Tày language

Tày or Thổ (a name shared with the unrelated Thổ and Cuoi languages) is the major Tai language of Vietnam, spoken by more than a million Tày people in Northeastern Vietnam.

Not to be confused with Thổ language or Tày Tac language.
Tày
Tiểng Tày, Thổ
Native toVietnam
EthnicityTày
Native speakers
1.63 million (2009)[1]
Latin (modified Vietnamese alphabet)
Chữ Nôm Tày
Sawndip
Language codes
ISO 639-3tyz
Glottologtayy1238

Varieties

Tày linguistic varieties include the following:[2][3]

  • Tày Bảo Lạc – spoken in Bảo Lạc District, western Cao Bang province.
  • Tày Trùng Khánh – spoken in Trùng Khánh District, northeastern Cao Bang province.
  • Thu Lao or Dai Zhuang varieties are considered to be a different language.

Phonology

Consonants
Tày consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain pal.
Plosive voiceless p pʲ t c k
aspirated pʰ pʰʲ tʰ kʰ
voiced b bʲ d
implosive ɓ ɓʲ ɗ
Fricative voiceless f s x h
voiced v z ɣ
lateral ɬ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Trill r
Approximant w l j
  • The Cao Bẳng Tày dialect is the only variety to have the sounds /j w r ɣ b d bʲ/.

Vowels
Tày vowels
Front Central Back
High i ɯ u
High-mid e o
Mid ə əː
Low-mid ɛ ɐ ɔ
Low a
Tày diphthongs
Front Back
Close ie ɯə uo
  • There are also three semivowels [u̯ i̯ ɯ̯] that mainly occur in syllable-coda position in combination with other vowel sounds. [u̯ i̯] are typically realized as consonant sounds [w j]. [u̯] follows front vowels /i e ɛ/ and central vowels /ə a ɐ/. [i̯] follows back vowels /u o ɔ/ as well as central vowels /ə a ɐ/. However, [ɯ̯] only follows /ə/.[4]

Tones

Six tones are present in Cao Bẳng Tày:

Tày tones
a̋ ˥
a᷄ ˦˥
á ˦
ā ˧
à ˨
a᷆ ˨˩

References
  1. Tày at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
  2. Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B., eds. (1997). Comparative Kadai: The Tai Branch. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington.
  3. "Map & Language Descriptions". Lesser Known Indigenous Languages of Northern Vietnam. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
  4. Văn Ma, Hoàng (1997). "The Sound System of The Tày Language of Cao Bắng Province, Vietnam". In Edmondson, Jerold A.; Solnit, David B. (eds.). Comparative Kadai: The Tai branch. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. pp. 221–231.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.