Tày language explained

Tày
Nativename:	Tiểng Tày, Thổ
States:	Vietnam
Ethnicity:	Tày
Speakers:	1.63 million
Date:	2009
Ref:	e19
Familycolor:	Kradai
Fam2:	Tai
Fam3:	Central Tai
Iso3:	tyz
Glotto:	tayy1238
Glottorefname:	Tay
Script:	Latin (modified Vietnamese alphabet) Chữ Nôm Tày Sawndip
Notice:	IPA

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.

Distribution

• Vietnam

northern provinces (including Cao Bang Province and Quang Ninh Province)

• China

in the border area of Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan and Guangxi (mainly Jingxi County)

• Laos

northern region.

Varieties

Tày linguistic varieties include the following:^{[1] [2]}

• 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

! colspan="2"

Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
plain					pal.
Plosive	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	aspirated	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	implosive	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative	voiceless	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	lateral			pronounced as /link/
Nasal		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Trill				pronounced as /link/
Approximant		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/

• The Cao Bẳng Tày dialect is the only variety to have the sounds pronounced as //j w r ɣ b d bʲ//.

Vowels

Back

High	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
High-mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Mid		pronounced as /link/
Low-mid	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Low		pronounced as /link/

Front! colspan="2"

Back
Close	pronounced as /ie/		pronounced as /ɯə/	pronounced as /uo/

• There are also three semivowels pronounced as /[u̯ i̯ ɯ̯]/ that mainly occur in syllable-coda position in combination with other vowel sounds. pronounced as /[u̯ i̯]/ are typically realized as consonant sounds pronounced as /[w j]/. pronounced as /[u̯]/ follows front vowels pronounced as //i e ɛ// and central vowels pronounced as //ə a ɐ//. pronounced as /[i̯]/ follows back vowels pronounced as //u o ɔ// as well as central vowels pronounced as //ə a ɐ//. However, pronounced as /[ɯ̯]/ only follows pronounced as //ə//.^[3]

Tones

Six tones are present in Cao Bẳng Tày:

Tày tones

a̋	pronounced as /link/
a᷄	pronounced as /link/
á	pronounced as /link/
ā	pronounced as /link/
à	pronounced as /link/
a᷆	pronounced as /link/

Vocabulary

!English!Tày!Zhuang!Thai!Vietnamese!Middle Chinese!Proto Tai

one	nâng, đeo, êt	Zhuang; Chuang: it	Thai: nueng Thai: หนึ่ง, Thai: -et Thai: -เอ็ด	Vietnamese: nừng (obsolete word meaning few)^[4]		Uncoded languages: *nɯːŋᴮ
two	sloong, nhỉ	Zhuang; Chuang: ngeih	Thai: song Thai: สอง			Uncoded languages: *soːŋᴬ, from Middle Chinese Chinese: 雙 (MC, "two")
three	slam	Zhuang; Chuang: sam	Thai: sam Thai: สาม			Uncoded languages: *saːm (“three”), from Middle Chinese Chinese: 三 (MC, "three")
four	slí	Zhuang; Chuang: seiq	Thai: si Thai: สี่			Uncoded languages: *siːᴮ (“four”), from Middle Chinese Chinese: 四 (MC, "four")
five	hả	Zhuang; Chuang: haj	Thai: ha Thai: ห้า			Uncoded languages: *haːꟲ (“five”), from Old Chinese Chinese: 五 (OC, "five")
six	hốc, hôc, xốc	Zhuang; Chuang: loek	Thai: hok Thai: หก			Uncoded languages: *krokᴰ (“six”), from Old Chinese Chinese: 六 (OC, "six")
seven	chêt	Zhuang; Chuang: caet	Thai: chet Thai: เจ็ด			Uncoded languages: *cetᴰ (“seven”), from Middle Chinese Chinese: 七 (MC, "seven")
eight	pet	Zhuang; Chuang: bed	Thai: paet Thai: แปด			Uncoded languages: *peːtᴰ (“eight”), from Middle Chinese {{lang|zh-Hant|八

Notes and References

1. Book: Comparative Kadai: The Tai Branch . 1997 . Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington . Edmondson . Jerold A. . Dallas . en . Solnit . David B..
2. Web site: Map & Language Descriptions . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120207074151/http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/research/map.html . 2012-02-07 . 2012-03-03 . Lesser Known Indigenous Languages of Northern Vietnam . en.
3. Book: Văn Ma, Hoàng . Comparative Kadai: The Tai branch . 1997 . Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington . Edmondson . Jerold A. . Dallas . 221–231 . en . The Sound System of The Tày Language of Cao Bắng Province, Vietnam . Solnit . David B..
4. Web site: Nguyễn . Trãi . Early 15th century . Quốc âm thi tập . 竹椿軒永工欺意能某山僧伴吟.