Vietic languages

The Vietic languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic language family. The branch was once referred to by the terms Việt–Mường, Annamese–Muong, and Vietnamuong, but today these are understood as referring to a sub-branch of Vietic containing only Vietnamese and Mường.

Many of the Vietic languages have tonal or phonational systems intermediate between that of Viet–Muong and other branches of Austroasiatic that have not had significant Chinese or Tai influence.

Vietnamese, today, has had significant Chinese influence especially in vocabulary and tonal system. Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary accounts for about 30–60% of Vietnamese vocabulary, not including calques from China. Vietnamese was linguistically influenced primarily by Chinese.

Origins

Based on linguistic diversity, the most probable homeland of the Vietic languages appears to have been located in modern-day Bolikhamsai Province and Khammouane Province in Laos as well as parts of Nghệ An Province and Quảng Bình Province in Vietnam. The time depth of the Vietic branch dates back at least 2,000 years.^[1]

The ancestor of the Vietnamese language was originally based around the Red River area in what is now northern Vietnam.

Vietnamese was identified as an Austroasiatic language in the mid-nineteenth century, and there is now strong evidence for this classification. Today, Vietnamese is a monosyllabic tonal language like Cantonese and has lost many Proto-Austro-Asiatic phonological and morphological features. Vietnamese has also large stocks of borrowed Chinese and Tai vocabulary. However, there continues to be resistance to the idea that Vietnamese could be more closely related to Khmer than to Chinese or the Tai languages. Nevertheless, the vast majority of scholars consider these typological similarities to be due to language contact rather than common inheritance.

Distribution

Vietic speakers reside in and around the Nakai–Nam Theun Conservation Area of Laos and north-central Vietnam (Chamberlain 1998). Many of these speakers are referred to as Mường, Nhà Làng, and Nguồn. Chamberlain (1998) lists current locations in Laos for the following Vietic peoples.^[2]

• Nguồn: Ban Pak Phanang, Boualapha District, Khammouane; others in Vietnam
• Liha, Phong (Cham), and Toum: Khamkeut District; probably originally from the northern Nghe An - Khamkeut border area
• Ahoe: originally lived in Na Tane Subdistrict of Nakai District, and Ban Na Va village in Khamkeut District; taken to Hinboun District during the war, and then later resettled in Nakai Tay (39 households) and in Sop Hia (20 households) on the Nakai Plateau.
• Thaveung (Ahao and Ahlao dialects): several villages near Lak Xao; probably originally from the Na Heuang area
• Cheut: Ban Na Phao and Tha Sang, Boualapha District; others probably also in Pha Song, Vang Nyao, Takaa; originally from Hin Nam No and Vietnam
• Atel: Tha Meuang on the Nam Sot (primarily Malang people); originally from the Houay Kanil area
• Thémarou: Vang Chang on the Nam Theun; Ban Soek near the Nam Noy
• Makang: Na Kadok, Khamkeut District (primarily Saek people); originally from the Upper Sot area
• Malang: Tha Meuang on the Nam Sot
• "Salang": Ban Xe Neua, Boualapha District
• Atop: Na Thone, Khamkeut District (primarily Tai Theng people); originally from the Upper Sot area
• Mlengbrou: near the Nam One; later relocated to the Gnommarath side of the Ak Mountain, and now living in Ban Sang, Gnommarath District (primarily Yooy people)
• Kri: Ban Maka

In Vietnam, some Vietic hill-tribe peoples, including the Arem, Rục, Maliêng, and Mày (Cươi), were resettled at Cu Nhái (located either in western Quang Binh or in the southwest of Huong Khe District in Ha Tinh). The Sách are also found in Vietnam.

The following table lists the lifestyles of various Vietic-speaking ethnic groups. Unlike the neighboring Tai ethnic groups, many Vietic groups are not paddy agriculturalists.

Languages

The discovery that Vietnamese was a Mon–Khmer language, and that its tones were a regular reflection of non-tonal features in the rest of the family, is considered a milestone in the development of historical linguistics. The Vietic languages reflect every stage in this development.^[3]

• Arem: This language lacks the breathy phonation common to most Vietic languages, but does have glottalized final consonants.
• Cuôi: Hung in Laos, and Thô in Vietnam
• Aheu (Thavung): This language makes a four-way distinction between clear and breathy phonation combined with glottalized final consonants. This is very similar to the situation in the Pearic languages in which, however, the glottalization is in the vowel.
• Ruc, Sach, May, and Chưt: A dialect cluster; the register system is the four-way contrast of Aheu augmented with pitch.
• Maleng (Bo, Pakatan): Tones as in Ruc-Sach.
• Pong, Hung, Tum, Khong-Kheng
• Việt–Mường: Vietnamese and Mường. These two dialect chains share 75% of their basic vocabulary, and have similar systems of 5–6 contour tones. These are regular reflexes of other Vietic languages: The three low and three high tones correspond to voiced and voiceless initial consonants in the ancestral language; these then split depending on the original final consonants: Level tones correspond to open syllables or final nasal consonants; high rising and low falling tones correspond to final stops, which have since disappeared; dipping tones to final fricatives, which have also disappeared; and glottalized tones to final glottalized consonants, which have deglottalized.

Classification

The following classification of the Vietic languages is from Chamberlain (2003:422), as quoted in Sidwell (2009:145). Unlike past classifications, there as a sixth "South" branch that includes Kri, a newly described language.

• Vietic
  • North (Viet–Muong)
    • Vietnamese
    • Mường (according to Phan (2012), Mường is paraphyletic^[4])
    • Nguồn
  • Northwest (Cuoi)
    • Toum
    • Liha
    • Phong
  • West (Thavưng)
    • Ahoe
    • Ahao
    • Ahlao
  • Southeast (Chut)
    • Cheut
    • Rục
    • Sách
    • Mày
    • Malieng
    • (Arem ?)
    • (Kata)
  • Southwest (Maleng)
    • Atel
    • Thémarou
    • Arao
    • Makang
    • Malang
    • Maleng
    • Tơe
  • South (Kri)
    • Kri
    • Phóng
    • Mlengbrou

Further reading

• Barker, M. E. (1977). Articles on Proto-Viet–Muong. Vietnam publications microfiche series, no. VP70-62. Huntington Beach, Calif: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

References

• Chamberlain, J.R. 2003. Eco-Spatial History: a nomad myth from the Annamites and its relevance for biodiversity conservation. In X. Jianchu and S. Mikesell, eds. Landscapes of Diversity: Proceedings of the III MMSEA Conference, 25–28 August 2002. Lijiand, P. R. China: Center for Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge. pp. 421–436.
• Sidwell, Paul (2009). Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 76. Munich: Lincom Europa.
• SEAlang Project: Mon–Khmer languages. The Vietic Branch
• Sidwell (2003)
• Endangered Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia