Tai Dón language
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Tai Dón (ꪼꪕ ꪒ꪿ꪮꪙ, /taj˦.dɔn˦˥/), also known as Tai Khao (/taj˦.xaːw˨/) or White Tai, is a Tai language of northern Vietnam, Laos and China.
Classification
Tai Dón is classified as belonging to the Tai-Kadai language group, located in the Tai languages and Southwestern Tai languages subgroups.
Geographical distribution
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).
- 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
Each syllable has at least one onset, one nucleus, and one tone. The following sections present the consonants, vowels, and tones in Tai Dón.
Consonants
Initial consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop/Affricate | voiced | [b] | [d] | |||
| voiceless unaspirated | [p] | [t] | [t͡ɕ] | [k] | [ʔ] | |
| voiceless aspirated | [pʰ] | [tʰ] | [t͡ɕʰ] | [kʰ] | ||
| Nasal | [m] | [n] | [ɲ] | [ŋ] | ||
| Fricative | voiced | [v] | ||||
| voiceless | [f] | [s] | [x] | [h] | ||
| Approximant | [l] | [j] |
The following table presents the above consonant phonemes in words reported in Hudak's (2008) book.
| 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.
| Cluster | Example |
|---|---|
| kw | /kwaː˦˥˦/ ꪁꪫꪱꫀ "to visit" |
| kʰw | /kʰwe˦˥/ ꪂꪫꪸꫀ "to dig" |
| ŋw | /ŋwaː˦˥˦/ ꪉꪫꪱꫀ "fig" |
| xw | /xwan˦˦/ ꪅꪫꪽ "smoke" |
Final consonants
Vowels
Tai Dón has nine short vowels, and one long vowel. However, the short vowels are phonetically realized as long in final position (e.g., /e/ is phonetically [eː] in final position).
Tones
There are six tones on a smooth syllable (an open syllable or a closed syllable ending in a sonorant).
| 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).
| 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" |
Writing system
Consonants
Initials
Shown below are consonants of Tai Don with two tonal registers (high on the top and low on the bottom).
Finals
Shown below are final consonants of Tai Don with short vowel [a] on top and other vowels on the bottom.