Halang, also known as Salang, is a Bahnaric language of the Mon–Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic language family. It is spoken in the southern Laotian province of Attapu by approximately 4000 people and in the neighboring Kon Tum Province of Vietnam by approximately 13,500 people (Ethnologue, 2000).
In more specific usage, Halang refers to the dialect spoken in Vietnam, whereas Salang refers to the dialect spoken in Laos. Halang or Salang may also serve as an ethnonym for members of the ethnic group that speak the language. However, in Vietnam, the Halang speakers are officially classified as a subgroup of the larger Sedang ethnicity.
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)