Editing Austroasiatic languages

{{Short description|Language family concentrated in Southeast Asia}}
{{Distinguish|Austronesian languages|Afroasiatic languages}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Austroasiatic
| altname       = Austro-Asiatic
| region        = [[Southeast Asia|Southeast]], [[South Asia|South]] and [[East Asia]]
| familycolor   = Austroasiatic
| speakers      = {{est.}} 117 million
| family        = One of the world's primary [[Language family|language families]]
| protoname     = [[Proto-Austroasiatic language|Proto-Austroasiatic]]
| child1        = [[Munda languages|Munda]]
| child2        = [[Khasi-Palaungic languages|Khasi-Palaungic]]
| child3        = [[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]
| child4        = ''[[Mang language|Mang]]''
| child5        = [[Pakanic languages|Pakanic]]
| child6        = [[Vietic languages|Vietic]]
| child7        = [[Katuic languages|Katuic]]
| child8        = [[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]
| child9        = ''[[Khmer language|Khmer]]''
| child10       = [[Pearic languages|Pearic]]
| child11       = [[Monic languages|Monic]]
| child12       = [[Aslian languages|Aslian]]
| child13       = [[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]
| iso5          = aav
| glotto        = aust1305
| glottoname    = Austroasiatic
| map           = Austroasiatic-en.svg
| mapcaption    = Austroasiatic languages by branch
{{columns-list|colwidth=10em|style=width: 350px; font-style: italic;|
{{Legend|#FFEC19|[[Munda languages|Munda]]}}
{{Legend|#FFBF00|[[Khasic languages|Khasic]]}}
{{Legend|#FF8400|[[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]]}}
{{Legend|#FF3C00|[[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]}}
{{Legend|#FF82BF|[[Vietic languages|Vietic]]}}
{{Legend|#B67BFF|[[Katuic languages|Katuic]]}}
{{Legend|#5D98FF|[[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]}}
{{Legend|#61FFCF|[[Khmer language|Khmer]]}}
{{Legend|#9CE100|[[Monic languages|Monic]]}}
{{Legend|#55CE00|[[Aslian languages|Aslian]]}}
{{Legend|#01A604|[[Pearic languages|Pearic]]}}
{{Legend|#808040|[[Pakanic languages|Pakanic]]}}
{{Legend|#946432|[[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]}} }}
| ancestor          = 
| notes               = 
| map2               = AA_languages_map_%28with_natl%27_border%29.svg
| mapcaption2    = Austroasiatic languages
}}

The '''Austroasiatic languages'''{{refn|group=note|Sometimes also ''Austro-Asiatic'' or ''Austroasian''}} ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɒ|s|t|r|oʊ|.|eɪ|ʒ|i|ˈ|æ|t|ɪ|k|,_|ˌ|ɔː|-|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Austroasiatic.wav}} {{respelling|OSS|troh|ay|zhee|AT|ik|,_|AWSS-}}) are a large [[language family]] spoken throughout [[Mainland Southeast Asia]], [[South Asia]] and [[East Asia]]. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in [[Vietnam]] and [[Cambodia]], and by minority populations scattered throughout parts of [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[India]], [[Myanmar]], [[Malaysia]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], and [[southern China]]. Approximately 117 million people speak an Austroasiatic language, of which more than two-thirds are [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] speakers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Austroasiatic.html|title=Austroasiatic|website=www.languagesgulper.com|language=en|access-date=15 October 2017|archive-date=29 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329085717/http://languagesgulper.com/eng/Austroasiatic.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Of the Austroasiatic languages, only [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Khmer language|Khmer]], and [[Mon language|Mon]] have lengthy, established presences in the  historical record. Only two are presently considered to be the [[national language]]s of sovereign states: Vietnamese in Vietnam, and Khmer in Cambodia. The Mon language is a recognized indigenous language in Myanmar and Thailand, while  the [[Wa language]] is a "recognized national language" in the de facto autonomous [[Wa State]] within Myanmar. [[Santali language|Santali]] is one of [[Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India|the 22 scheduled languages of India]]. The remainder of the family's languages are spoken by minority groups and have no official status.

''[[Ethnologue]]'' identifies 168 Austroasiatic languages. These form thirteen established families (plus perhaps [[Shompen language|Shompen]], which is poorly attested, as a fourteenth), which have traditionally been grouped into two, as Mon–Khmer,<ref>Bradley (2012) notes, ''MK in the wider sense including the Munda languages of eastern South Asia is also known as Austroasiatic.''</ref> and [[Munda languages|Munda]]. However, one recent classification posits three groups (Munda, Mon-Khmer, and [[Khasi–Palaungic languages|Khasi–Khmuic]]),<ref>Diffloth 2005</ref> while another has abandoned '''Mon–Khmer''' as a taxon altogether, making it synonymous with the larger family.<ref>Sidwell 2009</ref>

Scholars generally date the ancestral language to {{Circa|3000 BCE|2000 BCE}} with a [[linguistic homeland|homeland]] in southern China or the [[Mekong River]] valley. Sidwell (2022) proposes that the locus of Proto-Austroasiatic was in the [[Red River Delta]] area around {{Circa|2500 BCE|2000 BCE}}.<ref name="Sidwell JSEALS Special 8" /> Genetic and linguistic research in 2015 about ancient people in East Asia suggest an origin and homeland of Austroasiatic in today's [[South China|southern China]] or even further north.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Zhang|first1=Xiaoming|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283080042|title=Y-chromosome diversity suggests southern origin and Paleolithic backwave migration of Austro- Asiatic speakers from eastern Asia to the Indian subcontinent OPEN|last2=Liao|first2=Shiyu|last3=Qi|first3=Xuebin|last4=Liu|first4=Jiewei|last5=Kampuansai|first5=Jatupol|last6=Zhang|first6=Hui|last7=Yang|first7=Zhaohui|last8=Serey|first8=Bun|last9=Tuot|first9=Sovannary|date=2015-10-20|volume=5}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The name ''Austroasiatic'' was coined by [[Wilhelm Schmidt (linguist)|Wilhelm Schmidt]] ({{langx|de|austroasiatisch}}) based on {{lang|la|auster}}, the [[Latin]] word for "South" (but idiosyncratically used by Schmidt to refer to the southeast), and "Asia".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=Wilhelm |year=1906 |title=Die Mon–Khmer-Völker, ein Bindeglied zwischen Völkern Zentralasiens und Austronesiens ('[The Mon–Khmer Peoples, a Link between the Peoples of Central Asia and Austronesia') |journal=Archiv für Anthropologie |volume=5 |pages=59–109}}</ref> Despite the literal meaning of its name, only three Austroasiatic branches are actually spoken in South Asia: [[Khasic languages|Khasic]], [[Munda languages|Munda]], and [[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]].

==Typology==
Regarding word structure, Austroasiatic languages are well known for having an iambic [[sesquisyllable|"sesquisyllabic"]] pattern, with basic nouns and verbs consisting of an initial, unstressed, reduced [[minor syllable]] followed by a stressed, full syllable.{{sfn|Alves|2014|p=524}} This reduction of presyllables has led to a variety of phonological shapes of the same original Proto-Austroasiatic prefixes, such as the causative prefix, ranging from CVC syllables to consonant clusters to single consonants among the modern languages.{{sfn|Alves|2014|p=526}} As for word formation, most Austroasiatic languages have a variety of derivational prefixes, many have [[infix]]es, but suffixes are almost completely non-existent in most branches except Munda, and a few specialized exceptions in other Austroasiatic branches.<ref>Alves 2014, 2015</ref>

The Austroasiatic languages are further characterized as having unusually large vowel inventories and employing some sort of [[Register (phonology)|pitch register]] contrast, either between [[modal voice|modal]] (normal) voice and [[breathy voice|breathy]] (lax) voice or between modal voice and [[creaky voice]].<ref>Diffloth, Gérard (1989). [http://www.sealang.net/archives/mks/pdf/15:139-154.pdf "Proto-Austroasiatic creaky voice."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825080117/http://www.sealang.net/archives/mks/pdf/15:139-154.pdf |date=25 August 2015 }}</ref> Languages in the Pearic branch and some in the Vietic branch can have a three- or even four-way voicing contrast.

However, some Austroasiatic languages have lost the register contrast by evolving more diphthongs or in a few cases, such as Vietnamese, [[tonogenesis]]. Vietnamese has been so heavily influenced by Chinese that its original Austroasiatic phonological quality is obscured and now resembles that of South Chinese languages, whereas Khmer, which had more influence from Sanskrit, has retained a more typically Austroasiatic structure.

==Proto-language==
{{Main|Proto-Austroasiatic language}}
Much work has been done on the reconstruction of Proto-Mon–Khmer in [[Harry L. Shorto]]'s ''Mon–Khmer Comparative Dictionary''. Little work has been done on the [[Munda languages]], which are poorly documented. Proto-Mon–Khmer becomes synonymous with the [[Proto-Austroasiatic language]] with their demotion from a primary branch. Paul Sidwell (2005) reconstructs the consonant inventory of Proto-Mon–Khmer as follows:{{sfnp|Sidwell|2005|p=196}}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Plosive]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPA|*p}} || {{IPA|*t}} || {{IPA|*c}} || {{IPA|*k}} || {{IPA|*ʔ}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
| {{IPA|*b}} || {{IPA|*d}} || {{IPA|*ɟ}} || {{IPA|*ɡ}} ||
|-
![[Implosive consonant|<small>implosive</small>]]
| {{IPA|*ɓ}} || {{IPA|*ɗ}} || {{IPA|*ʄ}} || ||
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA|*m}} || {{IPA|*n}} || {{IPA|*ɲ}} || {{IPA|*ŋ}} ||
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
| {{IPA|*w}} || {{IPA|*l, *r}} || {{IPA|*j}} || ||
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]]
| || {{IPA|*s}} || || || {{IPA|*h}}
|}
This is identical to earlier reconstructions except for {{IPA|*ʄ}}.  {{IPA|*ʄ}} is better preserved in the [[Katuic languages]], which Sidwell has specialized in.

==Internal classification==
Linguists traditionally recognize two primary divisions of Austroasiatic: the Mon–Khmer languages of [[Southeast Asia]], [[Northeast India]], and the [[Nicobar Islands]], and the [[Munda languages]] of [[East India|East]] and [[Central India]] and parts of [[Bangladesh]] and [[Nepal]]. However, no evidence for this classification has ever been published.

Each family written in boldface below is accepted as a valid clade.{{clarify|date=February 2016}} By contrast, the relationships ''between'' these families within Austroasiatic are debated. In addition to the traditional classification, two recent proposals are given, neither of which accepts traditional "Mon–Khmer" as a valid unit. However, little of the data used for competing classifications has ever been published and, therefore, cannot be evaluated by peer review.

In addition, there are suggestions that additional branches of Austroasiatic might be preserved in substrata of [[Acehnese language|Acehnese]] in Sumatra (Diffloth), the [[Chamic languages]] of Vietnam, and the [[Land Dayak languages]] of Borneo (Adelaar 1995).<ref>Roger Blench, ''2009. Are there four additional unrecognised branches of Austroasiatic?'' Presentation at ICAAL-4, Bangkok, 29–30 October. Summarized in Sidwell and Blench (2011).</ref>

===Diffloth (1974)===
[[Gérard Diffloth|Diffloth]]'s widely cited original classification, now abandoned by Diffloth himself, is used in ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' and—except for the breakup of Southern Mon–Khmer—in ''Ethnologue''.

{{tree list}}
* '''Austro‑Asiatic'''
** '''[[Munda languages|Munda]]'''
*** North Munda
**** Korku
**** '''Kherwarian'''
*** South Munda
**** '''Kharia–Juang'''
**** '''Koraput Munda'''
** Mon–Khmer
*** Eastern Mon–Khmer
**** '''[[Khmer language|Khmer]]''' (Cambodian)
**** '''[[Pearic languages|Pearic]]'''
**** '''[[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]'''
**** '''[[Katuic languages|Katuic]]'''
**** '''[[Vietic languages|Vietic]]''' (Vietnamese, [[Muong language|Muong]])
*** Northern Mon–Khmer
**** '''[[Khasi language|Khasi]]''' ([[Meghalaya]], India)
**** '''[[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]]'''
**** '''[[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]'''
*** Southern Mon–Khmer
**** '''[[Mon language|Mon]]'''
**** '''[[Aslian languages|Aslian]]''' ([[Peninsular Malaysia|Malaya]])
**** '''[[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]''' ([[Nicobar Islands]])
{{tree list/end}}

=== Peiros (2004) ===
Peiros is a [[lexicostatistics|lexicostatistic]] classification, based on percentages of shared vocabulary. This means that languages can appear to be more distantly related than they actually are due to [[language contact]]. Indeed, when Sidwell (2009) replicated Peiros's study with languages known well enough to account for loans, he did not find the internal (branching) structure below.
[[File:AustroAsiatic tree Peiros2004.png|thumb|upright=2.27]]

{{tree list}}
* '''Austro‑Asiatic'''
** '''[[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]'''
** Munda–Khmer
*** '''[[Munda languages|Munda]]'''
*** Mon–Khmer
**** '''[[Khasi language|Khasi]]'''
**** Nuclear Mon–Khmer
***** [[Pakanic languages|Mangic]] ([[Mang language|Mang]] + [[Bolyu language|Palyu]]) (perhaps in Northern MK)
***** '''[[Vietic languages|Vietic]]''' (perhaps in Northern MK)
***** Northern Mon–Khmer
****** '''[[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]]'''
****** '''[[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]'''
***** Central Mon–Khmer
****** '''[[Khmer language|Khmer]]''' dialects
****** '''[[Pearic languages|Pearic]]'''
****** Asli-Bahnaric
******* '''[[Aslian languages|Aslian]]'''
******* Mon–Bahnaric
******** '''[[Monic languages|Monic]]'''
******** Katu–Bahnaric
********* '''[[Katuic languages|Katuic]]'''
********* '''[[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]'''
{{tree list/end}}

{{Clear}}

=== Diffloth (2005) ===
[[Gérard Diffloth|Diffloth]] compares reconstructions of various clades, and attempts to classify them based on shared innovations, though like other classifications the evidence has not been published. As a schematic, we have:

{{clade
| label1='''Austro-Asiatic'''
| 1={{clade
| label1=[[Munda languages|Munda]]
| 1={{clade
   |1={{clade
      |1=[[Bonda language|Remo]]
      |2=[[Sora language|Savara]]
      }}
   |2={{clade
   |1=[[Kharia language|Kharia]]–[[Juang language|Juang]]
   |2={{clade
   |1=[[Korku language|Korku]]
   |2=Kherwarian
      }}
      }}
    }}
| label2=[[Khasi–Khmuic languages|Khasi–Khmuic]]
| 2={{clade
   |2=[[Khasic languages|Khasian]]
   |1={{clade
   |1=[[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]
   |2={{clade
   |1=[[Pakanic languages|Pakanic]]
   |2=[[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]]
      }}
      }}
   }}
| label3=(Nuclear) Mon–Khmer
| 3={{clade
   |1={{clade
   |1={{clade
   |1=[[Vietic languages|Vietic]]
   |label2=?<ref name=VK />
   |2=[[Katuic languages|Katuic]]
      }}
   |2={{clade
   |1=[[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]
   |2={{clade
      |1=[[Khmer language|Khmer]]
      |2=[[Pearic languages|Pearic]]
      }}
      }}
      }}
   |2={{clade
   |1=[[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]
   |2={{clade
   |1=[[Aslian languages|Aslian]]
   |2=[[Monic languages|Monic]]
      }}
      }}
   }}
}}
}}

Or in more detail,

{{tree list}}
* '''Austro‑Asiatic'''
** '''[[Munda languages]]''' (India)
*** '''Koraput''': 7 languages
*** Core Munda languages
**** '''Kharian–Juang''': 2 languages
**** North Munda languages
***** ''[[Korku language|Korku]]''
***** '''Kherwarian''': 12 languages
** [[Khasi–Khmuic languages]] (Northern Mon–Khmer)
*** '''[[Khasic languages|Khasian]]''': 3 languages of north eastern India and adjacent region of Bangladesh
*** Palaungo-Khmuic languages
**** '''[[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]''': 13 languages of Laos and Thailand
**** Palaungo-Pakanic languages
***** '''[[Pakanic languages|Pakanic]]''' or '''[[Bolyu language|Palyu]]''': 4 or 5 languages of southern China and Vietnam
***** '''[[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]]''': 21 languages of Burma, southern China, and Thailand
** Nuclear Mon–Khmer languages
*** Khmero-Vietic languages (Eastern Mon–Khmer)
**** Vieto-Katuic languages ?<ref name=VK>Sidwell (2005) casts doubt on Diffloth's Vieto-Katuic hypothesis, saying that the evidence is ambiguous, and that it is not clear where Katuic belongs in the family.</ref>
***** '''[[Vietic languages|Vietic]]''': 10 languages of Vietnam and Laos, including [[Muong language|Muong]] and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], which has the most speakers of any Austroasiatic language.
***** '''[[Katuic languages|Katuic]]''': 19 languages of Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand.
**** Khmero-Bahnaric languages
***** '''[[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]''': 40 languages of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
***** Khmeric languages
****** The '''[[Khmer language|Khmer]]''' dialects of Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
****** '''[[Pearic languages|Pearic]]''': 6 languages of Cambodia.
*** Nico-Monic languages (Southern Mon–Khmer)
**** '''[[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]''': 6 languages of the [[Nicobar Islands]], a territory of India.
**** Asli-Monic languages
***** '''[[Aslian languages|Aslian]]''': 19 languages of peninsular Malaysia and Thailand.
***** '''[[Monic languages|Monic]]''': 2 languages, the [[Mon language]] of Burma and the [[Nyah Kur language|Nyahkur language]] of Thailand.
{{tree list/end}}

=== Sidwell (2009&ndash;2015) ===
[[File:Mekong river basin.png|thumb|right|upright=1.81|[[Paul Sidwell]] and [[Roger Blench]] propose that the Austroasiatic phylum dispersed via the [[Mekong]] River [[drainage basin]].]]
[[Paul Sidwell]] (2009), in a [[lexicostatistical]] comparison of 36 languages which are well known enough to exclude loanwords, finds little evidence for internal branching, though he did find an area of increased contact between the Bahnaric and Katuic languages, such that languages of all branches apart from the geographically distant [[Munda languages|Munda]] and Nicobarese show greater similarity to Bahnaric and Katuic the closer they are to those branches, without any noticeable innovations common to Bahnaric and Katuic.

He therefore takes the conservative view that the thirteen branches of Austroasiatic should be treated as equidistant on current evidence. Sidwell & [[Roger Blench|Blench]] (2011) discuss this proposal in more detail, and note that there is good evidence for a Khasi–Palaungic node, which could also possibly be closely related to Khmuic.<ref name="SidwellBlench2011">Sidwell, Paul, and Roger Blench. 2011. "[http://rogerblench.info/Archaeology/SE%20Asia/SR09/Sidwell%20Blench%20offprint.pdf The Austroasiatic Urheimat: the Southeastern Riverine Hypothesis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118041741/http://www.rogerblench.info/Archaeology/SE |date=18 November 2017 }}." Enfield, NJ (ed.) ''Dynamics of Human Diversity'', 317–345. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.</ref>

If this would the case, Sidwell & Blench suggest that Khasic may have been an early offshoot of Palaungic that had spread westward. Sidwell & Blench (2011) suggest [[Shompen language|Shompen]] as an additional branch, and believe that a Vieto-Katuic connection is worth investigating. In general, however, the family is thought to have diversified too quickly for a deeply nested structure to have developed, since Proto-Austroasiatic speakers are believed by Sidwell to have radiated out from the central [[Mekong]] river valley relatively quickly.

Subsequently, Sidwell (2015a: 179)<ref>Sidwell, Paul. 2015a. "Austroasiatic classification." In Jenny, Mathias and Paul Sidwell, eds (2015). ''The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages''. Leiden: Brill.</ref> proposed that [[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]] subgroups with [[Aslian languages|Aslian]], just as how Khasian and Palaungic subgroup with each other.

{{clade
| label1=Austroasiatic: {{nowrap|Mon–Khmer}}
| 1={{clade
| 1=[[Munda languages|Munda]]
| label2=Khasi–Palaungic
| 2={{clade
| 1=[[Khasic languages|Khasian]]
| 2=[[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]]
}}
| 3=[[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]
| 4=[[Mang language|Mang]]{{refn|group=note|Earlier classifications by Sidwell had lumped [[Mang language|Mang]] and [[Pakanic languages|Pakanic]] together into a ''Mangic'' subgroup, but Sidwell currently considers Mang and Pakanic to each be independent branches of Austroasiatic.}}
| 5=[[Pakanic languages|Pakanic]]
| 6=[[Vietic languages|Vietic]]
| 7=[[Katuic languages|Katuic]]
| 8=[[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]
| 9=[[Khmer language|Khmer]]
| 10=[[Pearic languages|Pearic]]
| label11=Aslian–Monic
| 11={{clade
| 1=[[Monic languages|Monic]]
| 2=[[Aslian languages|Aslian]]
}}
| 12={{clade
| 1=[[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]
| 2=?[[Shompen language|Shompen]]
}}
}}
}}

A subsequent computational phylogenetic analysis (Sidwell 2015b)<ref>Sidwell, Paul. 2015b. [https://www.eva.mpg.de/fileadmin/content_files/linguistics/conferences/2015-diversity-linguistics/Sidwell_slides.pdf A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the Austroasiatic languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215184958/http://www.eva.mpg.de/fileadmin/content_files/linguistics/conferences/2015-diversity-linguistics/Sidwell_slides.pdf |date=15 December 2017 }}. Presented at Diversity Linguistics: Retrospect and Prospect, 1–3 May 2015 (Leipzig, Germany), Closing conference of the Department of Linguistics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.</ref> suggests that Austroasiatic branches may have a loosely nested structure rather than a completely rake-like structure, with an east–west division (consisting of Munda, Khasic, Palaungic, and Khmuic forming a western group as opposed to all of the other branches) occurring possibly as early as 7,000 years before present. However, he still considers the subbranching dubious.

Integrating computational phylogenetic linguistics with recent archaeological findings, Paul Sidwell (2015c)<ref name="Sidwell2015">Sidwell, Paul. 2015c. ''Phylogeny, innovations, and correlations in the prehistory of Austroasiatic''. Paper presented at the workshop ''Integrating inferences about our past: new findings and current issues in the peopling of the Pacific and South East Asia'', 22–23 June 2015, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.</ref> further expanded his Mekong riverine hypothesis by proposing that Austroasiatic had ultimately expanded into [[Indochina]] from the [[Lingnan]] area of [[southern China]], with the subsequent Mekong riverine dispersal taking place after the initial arrival of Neolithic farmers from southern China.

Sidwell (2015c) tentatively suggests that Austroasiatic may have begun to split up 5,000 years B.P. during the [[Neolithic transition]] era of [[mainland Southeast Asia]], with all the major branches of Austroasiatic formed by 4,000 B.P. Austroasiatic would have had two possible dispersal routes from the western periphery of the [[Pearl River (China)|Pearl River]] watershed of [[Lingnan]], which would have been either a coastal route down the coast of Vietnam, or downstream through the [[Mekong River]] via [[Yunnan]].<ref name="Sidwell2015"/> Both the reconstructed lexicon of Proto-Austroasiatic and the archaeological record clearly show that early Austroasiatic speakers around 4,000 B.P. cultivated rice and [[millet]], kept livestock such as dogs, pigs, and chickens, and thrived mostly in estuarine rather than coastal environments.<ref name="Sidwell2015"/>

At 4,500 B.P., this "Neolithic package" suddenly arrived in Indochina from the Lingnan area without cereal grains and displaced the earlier pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherer cultures, with grain husks found in northern Indochina by 4,100 B.P. and in southern Indochina by 3,800 B.P.<ref name="Sidwell2015"/> However, Sidwell (2015c) found that iron is not reconstructable in Proto-Austroasiatic, since each Austroasiatic branch has different terms for iron that had been borrowed relatively lately from Tai, Chinese, Tibetan, Malay, and other languages.

During the [[Iron Age]] about 2,500 B.P., relatively young Austroasiatic branches in Indochina such as [[Vietic languages|Vietic]], [[Katuic languages|Katuic]], [[Pearic languages|Pearic]], and [[Khmer language|Khmer]] were formed, while the more internally diverse [[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]] branch (dating to about 3,000 B.P.) underwent more extensive internal diversification.<ref name="Sidwell2015"/> By the Iron Age, all of the Austroasiatic branches were more or less in their present-day locations, with most of the diversification within Austroasiatic taking place during the Iron Age.<ref name="Sidwell2015"/>

Paul Sidwell (2018)<ref>Sidwell, Paul. 2018. ''Austroasiatic deep chronology and the problem of cultural lexicon''. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, held 17–19 May 2018 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.</ref> considers the Austroasiatic language family to have rapidly diversified around 4,000 years B.P. during the arrival of rice agriculture in Indochina, but notes that the origin of Proto-Austroasiatic itself is older than that date. The lexicon of Proto-Austroasiatic can be divided into an early and late stratum. The early stratum consists of basic lexicon including body parts, animal names, natural features, and pronouns, while the names of cultural items (agriculture terms and words for cultural artifacts, which are reconstructible in Proto-Austroasiatic) form part of the later stratum.

[[Roger Blench]] (2017)<ref name="Blench2017">Blench, Roger. 2017. ''[http://southasiabibliography.de/uploads/Blench.pdf Waterworld: lexical evidence for aquatic subsistence strategies in Austroasiatic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214014949/http://southasiabibliography.de/uploads/Blench.pdf |date=14 December 2017 }}''. Presented at ICAAL 7, Kiel, Germany.</ref> suggests that vocabulary related to aquatic subsistence strategies (such as boats, waterways, river fauna, and fish capture techniques) can be reconstructed for Proto-Austroasiatic. Blench (2017) finds widespread Austroasiatic roots for 'river, valley', 'boat', 'fish', 'catfish sp.', 'eel', 'prawn', 'shrimp' (Central Austroasiatic), 'crab', 'tortoise', 'turtle', 'otter', 'crocodile', 'heron, fishing bird', and 'fish trap'. Archaeological evidence for the presence of agriculture in northern [[Indochina]] (northern Vietnam, Laos, and other nearby areas) dates back to only about 4,000 years ago (2,000 BC), with agriculture ultimately being introduced from further up to the north in the Yangtze valley where it has been dated to 6,000 B.P.<ref name="Blench2017"/>

Sidwell (2022)<ref name="Sidwell JSEALS Special 8">{{cite journal|last=Sidwell|first=Paul|title=Austroasiatic Dispersal: the AA "Water-World" Extended|editor-last=Alves|editor-first=Mark|editor-last2=Sidwell|editor-first2=Paul|journal=Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society: Papers from the 30th Conference of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (2021)|volume=15|issue=3|date=28 January 2022|issn=1836-6821|url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/52498|access-date=14 February 2022|doi=10.5281/zenodo.5773247|pages=95–111|archive-date=30 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130075639/https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/52498|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Sidwell2021">Sidwell, Paul. 2021. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GSfNDgaDM_lzWrQxZ5w-Tas8aVKfT-Sj/view ''Austroasiatic Dispersal: the AA "Water-World" Extended''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217053955/https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GSfNDgaDM_lzWrQxZ5w-Tas8aVKfT-Sj/view |date=17 February 2022 }}. [https://sites.google.com/site/sealsjournal/seals-and-jseals-history/seals-online-2021/seals-2021-program SEALS 2021] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216175236/https://sites.google.com/site/sealsjournal/seals-and-jseals-history/seals-online-2021/seals-2021-program |date=16 December 2021 }}. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QREB1UttWTI Video)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217063156/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QREB1UttWTI |date=17 February 2022 }}</ref> proposes that the locus of Proto-Austroasiatic was in the [[Red River Delta]] area about 4,000-4,500 years before present, instead of the Middle Mekong as he had previously proposed. Austroasiatic dispersed coastal maritime routes and also upstream through river valleys. Khmuic, Palaungic, and Khasic resulted from a westward dispersal that ultimately came from the Red River valley. Based on their current distributions, about half of all Austroasiatic branches (including Nicobaric and Munda) can be traced to coastal maritime dispersals.

Hence, this points to a relatively late riverine dispersal of Austroasiatic as compared to [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], whose speakers had a distinct non-riverine culture. In addition to living an aquatic-based lifestyle, early Austroasiatic speakers would have also had access to livestock, crops, and newer types of watercraft. As early Austroasiatic speakers dispersed rapidly via waterways, they would have encountered speakers of older language families who were already settled in the area, such as Sino-Tibetan.<ref name="Blench2017"/>

===Sidwell (2018)===
Sidwell (2018)<ref>Sidwell, Paul. 2018. ''[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b_vqZuDTnR9VkcpgAiJZveQ4nlvbxN0D Austroasiatic deep chronology and the problem of cultural lexicon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331162655/https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b_vqZuDTnR9VkcpgAiJZveQ4nlvbxN0D/edit |date=31 March 2023 }}''. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the [[Southeast Asian Linguistics Society]]. [[Kaohsiung]], Taiwan. (accessed 16 December 2020).</ref> (quoted in Sidwell 2021<ref name="WOL-MSEA-11">{{cite book|last=Sidwell|first=Paul|title=The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia|chapter=Classification of MSEA Austroasiatic languages|publisher=De Gruyter|date=9 August 2021|doi=10.1515/9783110558142-011|pages=179–206|isbn=9783110558142|s2cid=242599355}}</ref>) gives a more nested classification of Austroasiatic branches as suggested by his computational phylogenetic analysis of Austroasiatic languages using a 200-word list. Many of the tentative groupings are likely [[linkage (linguistics)|linkages]]. [[Pakanic languages|Pakanic]] and [[Shompen language|Shompen]] were not included.

{{clade
| label1=Austroasiatic
| 1={{clade
| label1=Eastern
| 1={{clade
| 1={{clade
| 1=[[Bahnaric languages|Bahnaric]]
| label2=Vietic–Katuic
| 2={{clade
| 1=[[Vietic languages|Vietic]]
| 2=[[Katuic languages|Katuic]]
}}
}}
| 2={{clade
| 1=[[Khmer language|Khmeric]]
| 2=[[Pearic languages|Pearic]]
}}
}}

| 2=[[Mang language|Mang]]

| label3=Northern
| 3={{clade
| 1=[[Khmuic languages|Khmuic]]
| label2=Khasi–Palaungic
| 2={{clade
| 1=[[Khasic languages|Khasian]]
| 2=[[Palaungic languages|Palaungic]]
}}
}}

| 4=[[Monic languages|Monic]]

| label5=Southern
| 5={{clade
| 2=[[Aslian languages|Aslian]]
| 1=[[Nicobarese languages|Nicobarese]]
}}

| 6=[[Munda languages|Munda]]
}}
}}

===Possible extinct branches===
[[Roger Blench]] (2009)<ref>Blench, Roger. 2009. "[http://icaal.org/abstract/blench-are.html Are there four additional unrecognised branches of Austroasiatic?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221221/http://icaal.org/abstract/blench-are.html |date=3 March 2016 }}."</ref> also proposes that there might have been other primary branches of Austroasiatic that are now extinct, based on [[Stratum (linguistics)|substrate]] evidence in modern-day languages.
* '''Pre-[[Chamic language|Chamic]] languages''' (the languages of coastal Vietnam before the Chamic migrations). Chamic has various Austroasiatic loanwords that cannot be clearly traced to existing Austroasiatic branches (Sidwell 2006, 2007).<ref name="Sidwell2006">Sidwell, Paul. 2006. "[http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/sidwell2006dating.pdf Dating the Separation of Acehnese and Chamic By Etymological Analysis of the Aceh-Chamic Lexicon] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108030716/http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/sidwell2006dating.pdf |date=8 November 2014 }}." In The ''[[Mon-Khmer Studies]]'', 36: 187–206.</ref><ref name="Sidwell2007">Sidwell, Paul. 2007. "[http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/sidwell2002mon-khmer.pdf The Mon-Khmer Substrate in Chamic: Chamic, Bahnaric and Katuic Contact] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150616053041/http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/sidwell2002mon-khmer.pdf |date=16 June 2015 }}." In SEALS XII Papers from the 12th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2002, edited by Ratree Wayland et al.. Canberra, Australia, 113-128. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.</ref> Larish (1999)<ref name="Larish1999">Larish, Michael David. 1999. ''The Position of Moken and Moklen Within the Austronesian Language Family''. Doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.</ref> also notes that [[Moklenic languages]] contain many Austroasiatic loanwords, some of which are similar to the ones found in Chamic.
* '''[[Acehnese language|Acehnese]] substratum''' (Sidwell 2006).<ref name="Sidwell2006" /> Acehnese has many basic words that are of Austroasiatic origin, suggesting that either Austronesian speakers have absorbed earlier Austroasiatic residents in northern Sumatra, or that words might have been borrowed from Austroasiatic languages in southern Vietnam – or perhaps a combination of both. Sidwell (2006) argues that Acehnese and Chamic had often borrowed Austroasiatic words independently of each other, while some Austroasiatic words can be traced back to Proto-Aceh-Chamic. Sidwell (2006) accepts that Acehnese and Chamic are related, but that they had separated from each other before Chamic had borrowed most of its Austroasiatic lexicon.
* '''[[Bornean languages|Bornean]] substrate languages''' (Blench 2010).<ref>Blench, Roger. 2010. "[https://digital.lib.washington.edu/ojs/index.php/BIPPA/article/viewFile/10637/10669 Was there an Austroasiatic Presence in Island Southeast Asia prior to the Austronesian Expansion?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331162718/https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/BIPPA/article/download/10637/10669/0 |date=31 March 2023 }}" In ''Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association'', Vol. 30.</ref> Blench cites Austroasiatic-origin words in modern-day Bornean branches such as [[Land Dayak languages|Land Dayak]] ([[Bidayuh languages|Bidayuh]], [[Bakatiʼ language|Dayak Bakatiq]], etc.), [[Dusunic languages|Dusunic]] ([[Dusun language|Central Dusun]], [[Brunei Bisaya language|Visayan]], etc.), [[Kayan–Murik languages|Kayan]], and [[Kenyah languages|Kenyah]], noting especially resemblances with [[Aslian languages|Aslian]]. As further evidence for his proposal, Blench also cites ethnographic evidence such as musical instruments in Borneo shared in common with Austroasiatic-speaking groups in mainland Southeast Asia. Adelaar (1995)<ref>Adelaar, K.A. 1995. [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.692.6923&rep=rep1&type=pdf Borneo as a cross-roads for comparative Austronesian linguistics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703220226/http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.692.6923&rep=rep1&type=pdf |date=3 July 2018 }}. In P. Bellwood, J.J. Fox and D. Tryon (eds.), The Austronesians, pp. 81-102. Canberra: Australian National University.</ref> has also noticed phonological and lexical similarities between [[Land Dayak languages|Land Dayak]] and [[Aslian languages|Aslian]]. Kaufman (2018) presents dozens of lexical comparisons showing similarities between various Bornean and Austroasiatic languages.<ref>Kaufman, Daniel. 2018. ''Between mainland and island Southeast Asia: Evidence for a Mon-Khmer presence in Borneo''. Ronald and Janette Gatty Lecture Series. Kahin Center for Advanced Research on Southeast Asia, Cornell University. ([https://bahasawan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cornell-Borneo-handout.pdf handout] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218201204/https://bahasawan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cornell-Borneo-handout.pdf |date=18 February 2023 }} / [https://bahasawan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cornell-Borneo-slides.pdf slides] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218201204/https://bahasawan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cornell-Borneo-slides.pdf |date=18 February 2023 }})</ref>
* '''[[Lepcha language|Lepcha]] substratum''' ("'''''Rongic'''''").<ref>Blench, Roger. 2013. [https://www.academia.edu/5562335/Rongic_a_vanished_branch_of_Austroasiatic ''Rongic: a vanished branch of Austroasiatic''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809120624/http://www.academia.edu/5562335/Rongic_a_vanished_branch_of_Austroasiatic |date=9 August 2018 }}. m.s.</ref> Many words of Austroasiatic origin have been noticed in [[Lepcha language|Lepcha]], suggesting a [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]] superstrate laid over an Austroasiatic substrate. Blench (2013) calls this branch "''Rongic''" based on the Lepcha autonym ''Róng''.

Other languages with proposed Austroasiatic substrata are:
* '''[[Jiamao language|Jiamao]]''', based on evidence from the register system of Jiamao, a [[Hlai languages|Hlai]] language (Thurgood 1992).<ref>Thurgood, Graham. 1992. "[http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf4/thurgood1992aberrancy.pdf The aberrancy of the Jiamao dialect of Hlai: speculation on its origins and history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130151402/http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf4/thurgood1992aberrancy.pdf |date=30 January 2018 }}". In Ratliff, Martha S. and Schiller, E. (eds.), ''Papers from the First Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society'', 417–433. Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.</ref> Jiamao is known for its highly aberrant vocabulary in relation to other [[Hlai languages]].
* '''[[Kerinci language|Kerinci]]''': van Reijn (1974)<ref>van Reijn, E. O. (1974). "Some Remarks on the Dialects of North Kerintji: A link with Mon-Khmer Languages." ''Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society'', 31, 2: 130–138. {{JSTOR|41492089}}.</ref> notes that Kerinci, a [[Malayic languages|Malayic]] language of central [[Sumatra]], shares many phonological similarities with Austroasiatic languages, such as [[sesquisyllabic]] word structure and vowel inventory.

John Peterson (2017)<ref>Peterson, John (2017). "[http://southasiabibliography.de/uploads/Peterson.pdf The prehistorical spread of Austro-Asiatic in South Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411025821/http://southasiabibliography.de/uploads/Peterson.pdf |date=11 April 2018 }}". Presented at ICAAL 7, Kiel, Germany.</ref> suggests that "pre-[[Munda languages|Munda]]" (early languages related to Proto-Munda) languages may have once dominated the eastern [[Indo-Gangetic Plain]], and were then absorbed by Indo-Aryan languages at an early date as Indo-Aryan spread east. Peterson notes that eastern [[Indo-Aryan languages]] display many morphosyntactic features similar to those of Munda languages, while western Indo-Aryan languages do not.

== Writing systems ==
Other than Latin-based alphabets, many Austroasiatic languages are written with the [[Khmer alphabet|Khmer]], [[Thai alphabet|Thai]], [[Lao alphabet|Lao]], and [[Burmese alphabet|Burmese]] alphabets. Vietnamese divergently had an indigenous script based on Chinese logographic writing. This has since been supplanted by the Latin alphabet in the 20th century. The following are examples of past-used alphabets or current alphabets of Austroasiatic languages.
* [[Chữ Nôm]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chunom.htm |title=Vietnamese Chu Nom script |publisher=Omniglot.com |access-date=11 March 2012 |archive-date=2 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202080950/http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chunom.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Khmer alphabet]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/khmer.htm |title=Khmer/Cambodian alphabet, pronunciation and language |publisher=Omniglot.com |access-date=11 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213191456/http://www.omniglot.com/writing/khmer.htm |archive-date=13 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Khom script (Ong Kommadam)|Khom script]] (used for a short period in the early 20th century for indigenous languages in Laos)
* [[Old Mon script]]
* [[Mon language#Alphabet|Mon script]]
* [[Pahawh Hmong]] was once used to write [[Khmu language|Khmu]], under the name "Pahawh Khmu"
* [[Tai Le script|Tai Le]] ([[Palaung language|Palaung]], [[Blang language|Blang]])
* [[Tai Tham]] ([[Blang language|Blang]])
* [[Ol Chiki alphabet]] ([[Santali language|Santali]] alphabet)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/santali.htm |title=Santali alphabet, pronunciation and language |publisher=Omniglot.com |access-date=11 March 2012 |archive-date=5 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105053656/http://www.omniglot.com/writing/santali.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Mundari Bani]] ([[Mundari language|Mundari]] alphabet)
* [[Warang Citi]] ([[Ho language|Ho]] alphabet)<ref name="N4259">{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12118-n4259-warang-citi.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12118-n4259-warang-citi.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=N4259: Final proposal for encoding the Warang Citi script in the SMP of the UCS|last=Everson|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Everson|date=19 April 2012|access-date=20 August 2016}}</ref>
* [[Ol Onal]] ([[Bhumij language|Bhumij]] alphabet)
* [[Sorang Sompeng alphabet]] ([[Sora language|Sora]] alphabet)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sorangsompeng.htm |title=Sorang Sompeng script |publisher=Omniglot.com |date=18 June 1936 |access-date=11 March 2012 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427214234/https://omniglot.com/writing/sorangsompeng.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

== External relations ==

=== Austric languages ===
{{Main|Austric languages}}
Austroasiatic is an integral part of the controversial [[Austric languages|Austric hypothesis]], which also includes the [[Austronesian languages]], and in some proposals also the [[Kra–Dai languages]] and the [[Hmong–Mien languages]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Lawrence A. |year=2009 |editor1-last=Brown |editor1-first=Keith |editor2-last=Ogilvie |editor2-first=Sarah |title=Concise Encyclopaedia of Languages of the World |publisher=Elsevier |location=Oxford |pages=92–94 |chapter=Austric Hypothesis }}
</ref>

=== Hmong-Mien ===
[[Proto-Hmong–Mien language#Austroasiatic|Several lexical resemblances]] are found between the Hmong-Mien and Austroasiatic language families (Ratliff 2010), some of which had earlier been proposed by [[André-Georges Haudricourt|Haudricourt]] (1951). This could imply a relation or early language contact along the [[Yangtze]].<ref>Haudricourt, André-Georges. 1951. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1951_num_44_2_5185 Introduction à la phonologie historique des langues miao-yao] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422160029/https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1951_num_44_2_5185 |date=22 April 2019 }} [An introduction to the historical phonology of the Miao-Yao languages]. ''Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient'' 44(2). 555–576.</ref>

According to Cai (et al. 2011), [[Hmong–Mien languages|Hmong–Mien]] people are ''genetically'' related to Austroasiatic speakers, and their languages were heavily influenced by [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], especially [[Tibeto-Burman languages]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Consortium|first1=the Genographic|last2=Li|first2=Hui|last3=Jin|first3=Li|last4=Huang|first4=Xingqiu|last5=Li|first5=Shilin|last6=Wang|first6=Chuanchao|last7=Wei|first7=Lanhai|last8=Lu|first8=Yan|last9=Wang|first9=Yi|date=31 August 2011|title=Human Migration through Bottlenecks from Southeast Asia into East Asia during Last Glacial Maximum Revealed by Y Chromosomes|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=6|issue=8|pages=e24282|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0024282|issn=1932-6203|pmc=3164178|pmid=21904623|bibcode=2011PLoSO...624282C|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Indo-Aryan languages===
It is suggested that the Austroasiatic languages have some influence on [[Indo-Aryan languages]] including [[Sanskrit]] and middle Indo-Aryan languages. Indian linguist [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]] pointed that a specific number of substantives in languages such as [[Hindi]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Bengali language|Bengali]] were borrowed from [[Munda languages]]. Additionally, French linguist [[Jean Przyluski]] suggested a similarity between the tales from the Austroasiatic realm and the Indian mythological stories of [[Matsyagandha]] (Satyavati from ''[[Mahabharata]]'') and the [[Nāga]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dx5dzJGGBg0C&q=austroasiatic+influence+on+india&pg=PR15|title=Pre-Aryan and Pre-Dravidian in India|last1=Lévi|first1=Sylvain|last2=Przyluski|first2=Jean|last3=Bloch|first3=Jules|date=1993|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120607729|page=4,15|access-date=15 October 2020|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326195030/https://books.google.com/books?id=dx5dzJGGBg0C&q=austroasiatic+influence+on+india&pg=PR15|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Austroasiatic migrations and archaeogenetics==
{{see also|Peopling of Southeast Asia|Ancient Southern East Asian#Neolithic expansion into Southeast Asia and Oceania}}
[[:ja:崎谷満|Mitsuru Sakitani]] suggests that [[Haplogroup O-M95|Haplogroup O1b1]], which is common in Austroasiatic people and some other ethnic groups in [[southern China]], and haplogroup O1b2, which is common in today's [[Japanese people|Japanese]] and [[Koreans]], are the carriers of early rice agriculture from southern China.<ref>崎谷満『DNA・考古・言語の学際研究が示す新・日本列島史』（勉誠出版　2009年）　</ref> Another study suggests that the haplogroup O1b1 is the major Austroasiatic paternal lineage and O1b2 the "para-Austroasiatic" lineage of the [[Koreans]] and [[Yayoi people]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Z5BDwAAQBAJ&q=japonic+austroasiatic&pg=PA207|title=Language Dispersal Beyond Farming|last1=Robbeets|first1=Martine|last2=Savelyev|first2=Alexander|date=21 December 2017|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|isbn=9789027264640|language=en|access-date=15 October 2020|archive-date=31 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331162700/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Z5BDwAAQBAJ&q=japonic+austroasiatic&pg=PA207|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The proposed route of Austroasiatic and Austronesian migration into Indonesia and the geographic distribution of sites that have produced red-slipped and cord-marked pottery.png|thumb|The Austroasiatic migration route began earlier than the Austronesian expansion, but later migrations of Austronesians resulted in the assimilation of the pre-Austronesian Austroasiatic populations.]]


A full genomic study by Lipson et al. (2018) identified a characteristic lineage that can be associated with the spread of Austroasiatic languages in Southeast Asia and which can be traced back to remains of Neolithic farmers from [[Mán Bạc]] ({{circa|2000 BCE}}) in the [[Red River Delta]] in northern Vietnam, and to closely related [[Ban Chiang]] and Vat Komnou remains in [[Thailand]] and [[Cambodia]] respectively. This Austroasiatic lineage can be modeled as a sister group of the [[Austronesian peoples]] with significant admixture (ca. 30%) from a deeply diverging eastern Eurasian source (modeled by the authors as sharing some genetic drift with the [[Onge people|Onge]], a modern [[Andamanese peoples|Andamanese hunter-gatherer group]]) and which is ancestral to modern Austroasiatic-speaking groups of Southeast Asia such as the [[Mlabri people|Mlabri]] and the [[Nicobarese people|Nicobarese]], and partially to the Austroasiatic Munda-speaking groups of South Asia (''e.g.'' the [[Juang people|Juang]]). Significant levels of Austroasiatic ancestry were also found in Austronesian-speaking groups of [[Sumatra]], [[Java]], and [[Borneo]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lipson M, Cheronet O, Mallick S, Rohland N, Oxenham M, Pietrusewsky M, Pryce TO, Willis A, Matsumura H, Buckley H, Domett K, Nguyen GH, Trinh HH, Kyaw AA, Win TT, Pradier B, Broomandkhoshbacht N, Candilio F, Changmai P, Fernandes D, Ferry M, Gamarra B, Harney E, Kampuansai J, Kutanan W, Michel M, Novak M, Oppenheimer J, Sirak K, Stewardson K, Zhang Z, Flegontov P, Pinhasi R, Reich D | display-authors = 6 | title = Ancient genomes document multiple waves of migration in Southeast Asian prehistory | journal = Science | volume = 361 | issue = 6397 | pages = 92–95 | year = 2018 | pmid = 29773666 | pmc = 6476732 | doi = 10.1126/science.aat3188 | bibcode = 2018Sci...361...92L }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|Austroasiatic-related ancestry had been detected before also in other ethnic groups of the [[Sunda Islands]] (e.g. [[Javanese people|Javanese]], [[Sundanese people|Sundanese]], and [[Manggarai people|Manggarai]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lipson|first1=Mark|last2=Loh|first2=Po-Ru|last3=Patterson|first3=Nick|last4=Moorjani|first4=Priya|last5=Ko|first5=Ying-Chin|last6=Stoneking|first6=Mark|last7=Berger|first7=Bonnie|last8=Reich|first8=David|date=19 August 2014|title=Reconstructing Austronesian population history in Island Southeast Asia|journal=Nature Communications|volume=5|pages=4689|bibcode=2014NatCo...5.4689L|doi=10.1038/ncomms5689|pmc=4143916|pmid=25137359}}</ref>}}

A 2020 study states that present Austroasiatic groups in Mainland Southeast Asia can be modeled as an admixture of Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers and ancestral East Asians associated with the Neolithic farming expansion, with the exception of Kinh and Muong who share more drift with Tai-Kadai and Hmong-Mien groups. Kinh and Muong are also more related to [[Dong Son culture|Dongsonian culture]] and are implied to have roots in southern China instead of Southeast Asia.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Dang |last2=Duong |first2=Nguyen Thuy |last3=Ton |first3=Nguyen Dang |last4=Phong |first4=Nguyen Van |display-authors=3 |date=2020 |title=Extensive Ethnolinguistic Diversity in Vietnam Reflects Multiple Sources of Genetic Diversity |url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/37/9/2503/5821431 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=37 |issue=9 |pages=2503–2519 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msaa099 |pmc=7475039 |pmid=32344428 |via=Oxford Academic}}</ref> Austroasiatic-speaking groups in southern [[China]] (such as the [[Wa people|Wa]] and [[Blang people|Blang]] in [[Yunnan]]) predominatly carry the same Mainland Southeast Asian Neolithic farmer ancestry, but with additional geneflow from northern and southern East Asian lineages that can be associated with the spread of [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-Burman]] and [[Kra-Dai languages]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Guo|first1=Jianxin|last2=Wang|first2=Weitao|last3=Zhao|first3=Kai|last4=Li|first4=Guangxing|last5=He|first5=Guanglin|last6=Zhao|first6=Jing|last7=Yang|first7=Xiaomin|last8=Chen|first8=Jinwen|last9=Zhu|first9=Kongyang|last10=Wang|first10=Rui|last11=Ma|first11=Hao|title=Genomic insights into Neolithic farming-related migrations in the junction of east and southeast Asia|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.24434|journal=American Journal of Biological Anthropology|year=2022|volume=177|issue=2|pages=328–342|language=en|doi=10.1002/ajpa.24434|s2cid=244155341|issn=2692-7691|quote= In our study, we found the sharing of a large amount of ancestry (>50%) among the Vietnam Late Neolithic ancients, Wa_L and Blang_X, indicating the Yunnan Austroasiatic populations had been influenced both linguistically and genetically by the expansion of Austroasiatic groups from mainland SEA.|access-date=5 January 2022|archive-date=5 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105011003/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.24434|url-status=live}}</ref>

Huang et al. (2020) states that Austroasiatic ancestry most likely originated from southwest China and that the 'core Austroasiatic' population derives most of their ancestry from Mekong Neolithic (58.0%–75.2%) instead of Late Neolithic Fujian, which is more common in the 'core Austronesian' population. Austroasiatic-related ancestry is widespread in Mainland Southeast Asia. Hmong-Mien groups in southern China also show closer affinities with Austroasiatic groups but there is evidence of Kra-Dai admixture, which increases in groups that live further east. This admixture is also present in Mainland Southeast Asians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Huang |first1=Xiufeng |last2=Xia |first2=Zi-Yang |last3=Bin |first3=Xiaoyun |last4=He |first4=Guanglin |display-authors=3 |date=2020 |title=Genomic Insights into the Demographic History of Southern Chinese |url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.08.373225v1.full |journal=bioRxiv |doi=10.1101/2020.11.08.373225}}</ref>

=== Migration into India ===
According to Chaubey et al., "Austro-Asiatic speakers in India today are derived from dispersal from [[Southeast Asia]], followed by extensive sex-specific admixture with local Indian populations."{{sfn|Chaubey|Metspalu|Choi|Magi|2010|p=1013}} According to Riccio et al., the [[Munda peoples]] are likely descended from Austroasiatic migrants from Southeast Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Riccio |first1=M. E. |s2cid=39428816 |display-authors=etal |year=2011 |title=The Austroasiatic Munda population from India and Its enigmatic origin: a HLA diversity study |journal=Human Biology |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=405–435 |pmid=21740156 |doi=10.3378/027.083.0306 |jstor=41466748}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{Refbegin}}
* Adams, K. L. (1989). ''Systems of numeral classification in the Mon–Khmer, Nicobarese and Aslian subfamilies of Austroasiatic''. Canberra, A.C.T., Australia: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. {{ISBN|0-85883-373-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Alves |first=Mark J. |year=2014 |chapter=Mon-Khmer |editor1=Rochelle Lieber |editor2=Pavel Stekauer |title=The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology |pages=520–544 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
* Alves, Mark J. (2015). Morphological functions among Mon-Khmer languages: beyond the basics. In N. J. Enfield & Bernard Comrie (eds.), ''Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia: the state of the art''. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton, 531–557.
* Bradley, David (2012). "[https://www.academia.edu/1542763/Languages_and_Language_Families_in_China Languages and Language Families in China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430061616/http://www.academia.edu/1542763/Languages_and_Language_Families_in_China |date=30 April 2017 }}", in Rint Sybesma (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics''.
* [[Byomkes Chakrabarti|Chakrabarti, Byomkes]]. (1994). ''A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali''.
* {{cite journal |last1=Chaubey|first1=G.|last2=Metspalu|first2=M.|last3=Choi|first3=Y.|last4=Magi|first4=R.|last5=Romero|first5=I. G.|last6=Soares|first6=P.|last7=van Oven|first7=M.|last8=Behar|first8=D. M.|last9=Rootsi|first9=S.|last10=Hudjashov|first10=G.|last11=Mallick|first11=C. B.|last12=Karmin|first12=M.|last13=Nelis|first13=M.|last14=Parik|first14=J.|last15=Reddy|first15=A. G.|last16=Metspalu|first16=E.|last17=van Driem|first17=G.|last18=Xue|first18=Y.|last19=Tyler-Smith|first19=C.|last20=Thangaraj|first20=K.|last21=Singh|first21=L.|last22=Remm|first22=M.|last23=Richards|first23=M. B.|last24=Lahr|first24=M. M.|last25=Kayser|first25=M.|last26=Villems|first26=R.|last27=Kivisild|first27=T.| display-authors = 1| year =2010 | title =Population Genetic Structure in Indian Austroasiatic Speakers: The Role of Landscape Barriers and Sex-Specific Admixture | journal =Mol Biol Evol | doi =10.1093/molbev/msq288| doi-access =free | volume=28 |issue=2| pages=1013–1024 | pmid=20978040 | pmc=3355372}}
* [[Gérard Diffloth|Diffloth, Gérard]]. (2005). "The contribution of linguistic palaeontology and Austro-Asiatic". in Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, eds. ''The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics.'' 77–80. London: Routledge Curzon. {{ISBN|0-415-32242-1}}
* Filbeck, D. (1978). ''T'in: a historical study''. Pacific linguistics, no. 49. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. {{ISBN|0-85883-172-4}}
* Hemeling, K. (1907). ''Die Nanking Kuanhua''. (German language)
* Jenny, Mathias and [[Paul Sidwell]], eds (2015). ''[http://www.brill.com/products/reference-work/handbook-austroasiatic-languages-2-vols The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305205754/http://www.brill.com/products/reference-work/handbook-austroasiatic-languages-2-vols |date=5 March 2015 }}''. Leiden: Brill.
* Peck, B. M., Comp. (1988). ''An Enumerative Bibliography of South Asian Language Dictionaries''.
* Peiros, Ilia. 1998. ''Comparative Linguistics in Southeast Asia.'' Pacific Linguistics Series C, No. 142. Canberra: Australian National University.
* Shorto, Harry L. edited by Sidwell, Paul, Cooper, Doug and Bauer, Christian (2006). ''[https://www.academia.edu/11344550/A_Mon-Khmer_comparative_dictionary A Mon–Khmer comparative dictionary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809114321/http://www.academia.edu/11344550/A_Mon-Khmer_comparative_dictionary |date=9 August 2018 }}''. Canberra: Australian National University. Pacific Linguistics. {{ISBN|0-85883-570-3}}
* Shorto, H. L. ''Bibliographies of Mon–Khmer and Tai Linguistics''. London oriental bibliographies, v. 2. London: Oxford University Press, 1963.
* {{cite book |last=Sidwell |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Sidwell |year=2005 |chapter=Proto-Katuic Phonology and the Sub-grouping of Mon–Khmer Languages |chapter-url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/sidwell2005proto.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/sidwell2005proto.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |editor=Paul Sidwell |title=SEALSXV: papers from the 15th meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society |location=Canberra |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |access-date=11 March 2020 }}
* {{cite book | surname = Sidwell | given = Paul | title = Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art | series = LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics | volume = 76 | location = Munich | publisher = Lincom Europa | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-3-929075-67-0 | url = https://www.academia.edu/1540105 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite journal | surname = Sidwell | given = Paul | title = The Austroasiatic central riverine hypothesis | journal = Journal of Language Relationship | volume = 4 | year = 2010 | pages = 117–134 | url = http://www.jolr.ru/files/%2851%29jlr2010-4%28117-134%29.pdf | access-date = 28 October 2011 | archive-date = 30 January 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220130082310/http://www.jolr.ru/files/%2851%29jlr2010-4%28117-134%29.pdf | url-status = live }}
* van Driem, George. (2007). Austroasiatic phylogeny and the Austroasiatic homeland in light of recent population genetic studies. ''[[Mon-Khmer Studies]]'', 37, 1–14.
* Zide, Norman H., and Milton E. Barker. (1966) ''Studies in Comparative Austroasiatic Linguistics'', The Hague: Mouton (Indo-Iranian monographs, v. 5.).
* {{cite journal | last1 =Zhang | display-authors =etal | year =2015 | title =Y-chromosome diversity suggests southern origin and Paleolithic backwave migration of Austro-Asiatic speakers from eastern Asia to the Indian subcontinent | journal =Scientific Reports |volume=5 |page=1548 | doi =10.1038/srep15486 | pmc =4611482 | bibcode =2015NatSR...515486Z | pmid=26482917}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|editor-last=Sidwell|editor-first=Paul|editor-last2=Jenny|editor-first2=Mathias|title=The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia|publisher=De Gruyter|date=2021|isbn=978-3-11-055814-2|doi=10.1515/9783110558142|hdl=2262/97064 |s2cid=242359233|url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/205815/1/10.1515_9783110558142-fm.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/205815/1/10.1515_9783110558142-fm.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live}}
* Mann, Noel, Wendy Smith and Eva Ujlakyova. 2009. ''[http://li.payap.ac.th/images/stories/survey/Linguistic%20Clusters%20of%20Mainland%20Southeast%20Asia%20A%20Description%20of%20the%20Clusters.pdf Linguistic clusters of Mainland Southeast Asia: an overview of the language families.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324073521/http://li.payap.ac.th/images/stories/survey/Linguistic%20Clusters%20of%20Mainland%20Southeast%20Asia%20A%20Description%20of%20the%20Clusters.pdf |date=24 March 2019 }}'' Chiang Mai: Payap University.
* {{cite journal | title = The Talaing Language | given = Francis | surname = Mason | author-link = Francis Mason (missionary) | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 4 | year = 1854 | pages = 277, 279–288 | jstor = 592280 }}
* {{cite journal | given = Paul | surname = Sidwell | title = Issues in Austroasiatic Classification | journal = Language and Linguistics Compass | volume = 7 | issue = 8 | year = 2013 | pages = 437–457 | doi = 10.1111/lnc3.12038 }}
* Sidwell, Paul. 2016. [https://sites.google.com/view/paulsidwell/bibliography-of-austroasiatic-linguistics Bibliography of Austroasiatic linguistics and related resources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324073521/https://sites.google.com/view/paulsidwell/bibliography-of-austroasiatic-linguistics |date=24 March 2019 }}.
* E. K. Brown (ed.) Encyclopedia of Languages and Linguistics. Oxford: Elsevier Press.
* Gregory D. S. Anderson and Norman H. Zide. 2002. Issues in Proto-Munda and Proto-Austroasiatic Nominal Derivation: The Bimoraic Constraint. In Marlys A. Macken (ed.) Papers from the 10th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University, South East Asian Studies Program, Monograph Series Press. pp.&nbsp;55–74.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Austro-Asiatic languages}}
* [[wikt:Appendix:Swadesh lists for Austro-Asiatic languages|Swadesh lists for Austro-Asiatic languages]] (from Wiktionary's [[wikt:Appendix:Swadesh lists|Swadesh-list appendix]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110322035535/http://people.anu.edu.au/~u9907217/languages/languages.html Mon–Khmer.com] Lectures by [[Paul Sidwell]]
* [http://sealang.net/monkhmer/ Mon–Khmer Languages Project] at [[SEAlang Library|SEAlang]]
* [http://sealang.net/munda/ Munda Languages Project] at [[SEAlang Library|SEAlang]]
* [http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI] (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
* [[hdl:10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66A4-2@view|RWAAI Digital Archive]]
* [http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/pangloss/languages/AA_Ferlus_en.php Michel Ferlus's recordings of Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic) languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209180112/http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/pangloss/languages/AA_Ferlus_en.php |date=9 February 2019 }} (CNRS)

{{Austroasiatic languages}}
{{Language families}}
{{Eurasian languages}}

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[[Category:Austroasiatic languages| ]]
[[Category:Language families]]