Waic languages
The Waic languages are spoken in Shan State, Burma, in Northern Thailand, and in Yunnan province, China.
Waic | |
---|---|
Ethnicity | Wa people |
Geographic distribution | Burma, China |
Linguistic classification | Austroasiatic
|
Glottolog | waic1245[1] |
Classification
Gérard Diffloth reconstructed Proto-Waic in a 1980 paper. His classification is as follows (Sidwell 2009). (Note: Individual languages are highlighted in italics.)
The recently discovered Meung Yum and Savaiq languages[2][3] of Shan State, Burma also belong to the Wa language cluster.
Other Waic languages in Shan State, eastern Myanmar are En and Siam (Hsem),[4][5] which are referred to by Scott (1900)[6] as En and Son. Hsiu (2015)[7] classifies En, Son, and Tai Loi in Scott (1900) as Waic languages, citing the Waic phonological innovation from Proto-Palaungic *s- > h- instead of the Angkuic phonological innovation from Proto-Palaungic *s- > s-.
References
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Waic". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- http://ic.payap.ac.th/graduate/linguistics/theses/Myint_Myint_Phyu_Thesis.pdf
- http://ic.payap.ac.th/graduate/linguistics/theses/Wendy_Phung_Thesis.pdf
- Shintani Tadahiko. 2016. The Siam (Hsem) language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA), 107. Tokyo: ILCAA.
- Shintani Tadahiko. 2016. The Va (En) language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA), 108. Tokyo: ILCAA.
- Scott, J. G. 1900. Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States. Superintendent, Government Printing, Rangoon.
- Hsiu, Andrew. 2015. The Angkuic languages: a preliminary survey. Paper presented ICAAL 6 (6th International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics), Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Further reading
- Sidwell, Paul. 2009. Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 76. Munich: Lincom Europa.
- Shintani Tadahiko. 2016. The Va (En) language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA) no. 108. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
External links
- SOAS Wa Dictionary Project and Internet Database for Minority Languages of Burma (Myanmar)