Southwest Thai

The division of languages ​​within a subgroup is controversial among scholars.

Chamberlain

James Chamberlain, in his article “A New Look at the History and Classification of Tai Languages”, divides the south-western group into four branches based on the presence / absence of an aspirated “n” and merging / separation of tones ^[1] . Hartman (1977) and Brown (1965) support the allocation of South-West Thai languages ​​based on the splitting of tones ^{[2] [3]} .

Proto-Southwest Thai

• the branch in which the sound appeared / p /:
  • The branch in which the tone appeared * A 1-23-4:
    • Shan language ;
    • Shan Chinese ( Tse Fang );
    • Muang Ka ( English Muang Ka );
  • the branch in which the tones are split * ABCD 123-4; B = DL:
    • black Thai language (tai-dam);
    • Red Thai language ( eng. Tai Dón );
    • Belotai language ( eng. Tai Daeng );
    • ly language ;
    • Shan language ;
    • Yuan language ;
    • Ahom language .
• The branch in which the sound / ph / appeared and the separation of tones (* A 1-23-4):
  • the branch in which the tones are * BCD 123-4:
    • Thai language ;
    • ( phutai );
    • Tai-nya ^[4] ;
    • phuang language
  • The branch in which the tones are split * BCD 1-23-4; B ≠ DL:
    • Lao language ;
    • South Thai dialect .

Edmondson and Solit

Edmondson and Solon divide the southwest Thai into two subgroups. According to their data, Taynyy and Khamti were the first to separate from the Proto-Tayan language ^[5] .

1. The northern group is the tayna ; Shan Taiyok (Chinese Shan), Khamti ;
2. southern group - Shan and the rest of the south-western.

Isoglossa between the northern and southern groups was conducted along the Myanmar-Chinese border, along the cities of Manshi , and .

Edward Robinson denies the validity of such a division in “Features of Proto-Nüa-Khamti” (1994), arguing that this and Khamti are separated from other languages ​​of the group in the following ways:

1. the rounded velor consonants became uncrowded;
2. three-part separation of the A1-23-4 tone;
3. fusion of tones A23 and B4;
4. vowels of the bottom row / ɛ / and / ɔ / merged, respectively, with / e / and / o /;
5. * ʔb> m.

Lo

Luo Yongxian (2001) believes that the language of tai-rya should be placed in a branch of the "north-western Thai languages" ^[6] . Lo argues that the languages ​​of the northwestern branch have many features of the languages ​​of the northern and central branches that are not found in the southwestern languages. He suggests the following division of Thai languages:

• North Thai;
• central Thai;
• Southwest Thai;
• northwestern Thai

Pittayaporn

According to Pittayaporn (2009: 301), the South-West Thai languages ​​are distinguished based on the shift * kr- and rarr; * ʰr- ^[7] .

South Thai languages ​​are usually considered the most different from each other; they contain remnants of the development of tones that have disappeared in central and western languages.

The table repeats similar material in Ethnologue .

• South Thai dialect - Thailand.
• Chiang Saem Languages:
  • black Thai language - "tai-dam", Vietnam;
  • North Thai language - “Lanna”, “Tai-Yuan”, Thailand, Laos;
  • Phuang language - Thailand;
  • Thai Song (Thai Song, Thailand);
  • Thai is Thailand;
  • Tai-Muong - "Tai-Hang-Tong", Vietnam;
  • Belotai language ("tai-khau", "tai-dong", Vietnam);
  • Red Thai language - Vietnam;
  • Tay-Tak - Vietnam;
  • Thu Lao - Vietnam.
• Lao Phutai (4):
  • Lao - Laos;
  • tai-yo ( tai-nyo ; Thailand);
  • - Thailand;
  • Isan language (North-West Thai, Thailand, Laos).
• North Western Languages ​​(9):
  • Ahom language ( Assam - extinct. Modern Assamese language belongs to Indo-European ;
  • the language of ly is “lue”, “tay lue”, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma;
  • Khamti - Assam , Burma;
  • tay-lai - tay-nai, tay-ling, Burma;
  • - “Quen,” Burma;
  • - Assam;
  • Shan language - "Tai Shan", "Dehun", Burma;
  • - Assam;
  • Tai-nya - China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos;
  • - Assam ;
  • Turung language - extinct, Assam .

According to Ethnologue , the southwest Thai are also Thai (China), Pu-ko (Laos), Pa-di (China), Tai-Thanh (Vietnam), Tai-Long (Laos), ( China), Yong (Thailand). It is not known what place they occupy in the above hierarchy. Also in Ethnologue, “ (Laos), Rien (Laos), Thai-do (Vietnam), Tai-Pao (Laos), and also Thai-Khang (Laos) are called “Thai”. From a geographical point of view, these languages ​​belong to the southwest ^[8] .

Ethnologue also includes the Vietnamese language in the group, which Pittayaporn considers to be the closest to the South-West Tai, which is not a part of them. Pittayaporn considers Bui to be South West Mai , and Ethnologue includes it in North Mai ^[8] .

• Wanna Tienmee. Classification by Tone Shapes and Coalscenes .
• Pranee Kullavanijaya, Theraphan L-Tongkum. Linguistic criteria for determining Taipei ethnic groups: Case studies on central and south-western Tais .