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NAMES AND SUB-GROUPS identify themselves as Dara- OF THE PALAUNG: A ang. In , Dara-ang is the this ethnic group uses to refer to itself and PRELIMINARY FIELD call them Palaung (Kasisopa SURVEY IN AND 2003; Deepadung and Patpong 2010). KENGTUNG Although, based on their , the Dara- ang and Raojin are different sub-groups, 1 linguistically, they speak the same dialect. Sujaritlak Deepadung Keywords: Palaung, Dara-ang, De’ang, Abstract Ta-ang, autonyms, ethnic names

In this paper, names that other groups of Introduction people, as outsiders, have given to the Palaung and names that they use to call After a short time, anyone working on themselves are discussed based on the , faces the problem written records available and field surveys of names for particular ethnic groups, in the areas. The Palaung in now especially those groups residing in are officially referred to as De’ang 2 (Ta- Thailand, such as the Lawa and Lua ang). From surveys in Dehong Dai-Jingpo (Rattanakul 1984), the Tin/Mal/Prai of in Yunnan, China, Nan Province (Filbeck 1987), and the the De’ang nationality consists of 5 sub- Khmu, Lua, Tin and Mrabri (Premsrirat groups of people− the Liang (Ta-ang), the 1991, 1992). The author is no exception. Pu-le(Ka-ang), the Rumai (Ru-mai), the When she started working on the Palaung, Raokot (La-ang) and the Raojin (Na-ang). who belong to the Palaungic branch of the The classification of these 5 sub-groups is Mon-Khmer sub- in the Austroasiatic based on their autonyms and on names , the library survey caused they use when they refer to other groups of much confusion. Different articles/books Palaung. Based on the SEA word list, used different names for the Palaung there are 3 dialects of the Palaung varieties for both the Palaung in China and language in China: Raojin, Rumai-Raokot in . Detailed investigation of the and Pu-le-Liang. In Myanmar, according issue of names and/or sub-group names to various written works by Western had to be conducted. Moreover, works on scholars, they are called Palaung or Pale the Palaung in China are very scarce and and have at least three sub-groups: are written in Chinese, which makes it Darang (Scott and Hardiman 1900), Ta- almost impossible for those who do not ang (Milne 1924, 1931; Shorto 1960) and know Chinese. Concerning the Palaung in Rumai (Davies 1909; Milne 1924, 1931; Myanmar, almost all of the previous Diffloth 1991). From surveys in Kengtung, studies were done in the early 1920’s by , Myanmar, all the Palaung in British colonial officers and Christian missionaries, which make them a treasure

house for those who are interested in the 1 Associate Professor of Linguistics at Research Institute for Languages and Cultures and languages. of Asia, Mahidol University 2 Following the scripts, the written form A few later studies done later on the De’ang is used throughout this paper. classification of Palaung languages also

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made use of these earlier recorded studies. language. In the next section, the author The names used in all these works vary, so defines the term “Palaung” and briefly the two survey books which people always reviews the Palaungic classification. Then, refer to when they work on the languages Palaung names in China, Myanmar and of provide numerous Thailand are respectively examined. synonyms for “Palaung”. For example, Lebar, Hickey and Musgrave (1964: 121- The terms “Palaung” and “Palaungic” 126) list synonyms for Palaung as follows: Da-ang, Humai, Kunloi, La-eng, Palong, The name “Palaung” is a Ra-ang, Rumai and Ta-ang. Grimes (2003: for the group of Palaung speakers living in 686) has three main entries for the Palaung Shan State and southern in with various names for the sub-group: Myanmar. Groups of Palaung speaking “Palaung, Pale (-ang, Ngwe Palaung, people also live scattered in and around Silver Palaung, Pale, Palay), Palaung, Yunnan Province in southwestern China Rumai (Rumai) and Palaung, Shwe (Ta- and in . Additionally, the ang Palaung, Golden Palaung, Shwe).” In name “Palaung” is also used as the name addition, a preliminary survey of the of the group of sub-dialects/sub-languages Palaung people in China reveals that there spoken by the Palaung people. are many different sub-group names which Linguistically, Palaung belongs to the they use to identify themselves. Palaungic branch of the Mon-Khmer Furthermore, there are also many names family in the Austro-Asiatic language that are given to them by outsiders. family (Thomas and Headley 1970; Diffloth 1974; Diffloth and Zide 2003; The primary objective of this paper is to Sidwell 2009)4. This branch was formerly investigate the sub-group names used for known as Palaung-Wa. Schmidt (1904) the Palaung throughout this literature plus first proposed a classification as follows: some newly acquired works and field 1) Palaung, 2) Angku, 3) Wa, 4) Riang and surveys in Kengtung3, Shan State, 5) Danaw. Shafer (1952) revised Myanmar and in Dehong, Yunnan, China. Schmidt’s classification by moving Riang The Southeast Asian word list of 285 close to Palaung, thus: 1) Riang, items (Mahidol University-revised 1990) 2) Palaung, 3) Angku, 4) Wa, and has been used for the language survey. 5) Danaw. Based on Shafer’s (1952) Moreover, the author would like to point classification, Pinnow (1959) added Lawa out that these various names, especially as the sixth member, then Ferlus (1974) those that are current among the Palaung maintained Shafer’s five divisions and in Dehong, China can be used to classify added three more marginal groups, the sub-groups of the Palaung people. yielding 1) Rumai (Palaung), 2) Riang, From a linguistic point of view, these 3) Danaw, 4) Wa, 5) Lamet: West (Angku) subgroups may speak the same or different and East Lamet, 6) P’uman, 7) P’ou-ma, dialects. Firstly, this paper gives a brief and 8) Khao. overview of the Palaung people and their Major contributions to Palaungic study are Mitani’s 1977, 1978, 1979 works. Mitani 3 There are many written forms for Kengtung, (1977) based his classification on the such as Kyaington, Jengtung, Kengtong, KengTung, etc. Kengtung is used throughout the paper. 4 see detailed classification in Sidwell (2009)

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phonological development of similarity 4) Danaw, 5) Lawa, 6) Kawa, 7) (?) and dissimilarity and proposed five groups Khamet, 8) (?) Mang, 9) Bulan, and 10) of Palaung-Riang which include 1) Central Angku. Later, Diffloth and Zide (2003) group, 2) Northern group, 3) Southern divided the Palaungic branch into the group, 4) Omachawn, 5) Unclassified. In Eastern sub-branch which consists of his 1978 paper, presented at the second several Palaung languages, the Riang International Conference on Austroasiatic dialects and Danaw and the Western sub- Linguistics, entitled “Problems in the branch which consists of the Waic, classification of Palaungic”, he conducted Angkuic and Lametic language groups6. a lexicostatistic study of Palaungic using a wordlist from the material available – However, it should be noted here that Scott and Hardiman’s GUB (1900), Milne there are some slight discrepancies (1931) and his note on Khamet and Lawa. between Mitani’s (1978) classification of He divided Palaungic into two branches, the Palaungic and that of Diffloth and Zide explaining that: (2003). Wa, Angku and Lamet belong to Mitani’s Eastern branch whereas they are Except for Danaw, the Palaungic in Diffloth and Zide’s Western sub- proper is divided into two branch, while Palaung and Riang belong to branches: ‘Western branch’ which Mitani’s Western branch and are in comprises Palaung and Riang, Diffloth and Zide’s Eastern sub-branch. and ‘Eastern branch’ which With this noted, the one final point to comprises Wa, Angku and Lamet. emphasize here is that this study is based The division is apparently the on data gathered from field work with Salween. The present distribution Palaung speakers namely, Mitani’s (1978) of the former is mainly in Shan Western branch and Diffloth and Zide’s and parts of (2003) Eastern sub-branch. In other words, Yunnan to the west side of it covers only one half of the Palaungic Salween, though Palaung extends branch – the Palaung sub-branch, not the also to the east side of the river, Wa7. while the distribution of the latter is almost confined to the area in At the same time, during a review of the eastern side of the Salween. In previous studies, one had to pay special the latter area, Wa is distributed attention to terms which are used widely in the area between the differently by different scholars—in this Salween and the with case the Eastern sub-branch and the southward extension in northern Western sub-branch of the Palaungic Thailand, while …

6 Based on glottochronological methods, the Diffloth (1974) set out a straightforward 5 major sub-family of the Austro-Asiatic classification of Austro-Asiatic languages . language classifications are Munda sub-family, Within the Palaungic branch, there are: the Nicobarese sub-family and the Mon-Khmer 1) Palaung, 2) Wa, 3) Riang-Lang, sub-family. Within Mon-Khmer, there are 12 branches: Khasi, Palaungic, Monic, Khmuic, Viet-Muong, Katuic, Bahnaric, Pearic, Khmer, 5 Those interested in a detailed history and Jahaic, Senoic, and Semelaic branches. state of the art of Austro-Asiatic language 7 See detailed classification of Waic dialects in classification are referred to Sidwell (2009). Diffloth (1980).

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branch. Mitani (1978) uses a term which term dates from Qing8 dynasty roughly coincides with the geographical records. However, this name location of various groups of ethnic people which has been regarded as on both sides of the Salween, which runs pejorative was not accepted by from the north to the south of the Shan the De’ang and was officially State. Most of the Palaung groups are on replaced in 1985 with the group’s the west side of the Salween, in the preferred autonym of De’ang. In western part of Shan State and part of Burma the corresponding term Yunnan. The Wa groups are mainly on the Palaung is used. eastern side of the Salween, in areas in the (Bauer 1998: 178-179) eastern part of the Shan State, extending eastwards to the Mekong river. While They also explain that De’ang consists of Mitani (1978) offers the above three dialects, namely, Na-ang [na /aN], explanation, Diffloth and Zide (2003) Pu-le [pu le] and Ro-mai [ro mai]. For provide no reason as to why they put the Chinese linguists, the term “dialect” is Palaung languages in the so-named generally used when they refer to either “Eastern sub-branch” and the Wa in the different dialects which are closely related, “Western sub-branch”. However, in terms or different languages which sometimes of the classification of language groups are mutually incomprehensible, provided within the Palaungic sub-branch, both that they belong to the same official studies clearly confirm the same results in nationality. In Yan and Zhou’s words spite of the fact that there is some minor (1995) as reviewed by Bauer (1998: 178) discrepancy in naming. “…the De’ang dialects are characterized by relatively large internal differences and Palaung in China the circumstances of those dialects are relatively complex.” Concerning the three Previous Studies Palaung dialects mentioned above, Sang Yaohua (1999: 1) also states that the Ru- As mentioned above, all studies on the mai dialect is very different from the first Palaung people and culture in China so far two dialects. have been conducted and reported in the . It was not until 1997 In addition, Sang Yaohua (1999: 1) reports that an article by Dai Qingxia and Liu Yan that the De’ang nationality was formerly on the tones in the Guangka sub-dialect of called “Benglong” according to Qing De’ang was translated into English by dynasty records, and was changed to Jonathan Evans and in 1998 a review by “De’ang” on the 21st of September 1985 Robert Bauer of the book China’s Mon- because of the pejorative sense of the Khmer languages and the Austroasiatic name “Benglong”. According to the year language family (Yan and Zhou 1995) 2000 population census, De’ang languages became available. Yan and Zhou (1995) were spoken by 17,804 speakers (Xiu state that: Dingben 2008)9. There are many autonyms

The Chinese have called the 8 De’ang (德昂) Benglong and this The ruled from1644-1912 C.E. 9 Xiu Dingben (2008: 5) also records the following De’ang population survey statistics:

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or names that the Palaung in China use to language which is classified in accordance designate themselves, such as Na-ang, Da- with the place name of its speakers, i.e., ang, Ta-ang, La-ang, etc. a village name “Guangka” in this case.

In southwest Yunnan, about 70% of those In concluding this examination of the sub- with De’ang nationality live in the Dehong group names of the Palaung in China, it Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, i.e., in should be noted that “De’ang” is the the Santaishan area of Luxi county, and in official ethnic nationality of the Palaung the Junnong Township of Zhenkang speakers in China. It is composed of three county in Prefecture. The other dialects, i.e., Liang, Pu-le and Rumai. For 30% are scattered throughout the cities the total population of 17,804, 40% are and counties of Lianghe, Longchuan, Pu-le, 35% are Liang and 25% are Rumai. Yingjiang, , Wanding, Baoshan, Each dialect has sub-dialects which may Gengma, etc. (Dai and Liu 1997: 91; Sang be referenced according to the speaker’s 1999: 1). village name. Furthermore, “De’ang” is one of the Palaung autonyms among One final point which needs to be various others, such as Na-ang, Ka-ang, elaborated comes from the of Dai La-ang, etc. Qingxia and Liu Yan’s paper (1997: 91) which analyzes the tones in the Guangka Field surveys in Yunnan sub-dialect of De’ang. They describe Gǔangkǎ as “…a sub-dialect of the Rumai From the author’s surveys of the area in dialect of the De’ang, spoken by the Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous De’ang nationals in Guangka village, Prefecture10 in Yunnan, China, based on Mengxiu township, Ruili municipality.” names, there are 5 sub-groups which That is to say, a sub-dialect is a variety of belong to the De’ang nationality−1) Pu-le 2) Raojin 3) Liang 4) Rumai and

Year Numbers of Remarks 10 In general, Administrative divisions in the population People’s Republic of China are as follows: 1 1953 No Report 1. Province No official 2. Prefecture/Autonomous ethnic Prefecture nationality 3. County records yet 4. District 2 1964 7,252 5. Township 3 1982 12,274 6. Village compounds 4 1990 15,397 7. Village 5 2000 17,804 Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture In my opinion, since 1982, the number of governs 5 counties and 1 township as follows: people with De’ang nationality seems to have 1. Luxi county grown rapidly which may be due to the 2. Chinese government’s change of policy 3. towards minority people; they are allowed to 4. Longchuan county have up to two children per couple while the 5. Wanding county Han or “Chinese proper” are allowed only one. 6. Ruili township

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5) Raokot. One reason why the autonym According to Liu Yan (2006: 23), Raojin “De’ang”, phonetically transcribed as [t´- is a dialect of Pu-le, that is, the Pu-le /aaN] is chosen may be because the Ta- group has two sub-dialects 1) Pu-le and 2) ang dialect is a dialect that is spoken by Raojin. the Palaung in , Shan State, Myanmar, and is considered the standard 3. Liang. The people who speak Liang use prestige dialect of the Palaung groups. the sub-group name “Ta-ang” to refer to Milne (1924: 3) recorded that “During the themselves. They are known to the dry seasons of 1907 and 1908, which I Chinese as “Hua De’ang − Flowery spent at Namhkam, I met Palaungs of De’ang”. Liang speakers can be found in several clans, …. They all seemed to think Lianghe, the Linjiang counties and in that the dialect of Namhsan, the capital of some villages of the Santaishan district of the State of Tawnpeng, was the best form Luxi county, i.e., in Chu Dong Gua of their speech.” The other reason, village. according to one informant, is that the name “Benglong” is related to a historic 4. Rumai. The autonym that the Rumai narrative of being defeated and having to people use to call themselves is “Rumai”. run away and therefore has a pejorative The Chinese refer to them as “Hei De’ang meaning. In Chinese characters, the − black De’ang”. The Rumai people live official ethnic nationality “De-ang” is mostly in Ruili county, such as in Nan 德昂, which is pronounced according to Sang Cun Shang Zhai village and Hu the following international phonetic Nong Fei Gang village in Longchuan symbols [t´-/aaN]. In the Pinyin writing county. system, it is Dé’áng. The word “-ang” 5. Raokot. The De’ang people who speak means “cliff” or “cave” which reminds the Raokot refer to themselves as “La-ang”. Palaung of the origins of their ancestors. The name by which they are known to the Details about each group are as follows: Chinese is “Hei De’ang− black De’ang”. They live in a few villages in Luxi county, 1. Pu-le. The sub-group name that the such as Chu Tong Gua in Santaishan people who speak Pu-le use to designate district and Cha Ye Qing village in the themselves is “Ka-ang”. Sometimes they municipality. Liu Yan (2006: 23) are referred to by the Chinese as “Hong states that Raokot is a dialect of Rumai, De’ang − red De’ang”. Most Pu-le i.e., there are two dialects of Rumai: 1) speakers are found in Luxi county – in the Rumai and 2) Raokot. numerous villages of Santaishan district, such as Meng Dan Cun village, Hu Dong From the details above, the sub-group Na village. names of the Palaung in China can be divided into 3 types: names they use to 2. Raojin. The Raojin speakers refer to refer to other groups; autonyms; and themselves as “Na-ang”. The Chinese also names that Chinese people use to refer to call them “Hong De’ang − red De’ang”. the Palaung, as shown in the table below: The De’ang people who speak Raojin are in Mangshi municipal areas of Luxi county − in Xiang Cai Tang (Huapa), Gongka and Manlong Shan villages.

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Table 1: Names of the Palaung in China

Referring to Autonyms Called by the Chinese other groups Pu-le Ka-ang Red De’ang Raojin Na-ang Red De’ang Liang Ta-ang Flowery De’ang Rumai Rumai Black De’ang Raokot La-ang Black De’ang

In the table, the 5 Palaung groups in China Scott and Hardiman mention are based on the sub-group names they use a clan named Pato Ru or “tribe at when they refer to other groups of Palaung the centre”, which they say lays − Pu-le, Raojin, Liang, Rumai, Raokot. claim to be “the Rumai proper” Furthermore, they also use different names (1900, 1: 486). They live in a to refer to themselves within their own village south of Namhsan that is sub-group, i.e., an autonym − Ka-ang, Na- said to be the oldest Palaung ang, Ta-ang, Rumai, La-ang. Four of the village in the state. At one time autonyms end with –ang, except Rumai. the clan was comprised of According to the interview, “-ang” means relatives of the rulers of ‘cliff’ or ‘cave’, which reminds the Tawnpeng. Palaung of their ancestors. They believe that their ancestors used to live in caves or In Scott and Hardiman’s own words near cliffs. (1900, 1: 486), they conclude that “Apparently, the Pato Ru claimed at one As for the autonym “Rumai”, this sub- time a variety of privileges and group name may derive from clan names. distinctions. They alone of the Rumai men Milne (1924: 2), describing her trip in the wore colours, all the other clans were northern part of the Shan State writes: restricted to plain black and white.” And this may be the reason why the Rumai I went, in the autumn of 1907, to group retains the name “Rumai” as their Namhkam, a Shan town not many autonym and why the other groups of miles from the Chinese frontier. Palaung also refer to them as “Rumai”. Here I met another branch of the Palaungs, the Rumai, a large and The Chinese people call the Palaung by important clan scattered through sub-group names based mostly on dress, in various States, both of the British particular the Palaung women’s tube and Chinese Empires. skirts; the Palaung who wear black or red tube skirts are called black or red Palaung, Howard (2005: 25-26), referring to Scott the Palaung who wear skirts with colorful and Hardiman’s Gazetteer of Upper patterns are called flowery Palaung. Burma and the (1900, part I volume I.), states that “there appear to be To sum up, firstly, this study found that about fifteen Palaung clans”, and that: there are five sub-groups of Palaung speaking people in China. They are: 1) the Liang group who call themselves “Ta-

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ang”, 2) the Pu-le group who call themselves “Ka-ang”, 3) the Rumai group who call themselves “Ru-mai”, 4) the Raokot group who call themselves “La- ang”, and 5) the Raojin group who call themselves “Na-ang”. Secondly, De’ang is the official name for the nationality of the Palaung in China and most of them live in Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan.

However, based on the 285 words collected during the survey the 5 sub- groups can be classified into 3 dialects. From the wordlist below, Raojin, Raokot and Rumai share common words from (1) to (21), which differ from Pu-le and Liang. Nevertheless, from (22) to (28), Rumai and Raokot form their own sub-group which differs from Raojin. Conversely, Raojin shares the words in (22) to (28) with Pu-le and Liang. At this point, it seems likely to say that Pu-le and Liang form one dialect and Rumai and Raokot form another dialect. The problem is whether Raojin should be grouped with Pu-le-Liang or with Rumai-Raokot.

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No. Gloss Raojin Raokot Rumai Pu-le Liang 1 egg pən bən bən ɡɡɡlɡlllɛɛɛɛwwww ɡɡɡrawɡrawrawraw 2 monkey fa mafa fa n̥n̥n̥amn̥amamam n̥n̥n̥am n̥amamam 3 shoulder jaɁ ʥaʔ jaʔ kkkəkəəəblblblblɛɛɛɛŋŋŋŋ sssəsəəəblablablablaŋŋŋŋ 4 come tăx deh dəh rrrɔrɔɔɔtttt rrrɔ rɔɔɔtttt 5 push ʥun ʨun ʨun thujthujthuj thujthujthuj 6 many kɨn ɡɨn kɨn brambrambram brambrambram 7 white luj lɨj luj plplplɔplɔɔɔʔʔʔʔ blblblɔblɔɔɔʔʔʔʔ 8 bad mək mɨk timɨk ʔʔʔəʔəəəmanmanmanman ʔʔʔə ʔəəəmmmmɛɛɛɛnnnn 9 fly bən ɓaj pɨ phruphruphru phruphruphru 10 chest baŋnɔx baŋnɔh kanɔh bababaŋbaŋŋŋʔʔʔʔəəəəʔʔʔʔ bababaŋ baŋŋŋʔʔʔʔəəəəʔʔʔʔ 11 sing tɔh kaɁə dɔh l̥ew dah m̥ɔ bjajbjajbjaj bjajbjajbjaj 12 arrow blej bən bla rajrajraj rajrajraj 13 pestle ŋkrej nʥɔj ŋɡjɔj ɡɡɡlaɡlalalaŋŋŋŋ ɡɡɡlaɡlalalaŋŋŋŋ 14 short tiam ʥem ʥəm ʔʔʔɛʔɛɛɛmmmm ʔʔʔɛ ʔɛɛɛmmmm (height) 15 back katuɁ kaŋɔh kaduʔ klklklɔklɔɔɔŋŋŋŋ klklklɔklɔɔɔŋŋŋŋ 16 intestines vac sɔnvat rrrɔrɔɔɔnnnn rrrɔ rɔɔɔnnnn 17 hear naŋaw ləŋaw taɲaw ʥʥʥɨʥɨɨɨ jjjɨjɨɨɨ 18 suck ɲ̥oʔ ɲ̥ojʔ ɲɨk khritkhritkhrit khritkhritkhrit 19 throw vɨn fət vən ɓɓɓɔɓɔɔɔkkkk bbbɔbɔɔɔkkkk 20 tie pak bak dududuʔduʔʔʔ ɗɗɗu ɗuuuʔʔʔʔ 21 dig ɡəx kəh lololoʔloʔʔʔ lololoʔloʔʔʔ 22 star samɛɲ lawlawlaw lawlawlaw kəman səmaɲ 23 hit măx ŋŋŋɔŋɔɔɔhhhh ŋŋŋɔŋɔɔɔhhhh meh mɛh 24 house kaŋ khlepkhlepkhlep khlkhlkhlɛ khlɛɛɛpppp kiaŋ ɡaŋ 25 shoot baɲ ʥʥʥɨʥɨɨɨ ʥʥʥɨʥɨɨɨŋŋŋŋ bɔn ɓɔn 26 crossbow ʔaʔ kakakaŋkaŋŋŋbunbunbunbun kakakaŋ kaŋŋŋpunpunpunpun ʔɛʔ ʔaʔ 27 older vɛ ɓɓɓiɓiii pipipi vaj vaj brother 28 spider mapjuŋpjen mavemmavemmavem ʔʔʔaw ʔawawawɛɛɛɛmmmm mɛpeŋ ʔaɓeŋ

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According to the following wordlist, from Rumai and Raokot, based on 285 words, (29) to (33), this study suggests that do not have words in common with Pu-le Raojin should be treated as a dialect on its and Liang but they do share some words own. That is to say there are 3 dialects of with Raojin, which indicates that Rumai Palaung spoken by the De’ang nationality and Raokot are closer to Raojin than they in China. It should also be noted that are to Pu-le and Liang.

No. Gloss Raojin Raokot Rumai Pu-le Liang 29 sit kɔj ʔak ʔak ŋŋŋojŋojojoj ŋŋŋojŋojojoj 30 play nalaw kanok kanok kakakaʨkaʨʨʨɔɔɔɔʔʔʔʔ kakakaʥ kaʥʥʥɔɔɔɔʔʔʔʔ 31 drum ɡrɨŋ kabən kabən klklklɔklɔɔɔŋŋŋŋ klklklɔklɔɔɔŋŋŋŋ 32 clothing ɡro kabjok kabjok kakakaɗkaɗɗɗoooo sasasaɗ saɗɗɗoooo 33 forest naŋ loŋhɔj loŋhɔj ʐʐʐiʐiiiŋŋŋŋ ʐʐʐiʐiiiŋŋŋŋ

Palaung in Myanmar references to the division of the Palaung into Palaung and Pale by the Burmese. Previous Studies Milne’s works are on Ta-ang grammar (1921) and a dictionary (1921) with a small wordlist of the Rumai Palaung Most of the previous studies on the within the dictionary. Palaung in Myanmar were carried out by

British officials or Christian missionaries Several decades later, Howard and during the early 1900s. In all of these Wattanapun (2001) and Howard (2005) written reports and ethnographic surveys divided the Palaung into three main sub- of Upper Burma, there are just a few small groups: 1) the Ta-ang or Shwe Palaung, sections about the Palaung (Symes 1820; (“shwe” in Burmese means ‘gold’) 2) the Yule 1858; Scott and Hardiman 1900; Pale or Di’ang or Ngwe Palaung (“ngwe” Lowis 1906; Davies 1909; Cameron in Burmese means ‘silver’) and 3) the 1912). All of them report on the Rumai or Rumai. Howard (2005: 25) states that “Ta- Palaung of the northwestern Shan State ang and Di-ang are the sub-group names but almost none mention the Palaung in 11 that the Golden Palaung and Silver the southern and eastern parts , except for Palaung use to refer to themselves.” It Scott and Hardiman (1900), who made should be noted that the De’ang people in notes about the Palaung of Kengtung in China do not know anything about the the southeastern part of the Shan State. sub-group names “Golden Palaung” and The only professional and serious “Silver Palaung.” anthropological works on the Palaung are by Milne (1910, 1921, 1924). These are Estimating the population of the Palaung also about the Ta-ang Palaung in Namhsan in Myanmar is very difficult since no and Rumai − in the northwestern part of official census and no anthropological the Shan State. However, she makes some research has been conducted in Myanmar since 1931. Based on the 1931 Burma 11 See detailed summaries in Howard and census and some other sources, Howard Wattanapun (2001: 5-14)

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(2005: 25) estimates that there are about Field Surveys in Kengtung 600,000 Palaung in Myanmar, but there is no way to verify this number. In Kengtung13, the Palaung live in widely scattered villages, mostly in remote Most of the linguistic studies on the mountainous areas. However, there are classification of the Palaung languages some villages near Kengtung downtown have collected data from the works with a few Palaung households which can mentioned above (Schmidt 1906; Sebeok be reached by car. Most of the Palaung in 1942; Shafer 1952; Pinnow 1965; Shorto these villages live side by side with the 1960; Luce 1965; Thomas and Headley Shan. Their dress and practices, especially 1970; Diffloth 1974; Mitani 1978). language, have been influenced by the Among these, Shorto (1960) himself did Shan. Still, there is one Palaung village, field-work on Ta-ang Palaung of Namhsan Ban Paaw (Paw village)14, 8 kilometers in 1957; and Luce (1965) gathered his data northwest of Kengtung, with 64 on the Rumai speakers of Panku village in households of which about 40 are Tai the Kodaung Tract in the China-Myanmar Shan and the rest are Palaung. In this border area between 1959-196012. Luce village, the Shan and the Palaung live (1965: 102) noted that “rǎ\/aN2 or rǎ\/çN2 along side each other in separate quarters is still the sub-group name by which these − Ban Paaw was originally a Shan village. Palaung call themselves.” Finally, Janzen and Janzen (1972), Janzen (1978), and 13 Janzen (1991a, b) collected their data from There are 7 states and 7 divisions in the Pale speakers in city in southern Republic of the Union of Myanmar as follows: States Divisions Shan State − they call them “the southern 1. Chin 1. Irrawady Palaung people”. At present, Buakaw 2. Kachin 2. Pegu (2012) is conducting research for his Ph.D 3. Kayah 3. Magwe dissertation on the Palaung spoken in 4. Kayin 4. Kalaw city. Palaung speakers in Ngaung 5. Mon 5. Sagiang Gone village and Taungni village around 6. Rakhine 6. Tanassarim Kalaw city call themselves “Da-ang”. 7. Shan 7. States and Divisions consist of districts, To summarize, almost all of the studies towns/townships, wards/quarters and villages. previously done on the Palaung in Kengtung is one of the 11 districts of the Shan state. There are five townships in Kengtung: Myanmar are on the Ta-ang Palaung and Kengtung, Mong Yang, Mong Khet, the Rumai Palaung in northwestern Shan and Mat Man. is the State. There are only a few works on the largest. Palaung in the southern part of the State − 14 Ban Paaw was chosen as a research site the Pale people. That is to say, there is because it has the largest numbers of Palaung very limited information on the Palaung in speakers and because the language is still used Myanmar. Additionally, there is no written in everyday life. The other significant reason is published work on the Palaung living in a security reason − the strict regulations of Kengtung. Myanmar local government, such as tourists being forbidden to stay overnight in villages; a tour guide of a particular tourist group has to 12 He recorded his data in Rangoon, though. report the group’s itinerary each day and His informant was a soldier in the Burmese register the time in and out of the central Army. Kengtung downtown to the local authority, etc.

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When the Palaung first moved there from Mai in northern Thailand17 between 1982 Pa min15 about 50 years ago, there were a and 1984 to take refuge from an uprising lot of coconut trees in the village and the and violence in their homeland. As a word “paaw” means ‘coconut’. Nowadays, result, there are no publications about the however, coconut trees can be found only group available prior to 1984. The first around the monastery. short introductory report about the Palaung is an article by Sarapi Sila (1933). Then Based on the 285 collected words, come works by Howard and Wattanapun Kengtung Palaung is similar to the Raojin (2001) on the Palaung in northern dialect in China. Concerning the sub- Thailand; Kasisopa (2003) on the group names of the Palaung in Kentung, phonology of Dara-ang spoken in No-Lae those who live in Ban Paaw identify village, Chiangmai; Buakaw (2009: 31-46) themselves as Dara-ang. In addition, Dara- on the final nasal consonants in No-Lae ang is also an autonym which the Palaung Palaung; and Deepadung (2009: 7-29) on in Kentung normally use when referring to the ethnicity of the Dara-ang in Thailand. themselves. “Palaung” is also the name the The group of Palaung who came to live in Burmese and the use to refer Thailand first settled at No-Lae village, to Palaung people in Myanmar. Other Fang district, , Thailand. At names that are used by the Burmese and present, there are about 5,000 – 7,000 the Shan to refer to the Palaung are “Kun Dara-ang speakers in Loi16 and Tai-Loi. “Kun-Loi” meaning (Fang, Chiang Dao and Mae Ai districts) people who live on the mountains and “Tai and province (Ban Pong Nue, Loi” meaning people who live on the district). mountains and follow the Tai way of life, especially in the way in which they According to Deepadung (2009: 18), the practise Buddhism and follow the Tai Palaung in Thailand designate themselves Shan system of community rulers. as “Dara-ang”18 or “Dara-ang ren − Red Dara-ang”. The word “ang” means ‘cliff’, Palaung in Thailand which reminds them of their ancestors who used to live high up in the mountains. The Palaung from the southern Shan State The word “ren” means ‘red’ which is the in Myanmar migrated to settle in Chiang traditional color of Palaung women’s tubeskirts. The prefix da- means ‘people of a particular ethnic group’, such as /dasiam/

‘Tai (Shan) people’, /dakhɛ/ ‘Chinese 15 Howards (2005: 29), referring to Scott and Hardiman’s (1901) information, states that people’, /dathai/ ‘Thai people’. However, “…Pa Min, which is located at an altitude of since there is no pejorative meaning 5,150 ft. on a plateau on the road half way attached to the word “Palaung”, there is no between Ta-kaw and Kengtung town…. Pa resentment towards the name Palaung Min is described as a small Palaung village between Mong̈ Hsen and Mong̈ Pu Awn…” 16 According to Howard (2005: 29), referring to Scott and Hardiman who stated that 17 See details in Deepadung (2009: 7-29). “…while people in the hill country, referred to 18 Thai spellings for the word “Dara-ang” are as Kodaung by the Burmese and Kun Loi by “” (Deepadung and Thongkumchum the Shan were ‘almost entirely Palaungs’ (1901, (1): 224)”. 2005) and “” (Sila 1993).

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among the Dara-ang Palaung speakers in (autonym “La-ang”). Most of them are Thailand. found in Santaishan in Luxi county in the De’hong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous In the official records of the Thai local Prefecture and Junnong in Zhenkang government, there are two Thai written county in Lincang Prefecture, Yunnan. scripts for the name Palaung19, i.e., They usually live together with the [pa-rçòN] and [pa-lçòN]. The former, Jingpos, the Hans and the Shans (Tais).

“ [r]”, is incorrect and may be the result In Myanmar, the Palaung people live in of local officials mishearing; the latter, “” Shan State and most of the Palaung of the is the correct spelling for the [l] in the northern Shan State refer to themselves as name “Palaung”. The correct Thai spelling Ta-ang. They live in and around the for the name “Palaung” is “” Namhsan and Namkham areas. The other sub-group of Palaung, who live north of It appears, then, that the Palaung are the Namhsan, refer to themselves as Rumai. most recent ethnic group to settle in the The Palaung who live in widely scattered Fang district of Chiang Mai, Thailand. villages and towns in the southern Shan According to the collected words, Noe- State, especially in Kengtung, call Lae Palaung is similar to Kengtung themselves “Dara-ang”. Sometimes, they Palaung. This is in agreement with the oral are called “Pale” by the Burmese. history of the group’s movement, i.e. the Generally, Palaung speakers are known to Palaung of Noe-Lae migrated from their the Shan (Tai) people and the Burmese as villages in Kengtung to Thailand between “Palaung”. 1982 and 1984. That is to say Noe-Lae Palaung is close to Kengtung Palaung and The Palaung in Thailand migrated to to the Raojin sub-group in China. Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, between 1982-1984. They moved from the Conclusion southern Shan State, Myanmar, to settle in No-Lae village in Doi Ang Khang in Fang The belongs to the district, Chiang Mai. They identify Palaungic branch of the Mon-Khmer sub- themselves as “Dara-ang”. At present, family of the Austroasiatic language there are Palaung villages in the Fang, family. It consists of several dialects Chiang Dao and Mae Ai districts of which are spoken by Palaung people in Chiang Mai province and in the Mae Sai China, Myanmar and Thailand. In China, district of . Thai Palaung speakers are referred to as De’ang people call them “Palaung – ”. [t´-/aaN]. The name De’ang is an official ethnic nationality name and consists of The Palaung residing in China, Myanmar five sub-groups of Palaung: Pu-le and even in Thailand, have been referred (autonym “Ka-ang”); Raojin (autonym to by different sub-group names by locals “Na-ang”); Liang (autonym “Ta-ang”); and the governments of those particular Rumai (autonym “Rumai”); and Raokot countries. With regard to the use of the name “Palaung”, on the one hand it can be

19 The ethnic name “Palaung” is usually mixed up with the ethnic name ‘Padaung − the long- neck Karen − by Thai people.

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generally used to refer to all Palaung Nationalities University, Phra Pong speakers and dialects and, on the other, it Sunanta, Khongkhanimit Temple, and can also be used to identify a specific speakers of the Palaung in China, and in Palaung speaking group. As if that were Myanmar for their assistance and language not complicated enough, the Palaung data. My special thanks is due to Professor themselves have their own ethnic names or Somsonge Burusphat, Research Institute autonyms for their own sub-groups as for Languages and Cultures of Asia, well. Except for the Rumai, the autonym Mahidol University, for her very kind help of each sub-group or dialect ends with the and suggestions. Lastly but not least, I word “-ang” which means “cliff or cave”. wish to acknowledge the invaluable Identifying the Palaung ethnic group is comments of the anonymous reviewers. easy because of the distinctive traditional attire of Palaung women. References

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