Kam–Sui languages
| Kam–Sui | |
|---|---|
| Dong–Shui | |
| Geographic distribution: |
eastern Guizhou, western Hunan, and northern Guangxi |
| Linguistic classification: |
Tai–Kadai
|
| Glottolog: | kams1241 |
The Kam–Sui languages (Chinese: 侗水語支; pinyin: Dòng-Shǔi) are a branch of the Tai–Kadai languages spoken by the Kam–Sui peoples. They are spoken mainly in eastern Guizhou, western Hunan, and northern Guangxi in southern China. Small pockets of Kam–Sui speakers are also found in northern Vietnam and Laos.
Kam–Sui includes a dozen languages. The Lakkja and Biao languages are sometimes separated out as a sister branch to Kam–Sui within a "Be–Kam–Tai" branch of Kradai, but this is not well supported. Otherwise the languages are not subclassified.
The better known Kam–Sui languages are Dong (Kam), with over a million speakers, Mulam, Maonan, and Sui. Other Kam–Sui languages include Ai-Cham, Mak, and T’en, and Chadong, which is the most recently discovered Kam–Sui language. Yang (2000) considers Ai-Cham and Mak to be dialects of a single language.
Graham Thurgood (1988) presents the following tentative classification for the Kam–Sui branch.Chadong, a language which has only been recently described by Chinese linguist Jinfang Li, is also included below. It is most closely related to Maonan.
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