Arem language

Arem
Arem
Cmbrau
Pronunciation	[cmrawˀ]
Native to	Laos,Vietnam
Ethnicity	Arem
Native speakers	7 (2021)
Language family	Austroasiatic Vietic Chut? Arem; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aem
Glottolog	arem1240
ELP	Arem
	Arem is classified as Critically Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger

TheArem language(Cmbrau[cmrawˀ]) is anendangered languagespoken by theArem peoplein a small area on both sides of theLaos–Vietnamborder. It belongs to theVieticbranch of theAustroasiatic language family.Specifically, it is a member of the Chut language group, which is one of the sixVietic languages.This language is considered critically endangered by UNESCO.^[2]Like other Vietic languages, the Arem language makes use of a tonal or phonational system that is unique to Vietic languages. Like many southern Vietic Languages, the Arem language also makes use of pre-syllables orsesquisyllableswithin the language.^[3]

Arem lacks thebreathy phonationcommon to most Vietic languages, but does haveglottalizedfinal consonants.^[4]

Names

Arem is an ethnographic term to describe a group of indigenous people that reside on the border of Southern Vietnam and Laos. The people prefer to call themselves Cmbrau[cmrawˀ].^[3]However, because this is the only attested[cm-]sesquisyllabic structure in the language, it is theorized that this may also be an ethnographic term that was borrowed from another nearby language.^[3]

Another name for the Arem isUmo,which literally means 'cave' or 'grotto'.^[5]

History and demographics

TheArem peoplewere only known to exist by local populations of Vietnam until 1959, when they were discovered by the Vietnamese military.^[3]Previously, the local authorities had thought them members of the local Bru khùa community. The Arem population was only 53 people in 1960: 30 men and 23 women.^[6]The most recent survey of the area in 1999 indicated that there were 102 Arem people.^[7]Of these 102 Arem people, only around 25% of the population was estimated to be using the Arem language on a consistent basis.^[7]All speakers of the Arem language are bilingual speakers of Vietnamese and some are also fluent in Khùa and/or Lao as well.^[8]

In Vietnam, Arem is spoken in Bản Ban and inTân Trạchcommunities.^[9]In Tân Trạch, Arem is spoken in village no. 39, which also has Ma[ng] Coong people, who are a Bru–Van Kieu subgroup. As a result, Ma Coong is the most widely spoken in the village. As of 2015, there were only about 20 speakers of Arem remaining.^[5]

Syllabic structure

The Arem language makes use of both monosyllabic words and sesquisyllabic words. It is estimated that 55-60% of the Arem language's consists of sesquisyllabic words. This is much higher than the majority of other Vietic languages that typically utilize sesquisyllables in only 35-40% of their lexicon, if the particular language contains any sesquisyllables at all.^[3]

Notes and references

Notes

^Ta, Tan (2023-05-04).Register and Tone Developments in Vietic Languages(Thesis).doi:10.20381/RUOR-29099.
^"Arem".The World Atlas of Languages.Retrieved2024-09-06.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eFERLUS, Michel. 2014. Arem, a Vietic Language.Mon-Khmer Studies43.1:1-15 (ICAAL5 special issue)
^"The Vietic Branch".sealang.net.Retrieved2019-03-25.
^^a ^bBabaev, Kirill; Samarina, Irina (2021). Sidwell, Paul (ed.).A Grammar of May: An Austroasiatic Language of Vietnam.Brill. pp. 11–12.ISBN 978-9-00446-108-6.
^Vương Hoàng Tuyên. 1963.Các dân tộc nguồn gốc Nam-Á ở miền bắc Việt-Nam[Ethnic groups of Austro-Asiatic origin in North Vietnam]. Nhà xuất bản Giáo Dục, Hà-Nội. [Arem: vocabulary p. 71; Compare list of a hundred words in Viet-Muong languages, including Arem; see fold-out page V-VIII, end of the book]
^^a ^bTrần Trí Dõi. 1999.Nghiên cứu ngôn ngữ các dân tộc thiểu số Việt Nam[Study of languages of ethnic minorities in Vietnam]. Nhà xuất bản đại học quốc gia Hà-Nội. [Arem: demography p.110; vocabulary p. 16 and 37]
^Trần Trí Dõi. 1995.Thực trạng kinh tế và văn hóa của ba nhóm tộc người đang có nguy cơ bị biến mất[Actual state of the economy and culture of three endangered ethnic groups]. Nhà xuất bản văn hóa dân tộc. [Arem: population pp. 71-76; no vocabulary]
^Babaev, Kirill Vladimirovich [Бабаев, Кирилл Владимирович]; Samarina, Irina Vladimirovna [Самарина, Ирина Владимировна]. 2019. Язык май. Материалы Российско-вьетнамской лингвистической экспедиции /Jazyk maj. Materialy Rossijsko-vetnamskoj lingvisticheskoj ekspeditsii.Moscow:Издательский Дом ЯСК.ISBN 978-5-907117-34-1.(in Russian).p.16.

Bibliography

Enfield, N.J.;Diffloth, Gérard(2009)."Phonology and sketch grammar of Kri, a Vietic language of Laos"(PDF).Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale.38(1): 3–69.doi:10.1163/1960602809x00063.hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0013-4111-0.(see note on talk page)
Ferlus, Michel. 2014.Arem, a Vietic Language.Mon-Khmer Studies43.1:1-15 (ICAAL5 special issue).

External links

Arem corpuscollected byMichel Ferlusand Trần Trí Dõi.Pangloss Collection–(CNRS,Paris).

[1] Ta, Tan (2023-05-04).Register and Tone Developments in Vietic Languages(Thesis).doi:10.20381/RUOR-29099.

[Unesco-2] "Arem".The World Atlas of Languages.Retrieved2024-09-06.

[:0-3] FERLUS, Michel. 2014. Arem, a Vietic Language.Mon-Khmer Studies43.1:1-15 (ICAAL5 special issue)

[4] "The Vietic Branch".sealang.net.Retrieved2019-03-25.

[BabaevSamarina1-5] Babaev, Kirill; Samarina, Irina (2021). Sidwell, Paul (ed.).A Grammar of May: An Austroasiatic Language of Vietnam.Brill. pp. 11–12.ISBN 978-9-00446-108-6.

[6] Vương Hoàng Tuyên. 1963.Các dân tộc nguồn gốc Nam-Á ở miền bắc Việt-Nam[Ethnic groups of Austro-Asiatic origin in North Vietnam]. Nhà xuất bản Giáo Dục, Hà-Nội. [Arem: vocabulary p. 71; Compare list of a hundred words in Viet-Muong languages, including Arem; see fold-out page V-VIII, end of the book]

[:1-7] Trần Trí Dõi. 1999.Nghiên cứu ngôn ngữ các dân tộc thiểu số Việt Nam[Study of languages of ethnic minorities in Vietnam]. Nhà xuất bản đại học quốc gia Hà-Nội. [Arem: demography p.110; vocabulary p. 16 and 37]

[8] Trần Trí Dõi. 1995.Thực trạng kinh tế và văn hóa của ba nhóm tộc người đang có nguy cơ bị biến mất[Actual state of the economy and culture of three endangered ethnic groups]. Nhà xuất bản văn hóa dân tộc. [Arem: population pp. 71-76; no vocabulary]

[9] Babaev, Kirill Vladimirovich [Бабаев, Кирилл Владимирович]; Samarina, Irina Vladimirovna [Самарина, Ирина Владимировна]. 2019. Язык май. Материалы Российско-вьетнамской лингвистической экспедиции /Jazyk maj. Materialy Rossijsko-vetnamskoj lingvisticheskoj ekspeditsii.Moscow:Издательский Дом ЯСК.ISBN 978-5-907117-34-1.(in Russian).p.16.

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