| Khmuic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Indochina |
| Linguistic classification | Austroasiatic
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Khmuic |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | khmu1236 |
TheKhmuic languages/kəˈmuːɪk/ are a branch of theAustroasiatic languages spoken mostly in northernLaos, as well as in neighboring northernVietnam and southernYunnan, China.Khmu is the only widely spoken language in the group.
Paul Sidwell (2015)[1] suggests that the KhmuicUrheimat (homeland) was in what is nowOudomxay Province, northern Laos.
The Khmuic languages are:
Similarly, Phuoc (Xinh Mul) andKháng are also sometimes classified asMangic, and Kháng is classified asPalaungic by Diffloth.
Bumang, formerly classified as Khmuic, is classified as a Palaungic language byPaul Sidwell.Jerold A. Edmondson considers it to be most closely related to Kháng. Also,Quang Lam is a poorly attested language in Vietnam that is closely related to Kháng orBit. (SeeBit–Khang languages)
Khmuic language history and diversity are currently being researched by Nathaniel Hiroz.[2]
The interrelationships of these languages are uncertain.Ethnologue 19 classifies them as follows:
A provisional classification at SEALang[3] keeps Mal–Phrai, but connects Khao with Khang instead of with Bit, treats Khuen as a dialect of Khmu':
Chazée (1999), citing Diffloth & Proschan (1989), has the following:
However,Gérard Diffloth now considers Pramic (i.e., all Khmuic languages except forKhmu) to be a separate Austroasiatic branch that has come under heavy influence from Khmu.[4]
Ilia Peiros (Peiros 2004:39) gives the following classification:
Based on developments of Proto-Khmuic *aː₁,Paul Sidwell (2014) classifies the Khmuic languages as follows.
The developments of Proto-Khmuic *aː₁ according to Sidwell (2014) are: