Laha (Chinese:拉哈; Vietnamese:La Ha) is aKra language spoken by approximately 1,400 people out of a total population of 5,686Laha. It is spoken inLào Cai andSơn La provinces, Vietnam. Laha dialects had been documented in 1986 by Russian linguists and in 1996 by American linguistJerold A. Edmondson. Many Laha can also converse in theKhmu language, and Laha-speaking areas also have significant Black Thai (Tai Dam),Kháng, Ksongmul (Ksingmul, Xinh-mun), andHmong populations.

Ostapirat (2000) considers the Laha dialects to form a subgroup of their own (Southern Kra) within the Kra branch.^[2]

Gregerson & Edmondson (1997) and Wardlaw (2000) report the following locations of two Laha dialects, namely the Wet Laha and Dry Laha dialects.

Wet Laha (Laha Ung,la33ha21ʔuŋ31) ofLào Cai andLai Châu

• Tà Mít Commune,Tân Uyên,Lai Châu,Vietnam (just north of theBlack River) — known as the "Wet Laha". Edmondson's informant is from Bản Muot Village, Tà Mít Commune (Edmondson & Gregerson 1997). There are 8Laha villages numbering no more than 1,000 people inThan Uyên District,Lai Châu,Vietnam.
• Pha Mu and Nặm Cần Communes,Tân Uyên,Lai Châu

Dry Laha (Laha Phlao) ofSơn La — around theSông Đà andNậm Mu Rivers

• Noong Lay and Nặm Ét Communes,Thuận Châu,Sơn La,Vietnam (just south of theBlack River; in Bản Muot, etc.) — known as the "Dry Laha"
• Chiền Xòm, Liềp Tè, Noong Giông, and Nặm Ét inSơn La
• Nặm Giôn, Chiền Xàng, Chiền Dong, Pi Toong, and Mường Bú ofMường La District,Sơn La Province. Laha of Nà Tạy, Pi Toong commune is documented in Hsiu (2017).^[3]
• Thuận Châu, Mường La,Quỳnh Nhai districts ofSơn La Province
• Bản Bung and Phù Yên nearSơn La Province on the north bank of theBlack River

• In both dialects,/tʃ/ can be heard as[tɕ] when occurring before front vowels.

Both have the same final consonants, except/l/ is only in the Noong Lay dialect.

• Vowel sounds/ɛ,a,ɔ/ can occur long as/ɛː,aː,ɔː/.

Both dialects have two vowels/i,u/ in final position. They also may be heard as glide sounds[j,w].

• Laha people

• Benedict, Paul K. 1992. "Laha Reexamined." InLinguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 15, no. 2: 207–218.
• Diller, Anthony, Jerold A. Edmondson, and Yongxian Luo ed.The Tai–Kadai Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. Psychology Press, 2008.
• Gregerson, Kenneth and Jerold A. Edmondson. 1997. "Outlying Kam-Tai: Notes On Ta Mit Laha." InMon-Khmer Studies, 27: 257–269.
• Ostapira, Weera. 1995. "Notes on Laha final -l". InLinguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 173–181.
• Wardlaw, Terrance Randall.A phonological comparison between two varieties of Laha: Syllable constituents and tone in Ta Mit and Noong Lay Laha. M.A. Thesis, The University of Texas at Arlington, 2000.

Wiktionary has a word list atAppendix:Laha word list

• ABVD: Laha (Ta Mit) word list
• https://web.archive.org/web/20131202230717/http://cema.gov.vn/modules.php?name=Content&op=details&mid=512

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• Languages of Vietnam

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