Karii, a Vietic group of upland Laos: nests of diversity in a rapidly changing world

Nick Enfield, Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics

The Karii are a Vietic (Austroasiatic) minority group of approximately 300 people in total, living in an isolated river valley near the Laos-Vietnam border in central Laos. Their language, society, and culture has not previously been described. This talk presents results of field work with the Karii over recent years, concentrating on their position in a world of hyper-diversity, both in terms of the nested cultural and linguistic multiplicity of the area, and the extreme biological richness of their home environment. Both loci of diversity are facing pressure, from the usual forces of global change, but in this case accelerated by a massive development-related infrastructure project in the immediate area (hydroelectricity). The talk will discuss aspects of the language and material culture of the group, along with patterns of inter-ethnic interaction, and the challenges facing these people in a rapidly developing social environment.

Nick Enfield is a research fellow in the Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. His background is in field-based research on language, culture, and cognition in mainland Southeast Asia, especially Laos. Major publications include Linguistic Epidemiology (Routledge 2003), 'Areal linguistics and mainland Southeast Asia' (Annual Review of Anthropology 2005), 'Roots of human sociality' (With SC Levinson, Berg 2006), and A Grammar of Lao (Mouton 2007), along with several edited volumes on language and socio-cultural practice. Current research focuses on fieldwork with ethnic minorities of upland Laos.

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