| Southwestern Tai | |
|---|---|
| Southwestern Thai | |
| Geographic distribution | Southeast Asia |
| Linguistic classification | Kra–Dai |
| Proto-language | Proto-Southwestern Tai (Proto-Thai) |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | sout3184 |
 Distribution of the Southwestern Tai languages. | |
TheSouthwestern Tai orThailanguages are a branch of theTai languages ofSoutheast Asia. Its languages includeCentral Thai (Siamese),Northern Thai (Lanna),Lao (includingIsan),Shan and others.
The internal classification of the Southwestern Tai dialects is still not well agreed on.
Chamberlain (1975) divides Southwestern Tai into 4 branches.[1]
Chamberlain based his classification on the following phonological patterns. (Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, seeProto-Tai language#Tones.)
TheTai Muong Vat ofYen Chau, Vietnam is a PH-type language likeLao, even though it is geographically surrounded byBlack Tai (Theraphan 2003; Chamberlain 1984).[2][3]
Edmondson & Solnit (1997) divide the Southwestern Tai dialects into two major subgroups. According to this classification, Dehong Tai and Khamti are the first languages to have split off from the Southwestern Tai branch.[4]
A transition zone between the Northern and Southern groups occurs among the Tai languages (including Tai Mau) around the Burma-China border region of Mangshi, Namhkam, and Mu-se nearRuili.
This bipartite division of Southwestern Tai is argued for by Edward Robinson in his paper "Features of Proto-Nüa-Khamti" (1994). The following features set off the Nüa-Khamti group from all the other Southwestern Tai dialects.
Luo Yongxian (2001) also recognizes the uniqueness of Dehong Tai (Tai Nuea), but argues for that it should be placed in a separateNorthwestern Tai branch with Southwestern Tai as a sister branch.[5] Luo claims that the Northwestern Tai branch has many Northern Tai and Central Tai features that are not found in Southwestern Tai. His proposed tree for the Tai branch is as follows.
According to Pittayaporn (2009:301), Southwestern Tai (his subgroup Q) is defined by a phonological shift of *kr- → *ʰr-.[6]
Pittayaporn (2014) also suggests that Southwestern Tai began to disperse southward after the 7th century C.E. but before the 11th century C.E. (between 700 and 1000 C.E., during the lateTang dynasty or earlySong dynasty), as evidenced by loanwords from LateMiddle Chinese.[7]
Pittayaporn (2018)[8] recognizes two branches within Southwestern Tai, namelyEastern andWestern. The Eastern branch consists of the closely related languagesBlack Tai,White Tai, andRed Tai, while the Western branch is much more internally diverse. The Western branch also contains aSouthern group consisting ofThai andLao.
Pittayaporn, et al. (2018)[9] note that following sound changes from Proto-Southwestern Tai (PSWT) to the Tai varieties represented in theSukhothai andAyutthaya inscriptions, and conclude that the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya inscriptions in fact represent the same language.
Southern Thai (Pak Thai) is often posited to be the most divergent; it seems to retain regular reflexes of early tonal developments that were obscured in the other (Central–Eastern) languages. The reconstructed language is calledProto-Thai; cf.Proto-Tai, which is the ancestor of all of theTai languages.
The following tree follows that ofEthnologue[10]
According toEthnologue, other Southwestern dialects areTai Ya (China),Pu Ko (Laos),Pa Di (China),Tai Thanh (Vietnam),Tai Long (Laos),Tai Hongjin (China),Yong (Thailand). It is not clear where they belong in the classification above.Ethnologue also lists under Tai, without further classification,Kuan (Laos),Tai Do (Viet Nam),Tai Pao (Laos), andTay Khang (Laos). Geographically these would all appear to be Southwestern.[12]
Ethnologue also includesTày Sa Pa (Sapa) of Vietnam, which Pittayaporn excludes from Southwestern Tai but classifies as the most closely related language outside of that group. Pittayaporn also includesYoy, whichEthnologue classifies as aNorthern Tai language.[12]