Khün language

Khun
Khun
Kengtung Shan; Kengtung tai
ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᨡᩨ᩠ᨶ
Pronunciation	/táj kʰɯ̌ːn/
Native to	Myanmar (Shan State), Thailand
Region	Kengtung
Native speakers	(100,000 cited 1990)
Language family	Kra–Dai Tai Southwestern (Thai) Northwestern Khun; ; ; ;
Writing system	Tai Tham script, Thai script
Official status
Recognised minority; language in	Myanmar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kkh
Glottolog	khun1259

Khün, or Tai Khün (Tai Khün: ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᨡᩨ᩠ᨶ, /taj˧˧.kʰɯːn˧˨˥/; Shan: တႆးၶိုၼ် Thai: ไทเขิน [tʰaj kʰɤ̌ːn]), also known as Kengtung tai, Kengtung Shan, is the language of the Tai Khün people of Kengtung, Shan State, Myanmar.^[2] It is also spoken in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, and Yunnan Province, China.

The Khün varieties share 93% to 100% lexical similarity.^[2] Khun is closely related to other Tai languages. Khün shares 90% to 95% lexical similarity with Northern Thai language, 92% to 95% with Lü, 93% to 97% with Shan, and 80% to 83% with standard Thai.^[2]

Geographical distribution

In China, there are about 10,000 Tai Khuen (Chinese: 傣艮/傣痕) people in the following areas of Yunnan province (Gao 1999).^[3]

Menglian County 孟连县: in Mengma Town 勐马镇, and in Meng'aba 勐阿坝 (12 villages total)
Ximeng County 西盟县: in Mengsuo 勐梭
Lincang Prefecture (small, scattered population)

Phonology

		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar / palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		[m]	[n]	[ɲ]	[ŋ]
Plosive & Affricate	aspirated	[pʰ]	[tʰ]	[tɕʰ]	[kʰ]
	tenuis	[p]	[t]	[tɕ]	[k]	[ʔ]^[a]
	voiced	[b]	[d]
Fricative		[f]	[s]			[h]
Trill			[r]^[b]
Approximant			[l]	[j]	[w]

^ The glottal stop is implied^{[What does 'implied' mean? Is it there or not?]} after a short vowel without final, or silent before a vowel.^{[If it's silent, what's the evidence that it's there?]}
^ The [r] is often used with Sanskrit and Pali loanwords.

Tones

There are contrastive five or six tones in Khün.^[4] The varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah have five tones, and the variety spoken in Murng Lang has six tones.^[4] Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Murng Lang are part of Kengtung Township.^[4]

Smooth syllables

The table below presents the tones in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, Kat Fah, and Murng Lang. These tones occur in smooth syllables which are open syllables or closed syllables ending in a sonorant sound, such as /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /w/, or /j/.

Tones in smooth syllables in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Murng Lang
(Owen, 2012, p. 27)^[4]
Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah			Murng Lang
Name	Tone letters	Example(s)^[4]	Name	Tone letters	Example^[4]
falling rising	325 or ˧˨˥	/kaː˧˨˥/ ᨠᩣ "crow"	falling rising	215 or ˨˩˥	/kaː˨˩˥/ ᨠᩣ "crow"
mid	33 or ˧˧	/kaː˧˧/ ᨣᩤ "car"	high	44 or ˦˦	/kaː˦˦/ ᨣᩤ "car"
low	22 or ˨˨	/kaː˨˨/ ᨠ᩵ᩣ "charm" /kaː˨˨/ ᨣ᩵ᩤ "cost"	low rising	13 or ˩˧	/kaː˩˧/ ᨠ᩵ᩣ "charm"
low	22 or ˨˨	/kaː˨˨/ ᨠ᩵ᩣ "charm" /kaː˨˨/ ᨣ᩵ᩤ "cost"	low	22 or ˨˨	/kaː˨˨/ ᨣ᩵ᩤ "cost"
mid glottalized	33ʔ or ˧˧ʔ	/kaː˧˧ʔ/ ᨠ᩶ᩣ "to dance"	mid glottalized	33ʔ or ˧˧ʔ	/kaː˧˧ʔ/ ᨠ᩶ᩣ "to dance"
high falling	41 or ˦˩	/kaː˦˩/ ᨣ᩶ᩤ "to trade"	high falling	51 or ˥˩	/kaː˥˩/ ᨣ᩶ᩤ "to trade"

Checked syllables

Three of the five or six phonemic tones occur in checked syllables^[4] which are closed syllables ending in a glottal stop (/ʔ/) or an obstruent sound, such as /p/, /t/, or /k/. The table below presents the three tones in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah.

Tones in checked syllables in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah
(Owen, 2012, p. 28)^[4]
Tone	Vowel length	Example(s)^[4]
mid	short	/kap˧˧/ ᨠᩢ᩠ᨷ "with"
high falling	short	/kap˦˩/ ᨣᩢ᩠ᨷ "tight"
low	long	/kaːp˨˨/ ᨠᩣ᩠ᨷ "coconut husk" /kaːp˨˨/ ᨣᩤ᩠ᨷ "to grip in teeth"

References

^ Khun at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c bloggang.com (thai)
^ Gao Lishi 高立士. 1999. 傣族支系探微. 中南民族学院学报 (哲学社会科学版). 1999 年第1 期 (总第96 期).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Owen, R. W. (2012). A tonal analysis of contemporary Tai Khuen varieties. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (JSEALS) 5:12–31.

Owen, R. Wyn. 2012. "A tonal analysis of contemporary Tai Khuen varieties". Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (JSEALS) 5:12–31.
Petsuk, Rasi (1978). General characteristics of the Khün language. Mahidol University MA thesis.

External links

Khün alphabet

This Kra–Dai languages–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[4] The glottal stop is implied^{[What does 'implied' mean? Is it there or not?]} after a short vowel without final, or silent before a vowel.^{[If it's silent, what's the evidence that it's there?]}

[5] The [r] is often used with Sanskrit and Pali loanwords.

[e18-1] Khun at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[:0-2] .com (thai)

[3] Gao Lishi 高立士. 1999. 傣族支系探微. 中南民族学院学报 (哲学社会科学版). 1999 年第1 期 (总第96 期).

[Owen2012-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Owen, R. W. (2012). A tonal analysis of contemporary Tai Khuen varieties. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (JSEALS) 5:12–31.

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