Northern Thai language

Northern Thai
Kham Mueang ᨣᩴᩤᨾᩮᩥᩬᨦ
Pronunciation	[kam˧ mɯːəŋ˧]
Native to	Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia
Region	Northern Thailand
Ethnicity	Tai Yuan
Native speakers	(6 million cited 1983)[1]
Language family	Tai–Kadai Tai Southwestern (Thai) Chiang Saen Northern Thai
Writing system	Tai Tham script, Thai script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nod
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Northern Thai in its own alphabet, the Tai Tham script

Northern Thai alphabet

Northern Thai alphabet

Northern Thai alphabet

Northern Thai alphabet

Northern Thai (Thai: ภาษาถิ่นพายัพ; RTGS: Phasa Thin Phayap), Lanna (Thai: ล้านนา), or Kham Mueang (Northern Thai: ᨣᩴᩤᨾᩮᩥᩬᨦ [kam˧ mɯːəŋ˧], Thai: คำเมือง [kʰam˧ mɯːəŋ˧]) is the language of the Khon Mueang people of Lannathai, Thailand. It is a Tai language, closely related to Thai and 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 "Thai Yuan" to be pejorative. They generally call themselves khon mueang (ฅนเมือง, [xon˧ mɯːəŋ˧]), Lannathai, 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 script, which is closely related to the old Tai Lue Script 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 Kammuang. There is a resurgence of interest in writing it in the traditional way, but the modern pronunciation differs from that prescribed in spelling rules.^[2]

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.

Grammar

Pronouns

Pronouns may be omitted once they have already been established in the first sentence, unless the pronoun in the following sentences is different from the first sentence. The pronoun "you" may also be omitted if the speaker is speaking directly to a second person. Moreover, names may replace pronouns, and they can even replace the first person singular pronoun.

Phonology

Tones

There are six phonemic tones in the Chiangmai dialect of Northern Thai: low-rising, mid-low, high-falling, mid-high, falling, and high rising-falling.^[3]

Consonants

Northern Thai phonology is relatively closer to that of Lao because of the [ ɲ ] sound.

^* The glottal plosive is implied after a short vowel without final, or silent before a vowel.

Allophones

The following section largely concerns the Nan dialect of Northern Thai.^[4]

Vocabulary

Northern Thai shares much vocabulary with Standard Thai, especially scientific terms, which draw many prefixes and suffixes from Sanskrit and Pali, and it also has its own distinctive words. Just like Thai and Lao, Lanna has borrowed many Sanskrit and Pali words.

Below, Thai words are shown on the left and Northern Thai words are shown on the right.

Different sounds

Standard Thai does not have palatal nasal sound:

• ยาก→ ยาก(/jâːk/ → /ɲâːk/, difficult)
• ยุง→ ยุง(/juŋ/ → /ɲuŋ/, mosquito)
• ยาว→ ยาว(/jaːw/> /ɲaːw/, long)

Standard Thai does not have a high-falling tone.

• บ้าน→ บ้าน(/bâːn/ → /ba̋ːn/, home)
• ห้า→ ห้า(/hâː/ → /ha̋ː/, five)
• เจ้า→ เจ้า(/tɕâw/ → /tɕa̋w/, you, lord)

Different words

Many words differ from Standard Thai greatly:

• ยี่สิบ → ซาว (/jîː sìp/ → /saːw/, twenty)
• พูด → อู้ (/pʰûːt/ → /ʔűː/, to speak)
• พี่ชาย → อ้าย (/pʰîː tɕʰaːj/> /ʔa̋ːj/, older brother)

Similar words

Some words differ in tone only:

• หนึ่ง → นึ่ง (/nɯ̂ŋ/, one)
• หก → ฮก (/hók/, six)
• เจ็ด → เจ๋ด (/tɕět/, seven)
• สิบ → ซิบ (/síp/, ten)
• เป็น → เป๋น (/pěn/, to be)
• กิน → กิ๋น (/kǐn/, to eat)

Some words differ in a single sound and associated tone. In many words, the initial ร (/r/) is spoken as ฮ (/h/):

• ร้อน → ฮ้อน (/rɔ́n/ → /hɔ́n/, hot)
• รัก → ฮัก (/rák/ → /hák/, to love)
• รู้ → ฮู้ (/rúː/ → /húː/, to know)

Aspirated consonants in the low-class consonant group(อักษรต่ำ /ʔàk sɔ̌n tàm/) become unaspirated:

• เชียงราย → เจียงฮาย (/tɕʰiaŋ raːj/ → /tɕiaŋ haːj/, Chiang Rai city and province)
• คิด → กึ๊ด (/kʰít/ → /kít/, to think)
• ช้อน → จ๊อน (/tɕʰɔ́n/ → /tɕɔ́n/, spoon)
• ใช้ → ใจ๊ (/tɕʰáj/ → /tɕáj/, to use)
• พ่อ → ป้อ (/pʰɔ̂/ → /pɔ̂/, father)
• ทาง → ตาง (/tʰaːŋ/ → /taːŋ/, way)

Though many aspirated consonants often become unaspirated, when an unaspirated consonant is followed by ร (/r/) the unaspirated consonant becomes aspirated:

• โกรธ → โขด (/kròːt/ → /kʰòːt/, (be) angry)
• ประเทศ> ผะเตด (/praʔtʰêːt/ → /pʰaʔtêːt/, country)
• กราบ> ขาบ (/kràːp/ → /kʰàːp/, to prostrate oneself)

Other differences:

• ให้ → หื้อ (/hâj/ → /hɯ̋/, to give, let)

References

• Khamjan, Mala (มาลา คำจันทร์). Kham Mueang Dictionary (พจนานุกรมคำเมือง). Chiang Mai: Bookworm, 2008. ISBN 978-974-8418-55-1.