Kam Mueang ( nod, , กำเมือง) or Northern Thai language ( th, ภาษาไทยถิ่นเหนือ) is the language of the
Northern Thai people
The Northern Thai people or Tai Yuan ( th, ไทยวน, ), self-designation ''khon mu(e)ang'' ( nod, , คนเมือง meaning "people of the (cultivated) land" or "people of our community") are a Tai ethnic group, native to eight pr ...
of
Lanna
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. 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
Northern Thailand, or more specifically Lanna, is geographically characterised by several mountain ranges, which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar to Laos, and the river valleys which cut through them. Though like most of Thailand ...
, with a smaller community of Lanna speakers in northwestern
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
.
Speakers of this language generally consider the name "Tai Yuan" to be pejorative. They refer to themselves as ' (,
คน เมือง, – literally "people of
Mueang
Mueang ( th, เมือง ''mɯ̄ang'', ), Muang ( lo, ເມືອງ ''mɯ́ang'', ; Tai Nuea: ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ''muang''), Mong ( shn, ''mə́ŋ'', ), Meng () or Mường (Vietnamese), were pre-modern semi-independent city-states or principali ...
" 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
Tai Tham script ('' Tham'' meaning "scripture") is the name given to an abugida writing system used mainly for a group of Southwestern Tai languages i.e., Northern Thai, Tai Lü, Khün and Lao; as well as the liturgical languages of Buddhism ...
, 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 limited to Buddhist temples, where many old sermon manuscripts are still in active use. There is no active production of literature in the traditional alphabet, and when used in writing standard Thai script is invariably used. The modern spoken form is called . There is a resurgence of interest in writing it in the traditional way, but the modern pronunciation differs from that prescribed in spelling rules.
[Natnapang 2004, Section 3.5.6 ''The changing pronunciation of the Lanna script and Kammuang'' As with all languages, the pronunciation of the written and spoken forms changes over time. This is another problem that Kammuang speakers may have when they learn to write the Lanna script. These changes occur in only some words, and there are no readily apparent rules to explain the changes....]
Classification
Northern Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages—others being
Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
,
Southern Thai
Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus.
Geography
Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounded t ...
and numerous smaller languages, which together with the Northwestern Tai and Lao-Phutai languages, form the
Southwestern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
branch of
Tai languages
The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages ( th, ภาษาไท or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Sia ...
. The Tai languages are a branch of the
Kra–Dai language family, which encompasses a large number of indigenous languages spoken in an arc from
Hainan
Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...
and
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
south through Laos and Northern Vietnam to the Cambodian border.
From a purely genealogical standpoint, most linguists consider Northern Thai to be more closely related to
Central Thai than to
Lao or
Isan
Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan/ th, อีสาน, ; lo, ອີສານ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pali ''īsānna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provin ...
, but the language has been heavily influenced by both Lao and Central Thai throughout history. All Southwestern Tai languages form a coherent
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
of more or less mutually intelligible varieties, with few sharp dividing lines. Nevertheless, Northern Thai has today become closer to the Central Thai language, as Standard Thai is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout Thailand.
Names
The Northern Thai language has various names in Northern Thai, Thai, and other
Tai languages
The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages ( th, ภาษาไท or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Sia ...
.
* In Northern Thai, it is commonly called ' (, , literally "city language"; cf.
Standard Thai: คำเมือง ), or ' (, ภาษาล้านนา , literally "the language of
Lan Na
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
").
* In
Central Thai and
Southern Thai
Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus.
Geography
Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounded t ...
, Northern Thai is known as ''phasa thin phayap'' (ภาษาถิ่นพายัพ , literally "the language of the northwestern region"), or ''phasa thai thin nuea'' (ภาษาไทยถิ่นเหนือ , literally "the Thai language of the northern region", or colloquially it is known as ''phasa nuea'' (ภาษาเหนือ , literally "the northern language").
* In
Lao, it is known as ' or ' ( or respectively, or respectively, literally "the Tai Yuan language").
* In
Tai Lü, it is known as ''kam yon'' ( , literally "the Tai Yuan language").
* In
Shan it is known as ''kwam yon'' ( , literally "the Tai Yuan language").
History
Tai migration
![Tai Migration](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Tai_Migration.svg)
The ancestors of the
Northern Thai people
The Northern Thai people or Tai Yuan ( th, ไทยวน, ), self-designation ''khon mu(e)ang'' ( nod, , คนเมือง meaning "people of the (cultivated) land" or "people of our community") are a Tai ethnic group, native to eight pr ...
were speakers of Southwestern Tai dialects that migrated from what is now southeastern China, specifically what is now
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
and northern
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
where the diversity of various Tai languages suggests an ''
Urheimat
In historical linguistics, the homeland or ''Urheimat'' (, from German '' ur-'' "original" and ''Heimat'', home) of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the r ...
''. The Southwestern Tai languages began to diverge from the Northern and Central branches of the Tai languages, covered mainly by various
Zhuang languages
The Zhuang languages (; autonym: , pre-1982: , Sawndip: 話僮, from ''vah'', 'language' and ''Cuengh'', 'Zhuang'; ) are any of more than a dozen Tai languages spoken by the Zhuang people of Southern China in the province of Guangxi and adjacen ...
, sometime around 112 AD, but likely completed by the
sixth century
The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the previous c ...
.
[Edmondson, J.A. and Gregerson, K.J. (2007). The Languages of Vietnam: Mosaics and Expansions in ''Language and Linguistics Compass'', 1(0). pp. 727-749.] Due to the influx of
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...
soldiers and settlers, the end of the
Chinese occupation of Vietnam, the fall of
Jiaozhi
Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or Giao Chỉ (Vietnamese), was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Co ...
and turbulence associated with the decline and fall of the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
led some of the Tai peoples speaking Southwestern Tai to flee into Southeast Asia, with the small-scale migration mainly taking place between the
eighth and
twelfth centuries. The Tais split and followed the major river courses, with the ancestral Northern Thai originating in the Tai migrants that followed the
Mekong River
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...
.
Indianized kingdoms
Ancestors of the Northern Thai people established
Ngoenyang
The Kingdom of Hiran or Kingdom of Ngoenyang ( th, อาณาจักรหิรัญเงินยาง ) was an early mueang or kingdom of the Northern Thai people from the 7th through 13th centuries AD and was originally centered on H ...
, an early kingdom that existed between the 7th to 13th centuries, as well as smaller kingdoms like
Phayao
Phayao () is a city (''thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Phayao Province. For administrative purposes the city is divided into 15 sub-districts (''tambons''), which are further subdivided into 172 administrative villages.
The t ...
, in what is now modern-day northern Thailand. They settled in areas adjacent to the kingdom of
Hariphunchai, coming into contact with
Mon-speaking people whose writing system was eventually adapted for the Northern Thai language as the
Tai Tham script
Tai Tham script (''Dharma, Tham'' meaning "scripture") is the name given to an abugida writing system used mainly for a group of Southwestern Tai languages i.e., Northern Thai language, Northern Thai, Tai Lue language, Tai Lü, Khün language, K ...
.
In the 13th century, King
Mangrai Mangrai ( nod, ; th, มังราย; 1238–1311), also known as Mengrai ( th, เม็งราย),The name according to historical sources is "Mangrai", and this is used in most modern scholarly applications. "Mengrai", popularised by a 19 ...
consolidated control of these territories, establishing the kingdom of
Lan Na
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
. In the 15th century, King
Tilokkarat
Tilokaraj ( th, พระเจ้าติโลกราช, ), also spelt Tilokarat and Tilokkarat, was the 9th monarch of the Mangrai Dynasty.
Early life
According to the Chiang Mai Chronicle, he was the sixth child of King Sam Phraya (also ...
ushered in a golden age for Northern Thai literature, with a profusion of
palm leaf manuscripts
Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia reportedly dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia and sp ...
written in Tai Tham, using vernacular Northern Thai and interspersed with Pali and Buddhist Indic vocabulary.
Thai subordination
In 1775,
Kawila
Kawila ( th, กาวิละ, , nod, , 31 October 17421816), also known as Phra Boromrachathibodi ( th, พระบรมราชาธิบดี), was the Northern Thai ruler of Chiangmai Kingdom and the founder of Chetton Dynasty. Orig ...
of Lampang revolted with Siamese assistance, and captured the city, ending 200 years of Burmese rule. Kawila was installed as the prince of Lampang and Phraya Chaban as the prince of Chiang Mai, both as vassals of Siam. In 1899, Siam annexed the Northern Thai principalities, effectively dissolving their status as sovereign tributary states.
The Compulsory Education Act of 1921 banned schools and temples from using languages other than
Central Thai (standard Thai), in an effort to bring remote regions under Siamese control.
Northern Thai was relegated from the public sphere, with influential religious leaders like
Khruba Srivichai jailed for using Northern Thai in sermons.
In the 1940s, authorities promulgated
Thai cultural mandates
The cultural mandates or state decrees ( th, รัฐนิยม; ; literally "state fashion" or "state customs') were a series of twelve edicts issued between 1939 and 1942 by the government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram during his firs ...
that reinforced the importance of learning and using Central Thai as the
prestige language
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...
.
These economic and educational pressures have increased the use of standard Thai to the detriment of other regional languages like Northern Thai.
Today, Northern Thai is typically
code-switched with standard Thai, especially in more developed and urbanized areas of Northern Thailand, whereas exclusive use of Northern Thai remains prevalent in more remote areas.
Dialects
Thanajirawat (2018) classifies Tai Yuan into five major dialect groups based on tonal split and merger patterns. (''See also
Proto-Tai language#Tones'')
#most Tai Yuan varieties in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar
#
Bokeo Province, Laos (A12-34 and BCD123-4 (B4=DL4=DS4))
#
Mae Chaem District,
Chiang Mai Province
Chiang Mai ( th, เชียงใหม่, ; nod, , ) is the largest Province (''changwat'') of Thailand. It lies in upper northern Thailand and has a population of 1.78 million people. It is bordered by Chiang Rai to the northeast, Lam ...
and
Laplae District,
Uttaradit Province, Thailand (A12-34 and BCD123-4 (A34=B123=DL123))
#
Tha Pla District,
Uttaradit Province and
Xayaburi Province, Laos (A12-34, BDL1234, and CDS123-4)
#
Ratchaburi Province, Thailand (A12-34 and BCD123-4 (A34=B123=DL123, B4=C4=DL4))
Phonology
Consonants
Initial consonants
Northern Thai consonant inventory is similar to that of
Lao; both languages have the sound and lack .
Initial consonant clusters
There are two relatively common consonant clusters:
*/kw/
*/xw/
There are also several other, less frequent clusters recorded, though apparently in the process of being lost:
[Natnapang 2004, Section 3.5.2 ''Initial consonant clusters in the Lanna script'']
*/ŋw/
*/tɕw/
*/sw/
*/tw/
*/tʰw/
*/nw/
*/ɲw/
*/jw/
*/lw/
*/ʔw/
Final consonants
All
plosive sounds are
unreleased. Hence, final , , and sounds are pronounced as , , and respectively.
Vowels
The basic vowels of the Northern Thai language are similar to those of
Standard Thai. They, from front to back and close to open, are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
, the second entry gives the spelling in the
Thai alphabet
The Thai script ( th, อักษรไทย, ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( th, พยัญชน ...
, where a dash (–) indicates the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates that a final consonant must follow.
The vowels each exist in
long-short pairs: these are distinct
phoneme
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
s forming unrelated words in Northern Thai, but usually transliterated the same: เขา (''khao'') means "they/them", while ขาว (''khao'') means "white".
The long-short pairs are as follows:
The basic vowels can be combined into
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
s. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:
Additionally, there are three
triphthong
In phonetics, a triphthong (, ) (from Greek τρίφθογγος, "triphthongos", literally "with three sounds," or "with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel qu ...
s, all of which are long:
Allophones
The following section largely concerns the Nan dialect of Northern Thai.
Tones
There are six phonemic
tones in the
Chiang Mai dialect of Northern Thai: low-rising, low-falling, high-level with glottal closure, mid-level, high-falling, and high-rising.
[''พจนานุกรมภาษาล้านนา = The Lanna dictionary'' (พิมพ์ครั้งที่ 2). (พ.ศ. 2550 2007 CE. เชียงใหม่: สถาบันภาษา ศิลปะและวัฒนธรรม มหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏเชียงใหม่.] or low-rising, mid-low, high-falling, mid-high, falling, and high rising-falling
[Gedney, W. J. (1999). ''Southwestern Tai dialects: Glossaries, texts, and translations'' (T. J. Hudak, Ed.). University of Michigan Center for South East Asian Studies.]
Contrastive tones in smooth syllables
The table below presents six phonemic tones in the Chiang Mai and
Nan
Nan or NAN may refer to:
Places China
* Nan County, Yiyang, Hunan, China
* Nan Commandery, historical commandery in Hubei, China
Thailand
* Nan Province
** Nan, Thailand, the administrative capital of Nan Province
* Nan River
People Given name
...
dialects in smooth syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in
sonorant sounds such as
and
and open syllables. Sources have not agreed on the phonetic realization of the six tones in the Chiang Mai dialect. The table presents information based on two sources, one from Gedney (1999)
[ and the other one from the Lanna dictionary (2007)][ which is a Northern Thai-Thai dictionary. Although published in 1999, Gedney's information about the Chiang Mai dialect is based on data he collected from one speaker in Chiang Mai in 1964 (p. 725). As tones may change within one's lifetime (e.g., Bangkok Thai tones have changed over the past 100 years][Pittayaporn, P. (2007). Directionality of tone change. ''Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVI)'', 1421–1424.]), the information about the six tones from Gedney (1999) should be considered with caution.
The Gedney boxes for the tones are shown below the descriptions.
Contrastive tones in checked syllables
The table below presents four phonemic tones in checked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in a glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
and obstruent sounds such as and
Grammar
The grammar of Northern Thai is similar to those of other Tai languages
The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages ( th, ภาษาไท or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Sia ...
. The word order
In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective, and examines how different languages employ different orders. C ...
is subject–verb–object, although the subject is often omitted. Just as Standard Thai, Northern Thai pronouns are selected according to the gender and relative status of speaker and audience.
Adjectives and adverbs
There is no morphological distinction between adverbs An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering que ...
and adjectives
In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the mai ...
. Many words can be used in either function. They succeed the word which they modify, which may be a noun, verb, or another adjective or adverb.
* / แม่ญิงเฒ่า (', ) ''an old woman''
* / แม่ญิงตี้เฒ่าโวย (', ) ''a woman who became old quickly''
Because adjectives can be used as complete predicates, many words used to indicate tense in verbs (see Verbs:Aspect below) may be used to describe adjectives.
* / ข้าหิว (', ) ''I am hungry.''
* / ข้าจะหิว (', ) ''I will be hungry.''
* / ข้ากะลังหิว (', ) ''I am hungry right now.''
* / ข้าหิวแล้ว (', ) ''I am already hungry.''
Verbs
Verb
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
s do not inflect
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and def ...
. They do not change with person, tense, voice, mood, or number; nor are there any participles
In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
.
* / ข้าตี๋เปิ้น (', ), ''I hit him''.
* / เปิ้นตี๋ข้า (', ), ''He hit me''.
The passive voice
A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or ''patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing t ...
is indicated by the insertion of / โดน (', ) before the verb. For example:
* / เปิ้นโดนตี๋ (', ), ''He is hit'' or ''He got hit''. This describes an action that is out of the receiver's control and, thus, conveys suffering.
To convey the opposite sense, a sense of having an opportunity arrive, / ได้ (''dai'', , can) is used. For example:
* / เปิ้นจะได้ไปแอ่วเมืองลาว (', ), ''He gets to visit Laos.''
* / เปิ้นตี๋ได้ (', ), ''He is/was allowed to hit'' or ''He is/was able to hit''
Negation
In logic, negation, also called the logical complement, is an operation that takes a proposition P to another proposition "not P", written \neg P, \mathord P or \overline. It is interpreted intuitively as being true when P is false, and false ...
is indicated by placing บ่ (''bor'', or not) before the verb.
* / เปิ้นบ่ตี๋, (', ) ''He is not hitting.'' or ''He not hit.''
Aspect
Aspect or Aspects may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art
* Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company
* Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England
* ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
is conveyed by aspect markers before or after the verb.
:Present
The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perception, perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is ...
can be indicated by / กะลัง (', , currently) or / กะลังหะ (', , currently) before the verb for ongoing action (like English -ing form), by / อยู่ (', ) after the verb, or by both. For example:
:* / เปิ้นกะลังหะล่น (', ), or
:* / เปิ้นล่นอยู่ (', ), or
:* / เปิ้นกะลังหะล่นอยู่ (', ), ''He is running.''
:Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
can be indicated by / จะ (''cha'', , will) before the verb or by a time expression indicating the future. For example:
:* / เปิ้นจะล่น (', ), ''He will run'' or ''He is going to run.''
:Past
The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience t ...
can be indicated by / ได้ (''dai'', ) before the verb or by a time expression indicating the past. However, / แล้ว (''laew'', :, already) is often used to indicate the past aspect by being placed behind the verb. Or, both ได้ and แล้ว are put together to form the past aspect expression. For example:
:* / เปิ้นได้กิ๋น (', ), ''He ate.''
:* / เปิ้นกิ๋นแล้ว (', , ''He has eaten.''
:* / เปิ้นได้กิ๋นแล้ว (', ), ''He's already eaten.''
Aspect markers are not required.
:* / ข้ากิ๋นตี้หั้น (', ), ''I eat there.''
:* / ข้ากิ๋นตี้หั้นตะวา (', ), ''I ate there yesterday.''
:* / ข้ากิ๋นตี้หั้นวันพูก (', ), ''I'll eat there tomorrow.''
Words that indicate obligation include ''at cha'' ( / อาจจะ), ''na cha'' ( / น่าจะ), ''khuan cha'' ( / ควรจะ), and ''tong'' ( / ต้อง).
*' ( / อาจจะ, ) ''Might''
:* / เปิ้นอาจจะมา (', ) ''He might come.''
*' ( / น่าจะ, ) ''Likely to''
:* / เปิ้นน่าจะมา (', ) ''He is likely to come.''
*' ( / ควรจะ, ) ''Should''
:* / เปิ้นควรจะมา (', ) ''He should come.''
*' ( / ต้อง, ) ''Must''
:* / เปิ้นต้องมา (', ) ''He must come.''
Actions that wherein one is busily engaged can be indicated by มัวก่า (''mua ka'', ).
:* / ก่อมัวก่ากิ๋นหั้นเนาะ (''kor mua ka kin han nor'', ) ''(It's that you/he/she) just keeps on eating it like that, you know?''
Words that express one's desire to do something can by indicated by ''khai'' (ใค่) and ''kan'' (กั๊น).
*' ( / ใค่, , ''to want, to desire'')
:* / ข้าเจ้าใค่กิ๋น (', ) ''I want to eat.''
*' ( / กั๊น, , ''to try'')
:* / ข้าเจ้ากั๊นกิ๋น (', ) ''I try to eat.''
' ( / ผ่อท่าว่า, ) is used to give the impression or sensation of being something or having a particular quality.
:* / ผ่อท่าว่าเปิ้นปิ๊กมาแล้ว (', ) ''It seems that he has returned.''
Final particles
Northern Thai has a number of final particles, which have different functions.
Interrogative particles
Some of the most common interrogative particles are ' ( / ก่อ, ) and ' ( / กา, )
*' ( / ก่อ, , denoting yes/no question)
:* / ม่วนก่อ (', ) ''Is it fun?''
*' ( / กา (and its variants: ก๋า, กา), , denoting confirmative question)
:* / ม่วนกา (', ) ''It is fun, right?''
Imperative particles
Some imperative particles are (แล่), (จิ่ม), and (เตอะ).
' ( / แล่, )
:* / กิ๋นแล่ (', ) ''Eat! (Authoritative)''.
' ( / จิ่ม, )
:* / ขอกิ๋นจิ่ม (', ) ''May I eat please?''
' ( / เหีย, )
:* / กิ๋นเหีย (', ) ''Eat! (because I know it will be beneficial to you)''.
' (ᩡ / เต๊อะ, )
:* / กิ๋นเต๊อะ (', ) ''Eat, please.''
Polite particles
Polite particles include (คับ) and (เจ้า).
*' ( / คับ, , used by males)
:* / กิ๋นเข้าแล้วคับ (', ) ''I have eaten, sir/ma'am''.
*' ( / เจ้า, , used by females)
:* / กิ๋นเข้าแล้วเจ้า (', ) ''I have eaten, sir/ma'am''.
Nouns
Noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
s are uninflected and have no gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
; there are no article
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
G ...
s.
Nouns are neither singular
Singular may refer to:
* Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms
* Singular homology
* SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS)
* Singular or sounder, a group of boar, ...
nor plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
. Some specific nouns are reduplicated
In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.
The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwar ...
to form collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...
s: / ละอ่อน (', , child) is often repeated as ละอ่อน ๆ (', ,) to refer to a group of children.
The word / หมู่(', ) may be used as a prefix of a noun or pronoun as a collective to pluralize or emphasise the following word. ( / หมู่ผม, ', , ''we'' (exclusive), masculine; / หมู่เฮา ', , emphasised ''we''; / หมู่หมา ', , ''(the) dogs'').
Plurals are expressed by adding classifiers, used as measure word
In linguistics, measure words are words (or morphemes) that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate an amount of something represented by some noun.
Description
Measure words denote a unit or measurement and are used with mass nouns ...
s (ลักษณนาม), in the form of noun-number-classifier ( / คูห้าคน, "teacher five person" for "five teachers").
Pronouns
Pronouns may be omitted once they have already been established in the first sentence, unless the pronoun in the following sentences is different from the first sentence. The pronoun "you" may also be omitted if the speaker is speaking directly to a second person. Moreover, names may replace pronouns, and they can even replace the first person singular pronoun.
Vocabulary
Northern Thai shares much vocabulary with Standard Thai, especially scientific terms, which draw many prefixes and suffixes from Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
, and it also has its own distinctive words. Just like Thai and Lao, Northern Thai has borrowed many loanwords from Khmer, Sanskrit, and Pali.
Writing system
Currently, different scripts are used to write Northern Thai. Northern Thai is traditionally written with the Tai Tham script
Tai Tham script (''Dharma, Tham'' meaning "scripture") is the name given to an abugida writing system used mainly for a group of Southwestern Tai languages i.e., Northern Thai language, Northern Thai, Tai Lue language, Tai Lü, Khün language, K ...
, which in Northern Thai is called ' ( ตั๋วเมือง ) or ' ( ตั๋วธัมม์ ). However, native speakers are presently illiterate in the traditional script; therefore, they instead use the Thai script
The Thai script ( th, อักษรไทย, ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( th, พยัญชน ...
to write the language. In Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
, the Lao script
Lao script or Akson Lao ( lo, ອັກສອນລາວ, links=no ) is the primary script used to write the Lao language and other minority languages in Laos. Its earlier form, the Tai Noi script, was also used to write the Isan language, b ...
is commonly used to write Northern Thai.
Some problems arise when the Thai script is used to write Northern Thai. In particular, Standard Thai script cannot transcribe all Northern Thai tones. The two falling tones in Northern Thai correspond to a single falling tone in Thai. Specifically, Northern Thai has two types of falling tones: high-falling tone () and falling tone (). However, Thai lacks the distinction between the two falling tones, not having a high-falling tone (). When using Thai script to write Northern Thai tones, the distinction of the two falling tones is lost because Thai script can only indicate a low falling tone (). As an example, the tonal distinction between (ก้า ( กล้า) "to be brave") and (ก้า ( ค่า) "value") is lost when written in Thai since as only (ก้า) is permitted. Consequently, the meaning of ก้า is ambiguous as it can mean both "to be brave" and "value". Similarly, (ป้าย ( ป้าย) "sign") and (ป้าย ( พ่าย) "to lose") have the same problem and only (ป้าย) is permitted. As a result, the spelling ป้าย is ambiguous because it can mean both "sign" or "to lose". Such tonal mergence ambiguity is avoided when the language is written with the Northern Thai script.
Image:Lanna Thai Alphabet 1.jpg, Northern Thai script page 1
Image:Lanna Thai Alphabet 2.jpg, Northern Thai script page 2
Image:Lanna Thai Alphabet 3.jpg, Northern Thai script page 3
Image:Lanna Thai Alphabet 4.jpg, Northern Thai script page 4
Northern Thai and Standard Thai
The tables below present the differences between Northern Thai and Standard Thai.
Different sounds
Unlike Northern Thai, Standard Thai lacks palatal nasal
The voiced palatal nasal is a type of consonant used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a lowercase letter ''n'' with a leftward-pointing tail protruding from the bottom ...
sound (/ɲ/). Thus, the palatal nasal sound (/ɲ/) and the palatal approximant sound (/j/) in Northern Thai both correspond to the palatal approximant sound in Standard Thai:
} /ɲâːk/
, -
, /jūŋ/
ยุง , , /ɲūŋ/
, , mosquito , , cf. lo, ຍຸງ /ɲúŋ/
, -
, /jāːw/
ยาว , , /ɲāːw/
, , long , , cf. lo, ຍາວ /ɲáːw/
, -
, /jāː/
ยา , , /jāː/
, , medicine , , cf. lo, ຢາ /jàː/
, -
, /jàːk/
อยาก , , /jàːk/
, , desire , , cf. lo, ຢາກ /ja᷅ːk/
, -
, /jàːŋ/
อย่าง , , /jàːŋ/
, , manner, way, , cf. lo, ຢ່າງ /jāːŋ/
Unlike Northern Thai, Standard Thai lacks a high-falling tone ( ˧. The high falling tone ( ˧ and falling tone ( ˩ in Northern Thai both correspond to the falling tone in Standard Thai ( ˩.
Different words
Many words differ from Standard Thai greatly:
Similar words
There is not a straightforward correspondence between the tones of Northern and Standard Thai. It also depends on the initial consonant, as can be seen from the merged Gedney tone boxes for Standard Thai and the accent of Chiang Mai:
Note that the commonalities between columns are features of the Chiang Mai accent. On the other hand, the relationships between rows are typical of Northern Thai, being found for at least for Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai ( th, เชียงราย, ; nod, , เจียงฮาย, ) is the northernmost major city in Thailand, with a population of about 200,000 people. It is located in Mueang Chiang Rai District, Chiang Rai Province. Chiang Rai ...
,[ ]Phayao
Phayao () is a city (''thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Phayao Province. For administrative purposes the city is divided into 15 sub-districts (''tambons''), which are further subdivided into 172 administrative villages.
The t ...
,[
]Nan
Nan or NAN may refer to:
Places China
* Nan County, Yiyang, Hunan, China
* Nan Commandery, historical commandery in Hubei, China
Thailand
* Nan Province
** Nan, Thailand, the administrative capital of Nan Province
* Nan River
People Given name
...
and Prae,[ and extending at least to Tak][ and the old 6-tone accent of Tai Khuen,][ except that the checked syllables of Chiang Rai are more complicated.
The primary function of a tone box is etymological. However, it also serves as a summary of the rules for tone indication when the writing system is essentially etymological in that regard, as is the case with the major Tai-language writing systems using the Thai, Lanna, New Tai Lue, Lao and Tai Dam scripts.
Some words differ only as a result of the regular tone correspondences:
Other tone differences are unpredictable, such as:
Some words differ in a single sound and associated tone. In many words, the initial ร (/r/) in Standard Thai corresponds to ฮ (/h/) in Northern Thai:
]
Aspiration of initial consonants
Some aspirated consonant
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with the ...
s in the low-class consonant group (อักษรต่ำ /ʔàk.sɔ̌ːn.tàm/) in Standard Thai correspond to unaspirated sounds in Northern Thai. These sounds include ค, ช, ท, and พ (/kʰ/, /t͡ɕʰ/, /tʰ/, and /pʰ/ respectively), but sounds such as ฅ, คร, ฆ, ฒ, พร, ภ (/kʰ/, /kʰr/, /kʰ/, /tʰ/, /pʰr/, and /pʰ/ respectively) remain aspirated. Such aspirated consonants that are unaspirated in Northern Thai correspond to unaspirated voiced sounds in Proto-Tai
Proto-Tai is the reconstructed proto-language (common ancestor) of all the Tai languages, including modern Lao, Shan, Tai Lü, Tai Dam, Ahom, Northern Thai, Standard Thai, Bouyei, and Zhuang. The Proto-Tai language is not directly atteste ...
which are *ɡ, *ɟ, *d, and *b (ค, ช, ท, and พ respectively).:
But not:
Though a number of aspirated consonants in Standard Thai often correspond to unaspirated sounds in Northern Thai, when an unaspirated consonant is followed by ร (/r/) the unaspirated consonant becomes aspirated:
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
* Bilmes, J. (1996). ''Problems And Resources In Analyzing Northern Thai Conversation For English Language Readers.'' Journal of Pragmatics, 26(2), 171–188.
* Davis, R. (1970). ''A Northern Thai reader.'' Bangkok: Siam Society.
* Filbeck, D. (1973).
Pronouns in Northern Thai
'' Anthropological Linguistics, 15(8), 345–361.
* Herington, Jennifer, Margaret Potter, Amy Ryan and Jennifer Simmons (2013)
Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Thai
SIL Electronic Survey Reports.
* Howard, K. M. (2009). ''"When Meeting Khun Teacher, Each Time We Should Pay Respect": Standardizing Respect In A Northern Thai Classroom.'' Linguistics and Education, 20(3), 254–272.
* Khankasikam, K. (2012). ''Printed Lanna character recognition by using conway's game of life. ''In ICDIM (pp. 104–109).
* Pankhuenkhat, R. (1982). ''The Phonology of the Lanna Language:(a Northern Thai Dialect). ''Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University.
* Strecker, D. (1979). "A preliminary typology of tone shapes and tonal sound changes in Tai: the La-n N-a A-tones", in ''Studies in Tai and Mon-Khmer Phonetics and Phonology In Honour of Eugénie J.A. Henderson'', ed. T.L. Thongkum et al., pp. 171–240. Chulalongkorn University Press.
* Wangsai, Piyawat. (2007). A Comparative Study of Phonological Yong and Northern Thai Language (Kammuang). M.A. thesis. Kasetsart University.
External links
Northern Thai New Testament
The New Testament in hard copy form was written using two script
Amazon link
Khamuang (Chiang Mai variety)
(Intercontinental Dictionary Series
The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary An ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Thai Language
Languages of Thailand
Languages of Laos
Tai languages