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| Sedang | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Vietnam and Laos | |
| Region: | Kontum, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai (Vietnam) | |
| Total speakers: | 101,434 | |
| Language family: | Austro-Asiatic Mon-Khmer Eastern Bahnaric North Bahnaric Sedang-Todrah Sedang |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | mkh | |
| ISO 639-3: | sed | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Sedang is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken in eastern Laos and the Kon Tum Province in south central Vietnam. The Sedang language is the most populous of the North Bahnaric language group, which are known for their range of vowel phonations.
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Phonology
Consonants
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Bilabial Labio-
dentalAlveolar Alveolo-
PalatalVelar Glottal Stop unaspirated p t tɕ k ʔ aspirated pʰ tʰ tɕʰ kʰ prenasalized mb nd ndʑ ŋɡ Fricative voiced f s x h voiceless v z ɣ Nasal m n ɲ ŋ Approximant central w j lateral l
Vowels
Sedang itself has 24 pure vowels: 7 vowel qualities, all of which may be plain (ex. [a]), nasalized ([ã]), and creaky ([a̰]), and three of which -- /i a o/ -- may be both nasal and creaky ([ã̰]). While it doesn't have the length distinctions of other North Bahnaric languages, it does have more diphthongs, for somewhere between 33 and 55 vowel sounds altogether. Because of this Sedang is sometimes claimed to have the largest vowel inventory in the world. Note however that other Bahnaric languages have larger numbers of vowel qualities (Bahnar, for example, has 9) in addition to phonemic vowel length, so the record holder depends closely on how the languages are described and distinct vowels are defined.
References
- Smith, Kenneth D. 1967. "Sedang dialects." Bulletin de la Société des Etudes Indochinoises 42: 195-255.
- Smith, Kenneth D. 1968. "Laryngealization and de-laryngealization in Sedang phonemics." Linguistics 38: 52-69.
- Smith, Kenneth D. 1969. Sedang ethnodialects. Anthropological Linguistics 11(5): 143-47.
- Smith, Kenneth D. 1973. More on Sedang ethnodialects. Mon-Khmer Studies 4: 43-51.
External links
- Sedang page on ethnologue.com
- Paul Sidwell's Mon-Khmer language information at the Australian National University.
- Sound sample showing the distinction between clear and creaky vowels, from the link above.
- Sedang page on the Rosetta Project.
- Smith's dissertation [1]
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