# Rade language

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.

## Dialects

Đoàn Văn Phúc (1998:24) 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. Tam Nguyen (2015) reported that there are only 10 speakers of Bih out of an ethnic population of about 400 people.
A patrilineal Rade subgroup known as the Hmok or Hmok Pai is found in the Buôn Ma Thuột area (Phạm 2005:212).

## Classification

Đoàn Văn Phúc (1998:23) 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) 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)
* 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 Thuột (city)
* Čih – type/write
* Klei Mi – English
* Klei Êđê – Rade/Ede
* loo – A lot
* klei Prăng-xê – French
* mluk-crazy

## Phonology

The spelling is shown in italics.

### Consonants

Rade consonants :
| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ñ /ɲ/ | ng /ŋ/ | |
| Stop | voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/ | č /c/ | k /k/ | /ʔ/ |
| Stop | aspirated | ph /pʰ/ | th /tʰ/ | čh /cʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | |
| Stop | voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | j /ɟ/ | g /ɡ/ | |
| Stop | implosive | ƀ /ɓ/ | đ /ɗ/ | dj /ʄ/ | | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | s /s/ | | | h /h/ |
| Approximant | Approximant | w /w/ | l /l/ | y /j/ | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | r /r/ | | | |
* The voiced implosives /ɓ, d, ʄ/ are also described as "preglottalized stops" ([ˀb, ˀd, ˀɟ].
* According to Đoàn (1993):
** /ɟ/ is as an affricate [d̠͡ʝ].
** /t, tʰ/ are dental ([t̪, t̪ʰ]).
** /j/ has slight friction ([j̝]).
** There is an optional schwa between the bilabial plosives /p, b, ɓ/ and /l, r, h/. Thus pra "scaffold" is pronounced [pᵊrä].
** /m/ is weakened before most consonants, except before the liquids /l, r/ where there may be a schwa. Compare mčah "broken" [ᵐcäh] and mla "tusk" [mᵊlä].
* When other consonants is followed by /l, r, h/, there may be a schwa or coarticulation. Compare trah "to fish" [tᵊräh], tlao "to laugh" [tläu̯~t͜läu̯], dlao "to scold" [dläu̯~d͜läu̯], dhan "branch" [dhän~dʱän], jhat "bad" [ˀɟhät̚~ˀɟʱät̚], ghang "to roast" [ɡhäŋ~ɡʱäŋ].
* /w/ can also be heard as a more bilabial [β̞].
* Glottalized final consonant sounds /wʔ, jʔ, jh/ are heard only in final position.

### Vowels

Rade vowels :
| | Front | Front | Central | Central | Back | Back |
| | short | long | short | long | short | long |
| High | ĭ /i/ | i /iː/ | ư̆ /ɨ/ | ư /ɨː/ | ŭ /u/ | u /uː/ |
| Mid | ê̆ /e/ | ê /eː/ | ơ̆ /ə/ | ơ /əː/ | ô̆ /o/ | ô /oː/ |
| Low | ĕ /ɛ/ | e /ɛː/ | ă /a/ | a /aː/ | ŏ /ɔ/ | o /ɔː/ |
* /aː, a/ are central (respectively [ä, ɐ̆]).