Kri language

Kri (Krìì) is a recently described Vietic language. Kri speakers live in the Upper Ñrong (Nam Noy) valley of Khammouane Province, Laos, as well as other locations within the Nakai-Nam Theun Biodiversity Conservation Area. It is mutually intelligible with Pròòngq, which is spoken in several villages downstream from the Kri (Enfield & Diffloth 2009).

The Kri call themselves mleeng Kri, and their language meengq Kri. They are swidden cultivators who move every 2–3 years among pre-existing village sites (Chamberlain 1998).^[4] Houses are torn down after the death of a household member, and the housing materials are then used to construct a new house in a different location. Other than the Kri language, many adults, especially men, are also fluent in Vietnamese, Saek, Bru, and Lao.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonants in Kri are:

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|- style="background: #efefef;" ! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Alveolar ! Retroflex ! Palatal ! Velar ! Glottal |- ! style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" rowspan="3" | Stop | style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" | | [p] | [t] | [ʈʂ] | [c] | [k] | [ʔ] |- | style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" | aspirated | [pʰ] | [tʰ] | [ʈʂʰ] | | [kʰ] | |- | style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" | voiced | [ɓ] | [ɗ] | | [ʄ ] | | |- ! style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" rowspan="1" | Fricative | style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" | | | [s] | | | [ɣ] | [h] |- ! style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" colspan="2" | Nasal | [m] | [n] | | [ɲ] | [ŋ] | |- ! style="text-align: left; background: #efefef;" colspan="2" | Approximant | [w] | [l] , [r~ʐ] | | [j~ʝ] | | |} ^[5]

Finals

These are the consonants that may come at the end of a syllable in Kri:

Do note that they are all contrastive, and that vowels, nasal consonants, and oral consonants may have checked endings. The Oral endings also may become voiceless.

Morphology

Kri has a few morphological features, less than Khmu but more than Vietnamese.

Causative Infix

The -a- infix may be inserted into words with two initial consonants, between them. This infix turns intransitive verb into a transitive verb, adding an agent. It can also turn a noun into a verb. Here are some examples:

praang - to cross over
paraang - to take someone across.

slôôj- to be washed away by running water
salôôj- to discard into flowing water, to let something be washed away.

kleeh- to fall off
kaleeh- to pick off

blang- of the eyes, to become open (like a young dog's)
balang- to open one's eyes

ckaang- a hand span
cakaang- to measure something by hand spans

Nominalising Infix

The -rn- infix is placed after a single initial consonant. This infix makes a noun from a verb:

sat- to get one's foot stuck
srnat- a foothold

koq- to live
krnoq- a house

This shortens to -r- when between consonants:

kadôôlq- to rest the head on something
krdôôlq- a pillow

References

• Enfield, N.J.; Diffloth, Gérard (2009). "Phonology and sketch grammar of Kri, a Vietic language of Laos" (PDF). Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 38 (1): 3–69. doi:10.1163/1960602809x00063. 

External links

• The Kri language
• http://sealsxxii.vjf.cnrs.fr/Documents/Abstract-Enfield.pdf