| Jarai | |
|---|---|
| Jrai | |
| Native to | Vietnam,Cambodia |
| Region | Central Highlands, Vietnam Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia |
Native speakers | 530,000 (2019)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Vietnam: modifiedVietnamese alphabet Cambodia: none | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jra |
| Glottolog | jara1266 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Jarai (/dʒəˈraɪ/;Vietnamese:Cho-Rai,Chor,Chrai,Djarai,Gia-Rai,Gio-Rai,Jorai orMthur;Khmer:ចារ៉ាយ,Charay[caːraːj]) is aMalayo-Polynesian language spoken by theJarai people ofVietnam andCambodia. The speakers of Jarai number approximately 530,000,[1] not including other possible Jarai communities in countries other than Vietnam and Cambodia such as United States of America. They are the largest of the upland ethnic groups of Vietnam'sCentral Highlands known asDegar or Montagnards, and 25 per cent of the population in the Cambodian province ofRatanakiri.
The language is in theChamic subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, and is thus related to theCham language of central Vietnam.
A number of Jarai also live in the United States, having resettled there following theVietnam War.
The Jarai language belongs toChamic branch of theMalayo-Polynesian languages. Although often classified as aMon-Khmer language until the 20th century, the affiliation of Jarai to the Chamic sister languagesCham andRade, and a wider connection toMalay was already recognized as early as 1864.[2]
Jarai is spoken by some 262,800 people in Cambodia and Vietnam (Simons, 2017) where it is recognized as an official minority language, although in Cambodia it has not its own writing in theKhmer scripts. Additionally there are some hundreds of Jarai speakers in United States from the Jarai refugees settled in that country after theVietnamese War. Jarai dialects can be mutually unintelligible. Đào Huy Quyền (1998)[3] lists the following subgroups of Jaraidialects and their respective locations.
Other related groups include:
Influenced by the surroundingMon–Khmer languages, words of the variousChamic languages of Southeast Asia, including Jarai, have become disyllabic with thestress on the second syllable. Additionally, Jarai has further evolved in the pattern of Mon–Khmer, losing almost all vowel distinction in the initialminor syllable. While trisyllabic words do exist, they are allloanwords. The typical Jarai word may be represented:
where the values in parentheses are optional and "(C)" in the cluster "C(C)" represents aliquid consonant/l/,/r/ or asemivowel/w/,/j/. In Jarai dialects spoken in Cambodia, the "(C)" in the cluster "C(C)" can also be thevoiced velar fricative/ɣ/, a phoneme used by the Jarai in Cambodia, but not attested in Vietnam. The vowel of the first syllable in disyllabic words is most often themid-central unrounded vowel,/ə/, unless the initial consonant is theglottal stop/ʔ/. The second vowel of the stressed syllable produces adiphthong.
There are 9 vowels:[4]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iĩ | ɯ | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | aã | |||
There are 24 consonants:[4]
The implosives have also been described as preglottalized stops, but Jensen (2013) describes that the closure of glottis and oral cavity occur simultaneously.[4]
At the beginning of the 20th century, during the period ofFrench Indochina, colonisers introduced a writing system for Jarai based on theVietnamese alphabet. After theVietnam War, Christian missionaries in Vietnam used the orthography to translate theBible into Jarai language.Literacy in Jarai has increased, and there are today many publications geared towards the Vietnamese Jarai.
The orthography uses 40letters, many of which containdiacritics: 21 symbols for consonants, and 19 symbols for vowels. Unlike systems like those to writeMaori,Latvian and other languages, the Jarai orthography adds diacritics to markshort vowels, namely thebreve: ⟨ĭ ĕ ă ŏ ŭ ơ̆ ư̆⟩. Like in Vietnamese spelling, double diacritics are also used in Jarai: short /e o/ are represented as ⟨ â̆ ê̆ ô̆ ⟩. Aspirated /pʰ tʰ kʰ/ are written as digraphs ⟨ph th kh⟩,[5] and /ɲ/ is represented as ⟨ng⟩. The b with a stroke ⟨ƀ⟩ is a special character used for Jarai and closely related languages. Additionally, thehacek andtilde are also added to ⟨c⟩ and ⟨n⟩ for to represent /t͡ʃ/ and /ɲ/, respectively: ⟨č ñ⟩.
| 1–10 | Aa | Ăă | Ââ | Â̆â̆ | Bb | Ƀƀ | Čč | Dd | Đđ | Ee | Ĕĕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | aː | a | ɨ | ɨ | b | ʔb ~ ɓ | tʃ | d | ʔd ~ ɗ | ɛː | ɛ |
| 11–20 | Êê | Ê̆ê̆ | Gg | Hh | Ii | Ĭĭ | Jj | Dj dj | Kk | Ll | |
| IPA | eː | e | ɡ | h | iː | i | dʒ | ʔdʒ ~ ʄ | k | l | |
| 21–30 | Mm | Nn | Ññ | Ng ng | Oo | Ŏŏ | Ôô | Ô̆ô̆ | Ơơ | Ơ̆ơ̆ | |
| IPA | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ɔː | ɔ | oː | o | əː | ə | |
| 31–40 | Pp | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Ŭŭ | Ưư | Ư̆ư̆ | Ww | Yy | |
| IPA | p | ɾ | s | t | uː | u | ɯː | ɯ | w | j |
Abih bang mơnuih-mơnam tơkeng rai rơngai laih anŭn mơdơ̆-mơđơr amăng tơlơi pơpŭ-pơyôm hăng tơlơi dưi. Ƀing gơñu tŭ hơmâo tơlơi pơmĭn hăng tơlơi thâo djơ̆-glaĭ laih anŭn brơi ngă kơ tơdruă amăng tơlơi khăp ayŏng adơi.
/ abiːh baːŋ məˈnuih məˈnaːm təˈkeːŋ ɾai ɾəˈŋai laih aˈnun məˈdəʔ məˈdəɾ aˈmaŋ təˈləi pəˈpuʔ pəˈjoːm haŋ təˈləi dɯi ɓiːŋ gəˈɲuː tuʔ həˈmaw təˈləi pəˈmin haŋ təˈləi tʰaw ʄəʔ glai laih aˈnuːn bɾəi ŋaʔ kəː təˈdɾua aˈmaŋ təˈləi kʰap aˈjoŋ aˈdəi /
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Personal pronouns
Jarai does not distinguishgender in pronouns.
| Clusivity | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Inclusive | kâo | ta |
| Exclusive | - | gơmơi | |
| Second | ih | gih | |
| Third | ñu | gơñu |
