Sedang language

Sedang
Native to	VietnamandLaos
Region	Kon Tum,Quảng Nam,Quảng Ngãi,Dak Lak(Vietnam)
Ethnicity	Sedang people
Native speakers	98,000 (2007)
Language family	Austroasiatic Bahnaric North Bahnaric Sedang–Todrah Sedang
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sed
Glottolog	seda1262

Sedangis anAustro-Asiatic languagespoken in easternLaosandKon Tum Provincein south centralVietnam.The Sedang language has the most speakers of any of the languages of theNorth Bahnaric languagegroup, a group of languages known for their range ofvowelphonations.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	unaspirated	p	t	tɕ	k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ
	prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮdʑ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		x	h
	voiced	v	z		ɣ
Approximant		w	l	j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Upper Mid	e		o
Lower Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

Diphthongs

	Front Glide	Central Glide	Back Glide
/i/ Nucleus	iɛ̯,ḭɛ̯	iə̯,ḭə̯,ĩə̯̃,ḭ̃ə̯̃	io̯,ĩõ̯
/u/ Nucleus		uə̯,ṵə̯,ũə̯̃,ṵ̃ə̯̃	uo̯,ṵo̯
/e/ Nucleus		eə̯,ḛə̯,ẽə̯̃,ḛ̃ə̯̃	eo̯,ḛo̯,ḛ̃o̯
/o/ Nucleus	oɛ̯,o̰ɛ̯	oə̯,o̰ə̯,õə̯̃

Sedang itself has 24 pure vowels: 7 vowel qualities, all of which may be plain ([a]),nasalized([ã]), andcreaky([a̰]) and three of which /i a o/ may be both nasal and creaky ([ã̰]). While it does not have the length distinctions of other North Bahnaric languages, it has morediphthongs,between 33 and 55 vowel sounds all together. (The above set yields 50.) Sedang is thus sometimes claimed to have the largest vowel inventory in the world. However, other Bahnaric languages have more vowel qualities (Bahnar, for example, has 9) in addition to phonemic vowel length so the language with the record depends closely on how the languages are described and distinct vowels are defined.

Further reading

• Smith, Kenneth D. (1967). "Sedang dialects".Bulletin de la Société des Études Indochinoises.42:195–255.
• Smith, Kenneth D. (1968). "Laryngealization and de-laryngealization in Sedang phonemics".Linguistics.6(38): 52–69.
• Smith, Kenneth D. (1969). "Sedang ethnodialects".Anthropological Linguistics.11(5): 143–147.JSTOR30029222.
• Smith, Kenneth D. (1973)."More on Sedang ethnodialects"(PDF).Mon–Khmer Studies.4:43–51.
• Smith, Kenneth D. (1979).Sedang Grammar: Phonological and Syntactic Structure.Pacific Linguistics Series B - No. 50. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.doi:10.15144/pl-b50.hdl:1885/145050.ISBN978-0-85883-180-3.
• Lê Đông, Tạ Văn Thông (2008),Từ điển Việt - Xơ Đăng,Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản văn hóa thông tin

External links

• Sedang Dictionarywith English, Vietnamese, and French glossaries
• Paul Sidwell'sMon–Khmer language informationat the Australian National University.
• Sound sampleshowing the distinction between clear and creaky vowels, from the link above.
• Smith's dissertation