Chamic languages

This article is about the Aceh-Chamic language family. For the group of Cham dialects, see Cham language.

The Chamic languages, also known as Aceh–Chamic and Acehnese–Chamic, are a group of ten languages spoken in Aceh (Sumatra, Indonesia) and in parts of Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hainan, China. The Chamic languages are a subgroup of Malayo-Polynesian languages in the Austronesian family. The ancestor of this subfamily, proto-Chamic, is associated with the Sa Huỳnh culture, its speakers arriving in what is now Vietnam from Formosa.^[1]

Chamic
Aceh–Chamic
Geographic distribution	Indonesia (Aceh), Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, China (Hainan Island), various countries with recent immigrants
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian disputed: Malayo-Sumbawan or Greater North Borneo Malayo-Chamic Chamic
Proto-language	Proto-Chamic
Subdivisions	Acehnese Coastal (Cham) Highlands (Cham)
Language codes
ISO 639-2 / 5	cmc
Glottolog	cham1327  (Aceh–Chamic) cham1330  (Chamic)

The most widely spoken Chamic languages are Acehnese with 3.5 million speakers, Cham with about 280,000, and Jarai with about 230,000, in both Cambodia and Vietnam. Tsat is the most northern and least spoken, with only 3000 speakers.

History

Cham has the oldest literary history of any Austronesian language. The Dong Yen Chau inscription, written in Old Cham, dates from the late 4th century AD.

Extensive borrowing resulting from long-term contact have caused Chamic and the Bahnaric languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic family, to have many vocabulary items in common.^[1][2]

Classification

Graham Thurgood gives the following classification for the Chamic languages.^[3] Individual languages are marked by italics.

Speakers of Acehnese.

Coastal Chamic language

Highland Chamic language

• Chamic
  • Acehnese
  • Coastal Chamic
    • Haroi (Vietnamese: H'roi)
    • Cham (Vietnamese: Chăm)
      • Western Cham
      • Eastern Cham (Panduranga Cham)
  • Highlands Chamic
    • Rade–Jarai
      • Bih^[a]
      • Rade (Vietnamese: Ê-đê)
      • Jarai (Vietnamese: Gia Rai)
    • Chru–Northern
      • Chru (Vietnamese: Chu Ru)
      • Northern Cham
        • Roglai (Vietnamese: Ra Glai)
          • Northern Roglai
          • Southern Roglai
        • Tsat

The Proto-Chamic numerals from 7 to 9 are shared with those of the Malayic languages, providing partial evidence for a Malayo-Chamic subgrouping.^[4]

Roger Blench^[5] also proposes that there may have been at least one other Austroasiatic branch in coastal Vietnam that is now extinct, based on various Austroasiatic loanwords in modern-day Chamic languages that cannot be clearly traced to existing Austroasiatic branches.^[5][6]

Reconstruction

Proto-Chamic
Reconstruction of	Chamic languages
Reconstructed ancestors	Proto-Austronesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian

The Proto-Chamic reconstructed below is from Graham Thurgood's 1999 publication From Ancient Cham to Modern Dialects.^[1]

Consonants

The following table of Proto-Chamic presyllabic consonants are from Thurgood.^[7] 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.

Proto-Chamic Presyllabic Consonants^[1]

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t	c	k
	Voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Nasal		m		ɲ[8]
Lateral			l
Tap or trill			r
Fricative			s			h

The following consonant clusters are reconstructed for Proto-Chamic:^[9] *pl-, *bl-, *kl-, *gl-, *pr-, *tr-, *kr-, *br-, *dr-. Initial *n did not exist, it was replaced by *l instead (*nanaq → *lanah "pus").^[10]

Vowels

There are four vowels (*-a, *-i, *-u, and *-e, or alternatively *-ə) and three diphthongs (*-ay, *-uy, *-aw).^[1]

Proto-Chamic Vowels

Height		Front		Central		Back
Close		i /i/				u /u/
Mid		e /e/		([ə /ə/])
Open				a /a/

Morphology

Reconstructed Proto-Chamic morphological components are:^[1]

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

Pronouns

Proto-Chamic has the following personal pronouns:^[11]

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 Austroasiatic languages)

Proto-Chamic and Chamic lexical correspondences

Proto-Chamic, Mainland Chamic, Acehnese and Malay comparative table:

Gloss	Proto-Chamic	Western Cham	Eastern Cham	Roglai	Aceh	Malay
one	*sa	/sa ha/	/tha/	/sa/	/sa/	satu
seven	*tujuh	/taçuh/	/taçŭh/	/tijuh/	/tujoh/	tujuh
fire	*ʔapuy	/pui/	/apuy/	/apui/	/apui/	api
sky	*laŋit	/laŋiʔ/	/laŋiʔ/ Lingik	/laŋĩːʔ/	/laŋɛt/	langit
rice (husked)	*braːs	/prah/	/prah-l/	/bra/	/brɯəh/	beras
iron	*bisεy	/pasay/	/pithăy/	/pisǝy/	/bɯsɔə/	besi
sugarcane	*tabɔw-v	/tapau/	/tapăw/	/tubəu/	/tɯbɛə/	tebu

Notes

1. According to Glottolog 5.1 (2024) it is classified as a separate language. But its classification is still doubtful, some linguists consider it as a Rade dialect.