| Kam-Tai
Zhuang-Dong, Be-Kam-Tai
|
|
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Southern China, Southeast Asia, Hainan |
| Genetic classification: |
Kradai Kam-Tai |
| Subdivisions: | |
The Kam-Tai languages, or Be-Kam-Tai, are a proposed primary branch of the Kradai language family, and include all major languages of that family.
Based on the large number of vocabulary they share, three of the five branches of Kradai, namely Kam-Sui, Be, and Tai, are often classified together as Kam-Tai or Be-Kam-Tai. However, this is negative evidence, possibly due to lexical replacement in the other branches, and morphological similarities suggest that Kam-Sui should instead be grouped with Kra, one of the other branches, as Northern Kradai, and that Tai should be grouped with the final branch, Hlai, as Southern Kradai (Ostapirat 2005).
References
- Ostapirat W (2005). "Kra-dai and Austronesian: notes on phonological correspondences and vocabulary distribution." pp 107–131 in Sagart L, Blench R & Sanchez-Mazas A (eds.) The peopling of East Asia: putting together archaeology, linguistics and genetics. London/New York: Routledge-Curzon.
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