Austro-Asiatic languages - Classification

A group of over 100 languages spoken in SE Asia. Few of them had written forms until recent times, and their connections with other languages in the region are uncertain. The major group is the Mon–Khmer, which has three main languages: Mon (Tailang), Khmer, and Vietnamese.

Austro-Asiatic Austroasiatic
Geographic distribution:	South and Southeast Asia
Genetic classification:	One of the world's major language families
Subdivisions:	Mon-Khmer Munda

The Austro-Asiatic languages are a large language family of Southeast Asia, and also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh.

Austro-Asiatic languages have a disjunct distribution across India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, separated by regions where other languages are spoken. It is widely believed that the Austro-Asiatic languages are the autochthonous languages of Southeast Asia and the eastern Indian subcontinent, and that the other languages of the region, including the Indo-European, Tai-Kadai, and Sino-Tibetan languages, are the result of later migrations of people. (There are, for example, Austro-Asiatic words in the Tibeto-Burman languages of eastern Nepal.) Some linguists have attempted to prove that Austro-Asiatic languages are related to Austronesian languages, thus forming the Austric superfamily.

Classification

Linguists traditionally recognize two primary divisions of Austro-Asiatic: the Mon-Khmer languages of Southeast Asia, Northeast India and the Nicobar Islands, and the Munda languages of East and Central India and parts of Bangladesh.

Munda North Munda Korku Kherwarian South Munda Kharia-Juang Koraput Munda Mon-Khmer Eastern Mon-Khmer Khmer (Cambodian) Pearic Bahnaric Katuic Vietic (includes Vietnamese) Northern Mon-Khmer Khasi (Meghalaya, India) Palaungic Khmuic Southern Mon-Khmer Mon Aslian (Malaya) Nicobarese (Nicobar Islands)

Ilia Peiros (2004)

Peiros is a lexicostatistic classification, based on percentages of shared vocabulary. This means that a language may appear to be more distantly related than it actually is due to language contact, so it is only a starting point for a proper genealogical classification.

Munda languages (India) Koraput: 7 languages Core Munda languages Kharian-Juang: 2 languages North Munda languages Korku Kherwarian: 12 languages Khasi-Khmuic languages Khasian: 3 languages of eastern India and Bangladesh. Palaungo-Khmuic languages Khmuic: 13 languages of Laos and Thailand. Palaungo-Pakanic languages Pakanic or Palyu: 2 languages of southern China Palaungic: 21 languages of Myanmar, southern China, and Thailand, plus Mang of Vietnam. Nuclear Mon-Khmer languages Khmero-Vietic languages Vieto-Katuic languages Vietic: 10 languages of Vietnam and Laos, including the Vietnamese language, which has the most speakers of any Austro-Asiatic language. Khmero-Bahnaric languages Bahnaric: 40 languages of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Nico-Monic languages Nicobarese languages: 6 languages of the Nicobar Islands, a territory of India. Asli-Monic languages Aslian: 19 languages of peninsular Malaysia and Thailand. Monic: 2 languages, the Mon language of Myanmar and the Nyahkur language of Thailand.