贡语

1920年代，西方人第一次了解到贡人，那时这种语言就被认为处于严重衰退的状态（Kerr 1927）。1970年代， David Bradley 开始研究这门语言，当时仅仅只有几个地方还有人会说这种语言了，甚至比大约50年前发现的时候还要少2个。由于泰国电力公司要在Khwae Yai河和Khwae Noi河上上建设大坝，贡人被迫从两个村庄离开，。本来会说种语言的人就在不断减少，语言学家们认为这种语言已经脆弱到即将灭绝了。1970年代，还有会说这种语言的儿童，但现在孩子们已经把泰语作为第一语言。

贡语在藏缅语内部的分类还没有确定，虽然布拉德利（1989）认为它在缅彝语群中非常独特，既不适合放在缅语支，也不适合放在彝语支。

贡语有两种方言（根据Ethnologue的说法）。

• Khok Khwai village, Uthai Thani Province (moribund); documented by Rujjanavet (1986)
• Kok Chiang village, Suphan Buri Province (endangered and now dispersed); documented by Thawornpat (2006) and David Bradley

曾经在北碧府也有人会说贡语，但现在已经灭绝了。两种贡语方言（namely Lawa of Kwê Yai and Lawa of Kwê Noi）的词汇表是由A. F. G Kerr（1927）在北碧府收集的。

贡人现在居住在下面三个村庄。

• Lawa Wang Khwai village, Wang Yao Subdistrict (วังยาว), Dan Chang District, Suphanburi Province （3户）。
• Kok Chiang village, Huai Khamin Subdistrict (ห้วยขมิ้น), Dan Chang District, Suphanburi Province （36户）。
• Khok Khwai village (คอกควาย), Thong Lang Subdistrict (ทองหลาง), Huai Khot District, Uthai Thani Province （15户）。reported as Baan Lawa village 3 in Wright, et al. (1991).[5]

有大约500个贡人和50个还会说贡语。在他们生活的区域也有很多Lao Krang人。

贡人以前分布的更加广阔，在Khwae Noi River, Khwae Yai River和Bo Phloi River流域都能找到[5] It was reportedly spoken in locations including:[5]。 据报告包括以下这些地方：

• Kanchanaburi Province
  • Lat Ya (northwest of Kanchanaburi town)
  • Thong Pha Phum District (located along the Khwae Noi River)
  • Ban Lawa (located several kilometres downriver along the Khwae Noi River, from the former location of Sangkhlaburi near the Three Pagodas Pass)
  • Sao Hong, 10 kilometres south of Bo Phloi
  • Phanom Thuan District
  • Bo Phloi, Nong Pling, Lam Iso, Nong Li (หนองรี), and Nong Plue
  • Khlot Khoi[6]
• Suphanburi Province
  • Tumakok, Dan Chang District, Suphanburi Province (now an ethnic Karen township; originally settled by Gong people from Talao/Hin Hak during the 1800's)
  • Sanakphai, Suphanburi Province
  • Wang Khwai (known in Ugong as Kabe and in Lao as Kapheun), Suphanburi Province
• Uthai Thani Province
  • Ban Bung (บ้านบึง), Ban Rai District (near district headquarters)
  • Thong Lang, Huai Khot District
  • Iphung, Cawat, and Huai Haeng (exact locations uncertain)

在北碧府，很多贡人和克伦人和孟人通婚[5]。由于大坝的建设，Sisawat and Sangkhlaburi已经被水淹没，会说这种语言的人也四散到其他地方。到1991年，北碧府已经二三十年没有会说贡语的人了，大部分的贡人改说泰语或克伦语[6]。

贡语是SOV语序。

• 贡语词汇表 （维基词典）

• Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine. Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Page 10.
• Thawornpat, Mayuree. 2006. Gong: An endangered language of Thailand. Doctoral dissertation, Mahidol University.
• Thawornpat, Mayuree. 2007. Gong phonological characteristics. The Mon-Khmer Studies Journal 37. 197-216.

• Bradley, David. 1993. Body Parts Questionnaire (Ugong) （页面存档备份，存于）. (unpublished ms. contributed to STEDT).
• Bradley, David. . . 1989: 33–40. ISBN 9780521324052. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511620997.006.
• Bradley, David (1989). Dying to be Thai: Ugong in western Thailand. La Trobe Working Papers in Linguistics 2:19-28
• Kerr, A. F. G. 1927. "Two 'Lawā' vocabularies: the Lawā of the Baw Lūang plateau; Lawā of Kanburi Province." Journal of the Siam Society 21: 53-63.
• Rujjanavet, Pusit. (1986). The Phonology of Ugong in Uthaithani Province. M.A. Thesis in Linguistics, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Mahidol University.
• Thawornpat, Mayuree. "Gong phonological characteristics", in Mon-Khmer studies: a journal of Southeast Asian languages and cultures, Thailand: Mon-Khmer Studies, 2007.

• Proto-Gong reconstruction （页面存档备份，存于） (Sino-Tibetan Branches Project)