Khün language

Khün, or Tai Khün (Tai Khün: ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᨡᩨ᩠ᨶ, /taj˧˧.kʰɯːn˧˨˥/; Thai: ไทเขิน [tʰaj kʰɤ̌ːn]), also known as Kengtung tai, Kengtung Shan, is the language of the Tai Khün people of Kengtung, Shan State, Myanmar.[2] It is also spoken in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, and Yunnan Province, China.

Not to be confused with Khuen language.
Khun
Kengtung Shan
Kengtung tai
ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᨡᩨ᩠ᨶ
Pronunciation/táj kʰɯ̌ːn/
Native toMyanmar (Shan State), Thailand
RegionKengtung
Native speakers
(100,000 cited 1990)[1]
Kra–Dai
Tai Tham script, Thai script
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3kkh
Glottologkhun1259

The Khün varieties share 93% to 100% lexical similarity.[2] Khun is closely related to other Tai languages. Khün shares 90% to 95% lexical similarity with Northern Thai language, 92% to 95% with Lü, 93% to 97% with Shan, and 80% to 83% with standard Thai.[2]

Geographical distribution

In China, there are about 10,000 Tai Khuen (Chinese: 傣艮/傣痕) people in the following areas of Yunnan province (Gao 1999).[3]

Phonology
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar
/ palatal		 Velar Glottal
Nasal [m] [n] [ɲ] [ŋ]
Plosive
&
Affricate		 aspirated [pʰ] [tʰ] [tɕʰ] [kʰ]
tenuis [p] [t] [tɕ] [k] [ʔ][lower-alpha 1]
voiced [b] [d]
Fricative [f] [s] [h]
Trill [r][lower-alpha 2]
Approximant [l] [j] [w]
  1. The glottal stop is implied after a short vowel without final, or silent before a vowel.
  2. The [r] is often used with Sanskrit and Pali loanwords.

Tones

There are contrastive five or six tones in Khün.[4] The varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah have five tones, and the variety spoken in Murng Lang has six tones.[4] Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Murng Lang are part of Kengtung Township.[4]

Smooth syllables

The table below presents the tones in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, Kat Fah, and Murng Lang. These tones occur in smooth syllables which are open syllables or closed syllables ending in a sonorant sound, such as /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /w/, or /j/.

Tones in smooth syllables in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Murng Lang
(Owen, 2012, p. 27)[4]
Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat FahMurng Lang
NameTone lettersExample(s)[4]NameTone lettersExample[4]
falling rising325 or ˧˨˥/kaː˧˨˥/ ᨠᩣ "crow"falling rising215 or ˨˩˥/kaː˨˩˥/ ᨠᩣ "crow"
mid33 or ˧˧/kaː˧˧/ ᨣᩤ "car"high44 or ˦˦/kaː˦˦/ ᨣᩤ "car"
low22 or ˨˨/kaː˨˨/ ᨠ᩵ᩣ "charm"
/kaː˨˨/ ᨣ᩵ᩤ "cost" 		low rising13 or ˩˧/kaː˩˧/ ᨠ᩵ᩣ "charm"
low22 or ˨˨/kaː˨˨/ ᨣ᩵ᩤ "cost"
mid glottalized33ʔ or ˧˧ʔ/kaː˧˧ʔ/ ᨠ᩶ᩣ "to dance"mid glottalized33ʔ or ˧˧ʔ/kaː˧˧ʔ/ ᨠ᩶ᩣ "to dance"
high falling41 or ˦˩/kaː˦˩/ ᨣ᩶ᩤ "to trade"high falling51 or ˥˩/kaː˥˩/ ᨣ᩶ᩤ "to trade"

Checked syllables

Three of the five or six phonemic tones occur in checked syllables[4] which are closed syllables ending in a glottal stop (/ʔ/) or an obstruent sound, such as /p/, /t/, or /k/. The table below presents the three tones in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah.

Tones in checked syllables in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah
(Owen, 2012, p. 28)[4]
ToneVowel lengthExample(s)[4]
midshort/kap˧˧/ ᨠᩢ᩠ᨷ "with"
high falling/kap˦˩/ ᨣᩢ᩠ᨷ "tight"
lowlong/kaːp˨˨/ ᨠᩣ᩠ᨷ "coconut husk"
/kaːp˨˨/ ᨣᩤ᩠ᨷ "to grip in teeth"

See also

References
  1. Khun at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. bloggang.com (thai)
  3. Gao Lishi 高立士. 1999. 傣族支系探微. 中南民族学院学报 (哲学社会科学版). 1999 年第1 期 (总第96 期).
  4. Owen, R. W. (2012). A tonal analysis of contemporary Tai Khuen varieties. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (JSEALS) 5:12–31.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.