20 December 2002
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MON ASH UNIVERSITY THESIS ACCEPTED IN SATISFACTION OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ON. n . 20 December 2002 Research Graduate Sc'nool Committee Under the copyright Act 1968, this thesis must be used only under the normal conditions of scholarly fair dealing for the purposes of research, criticism or review. In particular no results or conclusions should be extracted from it, nor should it be copied or closely paraphrased in whole or in part without the written consent of the author. Proper written acknowledgement should be made for any assistance obtained from this thesis. ERRATA p 255 para 2, 3rd line. "Furthermore" for "Furthemore" p 257 para 2, 3rd line: "the Aitons" for "The Aitons" th p xiii para 5,4 line: "compiled" for "complied" p 269 para 1, 1* line: omit "see" nd p xvii para 1, 2 line: "other" for "othr" p 293 para 1, 3rd line: "not" for "nor" rd p xix para 8, 3 line: omit *ull stop after "the late" p 301 para 1, 4th line: "post-modify" for "post-modifier" rd p 5 para 5, 3 line: "bandh is often" for "bandh often" p 306 example (64), 6th line, "3PI" for "3Sg" th p 21 para 1, 4 line: "led" for "lead" p 324 footnote 61, 2nd line: "whether (76) is a case" for "whether (76) a nd p 29 footnote 21, 2 line: omit one "that" case" st p 34 para 2,1 line: substitute a comma for the full stop p 333 para 1, 3rd line: "as is" for "as does" st p 67 para 3,1 line: "contains" for "contain" p 334 para 1, last line: add final full stop p 71 last para, last line: "the" for "The" p 334 para 2, 1st line: "Example" for "Examples" nd p 78 second para (quote), 2 line: "SOV (sic) is the dominant one" for p 338 last para, Ist line: "participant" for "partipant" "SOV is the dominant one" p 339 para 2, 1st line: "their" for "there" st p 81 1 line: The word /fa ral n/ should appear as /fa rag/ p 346 example (128), 6th line, "3 PI" for "3Sg" p 87 para 2, last line: add final full stop p 353 para 3, 6th line: "for the Khamti language" for "for at the Khamti p 87 para 3, last line: add final full stop language" 1 p 88 para 3, I* line: "classifiers as" for "classifiers are" p 354 para 4, lBt line: "needs" for "need" rt p 90 last para, l line: "it is a distinguishing feature" for "it is p 356 example (151), 3rd line, "3P1" for "3Sg" distinguishing feature" p 3 57 para 1, 5th line, omit the comma after "even" rd p 106 para 3, 3 line: "the name" for "the named" p 392 para 2, last line: add final full stop nd p 129 para 5, 2 line: "a number of Tai people" for "a number Tai people" p 400 para 1, 1* line: "The context of this sentence" for "The context of p 132 para 3, 1st line: "vis-a-vis" for "viz a viz" th sentence" p 138 example (1), 4 line: "May" for "My" 8l: nd p 416 para 3, l line: "This is especially" for "This especially" p 185 para 4, 2 line: "consonants" for "letters" nd nd p 423 para 3, 2 line: "becomes a" for "becomes of p 190 para 2, 2 line: "there appear to be a number" for "there appear to be th p 423 para 3, 6 line: "pronounced" for "pronounce" are a number" p 428 para 1, lBl line: "which is" for "which" p 205 para 2, 2nd line: "somewhat longer than the" for "somewhat longer p 470 para 4, 2nd line: "These briefly describe" for "These briefly the" p 481, the reference for Chau Khouk Manpoong should read: p 207 para 1, 4th line: "merged as a single phoneme" for "merged as single Chau Khouk Manpoong. (fod C^/TICO tmx)C). 1993. New Tai Reader phoneme" p 217 para 2, last line: "have not been" for "has not been" (COY) Q CO*) Chongkham, Arunachal Pradesh: Tai Literature p 221 para 3, 2nd line: "to use initial /I/" for "to use of initial /I/" Committee. 2 volumes, (in Khamti). nd p 255 para 2, 2 line: "the qualities of the Shan tones are different." for p 483, lines 12 and 14 "Egerod, S0ren." for Egerod, Soren," "the quality of Shan tones are different." The Tai Languages of Assam a grammar and texts Stephen MOREY, B.A. (Hons) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy MONASH UNIVERSITY LINGUISTICS PROGRAM, SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, CULTURES AND LINGUISTICS August 2002 111 11 L I O I L/ L/ 1/ C O O C r 0 L L Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT XIII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... .XVII ABBREVIATIONS DSED IN THIS THESIS.— ...XXIII 1. INTRODUCTION. 1 11 MEETING THE TAI OF ASSAM - 3 /./ .' Some difficulties in undertaking this thesis 5 11.11 Crossing a bamboo bridge " / 1-2 Life in Tai villages 8 THE TAI LANGUAGE FAMILY 10 /. 2.1 The Shan group of languages 10 /. i •> The similarity of the languages in the Shan group 12 1.2.3 The Tai varieties of Northeast India IS 1.3 THEDATA WHICH FORMS THE BASIS OF THIS THESIS. 14 4 THE BASIC THESIS OF THIS WORK !7 / 4.1 Key aims of the research 17 2. THE TAIS OF ASSAM & THEIR LANGUAGES 19 THE LINGUISTIC MIX IN NORTHEAST INDIA 20 2.2 THE AHOMS 21 2.3 THE OTHER TAI GROUPS 25 3 1 Some notes on the history of the Tai 27 .3-2 The Tai Aiton Villages 30 .3.3 The Tai Phake Villages: • 32 .3.4 Other Tai Speaking Villages 34 2 3.4.1 Khanui villages 34 2.3 4.2 Tai Khamyang village 34 2.3 4.3 Tuning Villages 35 .3.5 Difficulties with identifying the vufious Tai groups. jtf .3 6 A note on the names of the Tai groups 37 2.3.6.1 Ahom 37 2.3.0.2 Alton 38 2.3.(i 3 Khamti 39 23 .0.4 Khamyang 40 2.3.(i.5 Phake 40 2.3.0.0 Tuning.. 40 2.4 CURRENT l-INGUISTIC SITUATION 41 .4.1 A note on the Turung • 43 .4.2 The Khamyang language revitalisation (2002) 44 3. PREVIOUS STUDIES OF THE TAI LANGUAGES 47 3.1 THLi NEED FOR A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SOURCES ON THE TAI LANGUAGES OF ASSAM 47 3.2 LINGUISTIC SOURCES 48 3.2.1 Buchanan (J 799) 48 12.2 Brown (1837) 49 3.2.3 Robinson (1849) • 50 3.2.4 Campbell (1874) 53 3.2.5 Needham(1894) 54 3.2.6 Gherson (1904) 57 3.2.0. Contents of Grierson (1904) '• 57 3.2.6.2 General Comments on the Tai Group (1904:59-79) 58 3.2.0.3 Ahom (1904: 81-140) 59 3.2.6.3.1 Tones 59 3.2.0.4 Khamti (1902:140-165) SV 32.6.4.1 Tones 59 3.2.6.4.2 Texts 60 VH VI 4.2.3 Pongsri Lekawatana < 1970) ]]2 32.6.5 Tairong (1904:167-177) * 4.2.4 Previous research on Shan.. 114 3.2.6.5.1 Texts .62 3 26.6 Nora (1904:179-19!) 4.3 NATIVE INTUITIONS AND NATIVE PEDAGOGY 116 .62 3.2.6.6.1 Texts 4 4 PRESCRIPTION AND DESCRIPTION 'i8 3.2.6.6.2 From the Parable ofthe Prodigal Son 4.5 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TAI SCRIPT 139 .63 3.2.6.6.3 Riddles 4.6 THE PRESENTATION OF TEXT EXAMPLES 122 ..63 32.6.7 Aitonia (1904:193-211) .64 4.7 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 124 3.2.6.7.1 Orthography *T 4 7 I The approach in this thesis 127 32.6.7.2 The texts •-• 65 4.7.2 A note on bad language and swearing 130 3.2.6.8 Comparative Word list and Sentences (1904:214-233) .65 3.2.6.8.1 Vocabulary items 5. METHODOLOGY - COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND TRANSLATION OF THE TEXTS: 131 3.Z.6.8.2 Tense .67 3.2.7 Barua. GC. (1920) .67 5.1 THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 131 3.2.8 Barua, G-K. (1936) (Ahom Primer) V2 THE COLLECTION OF DATA 134 3.2-9 Barua. B.K. and Phukan (1964) (Ahom Lexicons) .71 5.21 3.2-10 Barua. B.( 1966) Elicitation undertaken as part of this project 134 ..71 ? 2 11 Biswas. S (1966) 5.2.2 Text collection 135 ..72 3.2.12 Phukan (1966) DATA ANALYSIS : 137 ..74 5.3.1 Prerequisites for analysis 137 3.2.13 Harris (1976) ..75 3.2.14 Weidert(1977 & 1979) 5.3.2 Difficulties encountered in analysis 138 ...75 3.2.14.1 Weidert(1977) 5.4 DATASTORAGE 140 3.2.14.2 Weiden(1979) 5.5 GROUPING THE TEXTS 140 ..77 3.2-15 Wilaiwan (1983. 1986) ...77 6. PHONOLOGY 145 3.2.15.1 Wilaiwan (1983) 3.2.15.2 Wilaiwan (1986) SOME THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 145 ..7b 3.2.16 Banchob (1970. 1987) r 6.1 1 Proto Southwestern Tai phonemes 145 7 > 3.2.16.1 Banchob (1977) ?(, 6.1 ! .1 Proto Southwestern Tai consonants 143 3.2.16.2 6.1 1.2 Consonant change in Southwestern Tai 147 3.2-17 Nomal Gogoi (1987 & 1994) 80 6.1 1.3 Proto Southwestern Tai vowels 147 80 3.2.17.1 Gogoi(1987) 6 12 Diphthongs in Tai languages.