Katu (Kơtu)

Katu is a member of the Katuic branch of the Austroasiatic language family spoken. It is spoken by about 23,000 people mainly in central Vietnam, particularly in Quảng Nam province and in the A Lưới district of Huế city. There are also speakers of Katu in Sekong and Salavan provinces in the southeast of Laos.

Katu is also known as Low Katu, West Katu, Co Tu, Kantu or Phuong. Dialects include Triw, Dakkang, Kantu and Kalum. It is written with the Latin script in Vietnam, and a way to write it with the Lao script was devised by Nancy Costello working with the Lao Ministry of Information and Culture in the 1990s.

Latin alphabet for Katu

Lao alphabet for Katu

Download alphabet charts for Katu

Sample text (Latin script)

Tanââp kah di vaaih pleng katiêk. Pabơt mpiing mat katiêk kanam kaniêr. Kah arau du ve di. Ntưn đêk ve pleng pavaaih mat pleng, kase, samanh, blơơng aang kalóóng pleng.

Sample text (Lao script)

ຕະແນີບ, ກັຮເອິຍວາຍຫແປລັງກະຄຽກປະເບິດມັດກະຕຽກກະນັມກະນຽຮ. ກັຮອະເຮົາດູແວເອິຍ. ນຕຶນເຖັກ, ແວແປລັງປະວາຍຫມັດແປລັງ, ກະແຊ, ຊະມັນຍ, ເບລີງອາງກະລອໍງແປລັງ.

Translation

In the beginning there was no sky or earth yet. All above the earth it was very dark. There was nothing. After that the spirit of the sky created the sun, moon and stars to give light to shine in the sky.

Source: Katu folktales and society (Nôôq taruuih Katu)

Sample videos in and about Katu

Links

Information about the Katu language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katu_language
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Западнокатуйский_язык
http://www.language-archives.org/language/ktv
https://www.webonary.org/ktv/overview/introduction/
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/kuf
http://www.mksjournal.org/archives/mks/Katu.htm

Katuic languages

Katu, Kuy, TaʼOi

Languages written with the Lao script

Katu, Khmu, Kuy, Lao, Pali, TaʼOi

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 14.07.25. Last modified: 14.07.25

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