Bru language

Bruu (also spelled Bru, B'ru, Baru, Brou) is a Mon–Khmer dialect continuum spoken by the Bru people of mainland Southeast Asia. Sô and Khua are dialects.

Names

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

• So ~ Sô
• 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, Brâu (Braò) is spoken in Đắk Mế, Bờ Y commune, Đắk Tô 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 Quảng Bình Province (Phan 1998).

• Vân Kiêu: 5,500 persons in Lệ Thủy District and Vĩnh Linh District (in Quảng Trị Province)
• Măng Coong: 600 persons in Bố Trạch District
• Tri: 300 persons in Bố Trạch District
• Khùa: 1,000 persons in Tuyên Hóa District

Below is a comparative vocabulary of Vân Kiêu, Măng Coong, Tri, and Khùa from Phan (1998:479-480), with words transcribed in Vietnamese orthography.

Gloss	Vân Kiêu	Măng Coong	Tri	Khùa	Vietnamese
one	mui	muôi			một
two	bar				hai
three	pei				ba
four	pon				bốn
five	shăng		t'shăng		năm
hair	sok				tóc
eye	mat				mắt
nose	lyu	mu			mũi
sky	plang			giang	trời
ground	kute	katek		k'tek	đất
water	dơ			do	nước
fish	sia				cá
bird	cham				chim
water buffalo	trick				trâu
cattle	ntro	tro			bò

Phonology

Consonants

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

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	aspirated	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Liquid	rhotic		Template:IPAlink
	lateral		Template:IPAlink
Fricative		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink
Approximant				Template:IPAlink

• 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.

Final consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
Fricative						Template:IPAlink
Rhotic			Template:IPAlink
Approximant	plain	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	aspirated	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
	glottalized	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink

• Plosive sounds in final position are heard as unreleased .

Vowels

	Front	Central		Back
Close	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Close-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

Vowels in the Western Bru dialect

	Front	Central		Back
Close	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Close-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

Breathy vowels

Vowel sounds may also be distinguished using breathy voice:

Breathy vowels

	Front	Central		Back
Close	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Close-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

Breathy vowels in the Western Bru dialect

	Front	Central		Back
Close	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Close-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

Nasal vowels

Nasal vowel sounds may occur in the Western Bru dialect:

Nasal vowels in the Western Bru dialect

	Front	Central		Back
Close	Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

Further reading

• 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 Template:Webarchive. Chiang Mai: Linguistics Institute, Payap University.
• Choo, Marcus. 2012. An investigation of intelligibility between So varieties in Northeast Thailand: the Bru in Khok Saat Template:Webarchive. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
• Choo, Marcus. 2008. Sociolinguistic survey of So in Northeastern Thailand Template:Webarchive. Chiang Mai: Payap University.
• Khồng Diễn (1975). "Về nhóm người Khùa (Bru) ở Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. Về vấn đề xác định thành phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam, 538–548. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
• Migliazza, Brian. 2002. Multilingualism Among the So People of Issan.
• Phạm Đức Dương (1975). "Về mối quan hệ cộng đồng tộc người giữa các ngôn ngữ thuộc nhóm Việt - Mường miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam, 500–517. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
• Phan Hữu Dật (1975). "Về tên gọi các tộc người nói ngôn ngữ Môn - Miên ở miền tây tỉnh Quảng Bình". In, Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học. Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam, 531–537. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội.
• Sidwell, Paul. (2005). [The Katuic languages: classification, reconstruction and comparative lexicon]. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 58. Muenchen: Lincom Europa. Template:ISBN
• 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)
• http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-AD64-5@view Bru in the RWAAI Digital Archive