The Phake language (''phaa-kay'') or Tai Phake language is spoken in the Buri Dihing Valley of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Distribution

(''Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see Proto-Tai language#Tones''.) The ' corresponds to the modern Thai บ้าน, ''ban'', and Shan ဝၢၼ်ႈ ''wan'' which corresponds to 'village'. Buragohain (1998) lists the following Tai Phake villages. *Man Phake Tau (Namphake village,

) *Man Tipam (Tipam Phake village,

) *Man Phake Neu (Bor Phake village,

) *Man Mo (Man Mo village,

) *Man Phaneng (Phaneng village,

) *Man Long (Long village,

) *Man Nonglai (Nonglaui village,

) *Man Monglang (Monglang village,

) *Man Nigam (Nigam village,

) *Man Wagun (Wagun village,

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...

) *Man Lung Kung (Lung Kung village,

)

Phonology

Initial consonants

Tai Phake has the following initial consonants:

Final consonants

Tai Phake has the following final consonants: - occurs after front vowels and , - occurs after back vowels and .

Vowels

Tai Phake has the following vowel inventory:

Writing system

The Tai Phake have their own writing system called 'Lik-Tai', which they share with the Khamti people and

Tai Aiton people The Tai Aiton are one among the six indigenous Tai communities of Assam. They are Animist and Buddhist by religion. The other indigenous Assamese communities commonly term them as Shyams or the people from Siam i.e. Thailand. The names of thei ...

. It closely resembles the Northern Shan script of Myanmar, which is a variant of the

Burmese script Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese ( ...

, with some of the letters taking divergent shapes.

Consonants

* က - kaa - k - * ၵ - khaa - kh - ʰ* င - ngaa - ng - �* ꩡ - chaa - ch - ͡ʃ ͡s* ꩬ - saaa - s - * ၺ - nyaa - ny - �* တ - taa - t - * ထ - thaa - th - ʰ* ꩫ - naa - n - * ပ - paa - p - * ၸ - phaa - ph - ʰ* မ - maa - m - * ယ - yaa - y - * လ - laa - l - * ဝ - waa - w - ~v* ꩭ - haa - h - * ဢ - aa - a - �

Vowels

* ႊ - a - * ႃ - ā - ː* ိ - i - * ီ - ī - ː* ု - u - * ူ - ū - ː* ေ - e/ae - ː/ɛ* ႝ - ai - i* ေႃ - o/aw - ː/ɔː* ံ - ṁ - m* ုံ - um - m* ွံ - om - �m* ိုဝ် - eu - �u* ်ႍ - au - u* ်ွ - āu - ːu* ွ - aw - �* ွႝ - oi - j* ် - final consonant

Notes

References

*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 Chiang Mai University ( CMU; th, มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่) is a public research university in northern Thailand founded in 1964. It has a strong emphasis on engineering, science, agriculture, and medicine. It ...

. *Morey, Stephen. 2005. ''The Tai languages of Assam: a grammar and texts''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. {{Languages of Northeast India Languages of Assam Tai languages Endangered languages of India