/ | pronounced as /ʔɗi˧˧/ | Vietnamese: đi | |
| to have | pronounced as /kɒː³/ | pronounced as /kɔː³/ | pronounced as /kɔ˧˦/ | Vietnamese: có | |