The Bunong (alternatively Phnong , Punong, or Pnong ) is an indigenous ethnic group in Cambodia . They are found primarily in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri in Cambodia. The Bunong is the largest indigenous highland ethnic group in Cambodia. They have their language called Bunong , which belongs to Bahnaric branch of Austroasiatic languages . The majority of Bunong people are animists , but a minority of them follows Christianity (Evangelical Protestantism or Roman Catholicism) and Theravada Buddhism . After Cambodia's independence in 1953, Prince Sihanouk created a novel terminology, referring to the country's highland inhabitants, including the Bunong, as Khmer Loeu ("upland Khmer"). Under the People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-89), the generic term ជនជាតិភាគតិច ( chuncheat pheaktech ) "ethnic minorities" came to be in use and the Bunong became referred to as ជនជាតិព្នង ( chuncheat pnong ) meaning "ethnic Pnong". Today, the generic term that many Bunong use to refer to themselves is ជនជាតិដើមភាគតិច ( chuncheat daem pheaktech ), which can be translated as "indigenous minority" and involves special rights, notably to collective land titles as an "indigenous community". In Vietnam, Bunong-speaking peoples are recurrently referred to as Mnong .
22-509: Bunong language (sometimes spelled 'Mnong') is the native language of the Bunong people. It is a member of Bahnaric branch of Austroasiatic languages and is distantly related to Khmer and other languages spoken in the Cambodian highlands (excluding Jarai and Rade which are Austronesian languages closely related to Cham ). There are several dialects of Bunong, some even recognised as
44-652: A dialect group, members do not understand other dialects . The Mnong language was studied first by the linguist Richard Phillips in the early 1970s. Lê, et al. (2014:234-235) lists the following subgroups of Mnong and their respective locations. Other minor Mnong ethnic groups include the Mnông Rơ Đe , Mnông R’Ông , and Mnông K’Ziêng . Nguyễn & Trương (2009) cover the following M'Nông dialects. The following comparative numerals from various Mnong dialects are from Nguyễn & Trương (2009). Mutual intelligibility In linguistics , mutual intelligibility
66-529: A distinct language by linguists; most Bunong dialects are spoken in neighbouring Vietnam , except for Kraol which is spoken within Cambodia. The Bunong practice a very diverse, dynamic, unstructured and often secretive traditional medicine . Originally tied to the large biodiversity of their forest environment, the wars of the 1970s had a significant impact on the Bunong culture and knowledge of traditional medicine, when everybody relocated to either Vietnam or
88-442: A local level. Highland rice varieties formed a staple for the Bunong, grown in slash-and-burn or swidden plots called 'mir'. These are typically on valley slopes. These plots are used for up to 5 years before being left to regrow into forest, recovering soil fertility and allowing use again in the future. Rice was traditionally supplemented with other items gathered from the forest including vegetables, plants, roots, and honey. Over
110-607: A single prestige variety in Modern Standard Arabic . In contrast, there is often significant intelligibility between different North Germanic languages . However, because there are various standard forms of the North Germanic languages, they are classified as separate languages. A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but
132-496: Is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelligibility is sometimes used to distinguish languages from dialects , although sociolinguistic factors are often also used. Intelligibility between varieties can be asymmetric; that is, speakers of one variety may be able to better understand another than vice versa. An example of this
154-442: Is the case between Afrikaans and Dutch . It is generally easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch. (See Afrikaans § Mutual intelligibility with Dutch ). In a dialect continuum , neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but differences mount with distance, so that more widely separated varieties may not be mutually intelligible. Intelligibility can be partial, as
176-436: Is the case with Azerbaijani and Turkish , or significant, as is the case with Bulgarian and Macedonian . However, sign languages , such as American and British Sign Language , usually do not exhibit mutual intelligibility with each other. Asymmetric intelligibility refers to two languages that are considered partially mutually intelligible, but for various reasons, one group of speakers has more difficulty understanding
198-460: Is therefore official policy of the Cambodian government (backed by the WHO ) to support the practice of traditional medicines. Research shows that, as of 2011, 95% of the inhabitants in two Bunong villages still regularly use medicinal plants. It is hoped that the Bunong culture of traditional medicine can help to build respect for the environment and halt the deforestation and habitat loss of Cambodia on
220-762: The Austro-Asiatic language family. It is spoken by the different groups of Mnong in Vietnam and a Pnong group in Cambodia . In Vietnam, Mnong is spoken in the districts of Đăk Song , Đăk Mil , Đăk R'Lấp , Krông Nô , Gia Nghĩa , and other nearby locations in Đắk Nông Province (Nguyễn & Trương 2009). According to Ethnologue , four major dialects exist: Central, Eastern and Southern Mnong (all spoken in Vietnam), and Kraol (spoken in Cambodia). Within
242-630: The varieties of Chinese , and parts of the Romance , Germanic and Slavic families in Europe. Terms used in older literature include dialect area ( Leonard Bloomfield ) and L-complex ( Charles F. Hockett ). Northern Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia form a dialect continuum where the two furthermost dialects have almost no mutual intelligibility. As such, spoken Danish and Swedish normally have low mutual intelligibility, but Swedes in
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#1732773366213264-576: The Öresund region (including Malmö and Helsingborg ), across the strait from the Danish capital Copenhagen , understand Danish somewhat better, largely due to the proximity of the region to Danish-speaking areas. While Norway was under Danish rule , the Bokmål written standard of Norwegian developed from Dano-Norwegian , a koiné language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during
286-489: The Cambodian Koh Niek district. New plants and practices were acquired by the Bunong in these new locations, but upon returning in the 1980s and 1990s, knowledge and use of plants native to their homelands had been forgotten by many. Adequate conventional biomedicine and healthcare can be difficult or impossible to obtain by the locals in the countryside of Cambodia - in particular during the rainy season - and it
308-871: The Spirit Forests.” - Chok Marel Ancestors also hold an important place in Bunong ritual life and, like the spirit-gods, they are called to join every ceremony. During Vietnam war, in the early 1970s, a number of Bunong converted to Christianity during their exile in South Vietnamese refugee camps. In more recent years, Christian missionaries of many different denominations have been trying to spread their religion in Mondulkiri, notably through concurrent development support. Bunong spirit practices have also been blended with Khmer Buddhism through proximity. Mnong language The Mnong language (also known as Pnong or Bunong ) (Bunong: ឞូន៝ង) belongs to
330-422: The context of the communication. Classifications may also shift for reasons external to the languages themselves. As an example, in the case of a linear dialect continuum , the central varieties may become extinct , leaving only the varieties at both ends. Consequently, these end varieties may be reclassified as two languages, even though no significant linguistic change has occurred within the two extremes during
352-518: The differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varieties may not be. This is a typical occurrence with widely spread languages and language families around the world, when these languages did not spread recently. Some prominent examples include the Indo-Aryan languages across large parts of India , varieties of Arabic across north Africa and southwest Asia, the Turkic languages ,
374-401: The extinction of the central varieties. Furthermore, political and social conventions often override considerations of mutual intelligibility. For example, the varieties of Chinese are often considered a single language, even though there is usually no mutual intelligibility between geographically separated varieties. This is similarly the case among the varieties of Arabic , which also share
396-436: The last two decades, there has been an increasing shift to cash crop cultivation in Bunong communities, especially cassava and cashew . Bunong traditionally relate to spirit-gods ( brah-yaang ) who live in surrounding forests, on mountains, or in rivers. The Bunongs' world is populated by spirits with whom people interact through rituals, offering them jar wine and sacrificed animals. No spirits are more powerful than those of
418-801: The later years of the union. Additionally, Norwegian assimilated a considerable amount of Danish vocabulary as well as traditional Danish expressions. As a consequence, spoken mutual intelligibility is not reciprocal. Because of the difficulty of imposing boundaries on a continuum, various counts of the Romance languages are given. For example, in The Linguasphere register of the world's languages and speech communities , David Dalby lists 23 languages based on mutual intelligibility: The non-standard vernacular dialects of Serbo-Croatian ( Kajkavian , Chakavian and Torlakian ) diverge more significantly from all four normative varieties of Serbo-Croatian. Their mutual intelligibility varies greatly between
440-607: The non-hard-of-hearing people of the United Kingdom and the United States share the same spoken language. The grammar of sign languages does not usually resemble that of the spoken languages used in the same geographical area. To illustrate, in terms of syntax , ASL shares more in common with spoken Japanese than with English . Almost all linguists use mutual intelligibility as the primary linguistic criterion for determining whether two speech varieties represent
462-749: The other language than the other way around. For example, if one language is related to another but has simplified its grammar , the speakers of the original language may understand the simplified language, but not vice versa. To illustrate, Dutch speakers tend to find it easier to understand Afrikaans as a result of Afrikaans's simplified grammar. Sign languages are not universal and usually not mutually intelligible, although there are also similarities among different sign languages. Sign languages are independent of spoken languages and follow their own linguistic development. For example, British Sign Language and American Sign Language (ASL) are quite different linguistically and mutually unintelligible, even though
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#1732773366213484-476: The same or different languages. A primary challenge to this position is that speakers of closely related languages can often communicate with each other effectively if they choose to do so. In the case of transparently cognate languages recognized as distinct such as Spanish and Italian, mutual intelligibility is in principle and in practice not binary (simply yes or no), but occurs in varying degrees, subject to numerous variables specific to individual speakers in
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