{{Short description|Sino-Tibetan language of Myanmar and Bangladesh}} {{About|the Sino-Tibetan language of Myanmar and Bangladesh|the Algonquian language of the US and Mexico sometimes called Sac or Sauk|Fox language}} {{Infobox language | name = Sak | altname = Cak | states = Bangladesh, Myanmar | region = *Chittagong Hill Tracts *Northwestern Rakhine State | ethnicity = Chak | speakers = {{sigfig|4000|1}}<!--data supports 1 sig fig--> | date = 2007 | ref = e25 | familycolor = Sino-Tibetan | fam2 = Tibeto-Burman | fam3 = Sal | fam4 = Jingpho–Luish | fam5 = Luish | iso3 = ckh | glotto = sakk1239 | glottorefname = Luish<!-- Actual name of referenced Glottolog page --> | script = Cak script | imagecaption = "Cak" written in the Cak script | image = Cak script.png }}
'''Sak''' (also known as '''Cak''', '''Chak''', or '''Tsak''') is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Sal branch spoken in Bangladesh and Myanmar by the Chak people.
==Geographical distribution== Cak is spoken in Bangladesh by about 3,000 people and in Rakhine State, Burma by about 1,000 people according to ''Ethnologue''. In Bangladesh, Cak is spoken in Baishari, Naikhyongchari, and Dochari (Huziwara 2018). In Rakhine State, Burma, Sak is spoken in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, and Mrauk U townships (Huziwara 2018). The Baishari dialect is the most conservative one (Huziwara 2018).<ref>Huziwara, Keisuke (2018). ''Varieties of Cak dialects''. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, held May 17–19, 2018 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.</ref>
According to ''Ethnologue'', in Bangladesh, Chak is spoken in 14 villages in: *Chittagong Division: Baishari, Bandarban, Bishar Chokpra *Southern Naikhongchari area in the Arakan Blue Mountains
thumb|Sak language traditional song
==Phonology==
=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Dental/<br>Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Glottal |- ! rowspan="4" |Plosive !<small>voiceless</small> |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} | |{{IPA link|k}} |{{IPA link|ʔ}} |- !<small>aspirated</small> |{{IPA link|pʰ}} |{{IPA link|tʰ}} | |({{IPA link|kʰ}}) | |- !<small>voiced</small> |{{IPA link|b}} |{{IPA link|d}} | |{{IPA link|ɡ}} | |- !<small>implosive</small> |{{IPA link|ɓ}} |{{IPA link|ɗ}} | | | |- ! rowspan="3" |Affricate !<small>voiceless</small> | |{{IPA link|ts}} | | | |- !<small>aspirated</small> | |({{IPA link|tsʰ}}) | | | |- !<small>voiced</small> | |{{IPA link|dz}} | | | |- ! rowspan="2" |Fricative !<small>voiceless</small> |{{IPA link|f}} |{{IPA link|s}} |{{IPA link|ʃ}} | |{{IPA link|h}} |- !<small>voiced</small> |{{IPA link|v}} | | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Tap | |{{IPA link|ɾ}} | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} |({{IPA link|ɲ}}) |{{IPA link|ŋ}} | |- ! colspan="2" |Approximant |({{IPA link|w}}) |{{IPA link|l}} |{{IPA link|j}} | | |}
* Sounds /tsʰ, kʰ, w/ mainly occur from loanwords. */ts, tsʰ, dz/ is also heard as [tʃ, tʃʰ, dʒ] among other dialects. *[ɲ] occurs as a realization of the consonant sequence /ŋj/.
=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! !Front !Central ! colspan="2" |Back |- align="center" !Close |{{IPA link|i}} |{{IPA link|ɨ}} |{{IPA link|ɯ}} |{{IPA link|u}} |- !Mid |{{IPA link|e}} |({{IPA link|ə}}) | colspan="2" |{{IPA link|o}} |- align="center" !Open | |{{IPA link|a}} | colspan="2" | |}
* [ə] only occurs in minor syllables or as a result of vowel reduction of /a/.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Huziwara|first=Keisuke|title=A sketch of Cak grammar|publisher=Kyoto: The Hakubi Project of Kyoto University|year=2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Huziwara|first=Keisuke|title=チャック語の音声に関する考察 [A phonetic analysis of Cak]|publisher=Kyoto University|year=2002|location=京都大学言語学研究 [Kyoto University Linguistic Research] 21|pages=217–273}}</ref>
== Numerals == Sak uses a decimal-based numeral system.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chak |url=https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Chak.htm |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=lingweb.eva.mpg.de}}</ref> Sak uses two sets of numerals: an indigenous system, and another system borrowed from Arakanese, often used for numbers beyond ten.<ref name=":0" />
==Writing system== A new script for the Sak language was devised by Mong Mong Cak and disseminated in 2013. Previously, Bengali and Burmese scripts were used on an ''ad hoc'' basis. The Cak script is a Brahmic-style abugida with 33 consonants and 11 vowels represented.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Huziwara | first=Keisuke | title=Devising an Orthography for the Cak Language by Using the Cak Script | journal=Journal on Asian Linguistic Anthropology | volume=1 | issue=4 | year=2019 | doi=10.47298/jala.v1-i4-a4 | pages=36–46}}</ref>
== Further reading == * {{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2717775|jstor=2717775|title=Semantic Differentiation in Indo-Chinese|journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies|volume=4|issue=3/4|pages=213–229|year=1939|last1=Benedict|first1=Paul K.}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00005528|title=The Proto-Tibeto-Burman verbal agreement system|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=56|issue=2|pages=292–334|year=1993|last1=Van Driem|first1=George|s2cid=162552967 }} *Glottolog 2.7 - Sak. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2016 [http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/sakk1239] * {{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00101818|title=Kadu and its Relatives|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=2|pages=39–42|year=1921|last1=Grierson|first1=George|s2cid=143921185 }} *Huziwara, Keisuke. 2002. “Chakku-go no onsei ni kansuru koosatu” [A phonetic analysis of Cak]. Kyoto University Linguistic Research [Kyooto Daigaku Gengogaku Kenkyuu] 21:217–73. *Huziwara, Keisuke. 2008. Chakku-go no kizyutu gengogakuteki kenkyuu [A descriptive linguistic study of the Cak language]. Doctoral dissertation, Kyoto University. lix + 942 pp. * {{cite journal|doi=10.3329/dujl.v1i2.3714|title=Cak numerals|journal=Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics|volume=1|issue=2|pages=1–10|year=1970|last1=Keisuke|first1=Huziwara|doi-access=free}} *Huziwara, Keisuke. 2010. “Cak prefixes.” In Dai Zhongming and James A. Matisoff, eds., Zang-Mian-yu yanjiu sishi nian [Forty Years of Sino-Tibetan Studies], pp. 130–45. Harbin: Heilongjiang University Press. * {{cite journal|doi=10.2307/594419|jstor=594419|title=The Vocalism of Sino-Tibetan|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=60|issue=3|pages=302–337|year=1940|last1=Shafer|first1=Robert}} *Thurgood, G., & LaPolla, R. J. (2003). ''The Sino-Tibetan languages''. *Voegelin, C. F., & Voegelin, F. M. (1965). Languages of the world: Sino-Tibetan fascicle five. ''Anthropological Linguistics,'' ''7''(6), 1-58. Retrieved February 12, 2016 {{JSTOR|30022507}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://globalrecordings.net/en/language/4507 Samples of Spoken Sak/Chak from a Missionary Project] *[http://fontpad.co.uk/Documents/Chak_proposal.pdf Draft Unicode proposal for the Chak script]
{{Sino-Tibetan languages}} {{Sal languages}} {{Languages of Burma}} {{Languages of Bangladesh}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Sal languages Category:Languages of Myanmar Category:Languages of Bangladesh