Cuoi language

Cuối, known as Thổ,[2] is a dialect cluster spoken by around 70,000 Thổ people in Vietnam and a couple thousand in Laos, mainly in the provinces of Bolikhamsai and Khammouane.

"Tho (Vietnam)" redirects here. For other languages in Vietnam named Thổ, see Tho language.
Cuói
Thổ
Native toVietnam, Laos
EthnicityThổ
Native speakers
71,000 (1999 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Cuối Chăm
  • Làng Lỡ
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
tou – Tho
hnu – Hung
Glottologcuoi1242
ELP
Linguasphere46-EAD-a

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant inventory of the Làng Lỡ dialect, as cited by Michel Ferlus:[3]

Initial consonants of Cuối Làng Lỡ
Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive tenuis p t ʈ c k ʔ
glottalized ɓ ɗ ˀɟ
aspirated tʰ kʰ
Fricative voiceless f s ʂ h
voiced β v ð ɣ
glottalized ˀð
Approximant l ɽ ~ ʐ j
  • [ʈ] is found in Vietnamese loanwords with initial /ʈ/ (orthographic ⟨tr⟩)
  • [β ð ɣ ˀð] originate in the borrowing of segments from a variety of Vietnamese that existed several centuries ago.

Vowels
Monothongs of Cuối Làng Lỡ
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid/
Mid		 e ə o
Open-mid/
Open		 ɛ ʌ̆
ă a		 ɔ
Diphthongs of Cuối Làng Lỡ iəɨəuəeəoə

Tones

There're eight tones in the Làng Lỡ. Tones 1 to 6 are found on sonorant-final syllables (a.k.a. 'live' syllables): syllables ending in a vowel, semi-vowel or nasal. Tones 7 and 8 are found on obstruent-final syllables (a.k.a. 'stopped' syllables), ending in -p -t -c -k.[3] This is a system comparable to that of Vietnamese.

Vocabulary

The data is from Cuoi Cham vocabulary recordings and the Mon-Khmer Etymological Dictionary.

English Cuối Chăm Làng Lỡ Vietnamese
cloud mʌl1 mʌn1 mây
rain mɐː² mɨə1 mưa
wind sɒː³ juə³ gió
thunder kʰrʌm⁴ ʂəm⁴ sấm
earth, land tʌt⁷ tʌt⁷ đất
cave haːŋ1 haːŋ1 hang
deep kʰruː² ʂuː² sâu
water daːk⁷ daːk⁷ nước
river kʰrɔŋ1 ʂɔːŋ1 sông
puddle puŋ⁶ - vũng
mud puːl² vuːn² bùn
rock, stone taː³ δaː³ đá
bark pɒː⁵ ʂɔː56 vỏ
dog cɒː³ cɔː³ chó
cultivated field rɔːŋ⁴ ʂɔːŋ⁴ ruộng
to go tiː² tiː² đi
to have kɒː³ kɔː³ có

References
  1. Tho at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Hung at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. "The Vietic Branch". sealang.net.
  3. Ferlus 2015, I.2

Further reading
  • Ferlus, Michel (2015). Hypercorrections in the Thổ dialect of Làng Lỡ (Nghệ An, Vietnam): an example of pitfalls for comparative linguistics (Ph.D.).
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