Proto-Tai is the reconstructed

proto-language In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unatte ...

(common ancestor) of all the

Tai languages The Tai, Zhuang–Tai, or Daic languages (Ahom language, Ahom: 𑜁𑜪𑜨 𑜄𑜩 or 𑜁𑜨𑜉𑜫 𑜄𑜩 ; ; or , ; , ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai languages, Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spo ...

, including modern Lao, Shan, Tai Lü, Tai Dam, Ahom, Northern Thai, Standard Thai, Bouyei, and Zhuang. The Proto-Tai language is not directly attested by any surviving texts, but has been reconstructed using the

comparative method In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor and then extrapolating backwards ...

. It was reconstructed in 1977 by Li Fang-KueiLi, Fang-Kuei. (1977). ''A handbook of comparative Tai''. Manoa: University Press of Hawaii. and by Pittayawat Pittayaporn in 2009.Pittayaporn, Pittayawat. (2009a)
''The Phonology of Proto-Tai (Doctoral dissertation)''.
Department of Linguistics, Cornell University.

Phonology

Consonants

The following table shows the consonants of Proto-Tai according to Li Fang-Kuei's ''A Handbook of Comparative Tai'' (1977), considered the standard reference in the field. Li does not indicate the exact quality of the consonants denoted here as and which are indicated in his work as �, čh, žand described merely as palatal

affricate consonant An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...

s. The table below lists the consonantal phonemes of Pittayawat Pittayaporn's reconstruction of Proto-Tai.^{: p. 70} Some of the differences are simply different interpretations of Li's consonants: the palatal consonants are interpreted as stops, rather than affricates, and the glottalized consonants are described using symbols for

implosive consonant Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airstream is controlled by moving the glottis downward in additi ...

s. However, Pittayaporn's Proto-Tai reconstruction has a number of real differences from Li: #Pittayaporn does not allow for

aspirated consonant In phonetics, aspiration is a strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with t ...

s, which he reconstructs as secondary developments in Southwestern Tai languages (after Proto-Tai split up into different languages). #He also reconstructs a contrastive series of

uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not ...

s, namely */q/, */ɢ/, and */χ/. No modern dialect preserves a distinct series of uvular consonants. Pittayaporn's reconstruction of the sounds is based on irregular correspondences in differing modern Tai dialects among the sounds /kʰ/, /x/ and /h/, in particular in the Phuan language and the Kapong dialect of the

Phu Thai language Phu Thai (Phuu Thai; Thai, Phu Thai: ''Phasa Phu Thai'', ภาษาผู้ไท or ภูไท) is a Southwestern Tai language spoken in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Although it appears different from the Isan and the Lao languages, it is ...

. The distinction between /kʰ/ and /x/ can be reconstructed from the Tai Dón language. However, words with /x/ in Tai Dón show three different types of correspondences in Phuan and Kapong Phu Thai: some have /kʰ/ in both languages, some have /h/ in both, and some have /kʰ/ in Phuan but /h/ in Kapong Phu Thai. Pittayaporn reconstructs the correspondence classes as reflecting Proto-Tai /x/, and /q/, respectively.Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2009b). Proto-Southwestern-Tai Revised: A New Reconstruction. ''Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 2'', 121–144. There is a total of 33–36 consonants, 10–11 consonantal

syllable coda A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

s and 25–26 tautosyllabic consonant clusters. Tai languages have many fewer possible consonants in coda position than in initial position. Li (and most other researchers) construct a Proto-Tai coda inventory that is identical with the system in modern Thai. Pittayaporn's Proto-Tai reconstructed consonantal syllable codas also include *-l, *-c, and possibly *-ɲ, which are not included in most prior reconstructions of Proto-Tai.^{: p. 193} Below is the consonantal syllabic coda inventory: Norquest (2021) reconstructs the voiceless retroflex stop /ʈ/ for Proto-Tai. Examples of voiceless retroflex stops in Proto-Tai: Norquest (2021) also reconstructs a series of breathy voiced initials (*bʱ, *dʱ, *ɡʱ, *ɢʱ) for Proto-Tai. Examples of breathy voiced initials in Proto-Tai: Some sound correspondences among Proto-Tai, Proto-Northern Tai, and Proto-Southern Tai (i.e., the ancestor of the Central and Southwestern Tai languages) uvular initials given in Ostapirat (2023) are as follows. Initial velar correspondences, on the other hand, are identical.

Consonant clusters

Li (1977) reconstructs the following initial clusters: Pittayaporn (2009) reconstructs two types of complex onsets for Proto-Tai: #

Tautosyllabic Two or more segments are tautosyllabic (with each other) if they occur in the same syllable. For instance, the English word "cat", , is monosyllabic In linguistics, a monosyllable is a word or utterance of only one syllable. It is most commonly ...

clusters – considered one syllable. # Sesquisyllabic clusters – "one-and-a-half" syllables. ("Sesquisyllabic" is a term coined by

James Matisoff James Alan Matisoff ( zh, , t=馬蒂索夫, s=马蒂索夫, p=Mǎdìsuǒfū or zh, , t=馬提索夫, s=马提索夫, p=Mǎtísuǒfū; born July 14, 1937) is an American linguist. He is a professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Cal ...

.) However, sesquisyllabic clusters are not attested in any modern Tai language. Tautosyllabic consonant clusters from Pittayaporn^{: p. 139} are given below, some of which have the medials *-r-, *-l-, and *-w-. Pittayaporn's Proto-Tai reconstruction also has sesquisyllabic consonant clusters.

Michel Ferlus Michel Ferlus (; 1935 – 10 March 2024) was a French linguistics, linguist who specialized in the historical phonology of languages of Southeast Asia. In addition to phonological systems, he also studied writing systems, in particular the evoluti ...

(1990) had also previously proposed sesquisyllables for ''Proto-Thai-Yay''. The larger Tai-Kadai family is reconstructed with disyllabic words that ultimately collapsed to monosyllabic words in the modern Tai languages. However, irregular correspondences among certain words (especially in the minority non-Southwestern-Tai languages) suggest to Pittayaporn that Proto-Tai had only reached the sesquisyllabic stage (with a main monosyllable and optional preceding minor syllable). The subsequent reduction to monosyllables occurred independently in different branches, with the resulting apparent irregularities in synchronic languages reflecting Proto-Tai sesquisyllables. Examples of sesquisyllables include: ;Voiceless stop + voiceless stop (*C̥.C̥-) * *p.t- * *k.t- * *p.q- * *q.p- ;Voiceless obstruent + voiced stop (*C̥.C̬-) * *C̥.b- * *C̥.d- ;Voiced obstruent + voiceless stop (*C̬.C̥-) * *C̬.t- * *C̬.k- * *C̬.q- ;Voiceless stops + liquids/glides (*C̥.r-) * *k.r- * *p.r- * *C̥.w- ;Voiced consonant + liquid/glide * *m.l- * *C̬ .r- * *C̬ .l- ;Clusters with non-initial nasals * *t.n- * *C̬ .n- Other clusters include *r.t-, *t.h-, *q.s-, *m.p-, *s.c-, *z.ɟ-, *g.r-, *m.n-; *gm̩.r-, *ɟm̩ .r-, *c.pl-, *g.lw-; etc.

Vowels

Below are Proto-Tai vowels from Pittayaporn.^{: p. 192} Unlike Li's system, Pittayaporn's system has vowel length contrast. There is a total of 7 vowels with length contrast and 5

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

s. The diphthongs from Pittayaporn (2009) are: *Rising: */iə/, */ɯə/, */uə/ *Falling: */ɤɰ/, */aɰ/

Tones

Proto-Tai had three contrasting tones on syllables ending with

sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels a ...

finals ("live syllables"), and no tone contrast on syllables with

obstruent An obstruent ( ) is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well ...

finals ("dead syllables"). This is very similar to the situation in

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

. For convenience in tracking historical outcomes, Proto-Tai is usually described as having four tones, namely *A, *B, *C, and *D, where *D is a non-phonemic tone automatically assumed by all dead syllables. These tones can be further split into a voiceless (*A1 *B1 *C1 *D1 and voiced (*A2 *B2 *C2 *D2 series. The *D tone can also be split into the *DS (short vowel) and *DL (long vowel) tones. With voicing contrast, these would be *DS1 *DS2 *DL1 and *DL2 0Liao, Han-Bo. (2016)
''Tonal Development of Tai Languages (master's thesis)''.
Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Other

Kra–Dai languages The Kra–Dai languages ( , also known as Tai–Kadai and Daic ), are a language family in mainland Southeast Asia, southern China, and northeastern India. All languages in the family are tonal language, tonal, including Thai language, Thai a ...

are transcribed with analogous conventions. The following table of the phonetic characteristics of Proto-Tai tones was adapted from Pittayaporn.^{: p. 271} Note that *B and *D are phonetically similar. Proto-Tai tones take on various tone values and contours in modern

. These tonal splits are determined by the following conditions: #"Friction sounds": Aspirated onset, voiceless fricative, voiceless sonorant #Unaspirated onset (voiceless) #Glottalized/implosive onset (voiceless) #Voiced onset (voiceless) In addition, William J. Gedney developed a "tone-box" method to help determine historical tonal splits and mergers in modern Tai languages. There is a total of 20 possible slots in what is known as the Gedney's Tone Box. Proto-Tai tones correspond regularly to Middle Chinese tones. (Note that

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...

did not have tones.) The following tonal correspondences are from Luo (2008). Note that Proto-Tai tone *B corresponds to Middle Chinese tone C, and vice versa. Gedney (1972) also included a list of diagnostic words to determine tonal values, splits, and mergers for particular Tai languages. At least three diagnostic words are needed for each cell of the Gedney Box. The diagnostic words preceding the semicolons are from Gedney (1972), and the ones following the semicolons are from Somsonge (2012) and Jackson, ''et al.'' (2012).Jackson, Eric M., Emily H.S. Jackson, and Shuh Huey Lau (2012).
A sociolinguistic survey of the Dejing Zhuang dialect area
'. ''SIL Electronic Survey Reports'' 2012-036, SIL International, East Asia Group. Standard Thai (Siamese) words are given below, with ''italicised'' transliterations. Note that the diagnostic words listed above cannot all be used for other Tai-Kadai branches such as Kam–Sui, since tones in other branches may differ. The table below illustrates these differences among Tai and Kam–Sui etyma.

Proto-Southern Kra-Dai

In 2007, Peter K. Norquest undertook a preliminary reconstruction of Proto-Southern Kra-Dai, which is ancestral to the

Hlai languages The Hlai languages ( zh, s=黎语, p=Líyǔ) are a primary branch of the Kra–Dai languages, Kra–Dai language family spoken in the mountains of central and south-central Hainan in China by the Hlai people, not to be confused with the colloquia ...

, Ong Be language, and

.Norquest, Peter K. 2007
''A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai''
PhD dissertation. Tucson: Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona. There are 28 consonants, 5–7 vowels, 9 closed rimes (not including vowel length), and at least 1

, *ɯa(C). Proto-Southern Kra-Dai medial consonants also include: * *C^(V)-m * *C^(V)-n * *C^(V)-ɲ * *C^(V)-ŋ * *C^(V)(i)l * *C(u)r * *p(i)l * *k-l Proto-Southern Kra-Dai also includes the

*ɯa(C).

Syllable structure

Unlike its modern-day monosyllabic descendants, Proto-Tai was a sesquisyllabic language (Pittayaporn 2009). Below are some possible Proto-Tai syllable shapes from Pittayaporn.^{: p. 64} ''Legend'': *C = consonant *V = vowel *(:) = optional vowel length *^T = tone During the evolution from Proto-Tai to modern Tai languages, monosyllabification involved a series of five steps.^{: p. 181} #Weakening (segment becomes less "consonant-like") #Implosivization #Metathesis #Assimilation #Simplification (syllable drops at least one constituent)

Morphology

Robert M. W. Dixon (1998) suggests that the Proto-Tai language was fusional in its morphology because of related sets of words among the language's descendants that appear to be related through

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut ( , from German ) is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb ''sing, sang, sung'' and its relate ...

Syntax

Proto-Tai had a SVO ( subject–verb–object) word order like Chinese and almost all modern

. Its syntax was heavily influenced by Chinese.

Lexical isoglosses

Examples of Kra-Hlai-Tai isoglosses as identified by Norquest (2021): Examples of Hlai-Be-Tai isoglosses as identified by Norquest (2021): Examples of Be-Tai isoglosses as identified by Norquest (2021):

Proto-Tai prenasalized nasals and Old Chinese

Ostapirat (2023) notes that as in Proto-Hmong–Mien, prenasalized consonant initials in Proto-Tai often correspond with prenasalized consonant initials in

(with the Old Chinese reconstructions below from Baxter & Sagart 2014 (supplementary data for: Baxter, William H., and Laurent Sagart. 2014. ''Old Chinese: a new reconstruction''. New York: Oxford University Press.)).

References

;Notes ;Sources * Gedney, William J., and Thomas J. Hudak. ''William J. Gedney's Southwestern Tai Dialects: Glossaries, Texts and Translations.'' nn Arbor, Mich. Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 1994. Print. * Thurgood, Graham. 2002
"A comment on Gedney's proposal for another series of voiced initials in Proto-Tai revisited."
''Studies in Southeast Asian Languages'', edited by Robert Bauer. Pacific Linguistics. pp. 169–183. (updated 2006)

External links

ABVD: Proto-Tai word list

ABVD: Proto-Southwestern Tai word list

ABVD: word lists of Kra-Dai languages
Dictionaries
Database query to Tai–Kadai etymology

Thai Lexicography Resources
{{Authority control Tai languages Tai