| Chamic | |
|---|---|
| Aceh–Chamic | |
| Geographic distribution | Indonesia (Aceh),Cambodia,Vietnam,Thailand,China (Hainan Island), various countries with recent immigrants |
| Linguistic classification | Austronesian
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Chamic |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 /5 | cmc |
| Glottolog | cham1327 (Aceh–Chamic)cham1330 (Chamic) |
 The languages in Cambodia, Vietnam, Hainan, and the northern tip of Sumatra are Chamic languages (purple). | |
 Varieties of the Chamic languages | |
TheChamic languages, also known asAceh–Chamic andAcehnese–Chamic, are a group of ten languages spoken inAceh (Sumatra,Indonesia) and in parts ofCambodia,Thailand,Vietnam andHainan,China. The Chamic languages are a subgroup ofMalayo-Polynesian languages in theAustronesian family. The ancestor of this subfamily, proto-Chamic, is associated with theSa Huỳnh culture, its speakers arriving in what is nowVietnam fromFormosa.[1]
The most widely spoken Chamic languages areAcehnese with 3.5 million speakers,Cham with about 280,000, andJarai with about 230,000, in bothCambodia and Vietnam.Tsat is the most northern and least spoken, with only 3000 speakers.
Cham has the oldest literary history of any Austronesian language. TheDong Yen Chau inscription, written inOld Cham, dates from the late 4th century AD.
Extensive borrowing resulting from long-term contact has caused Chamic and theBahnaric languages, a branch of theAustroasiatic family, to have many vocabulary items in common.[1][2]
Graham Thurgood gives the following classification for the Chamic languages.[3] Individual languages are marked byitalics.
The Proto-Chamic numerals from 7 to 9 are shared with those of theMalayic languages, providing partial evidence for a Malayo-Chamic subgrouping.[4]
Roger Blench[5] also proposes that there may have been at least one otherAustroasiatic branch in coastal Vietnam that is now extinct, based on various Austroasiatic loanwords in modern-day Chamic languages that cannot be clearly traced to existing Austroasiatic branches.[5][6]
| Proto-Chamic | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | Chamic languages |
Reconstructed ancestors | |
The Proto-Chamic reconstructed below is fromGraham Thurgood's 1999 publicationFrom Ancient Cham to Modern Dialects.[1]
The following table of Proto-Chamic presyllabic consonants are from Thurgood.[7] There are a total of 13–14 presyllabic consonants depending on whether or not *ɲ is counted. Non-presyllabic consonants include *ʔ, *ɓ, *ɗ, *ŋ, *y, *w. Aspirated consonants are also reconstructable for Proto-Chamic.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | p | t | c | k | |
| Voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ||
| Nasal | m | ɲ[8] | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Tap ortrill | r | |||||
| Fricative | s | h | ||||
The following consonant clusters are reconstructed for Proto-Chamic:[9] *pl-, *bl-, *kl-, *gl-, *pr-, *tr-, *kr-, *br-, *dr-. Initial*n did not exist, it was replaced by*l instead (*nanaq →*lanah "pus").[10]
There are four vowels (*-a, *-i, *-u, and *-e, or alternatively *-ə) and threediphthongs (*-ay, *-uy, *-aw).[1]
| Height | Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i/i/ | u/u/ | |||||
| Mid | e/e/ | ([ə/ə/]) | |||||
| Open | a/a/ |
Reconstructed Proto-Chamic morphological components are:[1]
Proto-Chamic has the following personal pronouns:[11]
Singular
Plural
Proto-Chamic, Mainland Chamic, Acehnese and Malay comparative table:
| Gloss | Proto-Chamic | Western Cham | Eastern Cham | Roglai | Aceh | Malay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | *sa | /saha/ | /tha/ | /sa/ | /sa/ | satu |
| seven | *tujuh | /taçuh/ | /taçŭh/ | /tijuh/ | /tujoh/ | tujuh |
| fire | *ʔapuy | /pui/ | /apuy/ | /apui/ | /apui/ | api |
| sky | *laŋit | /laŋiʔ/ | /laŋiʔ/Lingik | /laŋĩːʔ/ | /laŋɛt/ | langit |
| rice (husked) | *braːs | /prah/ | /prah-l/ | /bra/ | /brɯəh/ | beras |
| iron | *bisεy | /pasay/ | /pithăy/ | /pisǝy/ | /bɯsɔə/ | besi |
| sugarcane | *tabɔw-v | /tapau/ | /tapăw/ | /tubəu/ | /tɯbɛə/ | tebu |