The Chamic languages, also known as Aceh–Chamic and Achinese–Chamic, are a group of ten languages spoken in parts of Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, and Hainan

Hainan

Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...

, classified as Malayic languages

Malayic languages

The Malayic languages are a branch of the Sunda–Sulawesi languages of the Austronesian family. They include Malay, the national language of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei; Minangkabau in central Sumatra; and Iban in northern Borneo....

 in the Austronesian language family.

After Acehnese

Acehnese language

Acehnese or Aceh is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by Acehnese people natively in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia...

, with 3 million, Jarai

Jarai language

The Jarai language is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Jarai people of Vietnam and Cambodia. The speakers of Jarai number approximately 332,557...

 and Cham

Cham language

Cham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam. A member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family, it is spoken by 100,000 people in Vietnam and up to 220,000 people in Cambodia . There are also...

 are the most widely spoken Chamic languages, with about 230,000 and 280,000 speakers respectively. Tsat

Tsat language

Tsat is a language spoken near Sanya, Hainan, China by the Utsuls. Tsat is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian group within the Austronesian language family, and is related to the Cham languages, originally from the coast of present-day Vietnam...

 is one of the least spoken with only 3,000 speakers.

Classification

Graham Thurgood

Graham Thurgood

Graham Thurgood is a professor at California State University, Chico. Thurgood is well known for his reconstruction of Proto-Chamic and his studies on tonogenesis in Hainan Cham. He also specializes in Tai–Kadai and Tibeto-Burman linguistics.-Publications:...

 (1999:36) gives the following classification for the Chamic languages. Individual languages are marked by italics.

• Acehnese
  Acehnese language
  Acehnese or Aceh is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by Acehnese people natively in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia...
  
  
• Coastal Chamic
  • Haroi
  • Cham proper
    Cham language
    Cham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam. A member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family, it is spoken by 100,000 people in Vietnam and up to 220,000 people in Cambodia . There are also...
    
    
    • Western Cham
    • Phan Rang Cham
• Highlands Chamic
  • Rade–Jarai
    • Rade (E De)
    • Jarai
      Jarai language
      The Jarai language is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Jarai people of Vietnam and Cambodia. The speakers of Jarai number approximately 332,557...
      
      
  • Chru–Northern
    • Chru
    • Northern Cham
      • Roglai
        Roglai language
        The Roglai language is a Chamic language of southern Vietnam. There are four dialects :#Northern#Du Long#Southern#Cac GiaTheir autonym is Radlai, which means "forest people."-References:...
        
        
      • Tsat
        Tsat language
        Tsat is a language spoken near Sanya, Hainan, China by the Utsuls. Tsat is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian group within the Austronesian language family, and is related to the Cham languages, originally from the coast of present-day Vietnam...
        
        

The Proto-Chamic numerals from 7 to 9 are shared with those of the Malayan languages

Malayan languages

The Malayan languages are a branch of the Malayic languages that spread from central Sumatra or possibly western Borneo. Malayic languages include "para"-Malay languages of central Sumatra such as Minangkabau, Aboriginal Malay languages such as Temuan, and the various Malay languages proper, such...

, providing partial evidence for a Malayo-Chamic subgrouping (Thurgood 1999:37).

Reconstruction

The Proto-Chamic reconstructed below is from Graham Thurgood

Graham Thurgood

Graham Thurgood is a professor at California State University, Chico. Thurgood is well known for his reconstruction of Proto-Chamic and his studies on tonogenesis in Hainan Cham. He also specializes in Tai–Kadai and Tibeto-Burman linguistics.-Publications:...

's 1999 publication From Ancient Cham to Modern Dialects.

Consonants

The following table of Proto-Chamic presyllabic consonants are from Thurgood (1999:68). There are a total of 13-14 presyllabic consonants depending on whether or not ɲ is counted. Non-presyllabic consonants include *ʔ, *ɓ, *ɗ, *ŋ, *y, *w. Aspirated consonants are also reconstructable for Proto-Chamic.

caption | Proto-Chamic Presyllabic Consonants

Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...	Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...	Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....	Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t	c	k
	Voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...		m		ɲ
Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....			l
Tap Flap consonant In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.-Contrast with stops and trills:...  or trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular....			r
Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...			s			h

The following consonant clusters are reconstructed for Proto-Chamic (Thurgood 1999:93).

1. *pl-
2. *bl-
3. *kl-
4. *gl-
5. *pr-
6. *tr-
7. *kr-
8. *br-
9. *dr-

Vowels

There are 4 vowels (*-a, *-i, *-u, and *-e, or alternatively *-ə) and 3 diphthong

Diphthong

A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...

s (*-ay, *-uy, *-aw).

caption | Proto-Chamic Vowels

Height		Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...		Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...		Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...		i /i/				u /u/
Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel...		e /e/		([ə /ə/])
Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...				a /a/

Morphology

Reconstructed Proto-Chamic morphological components are:

• *tə-: the "inadvertent" prefix
• *mə-: common verb prefix
• *pə-: causative prefix
• *bɛʔ-: negative imperative prefix (borrowed from Mon–Khmer languages)
• *-əm-: nominalizing infix
• *-ən-: instrumental infix (borrowed from Mon–Khmer languages)

Pronouns

Proto-Chamic has the following personal pronouns (Thurgood 1999:247-248):

Singular

• *kəu – I (familiar)
• *hulun – I (polite); slave
• *dahlaʔ – I (polite)
• *hã – you; thou
• *ñu – he, she; they

Plural

• *kaməi – we (exclusive)
• *ta – we (inclusive)
• *drəi – we (inclusive); reflexive
• *gəp – other; group (borrowed from Mon–Khmer languages)

External links

• Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: Word lists for Chamic languages
• Ethnologue entry