Bru language

Bruu (also spelled Bru, B'ru, Baru, Brou) is a MonÃ¢ÂÂKhmer dialect continuum spoken by the Bru people of mainland Southeast Asia. SÃÂ´ and Khua are dialects.

Names

There are various local and dialect designations for Bru (Sidwell 2005:11).

So ~ SÃÂ´
Tri (So Tri, Chali)
Van Kieu
Leu ~ Leung (Kaleu)
Galler
Khua
Katang (not the same as Kataang)

Distribution

The distribution of the Bru language spreads north and northeast from Salavan, Laos, through Savannakhet, Khammouane, and Bolikhamsai, and over into neighboring Thailand and Vietnam (Sidwell 2005:11). In Vietnam, BrÃÂ¢u (BraÃÂ²) is spoken in ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¯k MÃ¡ÂºÂ¿, BÃ¡Â»Â Y commune, ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¯k TÃÂ´ District, Kon Tum Province.

Dialects

Thailand has the following Western Bru dialects (Choo, et al. 2012).

Bru Khok Sa-at of Phang Khon District and Phanna Nikhom District, Sakon Nakhon Province
Bru Woen Buek of Woen Buek (Wyn Buek), Ubon Ratchathani Province (more similar to Katang)
Bru Dong Luang of Dong Luang District, Mukdahan Province

The following Bru subgroups are found in QuÃ¡ÂºÂ£ng BÃÂ¬nh Province (Phan 1998).

VÃÂ¢n KiÃÂªu: 5,500 persons in LÃ¡Â»Â ThÃ¡Â»Â§y District and VÃÂ©nh Linh District (in QuÃ¡ÂºÂ£ng TrÃ¡Â»Â Province)
MÃÂng Coong: 600 persons in BÃ¡Â»Â TrÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ch District
Tri: 300 persons in BÃ¡Â»Â TrÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ch District
KhÃÂ¹a: 1,000 persons in TuyÃÂªn HÃÂ³a District

Below is a comparative vocabulary of VÃÂ¢n KiÃÂªu, MÃÂng Coong, Tri, and KhÃÂ¹a from Phan (1998:479-480), with words transcribed in Vietnamese orthography.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant sounds in both East and West dialects consist of the following:

is typically pronounced as labiodental fricative or approximant when occurring in initial position. In final position, it is always heard as .
can be heard as either a trill or a tap .
as a consonant cluster, can be phonetically heard as in the Western dialect.
can also be heard as a voiced glottal when a preceding a breathy vowel sound in the Western Bru dialects. It can also be heard as nasal when preceding a nasal vowel in the Western dialects.

Plosive sounds in final position are heard as unreleased .

Vowels

Breathy vowels

Vowel sounds may also be distinguished using breathy voice:

Nasal vowels

Nasal vowel sounds may occur in the Western Bru dialect:

References

Choo, Marcus, Jennifer Herington, Amy Ryan and Jennifer Simmons. 2012. Sociolinguistic Survey Of Bru In Phang Khon And Phanna Nikhom Districts, Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand . Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University.
Choo, Marcus. 2012. An investigation of intelligibility between So varieties in Northeast Thailand: the Bru in Khok Saat . Chiang Mai: Payap University.
Choo, Marcus. 2008. Sociolinguistic survey of So in Northeastern Thailand . Chiang Mai: Payap University.
KhÃ¡Â»Âng DiÃ¡Â»Ân (1975). "VÃ¡Â»Â nhÃÂ³m ngÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âi KhÃÂ¹a (Bru) Ã¡Â»Â QuÃ¡ÂºÂ£ng BÃÂ¬nh". In, Ã¡Â»Â¦y ban khoa hÃ¡Â»Âc xÃÂ£ hÃ¡Â»Âi ViÃ¡Â»Ât Nam: ViÃ¡Â»Ân dÃÂ¢n tÃ¡Â»Âc hÃ¡Â»Âc. VÃ¡Â»Â vÃ¡ÂºÂ¥n ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â xÃÂ¡c ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh thÃÂ nh phÃ¡ÂºÂ§n cÃÂ¡c dÃÂ¢n tÃ¡Â»Âc thiÃ¡Â»Âu sÃ¡Â»Â Ã¡Â»Â miÃ¡Â»Ân bÃ¡ÂºÂ¯c ViÃ¡Â»Ât Nam, 538Ã¢ÂÂ548. HÃÂ NÃ¡Â»Âi: NhÃÂ xuÃ¡ÂºÂ¥t bÃ¡ÂºÂ£n khoa hÃ¡Â»Âc xÃÂ£ hÃ¡Â»Âi.
Migliazza, Brian. 2002. Multilingualism Among the So People of Issan.
PhÃ¡ÂºÂ¡m ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â©c DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng (1975). "VÃ¡Â»Â mÃ¡Â»Âi quan hÃ¡Â»Â cÃ¡Â»Âng ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âng tÃ¡Â»Âc ngÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âi giÃ¡Â»Â¯a cÃÂ¡c ngÃÂ´n ngÃ¡Â»Â¯ thuÃ¡Â»Âc nhÃÂ³m ViÃ¡Â»Ât - MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng miÃ¡Â»Ân tÃÂ¢y tÃ¡Â»Ânh QuÃ¡ÂºÂ£ng BÃÂ¬nh". In, Ã¡Â»Â¦y ban khoa hÃ¡Â»Âc xÃÂ£ hÃ¡Â»Âi ViÃ¡Â»Ât Nam: ViÃ¡Â»Ân dÃÂ¢n tÃ¡Â»Âc hÃ¡Â»Âc. VÃ¡Â»Â vÃ¡ÂºÂ¥n ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â xÃÂ¡c ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh thÃÂ¡nh phÃ¡ÂºÂ§n cÃÂ¡c dÃÂ¢n tÃ¡Â»Âc thiÃ¡Â»Âu sÃ¡Â»Â Ã¡Â»Â miÃ¡Â»Ân bÃ¡ÂºÂ¯c ViÃ¡Â»Ât Nam, 500Ã¢ÂÂ517. HÃÂ NÃ¡Â»Âi: NhÃÂ xuÃ¡ÂºÂ¥t bÃ¡ÂºÂ£n khoa hÃ¡Â»Âc xÃÂ£ hÃ¡Â»Âi.
Phan HÃ¡Â»Â¯u DÃ¡ÂºÂt (1975). "VÃ¡Â»Â tÃÂªn gÃ¡Â»Âi cÃÂ¡c tÃ¡Â»Âc ngÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âi nÃÂ³i ngÃÂ´n ngÃ¡Â»Â¯ MÃÂ´n - MiÃÂªn Ã¡Â»Â miÃ¡Â»Ân tÃÂ¢y tÃ¡Â»Ânh QuÃ¡ÂºÂ£ng BÃÂ¬nh". In, Ã¡Â»Â¦y ban khoa hÃ¡Â»Âc xÃÂ£ hÃ¡Â»Âi ViÃ¡Â»Ât Nam: ViÃ¡Â»Ân dÃÂ¢n tÃ¡Â»Âc hÃ¡Â»Âc. VÃ¡Â»Â vÃ¡ÂºÂ¥n ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â xÃÂ¡c ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh thÃÂ¡nh phÃ¡ÂºÂ§n cÃÂ¡c dÃÂ¢n tÃ¡Â»Âc thiÃ¡Â»Âu sÃ¡Â»Â Ã¡Â»Â miÃ¡Â»Ân bÃ¡ÂºÂ¯c ViÃ¡Â»Ât Nam, 531Ã¢ÂÂ537. HÃÂ NÃ¡Â»Âi: NhÃÂ xuÃ¡ÂºÂ¥t bÃ¡ÂºÂ£n khoa hÃ¡Â»Âc xÃÂ£ hÃ¡Â»Âi.
Sidwell, Paul. (2005). [The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon]. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 58. Muenchen: Lincom Europa.
Yotmanisakun, Sarocha. 2022. Preliminary Phonological Description of Southern Katang. M.A. dissertation. Chiang Mai: Payap University.

External links

UCLA phonetics lab data
RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
Bru in the RWAAI Digital Archive