Tai Muong Vat (
Vietnamese: ''Tày Mường Vạt'') is a
Southwestern Tai language spoken in
Yên Châu District,
Sơn La Province
''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere ...
, northwestern Vietnam. Tai Muong Vat is described in
Theraphan Luang-Thongkum (2003). Theraphan's (2003) Tai Muong Vat data was collected in the following 2 villages.
*Bản Phat, Tú Nang Commune,
Yên Châu District,
Sơn La Province
''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere ...
, Vietnam
*Bản Coc Lac, Chiềng Pằn Commune,
Yên Châu District,
Sơn La Province
''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere ...
, Vietnam
Classification
Theraphan (2003) points out that Tai Muong Vat is not the same as the
Tai Dam
The Tai Dam ( Tai Dam: , lo, ໄຕດຳ, th, ไทดำ) are an ethnic minority predominantly from China, northwest Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. They are part of the Tai peoples and ethnically similar to the Thai from Thailand, the Lao from ...
(Black Thai) language, even though the Tai Muong Vat are surrounded by Tai Dam speakers in
Yên Châu District, Vietnam. This was first noted by Chamberlain (1984), who suggests that it may be more closely related to the
Tai Neua variety of
Xieng Kho, Laos than to Tai Dam of
Son La
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
, Vietnam. Tai Dam is the dominant language in Yên Châu, while
Ksingmul, a
Khmuic language, is also spoken in both Yên Châu and Xieng Kho. As a result, the Tai Muong Vat and Ksingmul share many cultural customs with the Tai Dam, and have similar ethnic dress as well (Theraphan 2003).
Additionally, like
Lao, Tai Muong Vat is a /ph/-type language, rather than a /p/-type language like Tai Dam (Theraphan 2003) (''see
Southwestern Tai languages#Chamberlain (1975)'').
Theraphan (2003:78) lists the following lexical differences between Tai Muong Vat and
Tai Dam
The Tai Dam ( Tai Dam: , lo, ໄຕດຳ, th, ไทดำ) are an ethnic minority predominantly from China, northwest Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. They are part of the Tai peoples and ethnically similar to the Thai from Thailand, the Lao from ...
. (''Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see
Proto-Tai language#Tones''.)
References
*Chamberlain, James R. 1984. "The Tai dialects of Khammouan province: their diversity and origins". ''Science of language'', 4:62-95.
*Theraphan L-Thongkum. 2003.
The Tai Muong Vat do not Speak the Black Tai Language. In ''Manusya: Journal of Humanities'', Special Issue 6, 74-86. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tai Muong Vat language
Tai languages
Languages of Vietnam