Katuic languages explained

Katuic
Familycolor:	Austroasiatic
Glotto:	katu1271
Glottorefname:	Katuic
Child1:	Katu
Child2:	Kui–Bru (West)
Child3:	Pacoh
Child4:	Ta'Oi–Kriang
Protoname:	Proto-Katuic
Map:	Austroasiatic-en.svg

The fifteen Katuic languages form a branch of the Austroasiatic languages spoken by about 1.3 million people in Southeast Asia. People who speak Katuic languages are called the Katuic peoples. Paul Sidwell is the leading specialist on the Katuic languages . He notes that Austroasiatic/Mon–Khmer languages are lexically more similar to Katuic and Bahnaric the closer they are geographically. He says this geographic similarity is independent of which branch of the family each language belongs to. He also says Katuic and Bahnaric do not have any shared innovations, so they do not form a single branch of the Austroasiatic family, but form separate branches.

Classification

In 1966, a lexicostatistical analysis of various Austroasiatic languages in Mainland Southeast Asia was performed by Summer Institute of Linguistics linguists David Thomas and Richard Phillips. This study resulted in the recognition of two distinct new subbranches of Austroasiatic, namely Katuic and Bahnaric (Sidwell 2009). Sidwell (2005) casts doubt on Diffloth's Vieto-Katuic hypothesis, saying that the evidence is ambiguous, and that it is not clear where Katuic belongs in the family. Sufficient data for use in the sub-classification of the Katuic languages only become available after the opening of Laos to foreign researchers in the 1990s.

Sidwell (2005)

The sub-classification of Katuic below was proposed by Sidwell (2005). Additionally, Sidwell (2009) analyzes the Katu branch as the most conservative subgroup of Katuic.

• West Katuic branch:
  • Kuy languages:
    • Kuy, Souei
  • Bru languages:
    • Bru, So, etc.
• Ta'Oi branch:
  • Ta'Oi, Katang, Talan/Ong/Ir/Inh
  • Kriang/Ngeq
• Katu branch:
  • Katu, Phuong, Kantu, Triw, Dak Kang
• Pacoh branch:
  • Pacoh

Gehrmann (2019)

Gehrmann (2019)^[1] proposes the following classification of the Katuic languages.

Proto-Katuic

• Proto-West Katuic
  • Kuay languages
  • Bru languages
• Proto-Pacoh-Ta'oi
  • Ta'oi languages
  • Pacoh languages
• Kriang languages
• Katu languages

Ethnologue also lists Kassang (the Tariang language), but that is a Bahnaric language (Sidwell 2003). Lê, et al. (2014:294)^[2] reports a Katu subgroup called Ba-hi living in mountainous areas of Phong Điền District, Vietnam, but Watson (1996:197)^[3] speaks of "Pacoh Pahi" as a Pacoh variety.

Kuy and Bru each have around half a million speakers, while the Ta’Oi cluster has around 200,000 speakers.

Proto-language

Reconstructions of Proto-Katuic, or its sub-branches, include:

• Thomas (1967): A Phonology Reconstruction of Proto-East-Katuic
• Diffloth (1982): Registres, devoisement, timbres vocaliques: leur histoire en katouique
• Efinov (1983): Problemy fonologicheskoj rekonstrukcii proto-katuicheskogo jazyka
• Peiros (1996): Katuic Comparative Dictionary
• Therapahan L-Thongkum (2001): Languages of the Tribes in Xekong Province, Southern Laos
• Paul Sidwell (2005): The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon

Sidwell (2005) reconstructs the consonant inventory of proto-Katuic as follows:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	pronounced as / p /	pronounced as / t /	pronounced as / c /	pronounced as / k /	pronounced as / ʔ /
	voiced	pronounced as / b /	pronounced as / d /	pronounced as / ɟ /	pronounced as / ɡ /
	implosive	pronounced as / ɓ /	pronounced as / ɗ /	pronounced as / ʄ /
Nasal		pronounced as / m /	pronounced as / n /	pronounced as / ɲ /	pronounced as / ŋ /
Liquid		pronounced as / w /	pronounced as / l, *r /	pronounced as / j /
Fricative			pronounced as / s /			pronounced as / h /

This is identical to reconstructions of proto-Austroasiatic except for pronounced as /

• ʄ

/, which is better preserved in the Katuic languages than in other branches of Austro-Asiatic, and which Sidwell believes was also present in Proto-Mon Khmer.

Lexical isoglosses

Paul Sidwell (2015:185–186)^[4] lists the following lexical innovations unique to Katuic that had replaced original Proto-Austroasiatic forms.

Gloss	Proto-Katuic^[5]	Proto-Austroasiatic
wife	kɗial	kdɔːr
year	kmɔɔ	cnam
cobra	duur	ɟaːt
mushroom	trɨa	psit
bone	ʔŋhaaŋ	cʔaːŋ
six	tbat	tpraw
eight	tgɔɔl	thaːm
head^[6]	pləə	b/ɓuːk; *kuːj

Sidwell (2015:173) lists the following lexical isoglosses shared between Katuic and Bahnaric.

Gloss	Proto-Katuic	Proto-Bahnaric	Notes
bark of tree	ʔnɗɔh	kɗuh
claw/nail	knrias	krʔniəh	cf. Khmer kiəh 'to scratch'
skin	ʔŋkar	ʔəkaːr
to stand up	dɨk	dɨk	may be borrowed from Chamic
tree/wood	ʔalɔːŋ	ʔlɔːŋ	cf. Proto-Khmuic *cʔɔːŋ
crossbow	pnaɲ	pnaɲ	cf. Old Mon pnaɲ 'army'
horn	ʔakiː	ʔəkɛː
palm, sole	trpaːŋ	-paːŋ
salt	bɔːh	bɔh
to steal	toŋ	toŋ
ten	ɟit	cit

Furthermore, Gerard Diffloth (1992)^[7] lists the words 'centipede', 'bone', 'to cough', 'to fart', 'to breathe', and 'blood' as isoglosses shared between Katuic and Vietic. A Vieto-Katuic connection has also been proposed by Alves (2005).^[8]

See also

• List of Proto-Katuic reconstructions (Wiktionary)

Further reading

• Gehrmann, Ryan. 2018. Katuic presyllables and derivational morphology in diachronic perspective. In Ring, Hiram & Felix Rau (eds.), Papers from the Seventh International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics, 132–156. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Special Publication No. 3. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
• Gehrmann, Ryan. 2017. The Historical Phonology of Kriang, A Katuic Language. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 10.1, 114–139.
• Gehrmann, Ryan. 2016. The West Katuic languages: comparative phonology and diagnostic tools. Chiang Mai: Payap University MA Thesis.
• Gehrmann, Ryan. 2015. Vowel Height and Register Assignment in Katuic. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 8. 56–70.
• Gehrmann, Ryan and Johanna Conver. 2015. Katuic Phonological Features. Mon-Khmer Studies 44. 55–67.
• Choo, Marcus. 2012. The Status of Katuic . Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University.
• Choo, Marcus. 2010. Katuic Bibliography with Selected Annotations . Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University.
• Choo, Marcus. 2009. Katuic Bibliography . Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University.
• Sidwell, Paul. 2005. The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon . LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics 58. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
• Sidwell, Paul. 2005. Proto-Katuic phonology and the sub-grouping of Mon-Khmer languages . In Paul Sidwell (ed.), SEALSXV: Papers from the 15th Meeting of the South East Asian Linguistics Society, 193–204. Pacific Linguistics PL E1. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
• Theraphan L-Thongkum. 2002. The Role of endangered Mon-Khmer languages of Xekong Province, Southern Laos, in the reconstruction of Proto-Katuic. In Marlys Macken (ed.), Papers from the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. 407–429. Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University.
• Theraphan L-Thongkum. 2001. ภาษาของนานาชนเผ่าในแขวงเซกองลาวใต้. Phasa khong nanachon phaw nai khweng Sekong Lao Tai. [Languages of the tribes in Xekong province, Southern Laos]. Bangkok: The Thailand Research Fund.
• Peiros, Ilia. 1996. Katuic comparative dictionary. Pacific Linguistics C-132. Canberra: Australian National University.
• Miller, John & Carolyn Miller. 1996. Lexical comparison of Katuic Mon-Khmer languages with special focus on So-Bru groups in Northeast Thailand. Mon-Khmer Studies 26. 255–290.
• Migliazza, Brian. 1992. Lexicostatistic analysis of some Katuic languages. In Amara Prasithrathsint & Sudaporn Luksaneeyanawin (eds.), 3rd International Symposium on Language and Linguistics, 1320–1325. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University.
• Gainey, Jerry. 1985. A comparative study of Kui, Bruu and So phonology from a genetic point of view. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University MA thesis.
• Effimov, Aleksandr. 1983. Проблемы фонологической реконструкции прото-катуического языка. Probljemy phonologichjeskoj rjekonstruktsii Proto-Katuichjeskovo jazyka. [Issues in the phonological reconstruction of the Proto-Katuic language]. Moscow: Institute of Far Eastern studies Moscow dissertation.
• Diffloth, Gérard. 1982. Registres, dévoisement, timbres vocaliques: leur histoire en Katouique. [Registers, devoicing, vowel phonation: their history in Katuic]. Mon-Khmer Studies 11. 47–82.
• Thomas, Dorothy. M. (1967). A phonological reconstruction of Proto–East Katuic. Grand Forks: University of North Dakota MA thesis.

References

• Sidwell, Paul. (2005). The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon . LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 58. Muenchen: Lincom Europa.
• Sidwell, Paul. (2009). Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art . LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 76. Munich: Lincom Europa.

External links

• Frank Huffman Katuic Audio Archives
• Paul Sidwell (2003)
• http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
• http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-6712-F@view Katuic languages in RWAAI Digital Archive

Notes and References

1. Gehrmann, Ryan. 2019. On the Origin of Rime Laryngealization in Ta’oiq: A Case Study in Vowel Height Conditioned Phonation Contrasts. Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics (ICAAL 8), Chiang Mai, Thailand, August 29–31, 2019.
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. Watson, Richard L. 1996. Why three phonologies for Pacoh? Mon-Khmer Studies 26: 197-205
4. Sidwell, Paul. 2015. "Austroasiatic classification." In Jenny, Mathias and Paul Sidwell, eds (2015). The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
5. Reconstructions are from Sidwell (2005).
6. Book: Sidwell, Paul. The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia. Classification of MSEA Austroasiatic languages. De Gruyter. 2021. 10.1515/9783110558142-011. 179–206.
7. Diffloth, Gérard. 1992. "Vietnamese As a Mon-Khmer Language." In Papers from the First Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, edited by Martha Ratliff and Eric Schiller. 125-139. Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
8. Alves, Mark. 2005. "The Vieto-Katuic Hypothesis: Lexical Evidence." In SEALS XV: Papers from the 15th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2003, edited by Paul Sidwell. 169-176. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.