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Khmu
Khmu
Kmhmu; ກຶມຫມຸ; กำมุ
Native to	Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, China
Ethnicity	Khmu
Native speakers	(798,400 cited 1990–2015 census)
Language family	Austroasiatic Khmuic Khmu; ;
Writing system	Lao, Latin, Thai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; kjg – Khmu; khf – Buddhist Khmu (Kmhmu' Khwen)
Glottolog	khmu1255

Khmu [kʰmuʔ] is the language of the Khmu people of the northern Laos region. It is also spoken in adjacent areas of Vietnam, Thailand and China. Khmu lends its name to the Khmuic branch of the Austroasiatic language family, the latter of which also includes Khmer and Vietnamese. Within Austroasiatic, Khmu is often cited as being most closely related to the Palaungic and Khasic languages.^[5] The name "Khmu" can also be seen romanized as Kmhmu, Khmu', Kammu, or Khamuk in various publications or alternatively referred to by the name of a local dialect.

Dialects

Khmu has several dialects but no standard variety. Dialects differ primarily in consonant inventory, existence of register, and the degree to which the language has been influenced by the surrounding national language(s). Dialects are, for the most part, mutually intelligible; however communication can be difficult between speakers of geographically distant dialects.

The dialects of Khmu can be broadly categorized into two groups, Western Khmu and Eastern Khmu.

Western Khmu dialects have fewer consonant phonemes and instead use phonemic register contrast, as seen in other Austroasiatic languages, of "lax" breathy register and "tense" modal register. In at least one dialect of Western Khmu, known as Khmu Rook, tonogenesis is evident as the register contrast has developed into a system of two phonetic tones with six phonemic realizations.^[6]
Eastern Khmu dialects show the opposite tendency. Completely lacking either register or tone distinction, these dialects utilize a three-way distinction of stops (voiced, voiceless and aspirated voiceless) and nasals (voiced, voiceless, and pre-glottalized) in the syllable-initial position for phonemic contrast.^[7]

Suwilai Premsrirat (2002)

Suwilai Premsrirat (2002)^[8] reports the following locations and dialects of Kmhmu' in Laos, Vietnam, China, and Thailand.

Laos: spoken in the 8 northern provinces of Luang Namtha, Udomsai, Bokeo, Sayaburi, Phongsali, Luang Prabang, and Xiaq kvaaq, with a few villages near Vientiane. Dialects include Kmhmu' Rook, Khmu Lw, and Kmhmu' Cwaq (also known as Kmhmu' Uu).
Vietnam: Kim Hua, Sop Pot, Sop Caw and Pung Kamong Villages, Kim Da Subdistrict, Tương Dương District, Vinh City, Nghệ An Province. Also in Lai Châu Province, Sơn La Province, and Thanh Hóa Province.
China: Pung Soa village (more conservative with voicing contrasts in the initial consonants) and Om Kae village (has tonal contrasts) in Sipsongpanna, Yunnan
Thailand: many villages, including the representative datapoint of Huai Ian village, Lai Ngao subdistrict, Wiang Kaen district, Chiang Rai province (originally from Pak Bang district of Laos, where the language is called Khmu Khrong, meaning 'Mekong Khmu'). Also in Nan province and Lampang province.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Khmu' is shown in the table below. The phoneme /f/, present in dialects of both Eastern and Western Khmu', is a result of borrowings from the surrounding Tai languages.^[9]

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	Aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		cʰ	kʰ
	Voiceless	p	t		c	k	ʔ
	Voiced	b	d		ɟ¹	ɡ¹
Nasal	Voiceless¹	m̥	n̥		ɲ̥	ŋ̥
	Voiced	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
	Preglottalized¹	ˀm	ˀn		ˀɲ	ˀŋ
Fricative	Voiceless	(f)	s				h
Approximant	Voiceless¹	w̥²	l̥	r̥	j̊
	Voiced	w	l	r	j
	Preglottalized¹	ˀw			ˀj

Only found in Eastern Khmu dialects.
w̥ is a voiceless labio-velar approximant

Vowels

The vowels of the Khmu' language show little variation across the dialects with all varieties having 19 monophthongs and three diphthongs (/iə/, /ɨə/ and /uə/).^[6]

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː	ɨ	ɨː	u	uː
Close-mid	e	eː	ə	əː	o	oː
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛː		ʌː	ɔ	ɔː
Open			a	aː

Grammar

Pronouns

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st	ໂອະ (òɂ)	ອະ (àɂ)	ອິ (ìɂ)
2nd	ແຢະ (jɛ̀ɂ) (masculine), ປາ (pàː) (feminine)	ສວາ (swáː)	ປໍ (pɔ̀ː)
3rd	ກັຽ (kəː) (masculine), ນາ (nàː) (feminine)	ສນາ (snáː)	ນໍ (nɔ̀ː)

Syntax

Khmu uses mainly an SVO word order although an OVS order is also possible.

Vocabulary

Numeral

Cardinal	/nɨŋ/	/sɔ́ːŋ/	/sáːm/	/síː/	/háː/	/rók/	/cét/	/pɛ́t/	/káw/	/síp/
	ນຶງ	ສອງ	ສາມ	ສີ	ຫາ	ຣົກ	ເຈຕັ	ແປດ	ເກົ້າ	ສິບ
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Ordinal	/mòːj/	/pà:ː/	/péʔ/	/puːl/	/pɨəŋ/	/tɔːl/	/tel/	/taːm/	/kaːj/	/kal/
	ໂມຢ	ປາຣ	ເປະ	ປູລ	ເປືອງ	ຕອລ	ເຕລ	ຕາມ	ກາຍ	ກັລ
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th

Comparison with Khmer

English	Khmu	Khmer
dog	ເສາະ ([sɔ́ɂ])	ឆ្កែ (chhkê)
child	ກອນ ([kɔ́ːn])	កូន (kon)
mother	ມະ ([màɂ])	ម៉ាក់ (măk)
flower	ຣາງ ([ràːŋ])	ផ្កា (phka)
mountain	ມົກ ([mòk])	ភ្នំ (phnum)
to see	ກເລະ ([klèɂ])	ឃើញ (kheunh)
enemy	ສັຕູ ([sa tùː])	សត្រូវ (sâtrov)
to disappear	ງັຕ ([ŋát])	បាត់ (băt)
to shoot	ປິຍ ([píɲ])	បាញ់ (bănh)
seven	ເຈຕັ ([cét])	ប្រាំពីរ (brămpir)
penis	ລົກ ([lòk])	លិង្គ (lĭngk)

References

^ "Kmhmu'". Ethnologue. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
^ "Khuen". Ethnologue. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
^ Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
^ "Mon-Khmer Classification (Draft)".
^ Diffloth, Gérard (2005). "The contribution of linguistic palaeontology and Austroasiatic". in Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, eds. The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. 77–80. London: Routledge Curzon.
^ ^a ^b SUWILAI Premsrirat, author. 2001. "Tonogenesis in Khmu dialects of SEA." Mon-Khmer Studies 31: 47–56.
^ Suwilai, Premsrirat, et al. Mahidol University. Dictionary of Khmu in Laos.
^ Premsrirat, Suwilai. 2002. Dictionary of Khmu in Laos. Mon-Khmer Studies, Special Publication, Number 1, Volume 3. Salaya, Thailand: Mahidol University.
^ Suwilai, Prēmsīrat. The Thesaurus and Dictionary Series of Khmu Dialects in Southeast Asia. Nakorn Pathom: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University at Salaya, Thailand, 2002. ISBN 9740501125