Proto-Austroasiatic is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austroasiatic languages. An earlier reconstruction of the family's Mon-Khmer branch, Proto-Mon-Khmer, was compiled by Harry L. Shorto, while a new reconstruction of Proto-Austroasiatic itself has been undertaken by Paul Sidwell, who published 500 reconstructed Proto-Austroasiatic word roots in 2024. Scholars generally date the proto-language to around 3000 to 2000 BC and place its homeland in southern China or the Mekong River valley; Sidwell's 2022 work proposes the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam around 2500 to 2000 BC specifically.
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