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Palaungic
Geographic distribution	Mainland Southeast Asia
Linguistic classification	Austroasiatic Khasi–Palaungic Palaungic
Proto-language	Proto-Palaungic
Language codes
Glottolog	east2331  (East Palaungic) west2791  (West Palaungic)
Map (in French) of Palaungic languages

The Palaungic or Palaung–Wa languages are a group of nearly 30 Austroasiatic languages, with scholars disagreeing on exactly which languages to include in the classification. They are spoken in scattered pockets across an inland region of Southeast Asia, centered on the borders between Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China.

Phonological developments

Most of the Palaungic languages lost the contrastive voicing of the ancestral Austroasiatic consonants, with the distinction often shifting to the following vowel. In the Wa branch, this is generally realized as breathy voice vowel phonation; in Palaung–Riang, as a two-way register tone system. The Angkuic languages have contour tone — the U language, for example, has four tones, high, low, rising, falling, — but these developed from vowel length and the nature of final consonants, not from the voicing of initial consonants.

Homeland

Paul Sidwell (2015) suggests that the Palaungic Urheimat (homeland) was in what is now the border region of Laos and Sipsongpanna in Yunnan, China. The Khmuic homeland was adjacent to the Palaungic homeland, resulting in many lexical borrowings among the two branches due to intense contact. Sidwell (2014) suggests that the word for 'water' (Proto-Palaungic *ʔoːm), which Gérard Diffloth had used as one of the defining lexical innovations for his Northern Mon-Khmer branch, was likely borrowed from Palaungic into Khmuic.

Classification

Diffloth & Zide (1992)

The Palaungic family includes at least three branches, with the position of some languages as yet unclear. Lamet, for example, is sometimes classified as a separate branch. The following classification follows that of Diffloth & Zide (1992), as quoted in Sidwell (2009:131).

• Western Palaungic (Palaung–Riang)
  • Palaung
    • Shwe (Gold Palaung, De'ang)
    • De'ang
    • Pale (Silver Palaung, Ruching)
    • Rumai
  • Riang
    • Riang proper, Yinchia
    • ? Danau (perhaps in Palaung–Riang)
• Eastern Palaungic
  • Angkuic
    • Angku
    • Hu
    • Kiorr
    • Kon Keu
    • Man Met
    • Mok
    • Samtao (Samtau)
    • Tai Loi
    • U (Pouma)
  • Lametic
    • Lamet (Xmet)
    • Con
  • Waic
    • Blang
    • Lawa
      • La
      • Lawa
    • Wa
      • Paraok (Standard Wa)
      • Khalo
      • Awa

Some researchers include the Mangic languages as well, instead of grouping them with the Pakanic languages.

Sidwell (2010)

The following classification follows the branching given by Sidwell (2010, ms).

• Danau (Khano)
• Palaungic proper
  • Western (Riang–Palaung)
    • Palaung (De'ang: Shwe / Gold Palaung, Pale / Ruching / Silver Palaung, Rumai)
    • Riang (Riang, Yinchia)
  • Angkuic
    • Hu
    • U (P'uman)
    • Kiorr (Kha Kior, Con)
    • Kon Keu (Angku)
    • Mok (Man Met)
    • Mong Lue (Tai Loi)
    • Muak Sa-aak
  • Lamet (Xmet)
  • Waic
    • Blang (Samtao)
    • Lawa
      • Umpai Lawa
      • Bo Luang Lawa
    • Wa
      • Paraok (Standard Wa)
      • Khalo
      • Awa
      • Meung Yum
      • Savaiq

Sidwell (2014) proposes an additional branch, consisting of:

• Bit–Khang
  • Bit
  • Kháng
  • Bumang
  • Quang Lam

Sidwell (2015)

Sidwell (2015:12) provides a revised classification of Palaungic. Bit–Khang is clearly Palaungic, but contains many Khmuic loanwords. Sidwell (2015:12) believes it likely groups within East Palaungic. On the other hand, Sidwell (2015) considers Danaw to be the most divergent Palaungic language.

• Danaw
• West Palaungic
  • Palaung (Dara’ang, Da’ang, Palay, etc.)
  • Rumai
  • Riang (Riang-Lang, Riang-Sak, etc.)
• East Palaungic
  • Waic
    • Wa (Praok, Awa, Vo, etc.)
    • Lawa (Lawa Bo Luang, Lavua/Luwa, etc.)
    • Bulang (Bulang, Plang/Samtao, Kawa, Kontoi, etc.)
  • Angkuic: U, Hu, Man Met/Kemie, Muak/Mok, Tai Loi, etc.
  • Lameet: Lameet, Con, Lua/Khamet
  • ? Bit–Khang: (Kha)bit, Buxing, Quang Lam, Khang/Khao, Bumang

Lexical innovations

Diagnostic Palaungic lexical innovations as identified by Paul Sidwell (2021) are:

Reconstruction

References

1. Sidwell, Paul (2015). The Palaungic Languages: Classification, Reconstruction and Comparative Lexicon. München: Lincom Europa.
2. Svantesson, Jan-Olof (1991). "Hu – A Language with Unorthodox Tonogenesis" (PDF). In Davidson, J. H. C. S. (ed.). Austroasiatic Languages: Essays in Honour of H. L. Shorto. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. pp. 67–80. ISBN 0-7286-0183-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
3. Sidwell, Paul (2010). "Three Austroasiatic Branches and the ASJP" (PDF) (Draft). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-11. (Fig. 23)
4. Hall, Elizabeth (2010). A Phonology of Muak Sa-aak (PDF) (M.A. thesis). Payap University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-26.
5. ^ Myint Myint Phyu (2013). A Sociolinguistic Survey of Selected Meung Yum and Savaiq Varieties (PDF) (M.A. thesis). Payap University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-20.
6. ^ Phung Wei Ping (2013). A Phonological Description of Meung Yum and Phonological Comparison of Meung Yum with Three Wa Dialects in China (PDF) (M.A. thesis). Payap University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-29.
7. Sidwell, Paul (2014). "Khmuic Classification and Homeland". Mon-Khmer Studies. 43 (1): 47–56. Archived from the original on 2016-02-03.
8. Sidwell, Paul (2021). "Classification of MSEA Austroasiatic Languages". In Sidwell, Paul; Jenny, Mathias (eds.). The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia: A Comprehensive Guide. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 179–206. doi:10.1515/9783110558142-011.

• Sidwell, Paul (2010). Proto Palaungic Phonology: Reconstructing Vowel Lengths and Qualities in a Partially Restructured System (PDF). SEALS 20 (Abstract).

Further reading

• Gordon, Darren C. (2013). "A Selective Palaungic Linguistic Bibliography" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. 42: xiv–xxxiii. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-09.
• Cheeseman, Nathaniel; Hall, Elizabeth; Gordon, Darren (2015). "Palaungic Linguistic Bibliography with Selected Annotations". Mon-Khmer Studies. 44: i–liv.
• Sidwell, Paul (2015). The Palaungic Languages: Classification, Reconstruction and Comparative Lexicon. München: Lincom Europa.

External links

• RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
• Palaungic languages in RWAAI Digital Archive

• Palaungic languages