Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 18, 2026

Chut languages

The Chứt or Rục-Sách languages are a Vietic language cluster spoken by the Chứt peoples of Vietnam and Khammouane Province, Laos.

Last revised
Jun 18, 2026
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≈ 1 min
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288 w
Citations
5
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Chut
Ruc-Sach
Geographic
distribution		Vietnam, Laos
Native speakers
1,300 (2007)1
Linguistic classificationAustroasiatic
Subdivisions
Language codes
ISO 639-3scb
Glottologchut1247

The Chứt (Chut, Cheut) or Rục-Sách languages are a Vietic language cluster spoken by the Chứt peoples of Vietnam and Khammouane Province, Laos.

Classification

The following three Chứt subgroups have been tentatively identified in Babaev & Samarina (2021).2

  • Mày, Rục, Sách
  • Arem
  • Kri, Maleng (Malieng); Kri and Maleng are listed as Western Vietic, rather than as part of the Chut phylogenetic group, by Alves & Sidwell (2021)3

Except for the semi-nomadic and sedentary agriculturalist Sach and the swidden agriculturalist Kri, the May, Ruc, Arem, and Maleng were all hunter-gatherers until the late 20th century.2

Distribution

Chứt languages are spoken in the following villages in Vietnam.4

Sách
  • Lâm Hóa
  • Hóa Tiến
  • Lâm Sum
  • Hóa Hợp
  • Hóa Lương
  • Thượng Hóa
Mày
  • Ca Oóc
  • Bai Dinh
  • Cha Lo
Rục
  • Yên Hợp
  • Phú Minh
References

References

  1. Chut at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Babaev, Kirill; Samarina, Irina (2021). Sidwell, Paul (ed.). A Grammar of May: An Austroasiatic Language of Vietnam. Brill. p. 14. ISBN 978-9-00446-108-6.
  3. Sidwell, Paul; Alves, Mark (2021). "The Vietic languages: a phylogenetic analysis". Journal of Language Relationship. 19 (3–4): 166–194.
  4. 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.
  • Ta Long (1975). "About the human community relationship between the three groups of 'Machines', Ruc, Books". In Vietnam Social Science Commission: Institute of Ethnology. On the issue of identifying the minority population in northern Vietnam, p. 518-530. Hanoi: Social Sciences Publishing House.
External links