The Kra languages ( ; also known as the Geyang or Kadai languages) are a branch of the KraâÂÂDai language family spoken in southern China (Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan) and in northern Vietnam (HàGiang Province).
The name Kra comes from the word <sup>C</sup> "human" as reconstructed by Ostapirat (2000), which appears in various Kra languages as kra, ka, fa or ha. Benedict (1942) used the term Kadai for the Kra and Hlai languages grouped together and the term Kra-Dai is proposed by Ostapirat (2000).
The Kra branch was first identified as a unified group of languages by Liang (1990), who called it the Geyang (仡央) languages. Geyang is a portmanteau of the first syllable of Ge- in Gelao and the last syllable of -yang in Buyang. The name Kra was proposed by Ostapirat (2000) and is the term usually used by scholars outside China, whereas Geyang is the name currently used in China.
Several Kra languages have regionally unusual consonant clusters and sesquisyllabic or disyllabic words, whereas other KraâÂÂDai languages tend to have only single syllables. The disyllables in Buyang have been used by Sagart (2004) to support the view that the Kra-Dai languages are a subgroup within the Austronesian family. Unlike the Tai and KamâÂÂSui languages, most Kra languages, including Gelao and Buyang, have preserved the proto-KraâÂÂDai numerical systems. The only other KraâÂÂDai branch that preserves this is Hlai. Most other KraâÂÂDai languages adopted Chinese numerals over 1000 years ago.
As noted by Jerold A. Edmondson, the Kra languages contain words in metalworking, handicrafts and agriculture that are not attested in any other KraâÂÂDai language. This suggests that the Kra peoples may have developed or borrowed many technological innovations independently of the Tai and Kam-Sui peoples.
The Proto-Kra language has been reconstructed by Weera Ostapirat (2000).
Morphological similarities suggest the Kra languages are closest to the KamâÂÂSui branch of the family. There are about a dozen Kra languages, depending on how languages and dialects are defined. Gelao, with about 8,000 speakers in China out of an ethnic population of approximately 500,000, and consists of at least four mutually unintelligible language varieties, including Telue (White Gelao), Hagei (Blue or Green Gelao), Vandu (Red Gelao), A'ou (Red Gelao), and Qau (Chinese Gelao).
The internal classification below is from Weera Ostapirat (2000), who splits the Kra branch into the Eastern and Western branches.
According to Jerold Edmondson (2002), Laha is too conservative to be in Western Kra, considered it to constitute a branch of its own. However, Edmondson (2011) later reversed his position, considering Laha to be more closely related to Paha.
Ethnologue mistakenly includes the Hlai language Cun of Hainan in Kra; this is not supported by either Ostapirat or Edmondson.
Hsiu's (2014) classification of the Kra languages, based on computational phylogenetic analysis as well as Edmondson's (2011) earlier analysis of Kra, is given below, as cited in Norquest (2021).
Andrew Hsiu (2013, 2017) reports that Hezhang Buyi, a divergent, moribund Northern Tai language spoken by 5 people in Dazhai 大寨, Fuchu Township è¾ å¤Â乡, Hezhang County 赫章å¿, Guizhou, China, has a Kra substratum.
Maza, a LoloâÂÂBurmese language spoken in Mengmei Ã¥ÂÂ梠, Funing County, Yunnan, is also notable for having a Qabiao substratum (Hsiu 2014:68-69).
According to Li Jinfang (1999), the Yang Zhuang people of southwestern Guangxi may have been Kra speakers who had switched to Zhuang.
The Kra languages have a total of about 22,000 speakers. In Vietnam, officially recognized Kra peoples are the Cá» Lao, La ChÃÂ, La Ha and Pu Péo. In China, only the Gelao (Cá» Lao) have official status. The other Kra peoples are variously classified as Zhuang, Buyi, Yi, and Han.
"Hotspots" for Kra languages include: within China, most of western Guizhou, the prefecture-level city of Baise in western Guangxi, and Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in southeastern Yunnan; as well as northern Vietnam's HÃÂ Giang Province. This distribution runs along a northeast-southwest geographic vector, forming what Jerold A. Edmondson calls a "language corridor."
Multilingualism is common among Kra language speakers. For example, many Buyang can also speak Zhuang.