Khmuic peoples
Mon–Khmer peoples and Munda peoples |
Khmuic peoples refers to a group of
Geographic distribution
The Khmuic peoples are aboriginal to Laos and surrounding areas. Most Khmuic peoples live in northern
Individual Khmuic speaking groups
The individual Khmuic ethnic groups are as follows:
- Khmu
- Khmu U
- Khmu Rok
- Khmu Kwean
- Khmu Cheuang
- Khmu Leu
- Khmu Yuan
- Khmu Khrong
- Khmu Kasak
- Khmu Mea
- Khmu Montagnards
Other two groups: Khmu Chuang and Khmu Kaye are extinct or were assimilated in other ethnic groups especially Khmu Chuang was believed to be extinct, absorbed or assimilated by or into Khmer. In the ancient time, the Khmu Chuang lived in the southern part of Khmuic territory which is the area of the present day southern Laos). The Khmu Kaye lived in the eastern part of Khmuic territory which is the area of the present day Xiengkhuang province. Be in mind that some scholars confuse Khmu Cheuang [cɯaŋ] and Khmu Chuang [cuaŋ]. These two groups are not the same, Khmu Cheuang are still exist in the present day and mostly live in northwestern of Vietnam.
Non-Khmu peoples
The following are individual ethnic groups which some scholars misunderstand that they are Khmu and speak Khmuic. In fact they are much different from Khmu, in both language and culture. There are only a few words (less than 10%) of their vocabularies that resemble Khmuic.
- Lua
- Mal (also known as the Tin in Thailand and the Thin in Laos)
- Mlabri (also known as the Yumbri)
- O Du
- Phai
- Pray
- Xinh Mul
- Phong
- Phong-Kniang
- Khang
There are also the Khao and Bit peoples which were once thought to be Khmuic, although recent linguistic studies suggest they are probably Palaungic.
Origin
The Khmuic peoples are believed to have migrated by land from China to Laos, where they have resided for at least 4,000 years. Some 10,000 years ago, they were probably part of a largely homogeneous ethnicity, now referred to as the
Language
Their languages belong to the
Society
The Khmuic are generally an agricultural people, although gathering, hunting, trapping and fishing are also parts of the Khmuic lifestyle.[2]
References
- ^ Sidwell, Paul (2009). Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art. Munich: Lincom Europa.
- ^ "Khmu Profile". Archived from the original on 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
External links
- http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
- http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66E8-9@view Khmuic languages in RWAAI Digital Archive