Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 7, 2026

Cuối language

Cuối, also known as Thổ, is a dialect cluster spoken by around 70,000 people in Vietnam. It is also spoken by a couple thousand people in Laos—mainly in the provinces of Bolikhamsai and Khammouane.

Last revised
Jul 7, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
434 w
Citations
4
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Cuói
Thổ
Native toVietnam, Laos
EthnicityThổ
Native speakers
(71,000 cited 1999 census)1
Dialects
  • Cuối Chăm
  • Làng Lỡ
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
tou – Tho
hnu – Hung
Glottologcuoi1242
Linguasphere46-EAD-a

Cuối, also known as Thổ,2 is a dialect cluster spoken by around 70,000 people in Vietnam. It is also spoken by a couple thousand people in Laos—mainly in the provinces of Bolikhamsai and Khammouane.

Phonology

Làng Lỡ dialect

Consonants

The consonant inventory of the Làng Lỡ dialect, as cited by Michel Ferlus:3

Initial consonants of Cuối Làng Lỡ
Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive tenuis p t ʈ c k ʔ
glottalized ɓ ɗ ˀɟ
aspirated tʰ kʰ
Fricative voiceless f s ʂ h
voiced β v ð ɣ
glottalized ˀð
Approximant l ɽ ~ ʐ j
  • [ʈ] is found in Vietnamese loanwords with initial /ʈ/ (orthographic ⟨tr⟩)
  • [β ð ɣ ˀð] originate in the borrowing of segments from a variety of Vietnamese that existed several centuries ago.

Vowels

Monophthongs of Cuối Làng Lỡ
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid/
Mid 		e ə o
Open-mid/
Open 		ɛ ʌ̆
ă a 		ɔ
Diphthongs of Cuối Làng Lỡ iə ɨə uə eə oə

Tones

There are eight tones in the Làng Lỡ. Tones 1 to 6 are found on sonorant-final syllables (a.k.a. 'live' syllables): syllables ending in a vowel, semi-vowel or nasal. Tones 7 and 8 are found on obstruent-final syllables (a.k.a. 'stopped' syllables), ending in -p -t -c -k.3 This is a system comparable to that of Vietnamese.

Vocabulary

The data is from Cuoi Cham vocabulary recordings and the Mon-Khmer Etymological Dictionary.

English Cuối Chăm Làng Lỡ Hanoian Vietnamese
cloud mʌl¹ mʌn¹ məj˧˧ mây
rain mɐː² mɨə¹ mɨə˧˧ mưa
wind sɒː³ juə³ zɔ˧˦ gió
thunder kʰrʌm⁴ ʂəm⁴ səm˧˦ sấm
earth, land tʌt⁷ tʌt⁷ ʔɗət̚˧˦ đất
cave haːŋ¹ haːŋ¹ haːŋ˧˧ hang
deep kʰruː² ʂuː² səw˧˧ sâu
water daːk⁷ daːk⁷ nɨək̚˧˦ nước
river kʰrɔŋ¹ ʂɔːŋ¹ səwŋ͡m˧˧ sông
puddle puŋ⁶ - vʊwŋ͡m˦ˀ˥ vũng
mud puːl² vuːn² ʔɓun˨˩ bùn
rock, stone taː³ δaː³ ʔɗaː˧˦ đá
bark pɒː⁵ ʂɔː⁵⁶ vɔ˧˩ vỏ
dog cɒː³ cɔː³ t͡ɕɔ˧˦ chó
cultivated field rɔːŋ² ʂɔːŋ² zuəŋ˧˨ʔ ruộng
to go tiː² tiː² ʔɗi˧˧ đi
to have kɒː³ kɔː³ kɔ˧˦ có
References

References

  1. Tho at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Hung at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. "The Vietic Branch". sealang.net.
  3. Ferlus 2015, I.2
Further reading

Further reading