Northern Thai language
Northern Thai, Lanna, or Kam Mueang, is the language of the Northern Thai people of Lanna, Thailand. It is a Southwestern Tai language that is phonotactically closely related to Lao. Northern Thai has approximately six million speakers, most of whom live in the native Northern Thailand, with a smaller community of Lanna speakers in northwestern Laos.
Speakers of this language generally consider the name "Tai Yuan" to be pejorative. They refer to themselves as khon mueang, Lanna, or Northern Thai. The language is also sometimes referred to as phayap, "Northwestern ".
The term Yuan is still sometimes used for Northern Thai's distinctive Tai Tham alphabet, which is closely related to the old Tai Lue alphabet and the Lao religious alphabets. The use of the tua mueang, as the traditional alphabet is known, is now largely limited to Buddhist temples, where many old sermon manuscripts are still in active use. There is no active production of literature in the traditional alphabet. The modern spoken form is called Kam Muang. There is a resurgence of interest in writing it in the traditional way, but the modern pronunciation differs from that prescribed in spelling rules.
From a purely genealogical standpoint, most linguists consider Northern Thai to be more closely related to Central Thai than to Lao or Isan, but the language has been heavily influenced by both Lao and Central Thai throughout history. All Southwestern Tai languages form a coherent dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible varieties, with few sharp dividing lines. Nevertheless, Northern Thai has today become closer to the Central Thai language.
Varieties and related languages
The Northern Thai language has various names in Northern Thai, Thai, and other Tai languages.- In Northern Thai, it is commonly called kam mueang, or phasa Lan Na.
- In Central Thai and Southern Thai, Northern Thai is known as phasa thin phayap, or phasa thai thin nuea.
- In Lao, it is known as phasa nyuan or phasa nyon.
- In Tai Lü, it is known as kam yon.
- In Shan it is known as kwam yon.
- most Tai Yuan varieties in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar
- Bokeo Province, Laos
- Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai Province and Laplae District, Uttaradit Province, Thailand
- Tha Pla District, Uttaradit Province and Xayaburi Province, Laos
- Ratchaburi Province, Thailand
Script
Some problems arise when the Thai script is used to write Northern Thai. In particular, Standard Thai script cannot transcribe all Northern Thai tones. The two falling tones in Northern Thai correspond to a single falling tone in Thai. Specifically, Northern Thai has two types of falling tones: high-falling tone and falling tone. However, Thai lacks the distinction between the two falling tones, not having a high-falling tone. When using Thai script to write Northern Thai tones, the distinction of the two falling tones is lost because Thai script can only indicate a low falling tone. As an example, the tonal distinction between and is lost when written in Thai since as only is permitted. Consequently, the meaning of ก้า is ambiguous as it can mean both "to be brave" and "value". Similarly, and have the same problem and only is permitted. As a result, the spelling ป้าย is ambiguous because it can mean both "sign" or "to lose". Such tonal mergence ambiguity is avoided when the language is written with the Northern Thai script.
Phonology
Consonants
Initial consonants
Northern Thai consonant inventory is similar to that of Lao; both languages have the sound and lack.Initial consonant clusters
There are two relatively common consonant clusters:- /kw/
- /xw/
- /ŋw/
- /tɕw/
- /sw/
- /tw/
- /tʰw/
- /nw/
- /ɲw/
- /jw/
- /lw/
- /ʔw/
Final consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Nasal | |||||
| Stop | * | ||||
| Approximant |
Vowels
The basic vowels of the Northern Thai language are similar to those of Standard Thai. They, from front to back and close to open, are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from the, the second entry gives the spelling in the Thai alphabet, where a dash indicates the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates that a final consonant must follow.The vowels each exist in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes forming unrelated words in Northern Thai, but usually transliterated the same: เขา means "they/them", while ขาว means "white".
The long-short pairs are as follows:
The basic vowels can be combined into diphthongs. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:
Additionally, there are three triphthongs, all of which are long:
| Thai script | IPA |
| เ–ียว | |
| –วย | |
| เ–ือย |
Allophones
The following section largely concerns the Nan dialect of Northern Thai.| Phoneme | Allophone | Context | Example using Thai script | IPA | Gloss |
| onset | บ่า | shoulder | |||
| onset | ดอย | mountain | |||
| onset | ป่า | forest | |||
| coda | อาบ | bath | |||
| coda, emphasised | บ่หลับ | not sleep! | |||
| onset | ตา | eye | |||
| coda | เปิด | open | |||
| coda, emphasised | บ่เผ็ด | not spicy! | |||
| onset | กา | crow | |||
| coda | ปีก | wing | |||
| coda, emphasised | บ่สุก | not ripe! | |||
| before non-front vowels | แขก | guest | |||
| before front vowels | ฅิง | you | - | ||
| onset | ซาว | twenty | |||
| under emphasis | สาทุ | surely | - | ||
| non-intervocalic | ห้า | five | |||
| intervocalic | ใผมาหา | who come find | - | ||
| after bilabial stop | ฅืบนึ่ง | span one | |||
| after alveolar stop | แถมขวดนึ่ง | more bottle one | |||
| after velar stop | แถมดอกนึ่ง | more flower one |
Tones
There are six phonemic tones in the Chiangmai dialect of Northern Thai: low-rising, mid-low, high-falling, mid-high, falling, and high rising-falling.Contrastive tones in unchecked syllables
The table below presents six phonemic tones in unchecked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in sonorant sounds such as , , , , and and open syllables.| Tone | Standard Thai Tone Equated to | Example | Example | Phonemic | Phonetic | Tone letter | gloss |
| low-rising | rising | เหลา | 24 | sharpen | |||
| mid-low | low | เหล่า | 22 | forest; group | |||
| high-falling | เหล้า | 53 | liquor, alcoholic drink | ||||
| mid-high | mid | เลา | 33 | beautiful, pretty; reed | |||
| falling | falling | เล่า | 51 | tell | |||
| high rising-falling | high | เล้า | 454 | coop, pen |
Contrastive tones in checked syllables
The table below presents four phonemic tones in checked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in a glottal stop and obstruent sounds such as , , and .| Tone | Standard Thai Tone Equated to | Example | Example | Phonemic | Phonetic | gloss |
| low-rising | rising | หลั๋ก | post | |||
| high-falling | high | ลัก | steal | |||
| low | low | หลาก | differ from others | |||
| falling | falling | ลาก | drag |
Grammar
The grammar of Northern Thai is similar to those of other Tai languages. The word order is subject–verb–object, although the subject is often omitted. Just as Standard Thai, Northern Thai pronouns are selected according to the gender and relative status of speaker and audience.Adjectives and adverbs
There is no morphological distinction between adverbs and adjectives. Many words can be used in either function. They succeed the word which they modify, which may be a noun, verb, or another adjective or adverb.- แม่ญิงเฒ่า an old woman
- แม่ญิงตี้เฒ่าโวย a woman who became old quickly
- ข้าหิว I am hungry.
- ข้าจะหิว I will be hungry.
- ข้ากะลังหิว I am hungry right now.
- ข้าหิวแล้ว I am already hungry.
Verbs
- ข้าตี๋เปิ้น, I hit him.
- เปิ้นตี๋ข้า, He hit me.
- เปิ้นโดนตี๋, He is hit or He got hit. This describes an action that is out of the receiver's control and, thus, conveys suffering.
- เปิ้นจะได้ไปแอ่วเมืองลาว, He gets to visit Laos.
- เปิ้นตี๋ได้, He is/was allowed to hit or He is/was able to hit
- เปิ้นบ่ตี๋, He is not hitting. or He not hit.
Aspect markers are not required.
Words that indicate obligation include at cha, na cha, khuan cha, and tong.
- at cha Might
- na cha Likely to
- khuan cha Should
- tong Must
Words that express one's desire to do something can by indicated by khai and kan.
- khai
- kan
Final particles
Northern Thai has a number of final particles, which have different functions.Interrogative particles
Some of the most common interrogative particles are kor and ka- kor
- ka
Imperative particles
lae
chim
hia
toe
Polite particles
Polite particles include คับ and เจ้า.- khap
- chao
Nouns
Nouns are neither singular nor plural. Some specific nouns are reduplicated to form collectives: ละอ่อน is often repeated as ละอ่อนๆ to refer to a group of children.
The word หมู่ may be used as a prefix of a noun or pronoun as a collective to pluralize or emphasise the following word., masculine; หมู่เฮา mu hao,, emphasised we; หมู่หมา mu ma,, ''.
Plurals are expressed by adding classifiers, used as measure words, in the form of noun-number-classifier.
Pronouns
Pronouns may be omitted once they have already been established in the first sentence, unless the pronoun in the following sentences is different from the first sentence. The pronoun "you" may also be omitted if the speaker is speaking directly to a second person. Moreover, names may replace pronouns, and they can even replace the first person singular pronoun.| Person | Tai Tham script | Thai script | Transliteration | Phonemic | Phonetic | Meaning |
| first | กู | kūu | /kūː/ | I/me | ||
| first | ฮา | hāa | /hāː/ | I/me | ||
| first | ข้า | kha᷇a | /xa᷇ː/ | I/me. Literally "servant, slave". | ||
| first | ผู้ข้า | pʰu᷇u kha᷇a | /pʰu᷇ː.xa᷇ː/ | I/me | ||
| first | ข้าเจ้า | kha᷇a cha᷇o | /xa᷇ː.t͡ɕa᷇w/ | I/me | ||
| first | เฮา | hāo | /hāw/ | we/us | ||
| first | ตู๋ | tǔu | /tǔː/ | we/us | ||
| second | มึง | mūenɡ | /mɯ̄ŋ/ | you | ||
| second | ฅิง | khīng | /xīŋ/ | you | ||
| second | ตั๋ว | tǔa | /tǔa/ | you | ||
| second | เจ้า | cha᷇o | /t͡ɕa᷇w/ | you. Literally "master, lord" | ||
| second | สู | sǔu | /sǔː/ | you | ||
| second | สูเขา | sǔu khǎo | /sǔː.xǎw/ | you | ||
| second | สูเจ้า | sǔu cha᷇o | /sǔː.t͡ɕa᷇w/ | you | ||
| third | มัน | mān | /mān/ | he/she/it | ||
| third | เขา | khǎo | /xǎw/ | they/them | ||
| third | เปิ้น | pôen | /pɤ̂n/ | he/she, others | ||
| third | ต้าน | tâan | /tâːn/ | he/she, you, others | ||
| reflexive | ตั๋วเก่า | tǔa kàw | /tǔa.kàw/ |
Vocabulary
Northern Thai shares much vocabulary with Standard Thai, especially scientific terms, which draw many prefixes and suffixes from Sanskrit and Pali, and it also has its own distinctive words. Just like Thai and Lao, Northern Thai has borrowed many loanwords from Khmer, Sanskrit, and Pali.| word | gloss | origin |
ของกิ๋น | food | native Tai word |
อาหาร | food | Pali and/or Sanskrit |
ก่ำเนิด | birth | Khmer |
Northern Thai and Standard Thai
The tables below present the differences between Northern Thai and Standard Thai.Different sounds
Unlike Northern Thai, Standard Thai lacks palatal nasal sound. Thus, the palatal nasal sound and the palatal approximant sound in Northern Thai both correspond to the palatal approximant sound in Standard Thai:| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss | note |
| /jâːk/ ยาก | /ɲâːk/ | difficult | cf. ຍາກ /ɲâːk/ |
| /jūŋ/ ยุง | /ɲūŋ/ | mosquito | cf. ຍຸງ /ɲúŋ/ |
| /jāːw/ ยาว | /ɲāːw/ | long | cf. ຍາວ /ɲáːw/ |
| /jāː/ อยา | /jāː/ | medicine | cf. ຢາ /jàː/ |
| /jàːk/ อยาก | /jàːk/ | desire | cf. ຢາກ /ja᷅ːk/ |
| /jàːŋ/ อย่าง | /jàːŋ/ | manner, way | cf. ຢ່າງ /jāːŋ/ |
Unlike Northern Thai, Standard Thai lacks a high-falling tone. The high falling tone and falling tone in Northern Thai both correspond to the falling tone in Standard Thai.
| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss |
| /bâːn/ บ้าน | /ba᷇ːn/ | village, home |
| /hâː/ ห้า | /ha᷇ː/ | five |
| /t͡ɕâw/ เจ้า | /t͡ɕa᷇w/ | master, lord, you |
| /lâw/ เหล้า | /la᷇w/ | alcohol |
| /lâw/ เล่า | /lâw/ | tell |
Different words
Many words differ from Standard Thai greatly:| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss | note |
| /jîː.sìp/ ยี่สิบ | /sāːw/ ซาว | twenty | cf. Lao: ຊາວ /sáːw/ "twenty" and Shan: /sáːw/ "twenty" |
| /pʰûːt/ พูด | /ʔu᷇ː/ อู้ | speak | |
| /pʰîː.tɕʰaːj/ พี่ชาย | /ʔa᷇ːj/ อ้าย | older brother | cf. Lao: ອ້າຍ /ʔâːj/ "older brother" and Shan: /ʔāːj/ "eldest brother, first born son" |
| /tʰáːj.tʰɔ̄ːj/ ท้ายทอย | /ŋɔ̂n/ ง่อน | nape | cf. Lao: ງ່ອນ /ŋɔ̄ɔn/ "nape" |
| /t͡ɕa.mùːk/ จมูก | /dāŋ/ ดัง | nose | cf. Lao: ດັງ /dàŋ/ "nose", Standard Thai: ดั้ง /dâŋ/ "nasal bridge". |
| /hâj/ ให้ | /hɯ᷇ː/ หื้อ | give, let | cf. Tai Lü: /hɯ᷄/ "to give, to allow" |
| /tʰām/ ทำ | /ɲa᷇ʔ/ ญะ | do | |
| /dūː/ ดู | /pʰɔ̀ː/ ผ่อ | look | cf. Lao: ຜໍ່ /pʰɔ̀ː/ "to see, to look" and Tai Lü: /pʰɔ̀ː/ "to see, to look" |
| /tʰîaw/ เที่ยว | /ʔɛ̀ːw/ แอ่ว | visit, travel | cf. Tai Lü: /ʔɛ᷄w/ "to visit, to travel" |
| /nɯ́a/ เนื้อ | /t͡ɕín/ จิ๊น | meat | cf. Lao: ຊີ້ນ /sîːn/ "meat" |
| /mâj/ ไม่ | /bɔ̀ː/ บ่อ | no | cf. Lao: ບໍ່ /bɔ̄ː/ "no, not" |
| /t͡ɕʰɔ̂ːp/ ชอบ | /ma᷇k/ มัก | like | cf. Lao: ມັກ /māk/ "to like" |
| /mâːk/ มาก | /na᷇k/ นัก | much, many | |
| /dɤ̄ːn/ เดิน | /tīaw/ เตียว | walk | cf. Tai Lü: /têw/ "to walk" |
| /wîŋ/ วิ่ง | /lôn/ ล่น | run | |
| /hǔa.rɔ́ʔ/ หัวเราะ | /xâj.hǔa/ ใค่หัว | laugh | cf. Tai Lü: /xāj.hó/ "to laugh" |
| /sa.nùk/ สนุก | /mûan/ ม่วน | funny, amusing | cf. Lao: ມ່ວນ /mūan/ "fun, amusing, pleasant", Tai Lü: /mōn/ "fun, amusing, pleasant", and Shan: /mōn/ "fun, amusing, pleasant" |
| /kōː.hòk/ โกหก | /t͡ɕúʔ/ จุ๊ | lie | cf. Tai Lü: /t͡su᷄ʔ/ "to lie, to deceive" |
| /ʔa.rāj/ อะไร | /ʔa.ɲǎŋ/ อะหญัง | what | cf. Lao: ອີ່ຫຍັງ /ʔī.ɲǎŋ/ "what" |
| /dèk/ เด็ก | /la.ʔɔ̀ːn/ ละอ่อน | child | cf. Tai Lü: /lūk.ʔɔ᷄n/ "child, young offspring" |
| /pʰráʔ/ พระ | /tu᷇.t͡ɕa᷇w/ ตุ๊เจ้า | Buddhist monk | cf. Tai Lü: /tūʔ.tsa᷅w/ "Buddhist monk" |
Similar words
There is not a straightforward correspondence between the tones of Northern and Standard Thai. It also depends on the initial consonant, as can be seen from the merged Gedney tone boxes for Standard Thai and the accent of Chiang Mai:Note that the commonalities between columns are features of the Chiang Mai accent. On the other hand, the relationships between rows are typical of Northern Thai, being found for at least for Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao,
Nan and Prae, and extending at least to Tak and the old 6-tone accent of Tai Khuen, except that the checked syllables of Chiang Rai are more complicated.
The primary function of a tone box is etymological. However, it also serves as a summary of the rules for tone indication when the writing system is essentially etymological in that regard, as is the case with the major Tai-language writing systems using the Thai, Lanna, New Tai Lue, Lao and Tai Dam scripts.
Some words differ only as a result of the regular tone correspondences:
| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss |
| /hòk/ หก | /hǒk/ ห๋ก | six |
| /t͡ɕèt/ เจ็ด | /t͡ɕět/ เจ๋ด | seven |
| /sìp/ สิบ | /sǐp/ สิ๋บ | ten |
| /pēn/ เป็น | /pěn/ เป๋น | be |
| /kīn/ กิน | /kǐn/ กิ๋น | eat |
Other tone differences are irregular, such as:
| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss |
| /nɯ̀ŋ/ หนึ่ง | /nɯ̂ŋ/ นึ่ง | one |
Some words differ in a single sound and associated tone. In many words, the initial ร in Standard Thai corresponds to ฮ in Northern Thai:
| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss | note |
| /rɔ́ːn/ ร้อน | /hɔ́ːn/ ฮ้อน | hot | cf. Lao: ຮ້ອນ /hɔ̂ːn/ "to be hot" and Shan: /hɔ̰n/ "to be hot" |
| /rák/ รัก | /ha᷇k/ ฮัก | love | cf. Lao: ຮັກ /hāk/ "to love" and Shan: /ha̰k/ "to love" |
| /rúː/ รู้ | /húː/ ฮู้ | know | cf. Lao: ຮູ້ /hûː/ "know" and Shan: /hṵ/ "know" |
Aspiration of initial consonants
Some aspirated consonants in the low-class consonant group in Standard Thai correspond to unaspirated sounds in Northern Thai. These sounds include ค, ช, ท, and พ, but sounds such as ฅ, คร, ฆ, ฒ, พร, ภ remain aspirated. Such aspirated consonants that are unaspirated in Northern Thai correspond to unaspirated voiced sounds in Proto-Tai which are *ɡ, *ɟ, *d, and *b.:| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss | note |
| /t͡ɕʰiaŋ.rāːj/ เชียงราย | /t͡ɕiaŋ.hāːj/ เจียงฮาย | Chiang Rai city and province | cf. Tai Lü: /tsêŋ.hâːj/ "Chiang Rai" |
| /kʰít/ คิด | /kɯ́t/ กึ๊ด | think | cf. Tai Lü: /kɯ̄t/ "to think" |
| /t͡ɕʰɔ́ːn/ ช้อน | /t͡ɕɔ́ːn/ จ๊อน | spoon | cf. Tai Lü: /tsɔ̀n/ "spoon" |
| /t͡ɕʰáj/ ใช้ | /t͡ɕáj/ ใจ๊ | use | cf. Shan: /tsa̰ɰ/ "to use", Tai Lü: /tsàj/ "to use" |
| /pʰɔ̂ː/ พ่อ | /pɔ̂ː/ ป้อ | father | cf. Shan: /pɔ̄/ "father", Tai Lü: /pɔ̄/ "father" |
| /tʰāːŋ/ ทาง | /tāːŋ/ ตาง | way | cf. Shan: /táːŋ/ "way", Tai Lü: /tâːŋ/ "way" |
But not:
| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss | note |
| /kʰôːt.sa.nāː/ โฆษณา | /xôːt.sa.nāː/ โฆษณา | commercial, advertisement | cf. Tai Lü: /xôː.sa.nâː/ "advertisement" |
| /pʰāː.sǎː/ ภาษา | /pʰāː.sǎː/ ภาษา | language | cf. Tai Lü: /pʰâː.sáː/ "nationality" |
| /wát.tʰa.náʔ.tʰām/ วัฒนธรรม | /wa᷇t.tʰa.na᷇ʔ.tʰām/ วัฒนธัมม์ | culture | cf. Tai Lü: /wāt.tʰa.na.tʰâm/ "culture" |
| /tʰām/ ธรรม | /tʰām/ ธัมม์ | Dharma | cf. Tai Lü: /tʰâm/ "Dharma" |
Though a number of aspirated consonants in Standard Thai often correspond to unaspirated sounds in Northern Thai, when an unaspirated consonant is followed by ร the unaspirated consonant becomes aspirated:
| Standard Thai | Northern Thai | gloss | note |
| /pràʔ.tʰêːt/ ประเทศ | /pʰa.têːt/ ผะเต้ด | country | cf. Tai Lü: /pʰa.te᷄ːt/ "country" |
| /kràːp/ กราบ | /xàːp/ or /kʰàːp/ ขาบ | kowtow, prostrate | cf. Tai Lü: /xa᷄ːp/ "to prostrate oneself" |
| /prāː.sàːt/ ปราสาท | /pʰǎː.sàːt/ ผาสาท | palace | cf. Tai Lü: /pʰáː.sa᷄ːt/ "palace" |