Northern Thai language
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Northern Thai (
Thai:
ภาษาถิ่นพายัพ;
rtgs:
Phasa Thin Phayap),
Lanna (
Thai:
ล้านนา), or
Kam Mueang (Northern Thai:
ᨣᩴᩤᨾᩮᩥᩬᨦ [kam˧.mɯːəŋ˧],
(
listen),
Thai: คำเมือง
[kʰam˧ mɯːəŋ˧]) is the language of the
Northern Thai people of Lanna,
Thailand. It is a
Tai language closely related to
Lao. Northern Thai has approximately six million speakers, most of whom live in Thailand, with a few thousand in northwestern
Laos.
Speakers of this language generally consider the name "Tai Yuan" to be pejorative. They generally call themselves
khon mueang (ฅนเมือง,
[xon˧ mɯːəŋ˧]), Lanna, or Northern Thai. The language is generally known by one of these terms or as
Phayap.
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
tua mueang,
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. The modern spoken form is called Kam Muang. There is a
resurgence of interest in writing it in the traditional way, but the
modern pronunciation differs from that prescribed in spelling rules.
[3]
Most linguists consider Northern Thai to be more closely related to
Thai and the other Chiang Saeng languages than to Lao and the Lao–Phutai
languages, but the distinction is never easy to make, as the languages
form a continuum with few sharp dividing lines.
Names
The Northern Thai language has various names in Northern Thai, Thai, and other
Tai languages.
- In Northern Thai, it is commonly called kam mueang (ᨣᩴᩤᨾᩮᩥᩬᨦ, กำเมือง /kām.mɯ̄aŋ/, literally "the city language"; cf. Standard Thai: คำเมือง /kʰām.mɯ̄aŋ/), or phasa lanna (ᨽᩣᩇᩣᩃ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨶᨶᩣ, ภาษาล้านนา /pʰāː.sǎː.láːn.nāː/, literally "the language of Lanna").
- In Standard Thai, Northern Thai is known as phasa thin phayap (ภาษาถิ่นพายัพ /pʰāː.sǎː.tʰìn.pʰāː.jáp/, literally "the language of the northern region"), or phasa thai thin nuea (ภาษาไทยถิ่นเหนือ /pʰāː.sǎː.tʰāj.tʰìn.nɯ̌a/, literally "the Thai language of the northern region", or colloquially it is known as phasa nuea (ภาษาเหนือ /pʰāː.sǎː.nɯ̌a/, literally "the northern language").
- In Lao, it is known as phasa nyuan or phasa nyon (ພາສາຍວນ or ພາສາໂຍນ respectively, /pʰáː.sǎː.ɲúan/ or /pʰáː.sǎː.ɲóːn/ respectively, literally "the Tai Yuan language").
- In Tai Lü, it is known as kam yon (ᦅᧄᦍᦷᧃ kâm.jôn, literally "the Tai Yuan language").
- In Shan it is known as kwam yon (ၵႂၢမ်းယူၼ်း kwáːm.jón, literally "the Tai Yuan language").
Script
Currently, different scripts are used to write Northern Thai. Northern Thai is traditionally written with the
Tai Tham script, which in Northern Thai is called
tua mueang (
ᨲᩫ᩠ᩅᨾᩮᩥ᩠ᩋᨦ ตั๋วเมือง
/tǔa.mɯ̄aŋ/) or
tua tham (
ᨲᩫ᩠ᩅᨵᩢᨾ᩠ᨾ᩺ ตั๋วธัมม์
/tǔa.tʰām/). However, native speakers are presently illiterate in the traditional script; therefore, they instead use the
Thai script to write the language. In
Laos, the
Lao script is commonly used to write Northern Thai.
A sign written in Northern Thai, Thai, and English
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
/ka᷇ː/ (ก้า (
ᨠᩖ᩶ᩣ กล้า) "to be brave") and
/kâː/ (ก้า (
ᨣ᩵ᩤ ค่า) "value") is lost when written in Thai since as only
/kâː/ (ก้า) is permitted. Consequently, the meaning of ก้า is ambiguous as it can mean both "to be brave" and "value". Similarly,
/pa᷇ːj/ (ป้าย (
ᨸ᩶ᩣᩭ ป้าย) "sign") and
/pâːj/ (ป้าย (
ᨻ᩵ᩣᩭ พ่าย) "to lose") have the same problem and only
/pâːj/
(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.
-
Northern Thai script page 1
-
Northern Thai script page 2
-
Northern Thai script page 3
-
Northern Thai script page 4
Phonology
Consonants
Initial consonants
Northern Thai consonant inventory is similar to that of
Lao; both languages have the
[ɲ] sound and lack
[tɕʰ].
- * Implied before any vowel without an initial and after a short vowel without a final.
- ** /kʰ/ and /t͡ɕʰ/ occur in loanwords from Standard Thai.
Initial consonant clusters
There are two relatively common consonant clusters:
There are also several other, less frequent clusters recorded,
[4] though apparently in the process of being lost:
[5]
- /ŋw/
- /tɕw/
- /sw/
- /tw/
- /tʰw/[6]
- /nw/
- /ɲw/
- /jw/
- /lw/
- /ʔw/
Final consonants
All
plosive sounds are
unreleased. Hence, final
/p/,
/t/, and
/k/ sounds are pronounced as
[p̚],
[t̚], and
[k̚] respectively.
- * The glottal stop appears at the end when no final follows a short vowel.
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 second entry gives the spelling in the
Thai alphabet,
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.
|
Front |
Back |
| unrounded |
rounded |
| short |
long |
short |
long |
short |
long |
| High |
/i/
-ิ |
/iː/
-ี |
/ɯ/
-ึ |
/ɯː/
-ื- |
/u/
-ุ |
/uː/
-ู |
| Mid |
/e/
เ-ะ |
/eː/
เ- |
/ɤ/
เ-อะ |
/ɤː/
เ-อ |
/o/
โ-ะ |
/oː/
โ- |
| Low |
/ɛ/
แ-ะ |
/ɛː/
แ- |
/a/
-ะ, -ั- |
/aː/
-า |
/ɔ/
เ-าะ |
/ɔː/
-อ |
The vowels each exist in
long-short pairs: these are distinct
phonemes forming unrelated words in Northern Thai,
[7] but usually transliterated the same: เขา (
khao) means "they/them", while ขาว (
khao) means "white".
The long-short pairs are as follows:
| Long |
Short |
| Thai |
IPA |
Example |
Thai |
IPA |
Example |
| –า |
/aː/ |
ฝาน |
/fǎːn/ |
'to slice' |
–ะ |
/a/ |
ฝัน |
/fǎn/ |
'to dream' |
| –ี |
/iː/ |
ตี๋ |
/tǐː/ |
'to cut' |
–ิ |
/i/ |
ติ๋ |
/tǐʔ/ |
'to criticize' |
| –ู |
/uː/ |
สูด |
/sùːt/ |
'to inhale' |
–ุ |
/u/ |
สุ๋ด |
/sǔt/ |
'rearmost' |
| เ– |
/eː/ |
เอน |
/ʔēːn/ |
'to recline' |
เ–ะ |
/e/ |
เอ็น |
/ʔēn/ |
'tendon, ligament' |
| แ– |
/ɛː/ |
แก่ |
/kɛ̀ː/ |
'to be old' |
แ–ะ |
/ɛ/ |
แก๊ะ |
/kɛ́ʔ/ |
'sheep' |
| –ื- |
/ɯː/ |
ฅืน |
/xɯ̄ːn/ |
'to return' |
–ึ |
/ɯ/ |
ขึ้น |
/xɯ᷇n/ |
'to go up' |
| เ–อ |
/ɤː/ |
เมิน |
/mɤː̄n/ |
'to delay; long time' |
เ–อะ |
/ɤ/ |
เงิน |
/ŋɤ̄n/ |
'silver' |
| โ– |
/oː/ |
โจ๋ร |
/t͡ɕǒːn/ |
'thief' |
โ–ะ |
/o/ |
จ๋น |
/t͡ɕǒn/ |
'to be poor' |
| –อ |
/ɔː/ |
ลอง |
/lɔ̄ːŋ/ |
'to try' |
เ–าะ |
/ɔ/ |
ล่อง |
/lɔ̂ŋ/ |
'to go down, to go downhill' |
The basic vowels can be combined into
diphthongs. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:
| Long |
Short |
| Thai script |
IPA |
Thai script |
IPA |
| –าย |
/aːj/ |
ไ–*, ใ–*, ไ–ย, -ัย |
/aj/ |
| –าว |
/aːw/ |
เ–า* |
/aw/ |
| เ–ีย |
/iːa/ |
เ–ียะ |
/ia/ |
| – |
– |
–ิว |
/iw/ |
| –ัว |
/uːa/ |
–ัวะ |
/ua/ |
| –ูย |
/uːj/ |
–ุย |
/uj/ |
| เ–ว |
/eːw/ |
เ–็ว |
/ew/ |
| แ–ว |
/ɛːw/ |
– |
– |
| เ–ือ |
/ɯːa/ |
เ–ือะ |
/ɯa/ |
| เ–ย |
/ɤːj/ |
– |
– |
| –อย |
/ɔːj/ |
– |
– |
| โ–ย |
/oːj/ |
– |
– |
Additionally, there are three
triphthongs, all of which are long:
| Thai script |
IPA |
| เ–ียว |
/iaw/ |
| –วย |
/uaj/ |
| เ–ือย |
/ɯaj/ |
Allophones
The following section largely concerns the Nan dialect of Northern Thai.
[8]
| Phoneme |
Allophone |
Context |
Example using Thai script |
IPA |
Gloss |
| /b/ |
[b] |
onset |
บ่า |
/bàː/ |
shoulder |
| /d/ |
[d] |
onset |
ดอย |
/dɔ̄ːj/ |
mountain |
| /p/ |
[p] |
onset |
ป่า |
/pàː/ |
forest |
|
[p̚] |
coda |
อาบ |
/ʔàːp/ |
bath |
|
[pm̩] |
coda, emphasised |
บ่หลับ |
/bɔ̀ lǎp/ |
not sleep! |
| /t/ |
[t] |
onset |
ตา |
/tǎː/ |
eye |
|
[t̚] |
coda |
เปิด |
/pɤ̀ːt/ |
open |
|
[tn̩] |
coda, emphasised |
บ่เผ็ด |
/bɔ̀ pʰět/ |
not spicy! |
| /k/ |
[k] |
onset |
กา |
/kǎː/ |
crow |
|
[k̚] |
coda |
ปีก |
/pìːk/ |
wing |
|
[kŋ̩] |
coda, emphasised |
บ่สุก |
/bɔ̀ sǔk/ |
not ripe! |
| /x/ |
[x] |
before non-front vowels |
แขก |
/xɛ̀ːk/ |
guest |
|
[ç] |
before front vowels |
ฅิง |
/xīŋ/ |
you(familiar) |
| /s/ |
[s] |
onset |
ซาว |
/sāːw/ |
twenty |
|
[ɕ] |
under emphasis |
สาทุ |
/sǎː.túʔ/ |
surely |
| /h/ |
[h] |
non-intervocalic |
ห้า |
/ha᷇ː/ |
five |
|
[ɦ] |
intervocalic |
ใผมาหา |
/pʰǎj māː hǎː/ |
who come find(Who is here to see you?) |
| /nɯ̂ŋ/ |
[m̩] |
after bilabial stop |
ฅืบนึ่ง |
/xɯ̂ːp nɯ̂ŋ/ |
span one(one more span) |
|
[n̩] |
after alveolar stop |
แถมขวดนึ่ง |
/tʰɛ̌m xùat nɯ̂ŋ/ |
more bottle one(one more bottle) |
|
[ŋ̩] |
after velar stop |
แถมดอกนึ่ง |
/tʰɛ̌m dɔ̀ːk nɯ̂ŋ/ |
more flower one(one more flower) |
Tones
The six phonemic tones in Northern Thai pronounced with the syllable '/law/':
