{{Short description|Kra–Dai language spoken in Assam, India}} {{use dmy dates |date=March 2024}} {{Infobox language |name=Phake |nativename={{lang|phk|(တႝ)ၸႃကေ}} |states=India |region=Assam |ethnicity=Tai Phake people |speakers=2,000 |date=2007 |ref=e18 |familycolor=Kradai |fam2=Tai |fam3=Southwestern |fam4=Northwestern |script=Burmese script<br />(Phake variation, <br />called Lik-Tai)<ref name=diller>{{cite journal |last1=Diller |first1=Anthony |title=Tai languages in Assam: Daughters or Ghosts |date=1992 |pages=5–43 |journal=Papers on Tai languages, linguistics and literatures |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf4/diller1992tai.pdf}}</ref> |iso3=phk |glotto=phak1238 |glottorefname=Phake }}
The '''Phake language''' or '''Tai Phake language''' ({{lang|phk|တႝၸႃကေ}}, {{Transliteration|phk|tai phākae}}) is a Tai language spoken in the Buri Dihing Valley of Assam, India. It is closely related to the other Southwestern Tai languages in Assam: Aiton, Khamti, Khamyang, and Turung.
==Distribution== Buragohain (1998) lists the following Tai Phake villages. *Man Phake Tau (Namphake village, Assam) *Man Tipam (Tipam Phake village, Assam) *Man Phake Neu (Bor Phake village, Assam) *Man Mo (Man Mo village, Assam) *Man Phaneng (Phaneng village, Assam) *Man Long (Long village, Assam) *Man Nonglai (Nonglaui village, Assam) *Man Monglang (Monglang village, Assam) *Man Nigam (Nigam village, Assam) *Man Wagun (Wagun village, Arunachal Pradesh) *Man Lung Kung (Lung Kung village, Arunachal Pradesh)
{| class="wikitable" |+Tai Phake Villages (Morey 2005:22) !c=01| Tai name !c=02| Translation of Tai name !c=03| Assamese/English name !c=04| District |- |c=01| ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 ke꞉5 taü3 |c=02| Lower Phake village |c=03| Namphakey |c=04| Dibrugarh |- |c=01| ma꞉n3 pha꞉k4 ta꞉5 |c=02| Other side of the river village |c=03| Tipam Phake |c=04| Dibrugarh |- |c=01| ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 ke꞉5 nɔ6 |c=02| Upper Phake village |c=03| Borphake |c=04| Tinsukia |- |c=01| niŋ1 kam4 |c=02| Ning kam Nagas |c=03| Nigam Phake |c=04| Tinsukia |- |c=01| ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 naiŋ2 |c=02| Red sky village |c=03| Faneng |c=04| Tinsukia |- |c=01| məŋ2 la꞉ŋ2 |c=02| Country of the Lang Nagas |c=03| Mounglang |c=04| Tinsukia |- |c=01| məŋ2 mɔ1 |c=02| Mine village |c=03| Man Mau |c=04| Tinsukia |- |c=01| ma꞉n3 loŋ6 |c=02| Big village |c=03| Man Long |c=04| Tinsukia |- |c=01| nauŋ1 lai6 |c=02| Nong Lai Nagas |c=03| Nonglai |c=04| - |}
The {{IPA|phk|maːn˧|}} corresponds to the modern Thai ''ban'' ({{lang|th|บ้าน}}) and Shan ''wan'' ({{lang|shn|ဝၢၼ်ႈ}}), which mean 'village'. (Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see Proto-Tai language#Tones.)
==Phonology== ===Initial consonants=== Tai Phake has the following initial consonants<ref name=diller /> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Bilabial ! colspan="2" | Alveolar ! colspan="2" | Palatal ! colspan="2" | Velar ! Glottal |- class=small ! voiceless ! voiced ! voiceless ! voiced ! voiceless ! voiced ! voiceless ! voiced ! voiceless |- ! rowspan="2" | Plosive ! <small>Tenuis</small> | {{IPA link|p}} || || {{IPA link|t}} || || {{IPA link|c}} || || {{IPA link|k}} || || {{IPA link|ʔ}} |- ! <small>Aspirated</small> | {{IPA link|pʰ}} || || {{IPA link|tʰ}} || || || || {{IPA link|kʰ}} || || |- ! colspan="2"| Nasal ||| {{IPA link|m}} || || {{IPA link|n}} || || || || {{IPA link|ŋ}} || |- ! colspan="2"| Fricative | || || {{IPA link|s}} || || || || || || {{IPA link|h}} |- ! colspan="2"| Lateral | || || || {{IPA link|l}} || || || || || |- ! colspan="2"| Semi-vowel | {{IPA link|w}} || || || || || {{IPA link|j}} || || || |- |}
===Final consonants=== Tai Phake has the following final consonants: {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Bilabial ! colspan="2" | Alveolar !Palatal ! colspan="2" | Velar ! Glottal |- class=small ! voiceless ! voiced ! voiceless ! voiced ! voiced ! voiceless ! voiced ! voiceless |- ! Plosive ! <small>Tenuis</small> | {{IPA link|p}} || || {{IPA link|t}} || || || {{IPA link|k}} || || {{IPA link|ʔ}} |- ! colspan="2" | Nasal | || {{IPA link|m}}|| || {{IPA link|n}}|| || || {{IPA link|ŋ}}|| |- ! colspan="2" | Semi-vowel | {{IPA link|w}} || || || || {{IPA link|j}}|| || || |- |}
-[w] occurs after front vowels and [a]-, -[j] occurs after back vowels and [a]-.<ref name=diller/>
=== Vowels === Tai Phake has the following vowel inventory:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morey |first1=Stephen |chapter=The Tai Languages of Assam |date=2008 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/34802378 |title=The Tai-Kadai Languages |publisher=Routledge |pages=207–253 |isbn=9780203641873}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan=1 rowspan=3 | ! Front ! colspan="3" | Back |- class=small ! unr. ! colspan=2 | unr. ! rnd. |- class=small ! short ! short ! long ! short |- ! Close | {{IPA link|i}} | {{IPA link|ɯ}} | | {{IPA link|u}} |- ! Mid | {{IPA link|e}} | {{IPA link|ɤ}} | | {{IPA link|o}} |- ! Open | {{IPA link|ɛ}} | {{IPA link|a}} | {{IPA link|aː}} | {{IPA link|ɔ}} |}
== Writing system == {{See also|Burmese script|Burmese alphabet}} The Tai Phake have their own writing system called 'Lik-Tai', which they share with the Khamti people and Tai Aiton people.<ref name=diller/> It closely resembles the Northern Shan script of Myanmar, which is a variant of the Burmese script, with some of the letters taking divergent shapes.<ref name="inglis2017">{{cite journal |last1=Inglis |first1=Douglas |title=Myanmar-based Khamti Shan Orthography |journal=Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society |date=2017 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34791306}}</ref>
===Consonants=== {| class="wikitable" |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=က|iso=k|ipa=[k]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ၵ|iso=kh|ipa=[kʰ]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=င|iso=ng|ipa=[ŋ]}} |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ꩡ|iso=c|ipa=[t͡ʃ], [t͡s]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ꩬ|iso=s|ipa=[s]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ၺ|iso=ny|ipa=[ɲ]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unicode.org/notes/tn11/UTN11_4.pdf |title=Representing Myanmar in Unicode: Details and Examples Version 4 |first=Martin |last=Hosken |access-date=12 March 2024 |website=Unicode}}</ref>}} |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=တ|iso=t|ipa=[t]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ထ|iso=th|ipa=[tʰ]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ꩫ|iso=n|ipa=[n]}} |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ပ|iso=p|ipa=[p]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ၸ|iso=ph|ipa=[pʰ]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=မ|iso=m|ipa=[m]}} |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ယ|iso=y|ipa=[j]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=လ|iso=l|ipa=[l]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ဝ|iso=w|ipa=[w~v]}} |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ꩭ|iso=h|ipa=[h]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ဢ|iso=a|ipa=[ʔ]}} |- |}
===Vowels=== {| class="wikitable" |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ႊ|iso=a|ipa=[a]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ႃ|iso=ā|ipa=[aː]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ိ|iso=i|ipa=[i]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ီ|iso=ī|ipa=[iː]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ု|iso=u|ipa=[u]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ူ|iso=ū|ipa=[uː]}} |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ေ|iso=e/ae|ipa=[eː/ɛ]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ႝ|iso=ai|ipa=[ai]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ေႃ|iso=o/aw|ipa=[oː/ɔː]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ံ|iso=ṁ|ipa=[am]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ုံ|iso=um|ipa=[um]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ွံ|iso=om|ipa=[ɔm]}} |- | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ိုဝ်|iso=eu|ipa=[ɛu]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=်ႍ|iso=au|ipa=[au]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=်ွ|iso=āu|ipa=[aːu]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ွ|iso=aw|ipa=[ɒ]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=ွႝ|iso=oi|ipa=[oj]}} | {{letter|l=phk|s=Mymr|ch=်|notes=final consonant<ref>{{cite web |title=Tai Phake language, alphabet, and pronunciation |url=https://omniglot.com/writing/taiphake.htm |website=Omniglot |access-date=12 March 2024}}</ref>|iso=|ipa=}} |- |}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== {{refbegin}} *Buragohain, Yehom. 1998. "Some notes on the Tai Phakes of Assam, in Shalardchai Ramitanondh Virada Somswasdi and Ranoo Wichasin." In ''Tai'', pp. 126–143. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Chiang Mai University. *Morey, Stephen. 2005. ''The Tai languages of Assam: a grammar and texts''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. {{refend}}
{{Tai-Kadai languages}} {{Languages of Northeast India}}
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Category:Languages of Assam Category:Southwestern Tai languages Category:Endangered languages of India