Tai Phake language

The Tai Phake language is spoken in the Buri Dihing Valley of Assam, India.

Tai Phake
Native toIndia
RegionAssam
EthnicityTai Phake people
Native speakers
2,000 (2007)[1]
Kra–Dai
Lik-Tai[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3phk
Glottologphak1238[3]

Distribution
Tai Phake Villages (Morey 2005:22)
Tai name Translation of Tai name Assamese/English name District
ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 ke꞉5 taü3 Lower Phake village Namphakey Dibrugarh
ma꞉n3 pha꞉k4 ta꞉5 Other side of the river village Tipam Phake Dibrugarh
ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 ke꞉5 nɔ6 Upper Phake village Borphake Tinsukia
niŋ1 kam4 Ning kam Nagas Nigam Phake Tinsukia
ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 naiŋ2 Red sky village Faneng Tinsukia
məŋ2 la꞉ŋ2 Country of the Lang Nagas Mounglang Tinsukia
məŋ2 mɔ1 Mine village Man Mau Tinsukia
ma꞉n3 loŋ6 Big village Man Long Tinsukia
nauŋ1 lai6 Nong Lai Nagas Nonglai -

(Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see Proto-Tai language#Tones.)

The maːn˧ corresponds to the modern Thai บ้าน, ban, and Shan ဝၢၼ်ႈ wan which corresponds to 'village'.

Buragohain (1998) lists the following Tai Phake villages.

  • Man Phake Tau (Namphake village, Assam)
  • Man Tipam (Tipam Phake village, Assam)
  • Man Phake Neu (Bor Phake village, Assam)
  • Man Mo (Man Mo village, Assam)
  • Man Phaneng (Phaneng village, Assam)
  • Man Long (Long village, Assam)
  • Man Nonglai (Nonglaui village, Assam)
  • Man Monglang (Monglang village, Assam)
  • Man Nigam (Nigam village, Assam)
  • Man Wagun (Wagun village, Arunachal Pradesh)
  • Man Lung Kung (Lung Kung village, Arunachal Pradesh)

Phonology

Initial consonants

Tai Phake has the following initial consonants[4]:

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced
Plosive Tenuis ptckʔ
Aspirated pʰtʰkʰ
Nasal mnŋ
Fricative sh
Lateral l
Semi-vowel jw

Final consonants

Tai Phake has the following final consonants:

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced
Plosive Tenuis ptkʔ
Aspirated
Nasal mnŋ
Semi-vowel jw

-[w] occurs after front vowels and [a]-, -[j] occurs after back vowels and [a]-.[2]

Vowels

Tai Phake has the following vowel inventory[5]:

Front Back
unr. unr. rnd.
short long short long short long
Close i ɯ u
Mid e ɤ o
Open ɛ a a: ɔ

Writing system

The Tai Phake have their own writing system called 'Lik-Tai', which they share with the Khamti people and Tai Aiton people.[2] It closely resembles the Northern Shan alphabet of Myanmar, which is a variant of the Burmese script, with some of the letters taking divergent shapes.[6]

Notes
  1. Tai Phake at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Diller, Anthony (1992). "Tai languages in Assam: Daughters or Ghosts": 16. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Phake". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Diller, Anthony (1992). "Tai languages in Assam: Daughters or Ghosts": 14. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Morey, Stephen (2008). "The Tai Languages of Assam". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Inglis, Douglas (2017). "Myanmar-based Khamti Shan Orthography". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

References
  • Buragohain, Yehom. 1998. "Some notes on the Tai Phakes of Assam, in Shalardchai Ramitanondh Virada Somswasdi and Ranoo Wichasin." In Tai, pp. 126–143. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Chiang Mai University.
  • Morey, Stephen. 2005. The Tai languages of Assam: a grammar and texts. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
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