Morphological similarities suggest the Kra languages are closest to the
Kam–Sui branch of the family. There are about a dozen Kra languages, depending on how languages and dialects are defined.
Gelao, with about 8,000 speakers in China out of an ethnic population of approximately 500,000, and consists of at least four
mutually unintelligible language varieties, including
Telue (White Gelao),
Hagei (Blue or Green Gelao),
Vandu (Red Gelao),
A'ou (Red Gelao), and
Qau (Chinese Gelao).
Ostapirat (2000) The internal classification below is from Weera Ostapirat (2000), who splits the Kra branch into the Eastern and Western branches. }} According to
Jerold Edmondson (2002), Laha is too conservative to be in Western Kra, considered it to constitute a branch of its own. However, Edmondson (2011) later reversed his position, considering Laha to be more closely related to
Paha. Ethnologue mistakenly includes the
Hlai language Cun of Hainan in Kra; this is not supported by either Ostapirat or Edmondson.
Hsiu (2014) Hsiu's (2014) classification of the Kra languages, based on computational phylogenetic analysis as well as Edmondson's (2011) •
Kra • Northern Kra •
Lachi •
Gelao • Red Gelao •
Vandu •
A'ou • Core Gelao •
Dongkou Gelao • White Gelao (
Telue) • Central Gelao:
Hagei,
Qau • Southern Kra • Guangxi
Buyang (Yalhong) •
Laha,
Paha •
Qabiao • Yunnan
Buyang: Ecun, Langjia,
Nung Ven Substrata Andrew Hsiu (2013, 2017) reports that
Hezhang Buyi, a divergent,
moribund Northern Tai language spoken by 5 people in Dazhai 大寨, Fuchu Township 辅处乡,
Hezhang County 赫章县,
Guizhou, China, has a Kra
substratum.
Maza, a
Lolo–Burmese language spoken in Mengmei 孟梅,
Funing County, Yunnan, is also notable for having a
Qabiao substratum (Hsiu 2014:68-69). According to
Li Jinfang (1999), the
Yang Zhuang people of southwestern
Guangxi may have been Kra speakers who
had switched to Zhuang. ==Demographics==