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Tai Dón language

Tai Dón (ꪼꪕ ꪒ꪿ꪮꪙ, /taj˦.dɔn˦˥/[1]), also known as Tai Khao or White Tai, is a Tai language of northern Vietnam, Laos and China.

Tai Dón
ꪼꪕ ꪒ꪿ꪮꪙ[1]
Tai Dón as written in SyyDai font
Pronunciation/taj˦.dɔn˦˥/
Native toLaos, Vietnam, China (Mengla Township of Jinping)
EthnicityWhite Tai
Native speakers
(500,000 cited 1995–2002)[2]
Kra–Dai
Tai Viet
Language codes
ISO 639-3twh
Glottologtaid1250

Classification

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Tai Dón is classified as belonging to the Tai-Kadai language group, located in the Tai languages and Southwestern Tai languages subgroups.

Geographical distribution

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In China, White Tai (Tai Khaw 傣皓) people are located in the following townships of Yunnan province, with about 40,000 people (Gao 1999).[3]

  • Jinping County 金平县: Mengla Township 勐拉乡 and Zhemi Township 者米乡 (along the banks of the Zhemi River 者米河 and Tengtiao River 藤条)
  • Malipo County 麻栗坡县: Nanwenhe Township 南温河乡
  • Maguan County 马关县: Dulong Town 都龙镇
  • Jiangcheng County 江城县: Qushui Township 曲水乡 (along the banks of the Tuka River 土卡河)

Phonology

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Each syllable has at least one onset, one nucleus, and one tone.[4] The following sections present the consonants, vowels, and tones in Tai Dón.

Consonants

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Initial consonants

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Initial consonants in Tai Dón[4]: 9–10 
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop/Affricate voiced b d
voiceless unaspirated p t t͡ɕ[a] k ʔ
voiceless aspirated pʰ tʰ t͡ɕʰ kʰ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Fricative voiced v[b]
voiceless f s x h
Approximant l j[c]
  1. ^ "Hudak (2008)[4]: 9  likely used <c> to transcribe /t͡ɕ/. Fippinger and Fippinger (1970) used <c> to transcribe /t͡ɕ/, by writing "/c/ [č] alveopalatal affricate", for /t͡ɕ/ in Tai Dam, a language closely related to Tai Dón, in an article that compares Tai Dam phonemes to Tai Dón phonemes.[5]: 85 
  2. ^ /v/ is likely a sonorant because of its sonority and low level of friction.[4]: 10  It is also in complementary distribution with [w] which occurs only at the end of a syllable.[4]: 10 
  3. ^ /j/ is often pronounced as [z] in initial position due to the influence of Vietnamese phonology.[4]: 10 

The following table presents the above consonant phonemes in words reported in Hudak's (2008) book.[4]: 9–10 

Phoneme Example Phoneme Example Phoneme Example Phoneme Example Phoneme Example
/b/ /bɤn˨˨/ ꪚꪷꪙ "moon" /d/ /dɔn˦˥/ ꪒꪮꪙꫀ "white"
/p/ /pɔ˦˥˦/ ꪝ꪿ꪮ "father" /t/ /tu˨˨/ ꪔꪴ "door" /t͡ɕ/ /t͡ɕɔn˧˩ʔ/ ꪋꪮꪙꫂ "spoon" /k/ /kaːŋ˨˨/ ꪀꪱꪉ "middle" /ʔ/ /ʔaːŋ˦˥/ ꪮꪱꪉꫀ "basin"
/pʰ/ /pʰaː˨˦ʔ/ ꪞꪱꫂ "cloth" /tʰ/ /tʰiw˨˨/ ꪖꪲꪫ "to whistle" /t͡ɕʰ/ /t͡ɕʰaj˦˥/ ꪼꪌꫀ "egg" /kʰ/ /kʰo˨˦ʔ/ ꪂꪺꫂ "to cook"
/m/ /mɯŋ˦˦/ ꪣꪳꪉ "you" /n/ /naː˨˦ʔ/ ꪘꪱꫂ "face" /ɲ/ /ɲuŋ˦˦/ ꪶꪑꪉ "mosquito" /ŋ/ /ŋaːj˦˥˦/ ꪉꪱꪥꫀ "easy"
/v/ /vaːn˨˨/ ꪪꪱꪙ "sweet"
/f/ /faː˨˨/ ꪠꪱ "lid" /s/ /sɔŋ˨˨/ ꪎꪮꪉ "two" /x/ /xaj˨˨/ ꪼꪄ "tallow" /h/ /hɤ˦˥/ ꪬꪷꫀ "sweat"
/l/ /loŋ˦˦/ ꪩꪺꪉ "dragon" /j/ /jɔj˧˩ʔ/ ꪥꪮꪥꫂ "to drool"

There are four consonant clusters that occur at the beginning of a syllable.

Initial consonant clusters in Tai Dón[4]: 10 
Cluster Example
kw /kwaː˦˥˦/ ꪁꪫꪱꫀ "to visit"
kʰw /kʰwe˦˥/ ꪂꪫꪸꫀ "to dig"
ŋw /ŋwaː˦˥˦/ ꪉꪫꪱꫀ "fig"
xw /xwan˦˦/ ꪅꪫꪽ "smoke"

Final consonants

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Final consonants in Tai Dón[4]: 10–11 
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop p t k ʔ
Nasal m n ŋ
Approximant w j ɰ[a]
  1. ^ "/ɰ/ occurs after /a/ (e.g., /baɰ˨˨/ ꪻꪚ "leaf")[4]: 11 

Vowels

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Tai Dón has nine short vowels, and one long vowel. However, the short vowels are phonetically realized as long in final position[4]: 10  (e.g., /e/ is phonetically [eː] in final position).

Vowels in Tai Dón[4]: 10 
Front Back
unrounded rounded
High i ɯ u
Mid e ɤ o
Low ɛ a aː ɔ

Tones

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There are six tones on a smooth syllable (an open syllable or a closed syllable ending in a sonorant).[4]: 9 

Tai Dón tones in smooth syllables[4]: 9 
Description Tone letters Example
level, slightly lower than mid 22 (or ˨˨) /kaː˨˨/ ꪀꪱ "crow"
high-rising 45 (or ˦˥) /kaː˦˥/ ꪀꪱꫀ "all the way to"
low-rising, glottalized 24ʔ (or ˨˦ʔ) /kaː˨˦ʔ/ ꪀꪱꫂ "young rice plant"
level, somewhat higher than mid 44 (or ˦˦) /kaː˦˦/ ꪁꪱ "stuck"
level, somewhat higher than mid with a rise and fall 454 (or ˦˥˦) /kaː˦˥˦/ ꪁꪱꫀ "price"
falling, glottalized 31ʔ (or ˧˩ʔ) /kaː˧˩ʔ/ ꪁꪱꫂ "to trade"

Two of the six tones occur on a checked syllable (a syllable ending in a stop).

Tai Dón tones in checked syllables[4]: 9 
Tone Vowel length Example
high-rising short /sat˦˥/ ꪎꪰꪒ "animal"
long /ʔaːp˦˥/ ꪮꪱꪚ "to bathe"
level, somewhat higher than mid short /mot˦˦/ ꪣꪺꪒ "ant"
long /laːt˦˦/ ꪩꪱꪒ "to cover"

References

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  1. ^ a b "The White Tai refer to themselves and their language as tay⁴ dɔn², probably because of the white blouses worn by the women. The usual word for 'white' in White Tai is dɔn²" (p. 8). Hudak, T. J. (2008). William J. Gedney’s comparative Tai source book. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
  2. ^ Tai Dón at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Gao Lishi 高立士. 1999. 傣族支系探微. 中南民族学院学报 (哲学社会科学版). 1999 年第1 期 (总第96 期).
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Hudak, T. J. (2008). William J. Gedney’s comparative Tai source book. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
  5. ^ Fippinger, J. & Fippinger, D. (1970). Black Tai Phonemes, with reference to White Tai. Anthropological Linguistics, 12(3). 83-97.
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