Glottolog: kada1291 | ||
Linguistic classification: Tai–KadaiNorthernKra | ||
The Kra languages (Chinese: Gēyāng, 仡央, short for Kláo–Bouxyaeŋz) are a branch of the Tai–Kadai family spoken in southern China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Hainan) and in northern Vietnam. Out of the entire Tai–Kadai family, the Kra branch is the least studied. Individual Kra languages have only been recently described in any detail.
Contents
The name Kra comes from the word *kra C "human", which appears as kra, ka, fa, ha in various Kra languages. Benedict (1942) used the term Kadai for the Kra and Hlai languages taken together, and the term Kra-Dai is proposed by Ostapirat for the Tai-Kadai family as a whole.
Significance
Several Kra languages have consonant clusters and disyllabic words, whereas other Tai–Kadai languages only have single consonants. The disyllables in Buyang have been used by Sagart (2004)[1] to support the view that the Tai-Kadai languages are a subgroup within the Austronesian family. Unlike the Tai and Kam–Sui languages, most Kra languages, including Gelao and Buyang, have preserved the proto-Tai–Kadai numerical systems. The only other Tai–Kadai branch that preserves this is Hlai. Most other Tai–Kadai languages adopted Chinese numerals over 1000 years ago.
As noted by linguist Jerold A. Edmondson, the Kra languages contain words in metalworking, handicrafts, and agriculture that are not attested in any other Tai–Kadai language. This suggests that the Kra peoples may have developed or borrowed many technological innovations independently of the Tai and Kam-Sui peoples.
Classification
Morphological similarities suggest the Kra languages are closest to the Kam–Sui branch of the family. There are about a dozen Kra languages, depending on how languages and dialects are defined. The best known is perhaps the Gelao (Klao) dialect cluster, with about 8,000 speakers in China out of an ethnic population of approximately 500,000.
The internal classification below is from Ostapirat (2000), who splits the Kra branch into a total of 7 languages.
According to Edmondson (2002), Laha is too conservative to be in Western Kra, and he makes it a branch of its own. Ethnologue mistakenly includes the Hlai language Cun of Hainan in Kra; this is not supported by either Ostapirat or Edmondson.
Hsiu (2013) reports that a divergent, moribund Northern Tai language known as "Shui 水" spoken by 5 people in Dazhai 大寨, Fuchu Township 辅处乡, Hezhang County 赫章县, Guizhou, China has a Kra substratum.
Maza, a Lolo–Burmese language spoken in Mengmei 孟梅, Funing County, Yunnan, is also notable for having a Qabiao substratum (Hsiu 2014:68-69).
Demographics
The Kra languages have a total of about 22,000 speakers. In Vietnam, officially recognized Kra peoples are the Cờ Lao, La Chí, La Ha and Pu Péo. In China, only the Gelao (Cờ Lao) have official status. The other Kra peoples are variously classified as Zhuang, Buyi, Yi, and Han.
Within China, "hotspots" for Kra languages include most of western Guizhou, the prefecture-level city of Baise in western Guangxi, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in southeastern Yunnan, as well as Hà Giang Province in northern Vietnam. This distribution runs along a northeast-southwest geographic vector, forming what Jerold A. Edmondson calls a "language corridor."
Multigualism is common among Kra language speakers. For example, many Buyang can also speak Zhuang languages.