Austro-Tai languages

Common card · No. 386398

Austro-Tai ( AW-stroh-TY), sometimes also spelled Austro-Thai, is a proposed language family that would link the Austronesian languages and Kra–Dai languages together as a single language family. Similarities between the Austronesian languages and Thai were first noticed by sinologist Gustaaf Schlegel in 1901, during a study of Thai grammar. In 1942, Paul K. Benedict published a proposal for an expansion of the related Austric theory to include Kra–Dai; this was the first proposal linking the two families. Generally, the similarities between Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Kra–Dai are considered too numerous to be explained by chance resemblance. The debate is about whether these similarities are caused by a genealogical relationship between Austronesian and Kra–Dai, or due to extensive language contact, forming a sprachbund.

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