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Isaan Language
Isan or Northeastern Thai ( th, ภาษาอีสาน, ภาษาไทยถิ่นตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือ, ภาษาไทยถิ่นอีสาน, ภาษาไทยอีสาน, ภาษาลาวอีสาน) refers to the local development of the Lao language in Thailand, after the political split of the Lao-speaking world at the Mekong River, with the left bank eventually becoming modern Laos and the right bank the Isan region of Thailand (formerly known as Siam prior to 1932), after the conclusion of the Franco-Siamese War of 1893. The language is still referred to as Lao by native speakers.Keyes, Charles F. (1966). "Ethnic Identity and Loyalty of Villagers in Northeastern Thailand". ''Asian Survey''. As a descendant of the Lao language, Isan is also a Lao-Phuthai language of the Southwestern branch of Tai languages in the Kra-Dai language family, most closely related to its parent language Lao and 'tribal' T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esan Language
Esan is a tonal Edoid language of Nigeria. Dictionaries and grammar texts of the Esan language are being produced. There are many dialects, including Ogwa, Ẹkpoma (Ekuma), Ebhossa (Ewossa), Ewohimi, Ewu, Ewatto, Ebelle, Igueben, Irrua, Ohordua, Uromi, Uzea, Ubiaja and Ugboha. Dialects List of Esan dialects as classified by Osiruemu (2010): Usage People from Uromi, Irrua and Ewu speak slightly different Esan dialect compared to people from Uzea, even though there is documentation that Uromi people and the Uzea people have common ancestry. Such variations in tongue and spelling of words are common in the Esan language. Most annual Esan Kings' Council meetings are largely conducted in English for this reason. However, the Esan language has been described as regionally important. It is taught in schools throughout Esanland Esanland ( Esan: ''Otọesan''), or the Edo Central Senatorial District is a cultural region and senatorial district located in south-south Nige ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khorat Plateau
The Khorat Plateau ( th, ที่ราบสูงโคราช) is a plateau in the northeastern Thai region of Isan. The plateau forms a natural region, named after the short form of Nakhon Ratchasima, a historical barrier controlling access to and from the area. Geography The average elevation is and it covers an area of about . The saucer-shaped plateau is divided by a range of hills called the Phu Phan Mountains into two basins: the northern Sakhon Nakhon Basin, and the southern Khorat Basin. The plateau tilts from its northwestern corner where it is about above sea level to the southeast where the elevation is only about . Except for a few hills in the northeastern corner, the region is primarily gently undulating land, most of it varying in elevation from , tilting from the Phetchabun Mountains in the west down toward the Mekong River. The plateau is drained by the Mun and Chi Rivers, tributaries to the Mekong that forms the northeastern boundary of the area. It is sep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Thai Language
Kam Mueang ( nod, , กำเมือง) or Northern Thai language ( th, ภาษาไทยถิ่นเหนือ) is the language of the Northern Thai people of Lanna, Thailand. It is a Southwestern Tai language that is closely related to Lao. Kam Mueang has approximately six million speakers, most of whom live in the native Northern Thailand, with a smaller community of Lanna speakers in northwestern Laos. Speakers of this language generally consider the name "Tai Yuan" to be pejorative. They refer to themselves as ' (, คน เมือง, – literally "people of Mueang" meaning "city dwellers"), Lanna, or Northern Thai. The language is also sometimes referred to as ' (พายัพ, ), "Northwestern (speech)". The term Yuan is still sometimes used for Northern Thai's distinctive Tai Tham alphabet, which is closely related to the old Tai Lue alphabet and the Lao religious alphabets. The use of the ', as the traditional alphabet is known, is now largely lim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shan Language
The Shan language (written Shan: , , spoken Shan: , or , ; my, ရှမ်းဘာသာ, ; th, ภาษาไทใหญ่, ) is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken in pockets of Kachin State in Myanmar, in Northern Thailand and decreasingly in Assam. Shan is a member of the Tai–Kadai language family and is related to Thai. It has five tones, which do not correspond exactly to Thai tones, plus a "sixth tone" used for emphasis. It is called ''Tai Yai'' or ''Tai Long'' in other Tai languages. The number of Shan speakers is not known in part because the Shan population is unknown. Estimates of Shan people range from four million to 30 million, with about half speaking the Shan language. In 2001 Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk estimated 3.2 million Shan speakers in Myanmar; the Mahidol University Institute for Language and Culture gave the number of Shan speakers in Thailand as 95,000 in 2006, though i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khamti Language
Khamti language is a Southwestern Tai language spoken in Myanmar and India by the Khamti people. Demographics In Burma, Khamti is spoken by 3,500 in Sagaing Region, near Myitkyina and by 4,500 in Kachin State, Putao District (both reported in 2000). In India, it is spoken by 5,000 in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, in the Dikrong Valley, Narayanpur, and north bank of the Brahmaputra (reported in 2007). Three dialects of Khamti are known: North Burma Khamti, Assam Khamti, and Sinkaling Khamti. All speakers of Khamti are bilingual, largely in Assamese and Burmese. Name "Khamti" has been variously rendered ''Hkamti, Khampti, Khamti Shan, Khampti Shan, Khandi Shan, Kam Ti, Tai Kam Ti, Tai-Khamti, Kamti, Hkampti Shan,'' and ''Khampti Sam''. The name "Khamti" means "place of gold". History The language seems to have originated around Mogoung in Upper Burma. Mung Kang was captured, a large group of Khamtis moved to the north and east of Lakhimpur. In the year 1850, 300–400 Kha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Tai Languages
The Central Tai languages include southern dialects of Zhuang, and various Nung and Tày dialects of northern Vietnam. Central Tai languages differ from Northern Tai languages in that Central Tai distinguishes unaspirated and aspirated onsets, while Northern Tai generally does not (Li 1977). Southwestern Tai also displays this kind of aspiration contrast. Classification William Gedney considers Central Tai to be more closely related to Southwestern Tai than to Northern Tai, while André-Georges Haudricourt argues for a closer relation to Northern Tai. Pittayaporn's (2009) tentative tree of the Tai branch, however, considers Central Tai to be paraphyletic. Certain languages in predominantly Central Tai-speaking areas, such as Caolan and Nùng An in northern Vietnam, display Northern Tai features as well. These appear to be mixed languages that are not fully Central Tai or Northern Tai. Jerold A. Edmondson calls Caolan a "tertium quid." Jerold Edmondson's (2014)Edmondson, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Tai Languages
The Northern Tai languages are an established branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. They include the northern Zhuang languages and Bouyei of China, Tai Mène of Laos and Yoy of Thailand. Languages Ethnologue ''Ethnologue'' distinguishes the following languages: * Saek (Laos and northeast Thailand; listed outside Tai proper in the ''Ethnologue'' classification, though said to be similar to Tai Maen, which is listed as Northern Tai) * Tai Maen (Laos) * Yoy (Thailand) * Bouyei (Buyi) (China) (including the language of the Giáy people of Vietnam) * Central Hongshuihe Zhuang * Eastern Hongshuihe Zhuang * Guibei Zhuang * Yei Zhuang * Lianshan Zhuang * Liujiang Zhuang * Liuqian Zhuang * Yongbei Zhuang * Youjiang Zhuang (See varieties of Zhuang.) Yoy is elsewhere classified as Southwestern Tai, and E, which is a mixed language Northern Tai-Chinese language. Longsang Zhuang, a recently described Northern Tai language, is spoken Longsang Township, Debao County, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Be Language
Be (), also known as Ong Be, Bê, or ''Vo Limgao'' (Mandarin 臨高 ''Lín'gāo''), is a pair of languages spoken by 600,000 people, 100,000 of them monolingual, on the north-central coast of Hainan Island, including the suburbs of the provincial capital Haikou. The speakers are counted as part of the Han Chinese nationality in census. According to ''Ethnologue'', it is taught in primary schools. Names Be speakers refer to themselves as ', with ' being the prefix for persons and ' meaning 'village' (Liang 1997:1). Liang (1997) notes that it is similar to the autonym ' (from ' 'person' and ' 'village'), by which Gelong 仡隆 (Cun language) speakers refer to themselves. Classification Be is a Kra–Dai language, but its precise relationship to other branches within the Kra-Dai family has yet not been conclusively determined. Hansell (1988) considers Be to be a sister of the Tai branch based on shared vocabulary, and proposes a ''Be–Tai'' grouping. Based on toponymic evidence f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kra Languages
The Kra languages (also known as the Geyang 仡央 or Kadai languages) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family spoken in southern China (Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan) and in northern Vietnam ( Hà Giang Province). Names The name ''Kra'' comes from the word C "human" as reconstructed by Ostapirat (2000), which appears in various Kra languages as ''kra'', ''ka'', ''fa'' or ''ha''. Benedict (1942) used the term ''Kadai'' for the Kra and Hlai languages grouped together and the term ''Kra-Dai'' is proposed by Ostapirat (2000). The Kra branch was first identified as a unified group of languages by Liang (1990),Liang Min 梁敏. 1990Geyang yuqun de xishu wenti 仡央语群的系属问题/ On the affiliation of the Ge-Yang group of languages." In ''Minzu Yuwen'' 民族语文 1990(6): 1-8. who called it the ''Geyang'' 仡央 languages. ''Geyang'' 仡央 is a portmanteau of the first syllable of ''Ge''- in Gelao and the last syllable of -''yang'' in Buyang. The name ''Kra'' was propos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hlai Languages
The Hlai languages () are a primary branch of the Kra–Dai language family spoken in the mountains of central and south-central Hainan in China by the Hlai people, not to be confused with the colloquial name for the Leizhou branch of Min Chinese (). They include Cun, whose speakers are ethnically distinct. A quarter of Hlai speakers are monolingual. None of the Hlai languages had a writing system until the 1950s, when the Latin script was adopted for Ha. Classification Norquest (2007) classifies the Hlai languages as follows. Individual languages are highlighted in bold. There are some 750,000 Hlai speakers. *Proto-Hlai ** Bouhin (Heitu 黑土) – 73,000 **Greater Hlai ***Ha Em 哈炎 (Zhongsha 中沙) – 193,000 ***Central Hlai ****East Central Hlai – 344,000 ***** Lauhut (Baoding 保定) – 166,000, the basis of the literary language *****Qi 杞 also known as ''Gei'' – 178,000 ****** Tongzha (Tongshi 通什) – 125,000 ****** Zandui (Qiandui 堑对) – 29,000 ** ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
