Tai Ya (), also known as Tai-Cung, Tai-Chung and Daiya, is a

Southwestern Tai language The Southwestern Tai, Southwestern Thai or Thai languages are a branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. Its dialects include Siamese (Central Thai), Lanna, Lao, Shan and others. Classification The internal classification of the Southwe ...

of southern China. It is also known as Tai Hongjin () in China. Speakers of Tai Hongjin live in the Red River (红河 or 元江) and Jinsha River (金沙江) watershed regions of south-central

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

. Most are

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

s, but few are

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

. It is also spoken by around 5,000–6,000 people in Chiang Rai Province,

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 b ...

. Unlike other more widely studied Dai languages, Tai Ya has no traditional

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mo ...

, though it has a rich oral tradition. Papers have noted that this lack of orthography may endanger the survival of Tai Ya in future generations in Thailand, as the Tai Ya people shift towards the use of

Northern Thai 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 rela ...

and Central Thai, due to the lack of literature in Tai Ya. However, it has been attested that language vitality as a whole (including the majority speakers in Yunnan Province) is high and "likely to be spoken by future generations".

Dialects

Tai Hongjin can be split into five dialects, which are often mutually unintelligible (Zhou 2001:14). *Yuánxīn 元新 (''Yuanyang-Xinping''):

Honghe County Honghe County () is located in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China. Administrative divisions In the present,Honghe County has 5 towns and 8 townships. ;5 towns ;8 townships Climate References External linksHo ...

红河县, Yuanyang County 元阳县 of '' Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture 红河州'';

Xinping Yi and Dai Autonomous County Xinping Yi and Dai Autonomous County () is an autonomous county located in the central part of Yunnan Province, China. It is the westernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Yuxi. Administrative divisions Xinping Yi and Dai A ...

新平彝族傣族自治县 of '' Yuxi City 玉溪市''. *Yǒngwǔ 永武 (''Yongren-Wuding''): Yongren County 永仁县, Wuding County 武定县, Lufeng County 禄丰县, Dayao County 大姚县 — all in '' Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture 楚雄彝族自治州''. *Mǎguān 马关: Maguan County of '' Wenshan Prefecture''. *Yuánjiāng 元江:

红河县, Yuanyang County 元阳县 of ''

Honghe Prefecture Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture (; Hani: ; Yi: ꉼꉸꉳꆃꁈꆃꁈꊨꏦꍓ) is an autonomous prefecture in Southeast-Central Yunnan Province, China, bordering Vietnam's Lào Cai and Lai Châu provinces to the south. Its nam ...

红河州'';

Yuanjiang County Yuanjiang Hani, Yi and Dai Autonomous County (; Hani: ) is a county of south-central Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. The county seat is the town of Lijiang (), while the county itself is under the administration of Yuxi City. It de ...

元江县 of '' Yuxi City 玉溪市''. *Lǜshí 绿石 (''Lüchun-Shiping''):

Lüchun County Lüchun County () is located in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in the south of Yunnan province, China, bordering Vietnam's Lai Châu Province to the south. Administrative divisions In the present, Lüchun County has 4 towns and 5 tow ...

绿春县, Shiping County 石屏县,

Jianshui County Jianshui County (; Hani: ''Jeifsyu'') is a city in Honghe prefecture, Yunnan province, China. and remains an important transportation crossroad. Previously, it has been known as Lin'an () or Huili (); today, the name Lin'an Town is retained by ...

建水县 — all in ''

红河州''. This dialect has more open rimes and nasal finals. The total number of Tai Hongjin speakers combined is 136,000 (Zhou 2001:14). A related but separate Tai language called Dǎi Jīnpíng (金平傣语) is spoken in Jinping County (金平县),

(红河州), which Zhou (2001) reports as having 15,400 speakers. This language has its own traditional script as well (see Zhou 2001:379).

Heipu

Heipu 黑蒲 ( autonym: Kalang 卡郎 '; also called Baiyi 摆彝 by the Han Chinese) is a variety of ''Tai Ya'' (傣雅) spoken by 118 people in the two villages of Shitouzhai (石头寨) and Xiaomiao (小庙) in Panlong Township (盘龙乡), District 5 (五区), Xinping County, Yunnan (You 2013:268).You Weiqiong ��伟琼 2013. ''Classifying ethnic groups of Yunnan'' ��南民族识别研究 Beijing: Ethnic Publishing House ��族出版社 Heipu (黑蒲) is a Han Chinese exonym referring to their practice of teeth blackening. In Xinping County, the Heipu also refer to themselves as the ''Tai Kha'' (傣卡) (You 2013:336). It is mutually intelligible with Tai Ya as spoken in District 4 (四区) of Xinping County. However, Heipu is unique in that it has only four tones, and has lost the final stops -p, -t, -k. Heipu is not to be confused with two other groups of the same name: *''Heipu'' 黑蒲, an ethnic Zhuang group in Lijiang County, Yunnan with a population of 675 (You 2013:55). *''Heipu'' 黑蒲, an ethnic Bulang group in Mojiang County, Yunnan with the autonym ''Wa'' 娃 (You 2013:335-336).

Notes

References

*Dawkins, Erin. 2007
''A sociolingustic survey of Tai Ya in Thailand''
Chiang Mai: Payap University. *Tehan, Thomas M., and Erin Dawkins. 2010
''Tai Ya in Thailand Present and Future: Reversing Language Shift''
Research Project #53-01 in Linguistics Department Research Series, Payap University, Chiangmai, Thailand. *Xing Gongwan 邢公畹. 1989. Honghe Shangyou Daiyayu 红河上游傣雅语. China: Yuwen.

External links

* 283-word wordlist in Wuding Tianxin Tai dialect archived with

Kaipuleohone Kaipuleohone is a digital ethnographic archive that houses audio and visual files, photographs, as well as hundreds of textual material such as notes, dictionaries, and transcriptions relating to small and endangered languages. The archive is stored ...

{{Tai-Kadai languages Languages of China Tai languages zh:傣雅语

Dialects

Heipu

Notes

References

Further reading

External links