Thai kadai languages

There are two hypotheses about the genealogical relationship of Thai languages. According to the first, they belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family ; at the same time, they are either combined with the Chinese language into one of the subgroups of the Sino-Tibetan family , or distinguished as a separate subgroup that deviates most from the other languages ​​of this family (R. Sheifer). According to the second hypothesis, Thai languages ​​are related to the Austronesian languages , and their similarity with the Chinese language is explained by later influences (P. Benedict). The absence of sufficiently convincing evidence of both hypotheses dictates the preference for interpreting Thai as a separate family. Some linguists suggest that Thai-Kadai languages ​​enter the proposed Austrian macro-family .

The first historically reliable information about the movement of Thai peoples dates back to the 12th – 13th centuries, when the ancestors of the Siamese , Lao, and Shans settled in the modern territory of their habitation. It is assumed that the ancestral home of Thai languages ​​was the territory of the modern province of Guangdong and the northern regions of Vietnam (A. Zh. Odricour, S. E. Yakhontov). From here the ancestors of the people migrated to Hainan Island , and the ancestors of the Dongshui peoples - to Guizhou and Guangxi (about 3 thousand years ago), where the ancestors of the Zhuang also advanced 1000 years later.

Thai Kadai languages ​​are divided into the following main groups:

• Thai languages
  • northern subgroup
    • Northern dialects of the Zhuang language
    • buoys
    • sec
  • central subgroup
    • tai (tho)
    • nung
    • Southern dialects of the Zhuang language
  • southwest subgroup
    • Thai (Siamese)
    • Laotian
    • shansky
    • Khamti
    • Ahom language
    • tongues of black and white thai
    • yuan
    • ly
    • khyn
• Dong Shui
  • dun
  • shui
  • poppy
  • then
• Laccia
• Be
• Kadai languages
  • lacua
  • lati
  • gelao languages ​​(north and south)
• Li languages ( Hlai (Li) and Jiamao)

The kinship between Kadai languages ​​(except for) with Thai is very likely, but due to lack of material it has not been conclusively proven.

The largest languages ​​are: Thai (27 million), Spanish (20 million), Zhuang (10 million), Lao (3.5 million), Shan (3 million).

Edmondson and Sunshine

In 1988, J. Edmondsoom and D. Solnt made a classification that distinguishes the Kam-Thai branch ^{[1] [2]} :

This classification is used in Ethnologue , although since 2009 the Lajia language has been transferred to the third branch of the Kam-Thai group, and the Biao has been moved to the Kamsui group.

All Thai languages ​​are typologically close to each other and belong to isolating . Phonological systems are structurally uniform. The syllable can be open and closed. In closed syllables, long and short vowels are contrasted. In the open, only long vowels were initially possible, but in some Thai languages, a contrast in longitude / shortness later developed. At the beginning of a syllable there can be any consonant, and in some languages ​​(Siamese, Zhuang, sec) certain conjunctions of r, l connected with the sonants are also possible. There were more consonants in Prototai, but in modern languages ​​they have been simplified. Only syllables p, t, k, their corresponding sonants, and also w, j can end a syllable. In sec, the final l, which existed in Proto-Thai, has been preserved. All Thai languages ​​are tonal . In Proto-Thai, in open syllables and syllables ending in a nasal consonant, there could be 3 tones. Then each of them began to be pronounced in high and low variants, and the number of initials decreased. In modern Thai languages, tones regrouped, and in some, some tones coincided.

In Thai, in most cases, the morpheme coincides with the syllable. Exceptions are mainly represented by reduplications and borrowings. There is no inflection. Morphemes are divided into significant and official. Affixation is poorly developed. Parts of speech are distinguished by distribution. Grammatical forms are formed analytically, that is, with the help of service words. Word formation methods are similar in all Thai languages. The root product is most productive, as well as the use of so-called affix words (term A. A. Dragunov). True affixes are found in very small numbers and not in all languages.

Thai syntax is generally uniform. The relations between the members of the sentence are indicated by the order of words or service words. The subject precedes the predicate, the complement is in the postposition to the verb, the definition is in the postposition to the defined. In Khamti and Zhuang languages, the usual word order is sometimes violated as a result of borrowing syntactic constructions from other languages ​​(in Khamti from Assamese , in Zhuang from Chinese).

Most Thai scripts date back to Indian script . Typologically, they are divided into 2 groups: “eastern” (Siamese, Lao, black and white Thai, yuan, ly, khyn) and “western” (Shan and ahom). The first, created before the 13th century, reflect the historical principle in spelling. Genetically Siamese, Lao, black and white Thai scripts date back to Khmer , Shan, Yuan, Lu and Khyn - to Burmese . The first monument of Thai writing is an inscription on the stele of Ramakakheng ( 1292 ). Zhuang in the past had a script created on the basis of Chinese characters , which has become obsolete. In the second half of the XX century. For Zhuang, Dong, and Li languages ​​in the PRC, and for Thai and Nung in Vietnam , scripts were created based on Latin scripts.

The study of Thai languages ​​began in the 1st half of the 19th century, when dictionaries and grammars of the Siamese language were written. Until the beginning of the 20th century. mainly materials on newly discovered languages ​​were published. A comparative historical study was begun by A. Maspero ( 1911 ) and continued by C. Wolfe, Benedict, Li Fangui, Audricour, Shafer and others. In the second half of the 40s. XX century the typology of Thai languages ​​began to be studied (F. Martini). In the 50s. a significant number of works on the Thai languages ​​of China appeared , owned by Chinese scholars. In the USSR, the study of Thai languages ​​began in the 2nd half of the 40s (works by L. N. Morev, Yu. Ya. Plam, A. A. Moskalev, S. E. Yakhontov).

• Gokhman V. I. Thai languages

• Morev L.N., Plum Yu. Ya., Fomicheva M.F. Thai language. M., 1961.
• Yakhontov S. E. On the classification of languages ​​of Southeast Asia, in the book: Countries and peoples of the East, c. 15. M., 1973.
• Maspero H. Les langues thai, in: Les langues du mond. P., 1952.
• Shafer R. Bibliography of Sino-Tibetan languages, v. 1-2. Wiesbaden, 1957-63.
• Shorto HL, Jacob JM, Simmonds EHS Bibliographies of Mon-Khmer and Tai linguistics. L.- NY-Toronto, 1963.
• Gedney W. Thailand and Laos, in: CTL., V. 2. The Hague. - P., 1967.
• Shafer R. Introduction to Sino-Tibetan, pt. 5. Wiesbaden, 1974.