THE TAl OF MUONG VAT Daecha 1989, Kanchana Panka 1980, Suree Pengsombat 1990, Wipawan DO NOT SPEAK THE Plungsuwan 1981, Anculee Buranasing BLACK TAl LANGUAGE 1988, Orapin Maneewong 1987, Kantima Wattanaprasert & Suwattana Theraphan L-Thongkum1 Liarnprawat 1985, Suwattana (Liampra­ wat) Damkham & Kantima Wattana­ prasert 1997, Oraphan Unakonsawat Abstract 1993). A word list of 3,343 items with Standard In most of these previous studies, Thai, English and Vietnamese glosses especially by Thai linguists, a Black Tai was used for eliciting the Black Tai or variety spoken at one location is Tai Dam language data at each of the described and in some cases compared twelve research sites: ten in northern with the other Tai or Lao dialcets spoken Vietnam, one in northern Laos, and one in nearby areas. The Black Tai varieties in central Thaialnd. The data collected spoken in Laos and Vietnam have never at two villages in Muong Vat could not been investigated seriously by Thai be used for a reconstruction of Old linguists. Contrarily, in the works done Black Tai phonological system and a by non-Thai linguists, generallingusitic lexicon because on a phonological basis characteristics of the language are and a lexical basis, the Tai dialect of attempted with no emphasis on the Muong Vat is not Black Tai, especially location where it is spoken. In other the one spoken at Ban Phat, Chieng Pan words, a description and explanation of sub-district and Ban Coc Lac, Tu Nang the so-called Common Black Tai is their sub-district, Son La province, Vietnam. major aim. Introduction Not only Thai linguists but also Thai anthropologists and historians are The Black Tai (Tai Darn, Thai Song, Lao interested in the Black Tai of Sip Song Song, Lao Song Dam, Phu Tai Song Chou Tai. Some of them believe that Dam) language has been studied by various features in the language and many non-Thai and Thai linguists, and culture of the Black Tai can be taken as by Black-Tai language specialists. substantial clues for those of (Diguet 1895, Gedney 1964, Hartmann Southwestern Tais and the Thai 1985 and 1995, Don 1989, Fippinger (Siamese). To be able to react properly 1970, 1971, 1975a and 1975b, Hoang to this idea, the rasearch project "From Tran N ghich & Tong Kim An 1990, Cam Sip Song Chou Tai to Central Thailand: Cuong 1991, Witsarut Suwanwiwek Language, Social and Cultural Changes 1981, Meewan Leerawat et al 1982 of the Black Tai" was launched in 1997. ' Chakrit Anuntrawan 1978, Wilailak This research project has been funded by the Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn Research Fund, Chulalongkorn 1 Ph.D., Professor, Department of Linguistics, University. The sub-project on the Balck Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkom University, Tai language is part of this project. Bangkok, Thailand. Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 08:31:55AM via free access The Tai of Muong Vat • A well-known Thai anthropologist and Muong Nam Ma, Muong La), one in archaeologist, Srisakara Vallibhotama northern Laos (Muong Luang Nam Tha), (1991), and a Thai historian, Manoo and one in central Thailand (Khaw Yoy Udomwet (1995), who had an opportu­ district). The long word list which com­ nity to visit Muong Vat said that the Tai prises 3,343 items and the two short ad­ of Muong Vat were Black Tai from a ditional word lists of 20 and 153 items cultural point of view. For example, their were used for eliciting Black Tai vocabu­ clothing was similar to the one of the lary, tones, consonants and vowels. Petchaburi Lao Song or Black Tai. In Every item in the short word lists was this paper, the author, by using linguistic recorded on tape in order to check the evidence, would like to argue that the phonetic transcription based on auditory Tai of Muong Vat are not Black Tai in judgement and for acoustical measure­ the sense that they do not speak the ments to reconfirm the phonetic char­ Black Tai Language. acteristics of tones. Language data Due to all types of problems, both tech­ nical and non-technical, 632 items in the To investigate the language of the Black long word list which were collected by Tai, three word lists with Standard Thai, the two Vietnamese linguists had to be English and Vietnamese glosses were discarded. Therefore, only 2,711 items devised and used for eliciting the lan­ could be used for the comparative study. guage data at each of the twelve re­ The old black Tai phonological system search sites: ten in northern Vietnam2 and lexical comprising 2,300 entries, (Muong Vat 1, Muong Vat 2, Muong Lo, were reconstructed. In total, 1043 items in the long word list were discarded to control the quality of the data used for the analysis and reconstruction. Even 2 The data on Black Tai spoken at the two though a lot of data on Black Tai can be research sites in Laos and Thailand were col­ found in other publications and many un­ lected by the author. The rest was collected published M.A. theses, they were not by Professor Hoang Van Ma and Dr. Ta Van used because our Black Tai corpus was Thong, staff members of the linguistics In­ large enough for our research purposes. stitute, the National Center for Research on However, for a comparative and histori­ Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam. To be certain that their collection of data cal study, the data collected at Ban Phat, was consistent with the author's standards, Chieng Pan sub-district and Ban Coc two Black Tai speakers studying in Hanoi Lac, Tu Nang sub-district, in MuongVat were used as informants for a demonstra­ (Yen Chau) located in the province of tion during the workshop. All necessary in­ Son La had to be excluded. On a pho­ structions, including batteries, film, blank nological and a lexical basis, the Tai dia­ cassettes, and so forth, were provided. At lect of Muong Vat is not Black Tai. The each research location, besides making re­ detailed arguments can be found in the cordings, they were required to photograph next section. the village and the informants. In addition, brief information on the village where the data were collected and on the informants Tai Dialect of Muong Vat had to be provided. Notes on any other in­ teresting aspects were also encouraged. Chamberlain (1984: 73, and 1992: 154) points out that "The Tai of Muong Vat 75 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 08:31:55AM via free access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities (Special Issue No.6 2003) (Yen Chau) in Sip Song Chou Tai speak Muong Vat 1 (Ban Phat) a form of Thay Neua closer to that of Xieng Kho than to Black Tai Proper" On linguistic grounds, the author totally A B c DL DS agree with Chamberlain that the Tai of Muong Vat, at least the two groups which 24 live in Ban Phat and Ban Coc Lac, do - not speak Black Tai.3 Chamberlain's 33 21' 33 35 view is based only on the pattern of tonal development: Al-234, B123-4, C123-4, 53 DL and D_S 123-4. The pattern of tone split in column A and the phonetic char­ acteristics of the six tones in the Tai dia­ 41 45 42 44 lect of Muong Vat are not similar to those of Black Tai. The tonal analysis, the acoustical measurements of tones and the reconstruction of Old Black Tai tonal Muong Vat 2 (Ban Coc Lac) system which were done by the author support very well the idea proposed by Chamberlain, as illustrated in Figure l. A B c DL DS Figure 1 Comparison of Muong Vat 35 and Muong Lo (Black Tai) patterns of t--- tone split 32 21 , 22 45 Muong Vat (Chamberlain 1984) 42 A B c DL DS 42 44 32 34 24 - 22 31' 22 34 Black Tai (Muong Lo) 33 42 55 42 44 A B c DL DS 11 25 21 25- 35 3 Since the data on Tai Nuea spoken in Laos is not available, the author can neither sup­ port nor reject Chamberlain's claim that the 55 33 42 33-34 Tai of Muong Vat speak a form ofTai Nuea closer to that of Xie ng Kho. 76 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 08:31:55AM via free access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities (Special Issue No.6 2003) The patterns of sound changes as can Regarding the Tai dialect of Muong Vat, be seen in the above examples help sup­ it is reconfirmed by both phonological port the view that Tai Muong Vat is not and lexical evidence that the one spo­ a variety of Black Tai. Even though the ken at Ban Phat, Chieng Pan sub-dis­ speakers of Tai Muong Vat live in the trict and Ban Coc Lac, Tu Nang sub­ area (Sonia province) which is occupied district, is not Black Tai. The Tai Muong by the Black Tai people, they do speak Vat dialect belongs to the PH language different Tai dialect Not only phonologi­ groups as the Lao language, whereas all cal differences but also lexical differ­ of the Black Tai varieties spoken in Viet­ ences between Tai Muong Vat and nam, Laos and Thailand belong to the P Black Tai can be detected, as in the fol­ language group. The author's analysis lowing: of tone split and tone merger patterns supports Chamberlain's first claim in Tai Muong Vat Old Black Tai 1984, based solely on his tonal analysis 'to call' ki:~k 02 *khe?o1 that the Tai of Muong Vat do not speak Black Tai.