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.
The most widely spoken Chamic languages are Acehnese with about 3.5 million speakers, Cham with about 280,000, and Jarai with about 230,000. Tsat is the most northern and least spoken, with only 3000 speakers by the Utsuls in Hainan.
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 has caused Chamic and the Bahnaric languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic family, to have many vocabulary items in common.
Classification
Graham Thurgood gives the following classification for the Chamic languages. Individual languages are marked by italics.
- Chamic
- Acehnese
- Coastal Chamic
- Haroi (Vietnamese: H'roi)
- Cham (Vietnamese: Chăm)
- Western Cham
- Eastern Cham (Panduranga Cham)
- Highlands Chamic
- Rade–Jarai
- Bih
- 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
- Roglai (Vietnamese: Ra Glai)
- Rade–Jarai
The Proto-Chamic numerals from 7 to 9 are shared with those of the Malayic languages, providing partial evidence for a Malayo-Chamic subgrouping.
Roger Blench 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.
Reconstruction
The Proto-Chamic reconstructed below is from Graham Thurgood's 1999 publication From Ancient Cham to Modern Dialects.
Consonants
The following table of Proto-Chamic presyllabic consonants are from Thurgood. There are a total of 13–14 presyllabic consonants depending on whether or not * is counted. Non-presyllabic consonants include *ʔ, *ɓ, *ɗ, *ŋ, *y, *w. Aspirated consonants are also reconstructable for Proto-Chamic.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | |||||
| Voiced | ||||||
| Nasal | ||||||
| Lateral | ||||||
| Tap or trill | ||||||
| Fricative | ||||||
The following consonant clusters are reconstructed for Proto-Chamic: *pl-, *bl-, *kl-, *gl-, *pr-, *tr-, *kr-, *br-, *dr-. Initial *n did not exist, it was replaced by *l instead (*nanaq → *lanah "pus").
Vowels
There are four vowels (*-a, *-i, *-u, and *-e, or alternatively *-ə) and three diphthongs (*-ay, *-uy, *-aw).
Morphology
Reconstructed Proto-Chamic morphological components are:
- *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:
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 | Terengganu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | *sa | sa | satu | se | |||
| seven | *tujuh | tujôh | tujuh | tujoh | |||
| fire | *ʔapuy | apui | api | api | |||
| sky | *laŋit | Lingik | langèt | langit | langik | ||
| rice (husked) | *braːs | breueh | beras | bghah | |||
| iron | *bisεy | beusoe | besi | besi | |||
| sugarcane | *tabɔw-v | teubèe | tebu | tebu |
