Brao language

Brao
Native to	Cambodia, Laos
Native speakers	59,000 (2005–2008)
Language family	Austroasiatic Bahnaric West Brao
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: brb – Lave krr – Kru’ng krv – Kavet
Glottolog	lave1238

Brao is a Mon–Khmer language of Cambodia and Laos.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Dorsal
Nasals	ʰm m	ʰn n	ɲ	ʰŋ ŋ
Obstruents	pʰ p b ʔb	tʰ t d ʔd	ç c ɟ ʔɟ	kʰ k ɡ ʔɡ	ħ ʔ
Trill		r
Approximant		l	j	w

Varieties

According to Ethnologue, there are four distinct but mutually intelligible varieties, sometimes considered separate languages: Lave (Brao proper), Kru’ng (Kreung), and Kavet (Kravet), the latter spoken by only a couple thousand.

Districts of Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia

Sidwell (2003) also lists four communities of speakers, three of which are in Cambodia.

• Laveh (Lave, Rawe): spoken in Attapeu Province, Laos south of the capital city of Attapeu. Laveh is the official designation given by the Laotian government.
• Krung (Krüng): spoken around Ban Lung in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia
• Kavet (Kravet): spoken in Voeun Sai District, Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia
• Brao (Brou, Palaw, Preou): spoken in and around the town of Taveng in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia

Lun, spoken in Stung Treng Province, Cambodia, is related to Lave and Kavet (Philip Lambrecht 2012).

Demographics

Sidwell (2003) suggests the possibility of a total of 50,000 speakers, while Bradley (1994:161) gives an estimate of 35,000. All estimates below are drawn from Sidwell (2003:30).

• Laos: The 1995 Laotian census places the Laveh population at 17,544.
• Cambodia: The Asian Development Bank gave an estimate of 29,500 speakers as of the early 2000s.
• Vietnam: About 300 Brau live in Đắc Mế village, Bờ Y commune, Ngọc Hồi district, Kon Tum province (Đặng, et al. 2010:112). Parkin (1991:81) also estimates several hundred Brao in Vietnam.
• Thailand: Parkin (1991:81) estimates a Brao population of 2,500 in Thailand.

References

• Sidwell, Paul (2003). A Handbook of comparative Bahnaric, Vol. 1: West Bahnaric. Pacific Linguistics, 551. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.

Further reading

• Keller, C. E. (1976). A grammatical sketch of Brao, a Mon–Khmer language. Grand Forks, N.D.: Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session. OCLC: 2915938