The Kam–Sui branch includes about a dozen languages. Solnit (1988)[2] considersLakkia andBiao languages to besister branches of Kam–Sui, rather than part of Kam–Sui itself.
The best known Kam–Sui languages areDong (Kam), with over a million speakers,Mulam,Maonan, andSui. Other Kam–Sui languages includeAi-Cham,Mak, andTʻen, andChadong, which is the most recently discovered Kam–Sui language. Yang (2000) considersAi-Cham and Mak to be dialects of a single language.[3]
Graham Thurgood (1988) presents the following tentative classification for the Kam–Sui branch.[4]Chadong, a language that has been described only recently by Chinese linguist Jinfang Li, is also included below. It is most closely related toMaonan.[5]Cao Miao andNaxi Yao, which are closely related toSouthern Dong, have also been added from Shi (2015).[6]
Nearly all speakers of Kam–Sui languages originate in theQiandongnan (Dong) andQiannan (Sui, Then, Mak, Ai-Cham) Prefectures ofGuizhou, as well as theprefecture-level cities ofHechi (Mulam and Maonan) andGuilin (Chadong) in northernGuangxi. Many Kam–Sui speakers have also migrated to farther urban areas such asGuangzhou.
Small groups ofKam andSui speakers also reside inTuyên Quang Province, Vietnam, in the villages of Đồng Mộc and Hồng Quang, respectively.
There is a total of about 2 million Kam–Sui speakers.
The four largest Kam–Sui ethnic groups, the Dong, Shui, Mulao, and Maonan, are officially recognized by the Chinese government. Non-recognized Kam–Sui ethnic groups (Chadong, Then, Mak, Ai-Cham) who can still speak their own languages number less than 50,000.
Dong: about 1,500,000 speakers; 1.7 million in 1995
The following language varieties are closely related to, or part of,Southern Dong.
Mjuniang 谬娘 orCao Miao 草苗 (ISO 639-3:cov): 60,000 (1991) in Liping, Tongdao, and Sanjiang; closely related to Dong.[6][9] Speakers are classified as ethnic Miao.
Naxi Yao 那溪瑶 (autonym:mu2 ɲiu1) is spoken by 2,500 people in Naxi Township 那溪瑶族乡,Dongkou County, Hunan Province, China.[6]
Diao 调 (刁人): 2,000 (1999) in southeastern Guizhou around Liping and Congjiang; may speak Chinese or Dong.[10] Speakers are classified as ethnic Dong. Diao (tjau13) is aCao Miao subgroup according to Shi (2015:43).[6]
The following peoples may also speak Kam–Sui languages.[11]
Xialusi 下路司: 3,000 (1999) in southeastern Guizhou; classified as Dong, but their linguistic affiliation is unknown (possibly Kam-Sui).[12] Speakers are classified as ethnic Dong.
Shui of Yunnan: 6,800 (1990) in Huangnihe 黃泥河 and Gugan 古敢水族乡,[13]Fuyuan County, Yunnan; 490 (1990) in Dahe and Long'an ofYiliang County.[14] In Gugan, there is a village cluster known as the "Five Shui Villages" 水五寨,[15] consisting of Buzhang 补掌,[16] Dongla 咚喇,[17] Reshui 热水,[18] Dazhai 大寨,[19] and Duzhang 都章.[20] It is still spoken in Xinbao Village 新堡村, Laochang Township 老厂乡,Fuyuan County, Yunnan.[21][22] Also in Dacunzi 大村子, Geyi Township 格宜镇,Xuanwei City.[23][24] However, these are actually allNorthern Tai languages (Bouyei) according to Hsiu (2013).[25]
There are also some languages in southeastern Guizhou, northern Guangxi, and southwestern Hunan that have been influenced by Kam–Sui languages, such as Suantang 酸汤 andTongdao Pinghua, aPinghua lect spoken inTongdao Dong Autonomous County,Hunan.[26] Kam–Sui languages are also in contact with Suantang 酸汤, a Sinitic language spoken by about 80,000 ethnic Miao in Baibu 白布, Dihu 地湖, Dabaozi 大堡子, and Sanqiao 三锹 in Tianzhu, Huitong, and Jing counties (Chen Qiguang 2013:35).[27] Suantang is very similar toNew Xiang (新湘语), but is unintelligible withSouthwestern Mandarin.
^Solnit, David B. (1988). "The Position of Lakkia Within Kadai". In Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B. (eds.).Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. pp. 219–238.
^Yang, Tongyin 杨通银 (2000).Mò yǔ yánjiū莫语研究 [A Study of Mak] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe.ISBN978-7-81056-427-4.
^abLi, Jinfang (2008). "Chadong, a Newly-Discovered Kam–Sui Language in Northern Guangxi". In Diller, Anthony; Edmondson, Jerold A.; Luo, Yongxian (eds.).The Tai–Kadai Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 596–620.
^abcdShi, Lin 石林 (2015).Xiāng-Qián-Guì biānqū de sān gè zúqún fāngyán dǎo湘黔桂边区的三个族群方言岛 [Three Language Varieties of the Hunan-Guizhou-Guangxi Border Region] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe.ISBN978-7-5161-6494-5.
^Lin, Shi; Cui, Jianxin (1988). "An Investigation of the Ai-Cham Language". In Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B. (eds.).Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. pp. 59–85.
Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B., eds. (1988).Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.ISBN0-88312-066-6.
Thurgood, Graham (1988). "Notes on the Reconstruction of Proto-Kam–Sui". In Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B. (eds.).Comparative Kadai: Linguistic Studies Beyond Tai. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics 86. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. pp. 179–218.
