Bru language explained

Bru language should not be confused with Brao language.

Bru
Nativename:	Bruu
States:	Laos, Vietnam, Thailand
Ethnicity:	Bru, Katang
Date:	1991–2006
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Austro-Asiatic
Fam2:	Katuic
Fam3:	West
Fam4:	Brou–So
Script:	Latin, Lao, Thai
Lc1:	bru
Ld1:	Eastern Bru
Lc2:	brv
Ld2:	Western Bru
Lc3:	sss
Ld3:	Sô
Lc4:	xhv
Ld4:	Khua
Lc5:	ncq
Ld5:	Northern Katang
Lc6:	sct
Ld6:	Southern Katang
Glotto:	brou1236
Glottorefname:	Brou–So

Bruu (also spelled Bru, B'ru, Baru, Brou) is a Mon–Khmer dialect continuum spoken by the Bru people of mainland Southeast Asia.

Sô and Khua are dialects.^[1]

Names

There are various local and dialect designations for Bru (Sidwell 2005:11).

• So ~ Sô
• Tri (So Tri, Chali)
• Van Kieu
• Leu ~ Leung (Kaleu)
• Galler
• Khua
• Katang (not the same as Kataang)

Distribution

The distribution of the Bru language spreads north and northeast from Salavan, Laos, through Savannakhet, Khammouane, and Bolikhamsai, and over into neighboring Thailand and Vietnam (Sidwell 2005:11). In Vietnam, Brâu (Braò) is spoken in Đắk Mế, Bờ Y commune, Đắk Tô District, Kon Tum Province.^[2]

Dialects

Thailand has the following Western Bru dialects (Choo, et al. 2012).

• Bru Khok Sa-at^[3] of Phang Khon District and Phanna Nikhom District, Sakon Nakhon Province
• Bru Woen Buek of Woen Buek (Wyn Buek), Ubon Ratchathani Province (more similar to Katang)
• Bru Dong Luang of Dong Luang District, Mukdahan Province

The following Bru subgroups are found in Quảng Bình Province (Phan 1998).^[4]

• Vân Kiêu: 5,500 persons in Lệ Thủy District and Vĩnh Linh District (in Quảng Trị Province)
• Măng Coong: 600 persons in Bố Trạch District
• Tri: 300 persons in Bố Trạch District
• Khùa: 1,000 persons in Tuyên Hóa District

Below is a comparative vocabulary of Vân Kiêu, Măng Coong, Tri, and Khùa from Phan (1998:479-480),^[4] with words transcribed in Vietnamese orthography.

Gloss	Vân Kiêu	Măng Coong	Tri	Khùa	Vietnamese
align=center	one	align=center	mui	muôi			một
align=center	two	bar				hai
align=center	three	pei				ba
align=center	four	pon				bốn
align=center	five	shăng		t'shăng		năm
align=center	hair	sok				tóc
align=center	eye	mat				mắt
align=center	nose	align=center	lyu	mu			mũi
align=center	sky	plang			align=center	giang	trời
align=center	ground	align=center	kute	katek		align=center	k'tek	đất
align=center	water	dơ			align=center	do	nước
align=center	fish	sia				cá
align=center	bird	cham				chim
align=center	water buffalo	trick				trâu
align=center	cattle	align=center	ntro	tro			bò

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant sounds in both East and West dialects consist of the following:^[5]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
	aspirated	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
	voiced	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Nasal		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Liquid	rhotic		pronounced as /ink/
	lateral		pronounced as /ink/
Fricative		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/
Approximant				pronounced as /ink/

• pronounced as //w// is typically pronounced as labiodental fricative pronounced as /[v]/ or approximant pronounced as /[ʋ]/ when occurring in initial position. In final position, it is always heard as pronounced as /[w]/.
• pronounced as //r// can be heard as either a trill pronounced as /[r]/ or a tap pronounced as /[ɾ]/.
• pronounced as //tʰr// as a consonant cluster, can be phonetically heard as pronounced as /[tʰɹ̥]/ in the Western dialect.
• pronounced as //h// can also be heard as a voiced glottal pronounced as /[ɦ]/ when a preceding a breathy vowel sound in the Western Bru dialects. It can also be heard as nasal pronounced as /[h̃]/ when preceding a nasal vowel in the Western dialects.^[6]

!Labial!Alveolar!Palatal!Velar!Glottal

Plosive		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
Nasal		pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Fricative						pronounced as /ink/
Rhotic			pronounced as /ink/
Approximant	plain	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/
	aspirated	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
	glottalized	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/

• Plosive sounds pronounced as //p, t, k// in final position are heard as unreleased pronounced as /[p̚, t̚, k̚]/.

Vowels

	Front	Central		Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Close-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

Central! colspan="2"

Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Close-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

Breathy vowels

Vowel sounds may also be distinguished using breathy voice:

Central!Back

Close	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Close-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

Central! colspan="2"

Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Close-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

Nasal vowels

Nasal vowel sounds may occur in the Western Bru dialect:

Central! colspan="2"

Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open-mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/			pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

Further reading

• Choo, Marcus, Jennifer Herington, Amy Ryan and Jennifer Simmons. 2012. Sociolinguistic Survey Of Bru In Phang Khon And Phanna Nikhom Districts, Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand . Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University.
• Choo, Marcus. 2012. An investigation of intelligibility between So varieties in Northeast Thailand: the Bru in Khok Saat . Chiang Mai: Payap University.
• Choo, Marcus. 2008. Sociolinguistic survey of So in Northeastern Thailand . Chiang Mai: Payap University.
• Khồng Diễn (1975). "Về nhóm người Khùa (Bru) ở Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. Về vấn đề xác định thành phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam, 538–548. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
• Migliazza, Brian. 2002. Multilingualism Among the So People of Issan.
• Phạm Đức Dương (1975). "Về mối quan hệ cộng đồng tộc người giữa các ngôn ngữ thuộc nhóm Việt - Mường miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam, 500–517. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
• Phan Hữu Dật (1975). "Về tên gọi các tộc người nói ngôn ngữ Môn - Miên ở miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam, 531–537. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
• Sidwell, Paul. (2005). [The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon]. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 58. Muenchen: Lincom Europa.
• Yotmanisakun, Sarocha. 2022. Preliminary Phonological Description of Southern Katang. M.A. dissertation. Chiang Mai: Payap University.

External links

• UCLA phonetics lab data
• RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
• http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-AD64-5@view Bru in the RWAAI Digital Archive

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mon-Khmer Classification (Draft) .
2. Lê Bá Thảo, Hoàng Ma, et al.; Viện hàn lâm khoa học xã hội Việt Nam - Viện dân tộc học. 2014. Các dân tộc ít người ở Việt Nam: các tỉnh phía nam. Ha Noi: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
3. Engelkemier . Jennifer M. . Aspects of Bru Khok Sa-at grammar based on narrative texts . 2010 . M.A. . Payap University . 2015-11-13 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151117034223/http://ic.payap.ac.th/graduate/linguistics/theses/Jennifer_Engelkemier_Thesis.pdf . 2015-11-17.
4. Phan Hữu Dật. 1998. "Về tên gọi các tộc người nói ngôn ngữ Môn-Miên ở miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình." In Một số vấn đề về dân tộc học Việt Nam, p.476-482. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội.
5. Book: Miller, Carolyn P.. Eastern Bru Grammar Sketch. SIL Language and Culture Archives. 2017.
6. Book: Thongkum, Theraphan L.. The distribution of the sounds of Bruu. 1980. Mon-Khmer Studies 8. 221–293.