Tai-Kadai Family

Introduction

In this section, we describe a long-term phylogenetic project and document linguistic highlights of the Tai-Kadai family. The Tai-Kadai (or Kadai) languages are spoken in a large area of Southeast Asia that extends from Guizhou Province (China) in the North to half way down the Malay Peninsula.

Phylogenetics

Part of the content presented in this subsection was published in the IsCLL-14 Proceedings in 2014.

The Tai-Kadai (or Kadai) languages are spoken in a large area of Southeast Asia extending from Guìzhōu Province (China) in the North to half way down the Malay Peninsula. The westernmost languages of Tai-Kadai are the Shan dialects of Tai in Myanmar. In the East, we find Zhuang dialects spoken in Guǎngdōng 广东 Province.

‘Tai-Kadai’ is used as provisional term and subject to ongoing discussion over the past eighty years. The term ‘Kadai’ was coined by Benedict in the 1940s from the Gelao prefix ka- for man and from dai, which is one of the selfnames of the Hlai living on Hǎinán 海南 island (China). It originally accounted for non-Tai groups outside of Thailand. Since then, the label Kadai has undergone several transformations.

At least four types of internal classification of Tai-Kadai languages have been proposed. The most common of these classifications splits the Tai-Kadai languages into five groups: Kam-Sui, Tai, Kra, Hlai, and Lakia-Biao. All previous phylogenetic works on Tai-Kadai languages were undertaken by linguists using the comparative method to a greater or lesser extent. No computational phylogenetic work has been undertaken so far. An integrative approach is necessary as the previous reconstruction work emphasized only smaller segments of the Tai-Kadai languages.

The linkage of the Tai-Kadai family with other language families in East Asia is a contentious issue. Paul Benedict related Tai-Kadai to Austronesian languages (Austro-Tai Hypothesis), but Austronesian linguists were skeptical about the reconstructions and have characterized them as “too loose”. If Tai-Kadai languages are genetically related to the Austronesian phylum, the “Austro-Tai” languages must have originated from an area in South China. During pre-historical times, the Austronesian peoples would have migrated to Taiwan (and then to other places across the Pacific Ocean), while the Tai-Kadai peoples moved to the Southwest (Malay Peninsula). The internal genetic relationship of Tai-Kadai languages would indicate the direction of this migration.

The Formosan languages spoken in Taiwan reflect the oldest layer of the massive Austronesian family. Linguists estimate the number of Formosan languages to be approximately 26: seven of which are extinct, one or two of which are moribund, and several more that are endangered. The indigenous speakers belong to 16 official tribes numbering 533,600 people, which comprise 2% of the island’s population.

“Express-Train to Polynesia”Important Austronesian include Malay, Javanese, Tagalog, Hawaiian, Malagasy (westernmost), Māori (southernmost), Rapanui (easternmost). The Austronesian languages are believed to have originated from Taiwan. Within a short lapse of time (between 4,000 and 2,000 BC), Austronesian speakers rapidly moved throughout the Pacific. Austronesian specialists refer to this migration wave as the “express train to Polynesia” (see map). From Taiwan, Austronesians moved to the Philippines, split into those who set out for Sumatra and later to Madagascar and those who went eastward to Sulawesi, West Papua, Oceania, Polynesia and even New Zealand, the Island of Hawaii, Easter Island. The “Express-Train to Polynesia”-Hypothesis was validated by computational phylogenetic methods.

Documentation

In this section, we survey the Tai-Kadai family in the domains of phonology, morphology, syntax, tense, aspect, and mood.

Phonology

Tai-Kadai languages exhibit similar phonological systems, with (C)(C)V(V)(C)T being the basic syllable structure. These languages use relatively large inventories of consonants, vowels, and tones.

Consonants

The hallmark of Tai-Kadai consonant systems is the presence of labialized/palatalized consonants and their relatively large size (with more than 30 simple and 15 labialized/palatalized consonants). We sketch two outstanding consonant systems below: the Buyang simple consonants and the Thai complex consonants.

The Buyang language exhibits a remarkable system of 28 non-fricative consonants which contrast aspirated with non-aspirated consonants throughout all points and modes of articulation. Of particular significance are the subsets of four unvoiced plosive (first two rows), three voiced plosive (next two rows), four nasal (next two rows), two glide (next two rows) and one lateral points of articulation (next two rows).

[p]:

pi33      

‘duck’

[t]:

taːk33

‘vomit’

 

 

 

[k]:

ka322

‘handle’

[q]:

qa322

‘grass’

[ph]:

phi33

‘smell’

[th]:

thaːk33

‘to nail’

 

 

 

[kh]:

khɔ33

‘afternoon’

[qh]:

qhɔ33

‘bone’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[b]:

baːu33

‘hug’

[d]:

da33

‘boat’

 

 

 

[g]:

ga45

‘water’

 

 

 

[bɦ]:

bɦaːu33jɦi33

‘wave’

[dɦ]:

dɦa33

‘wine’

 

 

 

[gɦ]:

gɦa45

‘light’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[m]:

man322

‘flee’

[n]:

nuŋ322

‘dirty’

[ȵ]:

ȵɛ33

‘only’

[ŋ]:

ŋu33

‘pus’

 

 

 

[mɦ]:

mɦan322

‘porcupine’

[nɦ]:

nɦ322

‘muddy’

ɦ]:

ȵɦɛ33

‘sea’

ɦ]:

ŋɦu33

‘sweet’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[w]:

wi33

‘night’

 

 

 

[j]:

ja11

‘female’

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wɦ]:

wɦi33

‘sack’

 

 

 

[jɦ]:

jɦa11

‘throw’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[l]:

laːk33

‘understand’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lɦ]:

lɦaːk33

‘collapse’

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Thai, it is not the simple consonants, but the 11 consonant clusters that are truly remarkable. These clusters, which involve a voiceless plosive and a liquid [l, r] or glide sound [w], are exemplified below.

[pr]:

pra42wat42

‘story’

[tr]:

truat11

‘examine’

      

        

            

[kr]:

kruŋ33theːp42

‘Bangkok’

 

 

 

[pɦr]:

pɦra24soŋ24

‘monk’

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kɦr]:

khruː33

‘teacher’

 

 

 

[pl]:

plaː33

‘fish’

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kl]:

klaː42

‘brave’

 

 

 

[pɦl]:

pɦloː11

‘appear’

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kɦl]:

khlaŋ33

‘treasury’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kw]:

kwaːŋ42

‘wide’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kɦw]:

khwaːŋ42

‘hurl’

 

 

 

Vowels and Tones

The vowel system in Lao represents the Tai-Kadai languages with a typologically large number of distinct points in the vowel space, nine, and with regular short/long contrasts. Furthermore, there are three diphthongs. The vowel system is almost identical to the vowel system of Thai.

Vowel type

 

unrounded

rounded

 

 

front

central

back

back

Monophthongs

high

i, iː

 

ɯ, ɯː

u, uː

 

mid

e, eː

ə, əː

 

o, oː

 

low

ɛ, ɛː

a, aː

 

ɔ, ɔː

Diphthongs

 

ia

 

ɯa

ua

Table 1: The Lao vowel system

Tai-Kadai languages exhibit between five and nine phonological tones. Thai with five contrastive tones is at the low end and Kam with nine contrastive tones at the high end of this scale. Maonan, Nung use six and Buyang seven tones. The two undulated tones of Maonan and Kam ([231] and [213] respectively [323] and [453]) are notable.

Thai 5 tones

[55]

[33]

[11]

[24]

[42]

       

(Thailand)

  kh55 kh33 kh11 kh24 kh42        

 

 

 

 

 

 

       
Maonan 6 tones

[44]

   

[24]

[42]

 

[51]

[213]

[231]

(China)

  ma44     ma24 ma42   ma51 ma213 ma231  
                     
Buyang 7 tones

[55]

[33]

[11]

[24]

[31]

[45]

 

[322]

 

(China)

  ti55 ti33 ti11 ti24 ti31

 

  ti322  

 

  taŋ55hu33 taŋ33

 

taŋ24 taŋ31 taŋ45      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kam 9 tones

[55]

[33]

[11]

[13]

[31]

[35]

[53]

[323]

[453]

(China)

  ma55 ma33 ma11

 

ma31 ma35

 

ma323 ma453

 

  ja55 ja33 ja11 ja13 ja31

 

ja53

 

ja453
Morphology

The Tai-Kadai languages use an isolating morphology with an overwhelming supply of mono- and disyllabic words. With the exception of Thai, which was in contact with inflectional languages, Tai-Kadai languages use grammaticalized semi-bound clitics, as opposed to bound fixes. In this regard, reduplication processes are a ubiquitous morphological tool employed by Tai-Kadai languages. In this section, we survey common clitics, reduplication processes, personal pronouns, and nominal classifiers of Tai-Kadai languages.

Clitics in Tai-Kadai

Tai-Kadai languages employ clitics instead of affixes. Clitics exhibit less strong bonds with their hosts and preserve their original lexical meaning in many cases. Thai is the only Tai-Kadai language that uses affixes in addition to clitics. It is interesting to note that most of these affixes are borrowed from Sanskrit, Pali, or Khmer with which Thai was in contact for centuries. The most common clitics in the Tai-Kadai languages are the diminutive and augmentative clitics, the clitic of professions, and the spatial clitic. The diminutive proclitic is lexicalized from *luk ‘child’, whereas the augmentative proclitics are lexicalized either from *me ‘mother’ or *pa ‘father’ in the Proto-Tai-Kadai language. The ‘profession’ proclitic is derived from the old noun *ɕaŋ ‘artisan’, and the spatial proclitic is lexicalized from *kh ‘side’ which can also be used as classifier for members of a pair in many Tai-Kadai languages.

Clitic

Clitic and host

Kam Zhuang Thai Buyang Hlai

diminutive

‘child, son’

lak31(un323)

lɯk21

luːk42(tɕhaːj33)

laːk11

ɬɯːk55

 

‘girl, daughter’

lak31mjɛk323

lɯk21θaːu24

luːk42saːw24

laːk11pa33mai11

ɬɯːk55uːŋ53

 

‘piglet’

lak31ŋu453

mou24lɯk21

luːk42muː24

laːk11mu31

ɬɯːk55bou53

 

‘chestnut’

lak31lət11

lɯk21lat21

luːk42hɛːw42

laːk11ma55ði33

 

 

‘finger’ (little hand)

lak31mja11

lɯk21fɯŋ42

 

laːk11322

 

 

‘spindle’ (little loom)

lak31ɕa13

 

 

 

 

 

‘bullet’ (little bomb)

 

lɯk21ma33

luːk42kraʔ11sun24

 

 

augmentative

‘mother’

nəi31

me21

mɛː42

ja11

pai11

 

‘female’

məi31

me21

mɛː42

ja11

pai11

 

‘father’

pu31

po21

phɔː42

pa33

pha11

 

‘male’

dak11

pou33

ph42

paːu45

pha11

 

‘uncle; godfather’

pu31lau31

po21kei44

phɔː42ʔup11pa11tham24

pa33laːu31

 

 

‘bull’

dak11sən11

ɕɯ33pou33

wuːa33tuːa33ph42

paːu⁴⁵nhɯ33

pha11ȵiu53

 

‘cow’

məi31sən11

ɕɯ33me21

mɛː42kh33

ja11nhɯ33

pai11ȵiu53

 

‘rooster’ (male)

dak11ai53

kai44pou33

kaj11tuːa33ph42

paːu⁴⁵qai322

pha11khai53

 

‘hen’ (female)

məi31ai53

kai44me21

mɛː42kaj11

ja11qai322

pai11khai53

 

‘thumb’ (big hand)

məi31mja11

me21fɯŋ42

huːa24mɛː42mɯː33

ja11322

pai11ziːŋ55

 

‘thigh’ (big leg)

 

me21ka24

 

ʁa11paːu45

 

 

‘daytime’ (big day)

 

 

 

 

pai11hwan53

 

‘river’ (big water)

 

 

mɛː42naːm55

ja11Ɂɔŋ45

 

‘profession’

‘blacksmith’

ɕaŋ33tun53

ɕaŋ21tiːt44

tɕaːŋ42tiː33lek11

tɕaːŋ31qan45

tshai11be55thaːi55goːi53

 

‘goldsmith’

ɕaŋ33tɕəm55

ɕaŋ21kim24

tɕaːŋ42 thɔːŋ33

tɕaːŋ31tɕaːi45

tshai11be55tshai53

 

‘carpenter’

ɕaŋ33məi31

ɕaŋ21fai33

tɕaːŋ42maːj55

tɕaːŋ31ma55ti322

tshai11be55tshai53

 

‘song master’

ɕaŋ33a55

ɕaŋ21fɯːn24

 

(pa33θɯ31jaŋ33)

 

 

‘wizard’

ɕaŋ33səu13

ɕaŋ21jaɯ55tiːk21

 

(pa33pi45)

 

 

‘servant’

(lak31əi13)

(pou33hoːi44)

 

(pa33pa24)

 

‘side’

‘in front of’

maŋ53un53

paːi21na55

khaːŋ42naː42

Ɂan322jha33

(daŋ53)

 

‘behind’

maŋ53lən11

paːi21laŋ24

khaːŋ42laŋ24

Ɂan322lan31

(dui11)

 

‘left’

maŋ53ɕe323

paːi21θɯːi33/mbiːŋ55θɯːi33

khaːŋ42saːj55

ma33mit11

phai11ɬɯm11

 

‘right’

maŋ53wa35

paːi21kva42/mbiːŋ55kva42

khaːŋ42khw24

ma33maːŋ24

phai11ten55

 

‘above’

maŋ53u55

paːi21kɯn42

khaːŋ42nʉa24

maːŋ33naɯ45

phai11teɯ53

 

‘below’

maŋ53te323

paːi21la55

khaːŋ42taːj42

maːŋ3333

phai11fou53

Table 2: Clitics in five Tai-Kadai languages

Reduplication in Zhuang and Kam

Tai-Kadai languages allow the reduplication of nouns, classifiers, verbs, adjectives, ideophones, as well as certain determiners and adverbs. This reduplication conveys expressive and even sound-symbolic meanings. In this section, we describe two representative languages, Zhuang and Kam.

It is possible to reduplicate monosyllabic count nouns, classifiers, and measure nouns, which can convey the meaning of distributive universal quantification.

Zhuang Noun

Kam Noun

Meaning

haɯ24haɯ24

ai55ai55

‘every country fair’

tam31tam31

tɐm33tɐm33

‘every pond’

baːn55baːn55

ɕai33ɕai33

‘every village’

pʲa24pʲa24

pʲa55pʲa55

‘every rock’

ɣi55ɣi55

kui323kui323

‘every stream’

tiːk33tiːk33

toi53toi53

‘every place’

doŋ24doŋ24

da323da323

‘every forest’

ɣek35ɣek35

tao55tao55

‘every pot’

tep33tep33

tip31tip31

‘every small plate’

tui42tui42

tui31tui31

‘every bowl’

haːp33haːp33

hap55hap55

‘every box’

kʷi33kʷi33

tɕui33tɕui33

‘every chest’

ɕon31ɕon31

suŋ35suŋ35

‘every word’

Table 3: Reduplication of Count Nouns

Zhuang Classifier

Kam Classifier

Meaning

pou42pou42

muŋ31muŋ31

‘every…’ (human)

tu31tu31

tu11tu11

‘every…’ (animate)

ko24ko24

koŋ55koŋ55

‘every…’ (trees)

tiu31tiu31

tɕiu11tɕiu11

‘every…’ (lengthy entities)

baɯ24baɯ24

paŋ33paŋ33

‘every…’ (flat entities)

an24an24

nɐn55nɐn55

‘every…’ (round entities)

ɕaːŋ31ɕaːŋ31

(k)a53(k)a53

‘every…’ (vehicles, machines)

tu55tu55

koŋ55koŋ55

‘every…’ (flowers)

faːk21faːk21

pak323pak323

‘every…’ (things with handle)

ɕaŋ42ɕaŋ42

ɕoŋ11ɕoŋ11

‘every layer’

ho33ho33

toŋ53toŋ53

‘every section’

kou33kou33

tɕeu33tɕeu33

‘every pair’

fan33fan33

wən35wən35

‘every part’

Table 4: Reduplication of Classifiers

Zhuang and Kam form collective nouns from two members of a collection. These compound nouns (AB) can be reduplicated in accordance with the pattern AABB and convey universal quantification over all members of the concerned collection.

 

 

Zhuang

(1)

 

θaːi24θaːi24

bɯk55bɯk55

ɕan42ɕan42

kɯn

haɯ24fɯːn24.

 

 

man~all

woman~all

press on

LOC.on

platform

    ‘All the men and women have crowded the platform.’

(2)

a.

pei42

nuːŋ42

 

b.

pei²pei²

nuːŋ²nuːŋ²

 

 

elder brother

younger brother

 

 

elder-brother~all

younger-brother~all

    ‘brothers and cousins’     ‘all the brothers and cousins’

 

 

Kam

(3)

 

ɕaŋ11ɕaŋ11

jaŋ33jaŋ33

ɕək13

pon11

ma35

lʲeu31.

 

 

bed~all

quilt~all

QUANT.all

move

come

DP

    ‘You moved all your house utensils here!’

(4)

a.

pu31

lak31

 

b.

pu31pu31

lak31lak31

 

 

father

son

 

 

father~all

son~all

    ‘father-son, clan, tribe’     ‘whole clan, whole tribe’

Reduplication is possible on the majority of verbs in Zhuang and Kam, but not on a substantial portion of these two languages. No clear rule distinguishes those that can from those that cannot. Equivalent verbs of other Tai-Kadai languages follow Zhuang and Kam and tend either to allow or to disallow reduplication.

Zhuang

Kam

Meaning

tai55

ne323

‘cry’

vuːn33

wan33

‘change’

ɕaːm24

ham⁴53

‘ask’

θɯi35

ɕuk323

‘wash’

θoːn24

eu323

‘teach’

bin24

pən323

‘fly’

haɯ55

to323

‘give’

dai55

323

‘receive’

tɯk33

tɕaŋ323

‘be’

θan35

sən⁴53

‘believe’

ɣo33

ləu33

‘leak’

lum31

lam11

‘forget’

tok55

tok55

‘fall’

laɯ24

tap11

‘lose’

puŋ35

sup323

‘run into’

Zhuang

Kam

Meaning

tai55tai55

ne323ne323

‘cry and cry’

vuːn33vuːn33

wan33wan33

‘change and change’

ɕaːm24ɕaːm24

ham453ham453

‘ask and ask’

θɯi35θɯi35

ɕuk323ɕuk323

‘wash and wash’

θoːn24θoːn24

eu323eu323

‘teach and teach’

bin24bin24

pən323pən323

‘fly and fly’

haɯ55haɯ55

to323to323

‘give and give’

*dai55dai55

*323323

---

*tɯk33tɯk33

*tɕaŋ323tɕaŋ323

---

*θan35θan35

*sən453sən453

---

*ɣo33ɣo33

*ləu33ləu33

---

*lum31lum31

*lam11lam11

---

*tok55tok55

*tok55tok55

---

*laɯ24laɯ24

*laɯ24laɯ24

---

*puŋ35puŋ35

*puŋ35puŋ35

---

Table 5: Reduplication of Monosyllabic Verbs

Zhuang exhibits submorphemic reduplication of the verb, a rare pattern found in no other Tai-Kadai language. The initial consonant of a verb (C) is copied to the epenthetic syllable 35 (C-35). This process conveys the speed of a dynamic activity.

Verb

Verb~C-aɯ35

ai24

‘cough’

ai2435

‘cough quickly’

eu55

‘break’

eu5535

‘break quickly’

iːt35

‘stretch’

iːt3535

‘stretch quickly’

oːk35

‘exit’

oːk3535

‘exit quickly’

pan35

‘turn’

pan35paɯ35

‘turn quickly’

piːn35

‘change’

piːn35paɯ35

‘change quickly’

pjaːi55

‘walk’

pjaːi55paɯ35

‘walk quickly’

bin24

‘fly’

bin24baɯ35

‘fly quickly’

tam55

‘weave’

tam55taɯ35

‘weave quickly’

tik55

‘kick’

tik55taɯ35

‘kick quickly’

dek35

‘throw’

dek35daɯ35

‘throw quickly’

kai42

‘push’

kai42kaɯ35

‘push quickly’

ke35

‘count’

ke35kaɯ35

‘count quickly’

kᵛa35

‘pass’

kᵛa35kaɯ35

‘pass quickly’

kja24

‘add’

kja24kaɯ35

‘add quickly’

fat55

‘sprinkle’

fat55faɯ35

‘sprinkle quickly’

Verb

Verb~C-aɯ35

fou24

‘rub’

fou24faɯ35

‘rub quickly’

vaːt35

‘dig’

vaːt35vaɯ35

‘dig quickly’

ve33

‘draw’

ve33vaɯ35

‘draw quickly’

θak33

‘wash’

θak33θaɯ35

‘wash quickly’

θi55

‘write’

θi55θaɯ35

‘write quickly’

ɕaːt35

‘wipe’

ɕaːt35ɕaɯ35

‘wipe quickly’

ɕuk35

‘tie’

ɕuk35ɕaɯ35

‘tie quickly’

jaŋ42

‘raise’

jaŋ42jaɯ35

‘raise quickly’

ɣam55

‘cut’

ɣam55ɣaɯ35

‘cut quickly’

ɣiŋ42

‘roll’

ɣiŋ42ɣaɯ35

‘roll quickly’

haːk33

‘learn’

haːk33haɯ35

‘learn quickly’

lum31

‘forget’

lum31laɯ35

‘forget quickly’

ma55

‘grow’

ma55maɯ35

‘grow quickly’

niŋ24

‘move’

niŋ24naɯ35

‘move quickly’

ȵip33

‘sew’

ȵip33ȵaɯ35

‘sew quickly’

ŋaːu31

‘shake’

ŋaːu31ŋaɯ35

‘shake quickly’

Table 6: Submorphemic epenthetic verb reduplication in Zhuang (1st Pattern)

There is a longer and more expressive pattern of submorphemic reduplication in Zhuang. This construction expresses a sense of speed and vividness.

Verb

Verb~C-i55~Verb~C-aɯ35

eu55

‘break’

eu55i55eu5535

‘break quickly’

piːn35

‘change’

piːn35pi55piːn35paɯ35

‘change quickly’

tik55

‘kick’

tik55ti55tik55taɯ35

‘kick quickly’

ke35

‘count’

ke35ki55ke35kaɯ35

‘count quickly’

fat55

‘sprinkle’

fat55fi55fat55faɯ35

‘sprinkle quickly’

lum31

‘forget’

lum31li55lum31laɯ35

‘forget quickly’

ŋaːu31

‘shake’

ŋaːu31ŋi55ŋaːu31ŋaɯ35

‘shake quickly’

Table 7: Submorphemic epenthetic verb reduplication in Zhuang (2nd Pattern)

Disyllabic adjectives (AB) are reduplicated in one of the two patterns, as AABB or as ABAB. However, no rule predicts the pattern of a disyllabic adjective, whereas native speakers are required to acquire the reduplication pattern in their childhood.

 

AABB

Zhuang

aːŋ35jaːŋ31

‘happy’

aːŋ35aːŋ35jaːŋ31jaːŋ31

 

ŋut55ŋeu55

‘crooked’

ŋut55ŋut55ŋeu55ŋeu55

 

kum31kaːm31

‘perfect’

kum31kum31kaːm31kaːm31

 

laːu42θat33

‘honest’

laːu42laːu42θat33θat33

 

vuːn24hei55

‘glad’

vuːn24vuːn24hei55hei55

       

Kam

wo35jep13

‘clean’

wo35wo35jep13jep13

 

kɐn31kət55

‘tidy’

kɐn31kɐn31kət55kət55

 

ɕon11ɕu33

‘perfect’

ɕon11ɕon11ɕu33ɕu33

 

tʰiŋ35tʰu13

‘clear’

tʰiŋ35tʰiŋ35tʰu13tʰu13

 

tɕɐŋ55jai323

‘long-term’

tɕɐŋ55tɕɐŋ55jai323jai323

ABAB

tɯk33ɕaŋ31

‘pitiful’

tɯk33ɕaŋ31tɯk33ɕaŋ31

ho55θou33

‘embarrassed’

ho55θou33ho55θou33

jaːk35jaɯ55

‘beautiful’

jaːk35jaɯ55jaːk35jaɯ55

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

sən55kʰu13

‘tired’

sən55kʰu13sən55kʰu13

lai55pəi31

‘nice (for girl)’

lai55pəi31lai55pəi31

ho11ɕi55

‘friendly’

ho11ɕi55ho11ɕi55

ɪt323sai323

‘bitter in heart’

ɪt323sai323ɪt323sai323

 

 

 

Table 8: Reduplication of Disyllabic Adjectives

Tai-Kadai languages allow reduplicated ideophones to be appended to nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The resulting expressions function as adjectival or verbal predicates. In general, the ideophones carry no particular meaning but convey sound-symbolic senses.

Zhuang

pɯn24

‘hair’

pɯn24ȵam24ȵam24

‘hairy’

fon44

‘dust’

fon44fan24fan24

‘dusty’

lɯːt21

‘blood’

lɯːt21jɐŋ24jɐŋ24

‘bloody’

ŋan42

‘silver’

ŋan42jaːn24jaːn24

‘shinny’

ȵin42

‘sinew’

ȵin42 ȵaːn42ȵaːn42

‘sinewy’

ɣam33

‘water’

ɣam33θaːk55θaːk55

‘watery’

ɣin24

‘stone’

ɣin24ɣan33ɣan33

‘stony’

ɣum24

‘weed’

ɣum24ɣaːm24ɣaːm24

‘weedy’

on24

‘thorn’

on24ot55ot55

‘thorny’

jou42

‘oil’

jou42jup21jup21

‘oily’

Table 9: Nominal ideophones in Zhuang

Kam

ta55

‘eye’

ta55jap11jap11

‘blinking’

kwɐn11

‘smoke’

kwɐn11ui323ui323

‘smoky’

pui55

‘fire’

pui55həp31həp31

‘fiery’

lap323

‘lightening’

lap323jap31jap31

‘flashing’

pa53

‘leaf’

pa53nəm33nəm33

‘leafy’

nɐm31

‘water’

nɐm31ŋwan31ŋwan31

‘turbulent’

laŋ33

‘wave’

laŋ33pəi55pəi55

‘wavy’

phat13

‘blood’

phat13jiŋ323jiŋ323

‘bloody’

puŋ33

‘dust’

puŋ33phəi31phəi31

‘dusty’

wa33

‘flower’

wa33nəm33nəm33

‘flowery’

Table 10: Nominal ideophones in Kam

 

Verbal Ideophones

Zhuang

ai24

‘cough’

ai24ep33ep33

‘cough lightly and slowly’

 

pan31

‘grind’

pan31kʲaːt35kʲaːt35

‘grind loudly’

 

pat55

‘sweep’

pat55θa31θa31

‘sweep loudly’

 

puːt35

‘run’

puːt35ɣop33ɣop33

‘run with strength’

 

tai55

‘cry’

tai55fɯt55fɯt55

‘cry with sobbing’

 

tiu44

‘jump’

tiu44pum31pum31

‘jump and leap’

 

ɣiu24

‘laugh’

ɣiu24ȵum55ȵum55

‘laugh gently’

         

Kam

pʲa55

‘weave’

pʲa55ɕɐt13ɕɐt13

‘weave very quickly’

 

pʲɐk55

‘whip’

pʲɐk55sɐt323sɐt323

‘whip repeatedly’

 

it31

‘bite’

it31ŋa33ŋa33

‘chew to the bone’

 

wum31

‘drink’

wum31ot31ot31

‘drink noisily’

 

pen53

‘dress up’

pen53koŋ11koŋ11

‘dress stunningly’

 

pən323

‘fly’

pən323hɐm31hɐm31

‘fly in swarms’

 

tɕam13

‘walk’

tɕam13tɕʰɐt35tɕʰɐt35

‘walking and hopping’

Table 11: Reduplication of verbal ideophones

Adjectival Ideophones

aːŋ35

‘joyful’

aːŋ35 jek35jek35

‘childish and overjoyed’

pak33

‘tired’

pak33fo31fo31

‘very tired’

pi31

‘fat’

pi31poːt33poːt33

‘fat and round’

ɕo31

‘young’

ɕo31ɕɯt33ɕɯt33

‘young and tender’

tum31

‘wet’

tum31taːm31taːm31

‘very wet’

feu31

‘shallow’

feu31fɯt33fɯt33

‘very shallow’

kʷaːŋ35

‘wide’

kʷaːŋ35mʲaːŋ24mʲaːŋ24

‘wide and vast’

       

an11

‘messy’

an11iu31iu31

‘completely messy’

ɐt55

‘dense’

ɐt55ɐu55ɐu55

‘overcrowded’

gʷa323

‘hard’

gʷa323təŋ323təŋ323

‘extremely hard’

ma323

‘soft’

ma323məm33məm33

‘mushy’

pʰaŋ35

‘tall’

pʰaŋ35ŋaŋ53ŋaŋ53

‘tall and upright’

sɐk55

‘steep’

sɐk55sem55sem55

‘very steep’

pu55

‘swollen’

pu55pəp55pəp55

‘tautly swollen’

Table 12: Reduplication of adjectival ideophones

Personal Pronouns in Tai-Kadai

In Tai-Kadai languages, personal pronoun systems fall into five form types. The majority of Tai-Kadai languages distinguish between inclusive/exclusive first person plural pronouns referring to a group with or without the addressee. The Kam language is of type I with seven primitive (different and underived) pronouns; Hlai and Zhuang belong to type II with six primitive pronouns and one plural form which is an affixed singular form. Similarly, Gelao and Nung are type III languages with six different forms, one of which denotes two different persons. In Buyang and Be, two type IV languages and three primitive singular pronouns exist, with their plural counterparts being affixed singular forms. Finally, Thai is a type V language:

The pronoun system in Thai is typologically rare and imbibes both syncretic and differential features. The system is syncretic in that it contains pronouns that denote different persons. However, it is also differential in that it uses a wide range of pronouns for each person: 27 first-person pronouns, 22 second-person pronouns, and eight third-person pronouns. The gender of the referent and the level of formality are the features that distinguish these forms. Some of these pronouns are rarely used and therefore, antiquated.

  Type I Type II Type III Type IV Type V
  (7 primitive forms) (6 primitive, 1 derived) (6 primitive, 1 ambiguous) (3 primitive, 4 derived) (special)
  Kam Hlai Zhuang Gelao Nung Buyang Be Thai

1st Person Singular

jau11

de11

kau24

Ɂi35

cau35

ku322

hau55

chán

2nd Person Singular

ȵa11

meɯ53

mɯŋ31

mu35

mưhng33

31

55

naːj33

3rd Person Singular

mau33

na53

te24

hɯŋ42

mưhn33

55

55

khaw55

1st Person Plural Inclusive

dau55

fa53

ɣau31

tau35

hau33

45322

dɔu55lo11

raw33

1st Person Plural Exclusive

tɕiu55

ga53

tau31

tau35

phu13

45ku322

hau55lo11

raw33

2nd Person Plural

ɕau35

meɯ53ta53

θau31

tsau35

slu35

4531

55lo11

raw33

3rd Person Plural

kɛː35

khun53

tɕøŋ35te24

tse35

mưhn33

4555

55lo11

khaw55

Table 13: Personal pronouns in Tai-Kadai Languages

Classifiers in Tai-Kadai

Tai-Kadai languages use between 30 and 70 nominal classifiers, most of which are grammaticalized nouns. The classifiers serve four major grammatical functions in the noun phrase and are obligatory in count expressions. Bare classifiers functions as indefinite articles. In conjunction with demonstrative pronouns, classifiers form deictic and anaphoric noun phrases. Finally, they are required in nominalized verb phrases.

Function of Classifier

Explanation

Structure

Counting

Classifier is required with numerals

NUM+CL+N

Indefiniteness

Classifier functions as an indefinite article

CL+N

Deixis & anaphora

Classifier co-occurs with demonstrative pronouns

CL+N+DEM

Nominalization

Classifier co-occurs with verb phrases

CL+N+VP+DEM

Table 14: Functions of Classifiers in Tai-Kadai

We surveyed eight Tai-Kadai languages, each representing one branch of the family.

Classifiers

Kam Zhuang Nung Thai Be Gelao Buyang Hlai

Human

muŋ31

pou33

oːŋ35

kʰon33

na33

pu42

kɔn33

laŋ53

Animate

tu11

tu24

tu35

tua33

hu55

tu31

322[ðaːi33]

laŋ53

Member of pair (‘side’)

maŋ53

mbiːŋ55

 

kʰaːŋ42

 

 

tʰɛ33

feːŋ53

Lengthy entities

tɕiu11

tiːu11

teu55

sen42

hiu55

teu31

kat55/ðɛ31

kei53/tseɯ11

Flat entities

paŋ33

baɯ24

 

pʰɛn11

vɔn11

bai33

bɛŋ31

be:k55/van11

Granulated entities

nat55

nat21

moi31/maːt33

met55

55

na11

 

hom53

Round entities

nɐn55

ʔan24

aːn35

luːk42

xɔt55

kep35

33

ke:n55

Instrument with handle

pak323

faːk21

 

daːm42

tsua55

va11

 

pʰiːn55/ha55

Clothes

məi31

me21/keːu24

 

tua33

 

 

 

 

Table 15: Important Classifiers in Tai-Kadai

In the remainder of this subsection, we report on a rare set of classifiers: the Northern Kam classifiers. In most isolating languages of East Asia (including Tai-Kadai), the classifier consists of one unique form. In the Northern dialect of Kam, nominal classifiers are inflected for singular and plural. This contrast between singular and plural is only attested in Northern Kam. In the Southern dialect of Kam spoken in Róngjiāng 榕江 and Sānjiāng 三江, counties classifiers are not inflected.

 

 

Northern Kam

(5)

a.

i45

jiu22

ȵa45

 

b.

ham11

tɕiu22

ȵa45

 

 

NUM.1

CL.SG

river

 

 

NUM.3

CL.PL

river

    ‘one river’ ‘three rivers’

 

 

Southern Kam (Róngjiāng)

(6)

a.

i55

tɕiu11

ȵa55

 

b.

sam33

tɕiu11

ȵa55

 

 

NUM.1

CL

river

 

 

NUM.3

CL

river

    ‘one river’ ‘three rivers’

Phonologically, the initial of the Northern Kam singular classifier is almost always realized as glide ([w], [j]) or as voiced fricative ([ʐ], [ɣ]), whereas the plural classifier usually commences with a stop or a nasal.

Derivation Class meaning Northern Róngjiāng Sānjiāng

 

 

CL.SG

CL.PL

CL

CL

[p] [w]

Entities with handle

wa33

pa33

pak323

pak323

 

Human

wəu45

pəu45

---

---

 

‘bridge’

wu44

pu44

---

pu33

 

‘bed’

wu24

pu24

---

pʰu⁴53

 

‘book’

wən33

pən33

pən33

pən33

 

Several versatile entities

wen11

pen11

---

---

[m] [w]

Dual body parts

waŋ24

maŋ24

maŋ53

maŋ53

 

Clothes

wəi31

məi31

məi31

məi31

[tɕ] [w]

2-Dim entities

wen11

tɕen11

---

---

[kʷ] [w]

‘piece’

wai24

kʷai24

---

khwai453

[t] [ʐ]

‘lump, ball’

ʐa22

ta22

---

ta11

 

‘piece, lump’

ʐon22

ton22

ton11

ton11

 

Animate entities

ʐo22

to22

tu11

tu11

 

Several versatile entities

ʐoŋ¹³

toŋ¹³

---

---

 

Several versatile entities

ʐi45

ti45

---

---

[n] [ʐ]

3-Dim entities

ʐən11

nən45

nɐn55

nɐn55

 

Several versatile entities

ʐa13

naŋ13

---

---

[t] [n]

Several versatile entities

na31

ta31

---

---

[tɕ] [j]

1-Dim entities

jiu22

tɕiu22

tɕiu11

tɕiu11

 

Drop-shaped entities

jit33

tɕit33

tɕik323

tɕik323

 

Several versatile entities

jaŋ22

tɕaŋ22

---

---

[ɕ] [j]

Sharp, slender objects

jaŋ45

ɕaŋ45

ɕaŋ53

tɕaŋ53

 

Erected/layered entities

joŋ22

ɕoŋ22

ɕoŋ11

ɕoŋ11

[k] [ɣ]

Several versatile entities

ɣaŋ44

kaŋ44

---

---

[ʔ] [ɣ]

Vehicles & machines

ɣa55

ʔa55

ʔa53

ka53

No change

1-Dim section

toŋ53

toŋ53

toŋ55

toŋ55

 

Grain-shaped entities

na31

na31

nat55

nat55

 

‘letter’

woŋ11

woŋ11

foŋ33

hoŋ55

 

Several versatile entities

ta31

ta31

---

---

Table 16: Singular/Plural classifiers in Northern Kam

The emergence of the singular versus plural distinction is owed to a process of progressive contact assimilation involving the numeral i45 ‘one’. Many Southwestern Chinese minority languages borrowed the numeral *jit ‘one’ from Old Chinese. Upon integration with the language, the numeral underwent a process of lenition and subsequently, loss of the final consonant. It was in the form *i ‘one’ when it commenced its interaction with the set of Northern Kam classifiers. In most isolating languages of the region, the numeral ‘one’, when followed by a classifier, conveys the meaning of an indefinite article and occurs frequently in this constellation. Since the frequency of occurrence is correlated with the tempo of speech, the numeral-classifier construction was produced more quickly for ‘one’ as compared to other numerals. In rapid pronunciation, the ‘one’ + classifier compound was perceived to be a short period of voicing, which had the effect that the classifier initial was assimilated as a glide or fricative in order to match the phonation type of the numeral *i ‘one.’

Stop Glide

Stop Fricative

*i+pa33 i45+wa33

*i+ta22 i45+ʐa22

*i+tɕen11 i45+wen11

*i+kaŋ44 i45+ɣaŋ44

*i+tɕiu22 i45+jiu22

*i+ʔa55 i45+ɣa55

*i+kʷai24 i45+wai24

 

Nasal/Fricative Glide

Nasal Glide

*i+ɕaŋ45 i45+jaŋ45

*i+nən45 i45+ʐən11

*i+maŋ55 i45+waŋ24

 

Table 17: Progressive assimilation of Singular/Plural classifiers

Consequently, the classifier was misheard and reinterpreted by the language learner as a singular classifier. Through a process of analogy with other numerals, the numeral ‘one’ was reintroduced into the language in focused contexts. The forms to have emerged through assimilation with *i ‘one’ separated historically from those occurrences in which they collocated with other numerals. They were then re-analyzed as singular classifiers, whereas the remaining forms were reinterpreted as plural classifiers. The existing state of the Northern Kam classifiers is stuck at this stage. The singular-plural distinction has not yet reached (through analogy) other syntactic environments in which no numeral is involved, such as demonstrative pronoun constructions or indefinite constructions. Demonstrative pronouns are associated with plural classifiers, i.e. with a version of the classifier that has not undergone morphological reanalysis, and therefore imply a singular reading, see (7). However, a singular plural distinction has emerged in structures wherein the classifier co-occurs with bare nouns, see (8).

 

 

Demonstratives (Northern Kam)

(7)

a.

maŋ55

ta45

ai33

 

b.

to22

lau31kən22

i44

 

 

CL.PL

eye

DEM.PROX

 

 

CL.PL

friend

DEM.MED

    ‘this eye’     ‘those friends’

 

 

Indefinite Determiners (Northern Kam)

(8)

a.

wəi31

tu33

 

b.

məi31

tu33

 

 

CL.SG

garment

 

 

CL.PL

garment

    ‘a garment’     ‘garments’
Syntax

Tai-Kadai languages show basic SVO order in simple clauses, sometimes marked OSV order in topical constructions. Grammatical roles are encoded by unmarked nouns incorporated into the predicate or by coverbs, which are prepositions grammaticalized from verbs.

‘Noun Incorporation’ in Kam

Kam-Tai languages ‘incorporate’ nouns into verbs to form new predicates, often imbuing metaphorical meanings. The Kam language in particular creates verb-noun compounds productively, for which other languages would involve more elaborated case or prepositional marking. We sketch several types of verb-noun compounds below. The first group consists of verb object compounds with metaphorical meanings.

Verb

Noun

Metaphorical verb-object compounds

pai53 ‘worship’

pu31nəi31 ‘parents’

pai53

pu31nəi31

‘acknowledge adoptive parents’

323 ‘get’

sai323 ‘intestines’

323

sai323

‘acquire knowledge’

 

dam323 ‘gall’

323

dam323

‘become bold’

tak55 ‘break’

əp55 ‘mouth’

tak55

əp55

‘reduce to silence’

tu53 ‘break’

323 ‘milk’

tu53

323

‘exhaust milk’ (of mothers)

soŋ53 ‘put’

ta55 ‘eye’

soŋ53

ta55

‘watch attentively’

we31 ‘make’

na323 ‘face’

we31

na323

‘be polite’

au55 ‘fetch’

mai31 ‘wife’

au55

mai31

‘get married to wife’

 

kʷan55 ‘name’

au55

kʷan55

‘give name’

 

kʷɐn55 ‘spirit’

au55

kʷɐn55

‘cast out demon’

lʲak11 ‘steal’

31 ‘word’

lʲak11

31

‘eavesdrop’

tɕi55 ‘eat’

e55 ‘property’

tɕi55

e55

‘inherit property’

 

wak31 ‘public’

tɕi55

wak31

‘depend on public help’

Table 18: Metaphorical verb-object compounds

In Kam, pairs of body terms (AB) might be ‘incorporated’ into verbs (V) in accordance with the structure VAVB. These expressions exhibit co-occurrence restrictions in terms of the verb and body terms, and often entail metaphorical meaning. No equivalent constructions are known in other Tai-Kadai languages.

Body parts

Predicate

Body part construction

kao323

kʰa35

pɐn53 ‘throw’

pɐn53

kao323

pɐn53

kʰa35

‘display pride’

‘head’

‘ear’

ȶɐm323 ‘bend’

ȶɐm323

kao323

ȶɐm323

kʰa35

‘with lowered head’

 

 

mʲet55 ‘twist’

mʲet55

kao323

mʲet55

kʰa35

‘disobedient’

 

 

pak31 ‘white’

pak31

kao323

pak31

kʰa35

‘with grey hair’

 

 

pan11 ‘slant’

pan11

kao323

pan11

kʰa35

‘insensible, naughty’

 

 

puk31 ‘clumsy’

puk31

kao323

puk31

kʰa35

‘clumsy’

 

 

pʰaŋ35 ‘tall’

pʰaŋ35

kao323

pʰaŋ35

kʰa35

‘of big stature’

ta55

nɐŋ55

peu53 ‘explode’

peu53

ta55

peu53

nɐŋ55

‘have bulging eyes and nose’

‘eye’

‘nose’

ȶɐm323 ‘bend’

ȶɐm323

ta55

ȶɐm323

nɐŋ55

‘with lowered eyes and nose’

 

 

ȵiu55 ‘twist’

ȵiu55

ta55

ȵiu55

nɐŋ55

‘make grimace’

 

 

pɪt323 ‘bounce’

pɪt323

ta55

pɪt323

nɐŋ55

‘naughty’

 

 

ɐm11 ‘bitter’

ɐm11

ta55

ɐm11

nɐŋ55

‘bitter tasting’

 

 

(k)ɐm35 ‘confused’

(k)ɐm35

ta55

(k)ɐm35

nɐŋ55

‘muddled, confused’

 

 

en53 ‘piebald’

en53

ta55

en53

nɐŋ55

‘have dirty, piebald face’

 

 

lai55 ‘good’

lai55

ta55

lai55

nɐŋ55

‘vigorous’

 

 

lu35 ‘clear’

lu35

ta55

lu35

nɐŋ55

‘be fully waken up’

na323

nɐŋ55

peŋ33 ‘swollen’

peŋ33

na323

peŋ33

nɐŋ55

‘have swollen face’

‘face’

‘nose’

pui11 ‘fat’

pui11

na323

pui11

nɐŋ55

‘have fat and swollen face’

 

 

kʰʷaŋ¹³ ‘wide’

kʰʷaŋ¹³

na323

kʰʷaŋ¹³

nɐŋ55

‘have wide face’

 

 

mut31 ‘bearded’

mut31

na323

mut31

nɐŋ55

‘fully bearded’

əp55

nɐŋ55

e323 ‘stupid’

e323

əp55

e323

nɐŋ55

‘awkward in speech’

‘mouth’

‘nose’

lai55 ‘good’

lai55

əp55

lai55

nɐŋ55

‘righteous’

 

 

mak323 ‘big’

mak323

əp55

mak323

nɐŋ55

‘be a bragger’

tin55

mʲa11

pɐn53 ‘throw’

pɐn53

tin55

pɐn53

mʲa11

‘indifferent’

‘foot’

‘hand’

pʲet11 ‘bind’

pʲet11

tin55

pʲet11

mʲa11

‘with hands and feet tied’

 

 

lai55 ‘good’

lai55

tin55

lai55

mʲa11

‘skillful’

 

 

ȶau55 ‘numb’

ȶau55

tin55

ȶau55

mʲa11

‘with numb limbs’

 

 

kʰʷaŋ¹³ ‘wide’

kʰʷaŋ¹³

tin55

kʰʷaŋ¹³

mʲa11

‘extravagant’

loŋ11

sai323

pɐŋ55 ‘crumble’

pɐŋ55

loŋ11

pɐŋ55

sai323

‘heartbroken’

‘belly’

‘intestines’

lit31 ‘tear open’

lit31

loŋ11

lit31

sai323

‘frank’

 

 

pʰa453 ‘ruin’

pʰa453

loŋ11

pʰa453

sai323

‘evil-minded’

 

 

pɐŋ55 ‘broken’

pɐŋ55

loŋ11

pɐŋ55

sai323

‘heartbroken’

 

 

ɐm11 ‘bitter’

ɐm11

loŋ11

ɐm11

sai323

‘malevolent, malicious’

Table 19: Body part constructions

In Kam, there are about seven directional verbs that incorporate nouns conceived as destinations to yield both abstract and metaphorical compounds. Among these, two directional verbs, pai55 ‘go’ and ta33 ‘cross’, developed into aspectual markers (see subsection on ‘Auxiliary Verbs’ below).

Directional Verb

Noun

Directional verb-noun compounds

pai55 ‘go’

ɕai33 ‘village’

pai55

ɕai33

‘walk around in the village’ (and meet people)

 

tɕiu11 ‘bridge’

pai55

tɕiu11

‘hold lover’s meeting’ (lovers meet at the bridge)

 

kon31 ‘assembly’

pai55

kon31

‘hold solemn assembly’

 

sau31 ‘husband’

pai55

sau31

‘get married to husband’

 

ka31 ‘Han’

pai55

ka31

‘visit the Han area’

 

maŋ53tɕəm55 ‘Hades’

pai55

maŋ53tɕəm55

‘go to the hereafter’

ma35 ‘come’

sum31 ‘inner room’

ma35

sum31

‘enter private sphere’

tɕa453 ‘ascend’

kʷan55 ‘name’

tɕa453

kʷan55

‘register’ (at the birth registry office)

 

men55 ‘sky’

tɕa453

men55

‘go to upper floor’ (of skyscraper)

 

ŋe31 ‘tile’

tɕa453

ŋe31

‘to roof’

 

nɐm31 ‘water’

tɕa453

nɐm31

‘become watery’ (food decomposition)

 

jak31 ‘rust’

tɕa453

jak31

‘to rust’

 

wak31 ‘society’

tɕa453

wak31

‘gather people’

 

lo55 ‘boat’

tɕa453

lo55

‘get into a boat’

 

ɕon11 ‘table’

tɕa453

ɕon11

‘sit down at table’

 

so33 ‘voice’

tɕa453

so33

‘raise voice’

lui33 ‘descend’

məi31 ‘tree’

lui33

məi31

‘climb down tree’

 

ɕon11 ‘table’

lui33

ɕon11

‘get up from table’

 

kʷe323 ‘stairs’

lui33

kʷe323

‘go down stairs’

lau323 ‘enter’

nɐm31 ‘water’

lau323

nɐm31

‘swim’, ‘go into water’

 

kʰa35 ‘ear’

lau323

kʰa35

‘pleasing to the ear’

 

sai323 ‘intestines’

lau323

sai323

‘satisfying’

uk323 ‘exit’

kʷan55 ‘name’

uk323

kʷan55

‘famous’

 

tin55 ‘foot’

uk323

tin55

‘travel’

 

na323 ‘face’

uk323

na323

‘appear’ (lit. ‘show one’s face’)

 

ŋe11 ‘tooth’

uk323

ŋe11

‘have toot pushing through’

 

lu33 ‘event’

uk323

lu33

‘have an accident’

 

lek11 ‘strength’

uk323

lek11

‘spend one’s energy’

 

pʰat13 ‘blood’

uk323

pʰat13

‘bleed’

ta33 ‘cross’

ȵin11 ‘year’

ta33

ȵin11

‘celebrate New Year’

 

ɕən55 ‘body’

ta33

ɕən55

‘die’

Table 20: Directional verb-noun compounds

Ambitransitive verbs are verbs with intransitive and monotransitive uses. Their intransitive use cannot be interpreted as pro-drop. Most authors distinguish two types of ambitransitive verbs: unergative and unaccusative verbs. Unergative verbs align the intransitive S- and monotransitive A-argument, whereas unaccusative verbs collectively group the intransitive S and the monotransitive O. In Kam, there is an abundant supply of ambitransitive predicates, which are unaccusative, with the rest being unergative. We present several unaccusative predicates below.

Intransitive Predicate

Noun

Unaccusative verb constructions

təp11 ‘dull’

mʲa31 ‘knife’

təp11

mʲa31

‘make knife dull’

pui11 ‘fat’

ŋu453 ‘pig’

pui11

ŋu453

‘fatten a pig’

au53 ‘old’

uk323

au53

uk323

‘wear out clothes’

tun55 ‘hot’

nɐm31 ‘water’

tun55

nɐm31

‘heat water’

jak55 ‘wet’

hai11 ‘shoe’

jak55

hai11

‘wet shoes’

Table 21: Unaccusative verb constructions

Instrumental nouns are adjunct constituents that are marked by prepositions (e.g. ‘with’) in most languages. In Kam, it is possible to ‘incorporate’ many instrumental nouns into the verb without additional marking. Examples are provided below.

Verb

Noun

Instrumental verb-noun constructions

tɕɐm323 ‘stamp’

tin55 ‘foot’

tɕɐm323

tin55

‘stamp on with foot’

peŋ53 ‘shoot’

ɕoŋ53 ‘gun’

peŋ53

ɕoŋ53

‘shoot with gun’

tɕiu53 ‘fish’

sit13 ‘hook’

tɕiu53

sit13

‘fish with a hook’

wai11 ‘row’

tɕaŋ323 ‘oar’

wai11

tɕaŋ323

‘row with oars’

kɪt31 ‘bite’

ŋe11 ‘tooth’

kɪt31

ŋe11

‘bite with teeth’

ɕəp13 ‘prick’

mʲa31 ‘knife’

ɕəp13

mʲa31

‘prick with knife’

Table 22: Instrumental verb-noun constructions

Some predicates can ‘incorporate’ a noun indicating the cause for the event or process. No additional marking of the noun on the basis of prepositions is necessitated.

Predicate

Noun

Causal verb-noun compounds

təi55 ‘die’

nɐm31 ‘water’

təi55

nɐm31

‘be drowned’

 

kʰʷau13 ‘wine’

təi55

kʰʷau13

‘be drunk’

 

əm323 ‘poison’

təi55

əm323

‘be empoisoned’

ɪt323 ‘ill’

nat55 ‘sore’

ɪt323

nat55

‘ill from sore’

Table 23: Causal verb-noun compounds

There are several ditransitive predicates that do not employ any marking of the direct and indirect object. (Some of these predicates are ambitransitive in the sense of ambiguously intransitive, monotransitive, and ditransitive.) These predicates place the direct object before the indirect object.

Ditransitive verb

Direct object

Indirect object

Ditransitive verb constructions

jip13 ‘pickle’

jim11 ‘salt’

nan11 ‘meat’

jip13

jim11

nan11

‘pickle meat with salt’

so323 ‘dry’

nɐm31 ‘water’

ja53 ‘field’

so323

nɐm31

ja53

‘withdraw water from the field’

lʲem11 ‘drench’

nɐm31 ‘water’

ma55 ‘vegetables’

lʲem11

nɐm31

ma55

‘drench vegetables with water’

lu53 ‘abstain’

nɐm31 ‘water’

pet55 ‘duck’

lu53

nɐm31

pet55

‘withhold water from the duck’

to323 ‘assign’

ȵaŋ13 ‘grass’

tu11 ‘ox’

to323

ȵaŋ13

tu11

‘feed grass to the ox’

pʰʲa35 ‘feed’

323 ‘milk’

lak31 ‘son’

pʰʲa35

323

lak31

‘feed milk to the son’

Table 24: Ditransitive verb constructions

Gradable adjectives on linear scales (e.g. length, time) pose the object of comparison before the adjective and postpose the standard of comparison without involving prepositions. It is the complex gradable adjectives (e.g. intelligent, beautiful etc.) that require posing the comparative preposition ta33 before the standard of comparison. The simple linear adjectives which we exemplify below do not necessitate prepositions.

Adjective

Comparative Constructions

mak323 ‘big’

mau33

mak323

ȵa11

‘he is bigger than you’

pʰaŋ35 ‘tall’

mau33

pʰaŋ35

ȵa11

‘he is taller than you’

un323 ‘small’

mau33

un323

ȵa11

‘he is smaller than you’

tʰɐm453 ‘low’

mau33

tʰɐm453

ȵa11

‘he is smaller than you’

jai323 ‘long’

tɕiu11kʰʷen35nai33

jai323

tɕiu11kʰʷen35tɕa33

‘this road is longer than that road’

tɕʰən13 ‘short’

tɕiu11kʰʷen35nai33

tɕʰən13

tɕiu11kʰʷen35tɕa33

‘this road is shorter than that road’

kuŋ11 ‘much’

(k)e35

kuŋ11

ɕau35

‘they are more than you’

tɕʰɐn35 ‘heavy’

mau33

tɕʰɐn35

ȵa11

‘he is heavier than you’

tɕʰa13 ‘light’

mau33

tɕʰa13

ȵa11

‘he is lighter than you’

lau31 ‘old’

mau33

lau31

ȵa11

‘he is older than you’

ȵi31 ‘young’

mau33

ȵi31

ȵa11

‘he is younger than you’

Table 25: Comparative constructions

Coverbs in Tai-Kadai

The term coverb has different meanings. For linguists of Australian and South American languages, coverbs are uninflected verbs that form an open class and co-occur with a small set of inflected classificatory verbs. For linguists of East Asian languages, coverbs signify verbs which grammaticalized as pre- or postpositions. It is possible to reconstruct a verbal meaning for the majority of prepositions in Tai-Kadai languages. A minimum of three coverbs are extensively shared in Tai-Kadai languages. The coverb ‘take’ is used variably to encode the roles of direct object, instrument, and cause; the coverb ‘give’ marks indirect objects and can mark the causee as well as the agent (sometimes) in passive constructions. The coverb ‘touch’ is the mark of passive constructions and also functions as the modal auxiliary verb ‘must’ in several Tai-Kadai languages.

Verb

Coverb/Auxiliary

Kam Zhuang Nung Thai Gelao Buyang Hlai

‘take’

 

au55

təi11

ʔau24

daɯ42

au35

aw33

 

ta35

me31

jak55

teɯ53

 

Direct object

 

təi11

 

daɯ42

 

 

 

 

me31

 

teɯ53

 

Instrumental

au55

 

ʔau24

 

au35

aw33

 

ta35

 

jak55

teɯ53

 

Causee

au55

 

ʔau24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

teɯ53

 

(Mood: ‘want’)

au55

 

ʔau24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

teɯ53

‘give’

 

sai35

 

haɯ55

 

31

haj42

 

na35

 

nak11

tɯːŋ55

‘do’

 

 

to³²³

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

du322

 

 

Indirect object

 

to³²³

 

 

31

haj42

 

na35

 

nak11

tɯːŋ55

 

Causee

sai35

to323

haɯ55

 

31

haj42

 

na35

 

nak11

 

 

Passive

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nak11(>ȵɛ31)

tɯːŋ55

‘touch’

 

təu33

 

teːŋ24

 

?

thuːk11

 

 

 

ʨaːk322

taŋ55

‘hit’

 

 

 

 

ŋaːi42(挨)

?

 

doːn33

paŋ31

 

 

loːm53

 

Passive

təu33

 

teːŋ24

ŋaːi42(挨)

?

thuːk11

doːn33

paŋ31

 

ʨɔ31

 

 

(Mood: ‘must’)

təu33

 

teːŋ24

 

 

 

 

paŋ31

 

 

 

 

(Mood: ‘able’)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ʨaːk322

 

 

(Resultative aspect)

təu33

 

teːŋ24

 

 

 

 

 

 

ʨɔ31

 

‘arrive’

 

thəu453

 

taŋ42

 

 

thʉŋ24

 

tau31

 

khau33

daːn11

‘enter’

 

 

 

 

 

khau31

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Direction

thəu453

 

taŋ42

 

khau31

thʉŋ24

 

tau31

 

khau33

daːn11

Table 26: Coverbs in Tai-Kadai

There are two passives in Buyang and in other Tai-Kadai languages. The verb ʨaːk322 ‘touch’ grammaticalized as preverbal modal auxiliary verb, indicating ability. It further truncated the syllable coda, changed into ʨɔ31, and was re-analyzed as passive auxiliary and resultative auxiliary.

 

 

Passive and resultative ‘touch’ (Buyang)

(9)

a.

55

ʨɔ31

kaːp31

ʔan24

ta55teŋ24.

 

 

3.SG

PASS

squeeze

place

middle

    ‘He got caught in between.’

 

b.

mɛk33

ʔi33

ni55

ʔan322

ha33

ʨaːk322

ʨɔ31

ja11.

 

 

load

rice

DEM.this

exist

person

touch

RES

MOOD

    ‘Someone has touched this load of rice.’
Tense, Aspect, Mood

Bare verbs are common in Tai-Kadai languages and are used to communicate ambiguous TAM (tense, aspect, and mood) meanings. Similar to other isolating East Asian languages, verbs are not marked for subject agreement, but only for TAM concepts. Standard TAM meanings are perfect, progressive, experiential, and habitual aspect, future tense, epistemic, or deontic mood. The verb particles encoding these concepts are grammaticalized verbs. In this subsection, we survey the most common TAM particles whilst also covering the strategies for expressing negation in various Tai-Kadai languages.

Auxiliary verbs in Tai-Kadai

Aspect and mood particles are typically derived from directional verbs: ‘go’ (completive aspect), ‘come’ (perfect), ‘ascend’ (inchoative aspect), ‘descend’ (inchoative aspect), and ‘pass’ (experiential aspect). The verb ‘get’ gives rise to deontic mood (‘can’) and the resultative aspect.

Verb

Derived Auxiliary

Kam Zhuang Nung Thai Be Gelao Buyang Hlai

‘go’

 

pai55

pai24

paj35

paj33

bɔi213

vu35

ða31

hei53

 

Continuous aspect

pai55

pai24

paj35

paj33

 

vu35tɕiŋ13

 

 

 

Completive aspect

pai55

pai24

?

paj33

 

 

 

 

‘come’

 

maː35

ma24/tau55

ma33

maː33

mia55

mu35

31

pɯːn11

 

Perfect

maː35

 

?

maː33

 

 

 

 

‘ascend’

 

tɕa453

hɯn55

khưːn13

khʉn42

kən33

pa35

na31

khaːn53

 

Inchoative aspect

 

hɯn55

 

khʉn42

 

 

 

 

‘descend’

 

lui33

roŋ42

loːŋ33

loŋ33

lɔŋ55

to31

ðɔŋ45

tshau11

 

Inchoative aspect

 

roŋ42

 

loŋ33

 

 

 

 

‘get’

 

323

dai55

đaj13

daj42

hək55

 

33

goːm11

 

Resultative aspect

323

dai55

 

daj42

hək55

 

33

 

 

Deontic mood (‘can’)

323

dai55

đaj13

 

 

 

33

 

‘pass’

 

ta33

kwa44

tɕả33

ləːj33

kwa33

pʲe42

qui45

dua11

 

Resultative aspect

 

kwa44

 

 

 

 

 

dua11

 

Experiential aspect

ta33

kwa44

?

 

kwa33

pʲe42

qui45

dua11

 

Discourse particle (‘too’)

 

 

 

ləːj33

 

 

qui45

 

Table 27: Auxiliaries in Tai-Kadai

To illustrate, the Zhuang auxiliary pai24 ‘go’ conveys the meaning of continuous aspect when posed after stative verbs (or abstract verbs); equally pertinently, it communicates the sense of resultative aspect after dynamic verbs.

 

 

Auxiliary ‘go’ (Zhuang

(10)

 

te24

pai24

dam24

na42

lo33.

 

 

3.SG

go

plant

paddy field

DP

    ‘He went to plant rice.’

(11)

 

te24

θat²¹ɕei55

dei24

kwa44

pei33

te24

pai24.

 

 

3.SG

days of life

good, fine

spend

older brother

3.SG

CONT

    ‘He is living more comfortably than his older brother.’

(12)

 

taɯ42

an24lo42

ma24

ɕom²¹

pai24.

 

 

take

basket

come

burn

RES

    ‘[He] took the basket and burnt it up.’

The Thai auxiliary maː33 ‘come’ conveys the meaning of current relevance or perfect, especially when it is posed after non-motion verbs.

 

 

Perfect ‘come’ (Thai

(13)

 

khaw55

juː11

mʉaŋ33thaj33

maː33

naːn33.

 

 

3.SG

stay

Thailand

DP

long.time

    ‘He has been in Thailand for many years.’

The Thai auxiliaries khʉn42 ‘ascend’ and loŋ33 ‘descend’ function as inchoative aspect markers. Adjectives of positive polarity append the auxiliary ‘ascend’, those of negative polarity the auxiliary ‘descend’. Meanwhile there are one or two exceptions, such as the pair ‘old’/‘young’ where the adjective of negative polarity appends the auxiliary ‘ascend’, whereas the adjective of positive polarity appends the auxiliary ‘descend’.

 

 

Inchoative ‘ascend’ / ‘descend’ (Thai

(14)

a.

jaj11

khʉn42

‘get bigger’

 

b.

lɛk33

loŋ33

‘get smaller’

 

 

big

INCH

 

 

 

small

INCH

 

 

c.

daŋ33

khʉn42

‘get noisier’

 

d.

ŋiap55

loŋ33

‘get quieter’

 

 

noisy

INCH

 

 

 

quiet

INCH

 

 

e.

saːw24

kɦʉn²

‘get younger’

 

f.

kɛː11

loŋ33

‘get older’

 

 

young

INCH

 

 

 

old

INCH

 

 

g.

kɦɛŋ24rɛːŋ33

khʉn²

‘get stronger’

 

h.

phɔːm33

loŋ33

‘get thinner’

 

 

strong

INCH

 

 

 

thin

INCH

 

 

i.

pɦɛːŋ33

khʉn42

‘get more expensive’

 

j.

thuːk11

loŋ33

‘get cheaper’

 

 

expensive

INCH

 

 

 

cheap

INCH

 

The Kam auxiliary 323 ‘get’ can occur before and after another verb. When posed after a verb, it functions as a resultative aspect auxiliary; it functions as a permissive mood auxiliary when it is placed before a verb.

 

 

Resultative and permissive ‘get’ (Kam

(15)

a.

jau

səm33

323

mau33.

 

b.

mau33

lɪ323

pai55.

 

 

1.SG

search

RES

3.SG

 

 

3.SG

CAN

go

    ‘I found him.’     ‘He can go.’

The Buyang directional verb qui45 ‘pass’ has grammaticalized into an experiential aspect marker and into an emphatic discourse marker (‘too much’), two distinct meanings that are illustrated below.

 

 

Auxiliary ‘pass’ (Buyang

(16)

 

maːu33

tin45

li24

33

na33,

322

pɯŋ45

qui45

naːn33

wat55.

 

 

put on

clothes

trousers

NOM

thick

1.PL

then

pass

month

NUM.10

    ‘Put on more clothes, and we’ll be able to pass through October.’

(17)

 

tɕɯ24ja33

55

θau31

qui45

mi322.

 

 

before

3.SG

hunt

EXP

bear

    ‘He went bear-hunting before.’

(18)

a.

nhaːi33

qui45

ja11

 

b.

qɔŋ322

qui45

ja11

 

 

tired

EMPH

very

 

 

small

EMPH

very

    ‘too tired’     ‘too small’
Negation in Tai-Kadai

Every Tai-Kadai language employs a neutral negation particle and a range of more specialized particles. The Gelao language uses a general negation particle that is always placed at the end of the sentence. On the other hand, the negation particle(s) of other Tai-Kadai languages are placed before the verb. Importantly, the system of negation particles in the Sānjiāng dialect of Kam is particularly rich and will be sketched at the end of this subsection.

Negation

Kam Zhuang Nung Thai Be Gelao Buyang Hlai

general

me11

mbou55

bo55/bo55mi33

maj42

mən55

-ʔæ42

pi55

ta53/ai11

‘without’

35

 

 

 

 

 

 

wen11

‘not yet’

31

mbou55ɕaŋ42

bo55mi33saːŋ33

jaŋ33maj42

mən55

ʔa35pei13-

pi55ja322

ta53

imperative

31

kaːi44

da33

ja11

mən55ŋa11

tau35-

pi55322

jou11

‘too much’

 

 

 

 

 

 

pi55ka55ȵaŋ31

 

Table 28: Negation Particles in Tai-Kadai

The general negation particles of Tai-Kadai languages are prefixed to the verb with one exception: the particle æ42 in Gelao is placed after the verb phrase at the end of the sentence.

 

 

Negation suffix (Gelao)

(19)

 

Ɂi42

sa35

mu35

vu35

pʲa42

tsaŋ31

-ʔæ42.

 

 

1.SG

with

2.SG

go

put

sheep

NEG

    ‘I am not going to lead the sheep to pasture.’

In Buyang, the expression pi55ka55ȵaŋ31 ‘too (much)’ comprises of the negative particle pi55 ‘not’ and the adverb ka55ȵaŋ31 ‘very (much)’. The equivalent expressions of other Tai-Kadai languages do not involve the negation particle and are therefore not listed in the above table.

 

 

Expression ‘too much’ (Buyang)

(20)

 

55

mhoi45

pi55ka55ȵ31.

 

 

3.SG

fast

too much

    ‘He is too fast.’

In the Sānjiāng dialect of Kam, there are five negation particles that blend the notion of negation with a range of aspectual and modal meanings. However, this amalgamation of meanings is normally expressed by two forms in other languages.

Particle

Position

Concept

Gloss

kʷe11

before Predicate

Negation (neutral)

‘not’

35

before Noun

Negation of existence of noun referent

‘without’

31

before Predicate

Negation of time before current time

‘not yet’

kəi323

before Predicate

Boulemic negation

‘not want’

323

after Predicate

Negation of ability

‘cannot’

31

before Predicate

Negative imperative

‘don’t’

Table 29: Negation Particles in Sānjiāng Kam

The following sentences illustrate these particles in minimal pairs.

 

 

Negation Particles (Sānjiāng Kam)

(21)

a.

tu11

pət55

nai33

kʷe11

uk323

lɐk31.

 

 

CL

duck

DEM.PROX

NEG

hatch, exit

young, son

    ‘This duck does/did not hatch out any young.’

 

b.

au31

loŋ11

35

mak11me55,

nan11

we31

ek13

ʔu55

35.

(Kam Proverb)

 

 

in

belly

without

ink

difficult

make

guest

up

others

 

    ‘If you are not knowledgeable (lit. if you don’t have ink in your belly), you are not going to surpass others.’

 

c.

tu11

pət55

nai33

mɪ31

uk323

lɐk31.

 

 

CL

duck

DEM.PROX

NEG

hatch, exit

young, son

    ‘This duck has not hatched out any young yet.’

 

d.

tu11

pət55

nai33

kəi323

uk323

lɐk31.

 

 

CL

duck

DEM.PROX

NEG

hatch, exit

young, son

    ‘This duck does not want to hatch out any young.’

 

e.

tu11

pət55

nai33

uk323

lɐk31

kɪ323

la11

 

 

CL

duck

DEM.PROX

hatch, exit

young, son

NEG

DP

    ‘This duck cannot hatch any young.’

 

f.

pɪ31

uk323

lɐk31!

 

 

NEG

hatch, exit

young, son

    Don’t bear children!’

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