Rade (Rhade; Rade: klei Êđê; Vietnamese: tiếng Ê-đê or tiếng Ê Đê) is an Austronesian language of southern Vietnam. There may be some speakers in Cambodia. It is a member of the Chamic subgroup, and is closely related to the Cham language of central Vietnam.^[2]

Dialects

Đoàn Văn Phúc (1998:24)^[3] lists nine dialects of Rade. They are spoken mostly in Đắk Lắk Province in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam.

• Kpă: spoken throughout Buôn Ma Thuột
• Krung: spoken in Ea H'leo and Krông Năng; some Krung also live among the Jarai in Gia Lai Province
• Adham: spoken in Krông Buk, Krông Năng, and Ea H'leo
• Ktul: spoken in Krông Bông and the southern part of Krông Pắk
• Drao (Kơdrao): spoken in M'Đrăk (in the townships of Krông Jing, Cư M'Ta, and Ea Trang)
• Blô: spoken in M'Đrăk (small population)
• Êpan: spoken in M'Đrăk (small population)
• Mdhur: spoken in Ea Kar and M'Đrăk; also in Gia Lai Province and Phu Yen Province
• Bih: spoken in Krông Ana and in the southern part of Buôn Ma Thuột

Bih, which has about 1,000 speakers, may be a separate language.^[4] Tam Nguyen (2015) reported that there are only 10 speakers of Bih out of an ethnic population of about 400 people.^[5]

A patrilineal Rade subgroup known as the Hmok or Hmok Pai is found in the Buôn Ma Thuột area (Phạm 2005:212).^[6]

Classification

Đoàn Văn Phúc (1998:23)^[3] provides the following classification for the Rade dialects. Đoàn (1998) also provides a 1,000-word vocabulary list for all of the nine Rade dialects.

• Area 1
  • Area 1.1: Krung, Kpă, Adham
  • Area 1.2: Drao. Êpan, Ktul
  • Blô (mixture of areas 1.1 and 1.2, as well as Mdhur)
• Area 2
  • Mdhur
  • Bih

Đoàn Văn Phúc (1998:23)^[3] assigns the following cognacy percentages for comparisons between Kpă and the other eight dialects of Rade, with Bih as the most divergent dialect.

• Kpă – Krung: 85.5%
• Kpă – Adham: 82%
• Kpă – Ktul: 82%
• Kpă – Mdhur: 80%
• Kpă – Blô: 82%
• Kpă – Êpan: 85%
• Kpă – Drao: 81%
• Kpă – Bih: 73%

Vocabulary

• Khoa sang – the most senior in age and authority
• Dega – Protestant of Christian (single word identity of E-de)^{[clarification needed]}
• Ih – you
• Ung – husband
• Ñu – her/him
• Diñu – they
• Drei – we
• Khăp – love
• Bi êmut – hate
• idai – younger sibling
• amĭ – mom/mother
• yah – grandma/grandmother
• aê – grandma/grandfather
• Ama – father, dad daddy
• Jhat – ugly, bad
• Siam – pretty
• Siam mniê – beautiful girl
• Jăk – good
• Khăp – love
• Brei – give
• Djŏ – true
• Nao – go
• Kâo – I/me
• anăn – name
• Čar – country
• Čiăng – want/like
• Aê Diê – God
• Blŭ – speak
• Klei blŭ – language
• Bur – rice porridge
• Êmŏng – fat
• Êwang – skinny
• Jŭ – black
• Hriê/hrê – to be from
• Mơ̆ng – from
• Sa, dua, tlâo, pă, êma – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Năm, kjuh, sa-băn, dua-păn, pluh: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
• Čar Mi/čar amêrik – America
• Čar Kŭr – Cambodia
• Anak – person
• Hriăm – learn
• Roă/ruă – sound of displeasure/pain
• Ƀuôn Ama Y'Thuôt – Buôn Ma Thuôt^{[clarification needed]}
• Čih – type/write
• Klei Mi – English
• Klei Êđê – Rade/Ede
• loo – A lot
• klei Prăng-xê – French

Phonology

The spelling is shown in italics.

Vowels

• Vowels /ɨ ɨː, ə əː/ can also be heard as more centralized-back [ɯ̈ ɯ̈ː, ɤ̈ ɤ̈ː].

Consonants

• /w/ can also be heard as a more bilabial [β̞].
• Glottalized final consonant sounds /wʔ, jʔ, jh/ are heard only in final position.^[7]