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Phakial or Tai- Phake
Linguistically the Phakial
language belongs to the Thai sub group of the Siamese Chinese
sub family of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. This
language is still being used besides a few other allied
languages of the Thai-group of languages in Assam which
are identified as Khamti, Turung, Aiton, Khamyang, Nora,
Ahom etc. As written in a Thai-chronicle, Sau Khan Pha,
the great king of Mu Kingdom, sent Chao Tai Seo to rule
one fertile place, called Hokong. I t was renamed Meng Phake
by the settlers. After the downfall of the Mau kingdom,
the land belonging to Tai people was taken over by the Burmese.
But the Phakials were not happy to live
under the Burmese and hence they migrated to Assam by crossing
the Patkai hills in 1775.The Ahoms allowed them to settle
near Jorhat and that was how they settled on the banks of
the river Buridihing. They are small in population and are
mostly found in Naharkatia and the vicinity of Margherita.
Now the total number of their population is about two thousand.
The word ‘Phake’
is a Thai word . In Tai,‘pha’ means a stone or
a wall and ‘ke’ means ancient or old.
The Phakial speakers are
scattered in nine different villages viz. Nam Phake, Tipam
phake, Bor phake, Man Mau, Nam chai, Man long, Nang lai,
Ning gum and Phaneng in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district.
In 1850-51 Sau Soi Angdev came from Ingthong village and
established the Namphake village. The Nam Phake village
is about 4/5 k.m. away from the Naharkatia town. The village
is situated on the bank of the river Buridihing. In this Nam Phake village there are
about 64 families. They are Buddhist in religion and
this is why they could maintain their separate identity
socially and culturally within the sea of Hinduism.
Though the Phakials are
small in population, they are still maintaining their own
individualities, their gorgeous and typical multi coloured
costumes, the Phakial language, their customs and tradition.
The Phakials are bi-lingual.
They speak in Phakial
to their own people in their domestic and village life while
in other places they speak local Assamese, they are well
versed in both languages. Besides the young children are
getting their education
through their own tongue an the primary level while
the medium of instruction shifts to Asamiya at a higher
level.
It has its own separate
scripts and has also preserved in a few manuscripts which
are mainly religious scriptures. These manuscripts are written
in Tai-scripts which are preserved in their village Vihars.
The Phakial
language possesses
ten vowel phonemes: /i,e,,u,,o,a,a:,w,,O,E,/\ ,/and fifteen consonant
phonemes /p,t,k,ph,th,kh,c,s,m,n,n(,N,l,x,h/and two semi vowels /
y,w/.
Moreover a few diphthongs and three consonant clusters
are available in this language.
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Vowels
phonemes:
All the vowel phonemes contrast for long and short distinctions. They are classified
according to the tongue positions in the articulation. They
are high, high mid, and low and front, central and back.
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Front
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Central
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Back(rounded)
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Back(unrounded)
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Short
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Long
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Short
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Long
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Short
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Long
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Short
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Long
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High
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i
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i:
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u
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u:
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w
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w:
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High-mid
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e
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e:
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o
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o:
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/\
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/\:
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Low-mid
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E
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E :
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O
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O:
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Low
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a
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a:
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The distribution of Vowel phonemes are given:
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Initially
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Medially
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Finally
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/i/
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iNsan
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‘earthquake’
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lin
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‘tongue’
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pi
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‘girl’
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/e/
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ep
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‘small
tin’
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ca:nei
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‘tea’
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me:
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‘wife’
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/µ/
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nµn
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‘month’
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/a/
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ao nap pha:i
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‘stoke
a fire’
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phaphun
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‘rain’
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pea
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‘goat’
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/u/
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crauntin
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‘heel’
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Nu
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‘snake’
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/o/
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cop
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‘lip’
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ka:o
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‘owl’
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/O/
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OkOn
nOi
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‘toad’
‘hill’
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lOn
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‘house’
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/E/
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lEk
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‘iron’
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mE
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‘mother’
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/a/
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makha:o
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‘an
earthen pot’
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kha
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‘neck’
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/a:/
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ha:n
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‘goose’
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sipha:
la:
pa:
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‘full
moon’
‘donkey’
‘fish’
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/o:/
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ho:m
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‘shadow’
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/u:/
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phalu:m
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‘wind’
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su:
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‘you’
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/o:/
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po:
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‘grandfather’
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/ O:/
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Diphthongs:
There
are quite a number of diphthongs which are actually appeared
as Vowels in contact. These are /ai,a:o,ai,Oi,an,Oa,ui,au,eo,iu,a#O
ei,ao,ea/,etc. Example:
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/ai/
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hai
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‘small
stream’
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haiN
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‘drought’
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naiN
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‘yellow’
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/eo/
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kheo
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‘sickle’
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/ao/
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pumao
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‘bride-groom’
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/a:O/
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ma:On
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‘wife’
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/ea/
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pea
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‘goat’
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/ua/
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phua
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‘birth’
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/aµ/
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yaµ
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‘big’
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/Ea/
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pEa
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‘conquer’
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/Oi/
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mOi
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‘fog’
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nOi
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‘hill’
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hOi
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‘snail’
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/au/
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pa
mau
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‘young
man’
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Consonants:
According to the articulation consonants in
Phakial are of two types: Stops and Continuants.
There are three unaspirated stops /p,t,k/,three
aspirates/ph,th,kh/,four
nasals,/m,n,n(,N,/
three fricative/s,x,h/, one
lateral/l/,one palatal/c/,one glottal/h/,and two
semi vowels/w,y/.The phakial
language does not possess voiced unaspirates/b,d,g/and
voiced aspirates /bh,dh,gh,jh/
consonants. The
bi-labial voiced unaspirate/b/is not available
in Phakial but a few words show the
use of/b/in Phakial,e.g.
bi
‘fan’
kaNwan
‘day’
The alveolar voiced flapped /r/
is not available in Phakial. These consonants are
shown below:
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Bi-labial
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Alveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Glottal
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Stops
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unaspirated
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p
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t
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c
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k
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?
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aspirated
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ph
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th
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kh
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Continuants
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fricative
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s
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x
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h
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nasal
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m
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n
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n)
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N
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lateral
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l
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Semi-vowel
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w
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Y
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affricate
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ts
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There are some instances of consonant phonemes occurring in
word initial, medial and final positions are
given below . There are six tones in
phake language. High, High-mid, Low-mid, Low. But the tones are not shown in the following examples.
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Initial
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Medial
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Final
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/p/
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pau pha:i
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‘burn’
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lapsiN
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‘dark’
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kap
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‘shell’
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po:
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‘father’
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pE
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‘soft’
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hap
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‘close’
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/ph/
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pha:i
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‘fair’
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phaphun
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‘rain’
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phaN
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‘to bury’
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/t/
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twk
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‘mud’
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latak
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‘leeches’
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mihEt
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‘ice’
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tao
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‘tortoise’
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tE
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‘truly’
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ta
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‘to paint’
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/th/
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thwk
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‘male’
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than pha:i
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‘hot coal’
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/k/
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kai
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‘hen’
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kop kin nwn
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‘luner eclipse’
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mOk
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‘cloud’
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kao
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‘owl’
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ka
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‘to trade’
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kauN
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‘to take up’
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/th/
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thwk
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‘male’
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than pha:i
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‘hot coal’
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/k/
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kai
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‘hen’
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kao
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‘owl’
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ka
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‘to trade’
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kauN
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‘to take up’
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/c/
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cON
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‘umbrella’
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cOi
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‘to help’
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ca:
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‘male’
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/m/
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mOi
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‘fog’
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mimi
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‘cat’
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na:m
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‘planty’
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maukya
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‘flower’
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mawn
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‘slippery’
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mwnta
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‘to open the eyes’
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man
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‘ village’
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mau
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‘light’
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/n/
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nam
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‘water’
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manin
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‘fox’
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tEn
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‘warp/hornt’
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nON
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‘pond’
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nOi
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‘hill’
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nao
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‘to freeze’
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ni:
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‘good’
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na:u
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‘star’
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net
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‘nail’
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/N/
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No
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‘cow’
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paNtai
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‘rabbit’
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cuN
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‘rhinoceros’
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NON
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‘bent’
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/s/
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som
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‘sour’
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phasao
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‘be cloudy’
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sai
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‘sand’
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sON
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‘two’
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sam
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Noxan
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‘ox’
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/x/
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xumEn
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‘hedgehog’
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Noxan
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‘ox’
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xai
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‘sold’
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/h/
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hao
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‘hot’
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mEhEt
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‘snow’
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ho:m
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‘shadow’
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ha
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‘bunch’
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/l/
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liliN
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‘monkey’
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phalum:ma
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‘blow wind’
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lwm
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‘to drink’
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/w/
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wan
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‘sun’
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kaNwan
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‘day’
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/y/
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yOn
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‘twinkle’
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siyan pa:
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‘fin of fish’
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/?/
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ho tha?m
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‘cave’
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phuN?
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‘bee’
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The Phonemic Contrast of the consonant phonemes are given
below:
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p /ph
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pau pha:i
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‘burn’
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pha:i
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‘fair’
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t / th
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twk
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‘mud’
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thwk
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‘male’
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k/ kh
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kai
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‘hen’
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khai
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‘buffalo’
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c/s
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cON
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‘umbrella’
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sON
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‘two’
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m/n/N
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mOi
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‘fog’
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nOi
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‘hill’
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NON
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‘bent’
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Cluster:
Consonant clusters with consonant phonemes are also available
in Tai- Phake and most of them occur medially. The consonant
cluster of Tai-
phake mostly occur with phonemes /l/and /y/,e.g.
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pl
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tENplE
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‘ warm water’
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phl
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phia:
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‘ Lord Buddha’
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kl
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kla@:
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‘ new’
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khl
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khlu
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‘ to finish’
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tl
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tla:
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‘ law’
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py
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pya:
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‘ to show’
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phy
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phyE@k
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‘ spit’
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ky
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kya:m
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‘ to try’
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my
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myE@t
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‘holy’
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kk
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kakka:
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‘to break’
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tt
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ttao
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‘glass’
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pl
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pla:
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‘onion’
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mm
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nammn
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‘well’
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mk
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kamku
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‘pencil’
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Cy
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Cyat
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‘mosquito net’
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nt
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tnanta
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‘Monday’
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sl
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maiN slap
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‘cock roach’
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There are a few example in Phakial when consonant clusters
of three consonants phonemes are observed’ e.g.-
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tch
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watchom
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‘typhoid fever’
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nts
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aintsOtnei
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‘sieve’
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Phakial is a tonal language. It retains six prominent tones-Rising,
Falling, High(mid), Low, High-(falling), Low mid Tone .There
are a few examples of this language where all the six tonal
variations are observed, such tones are still observed in
the speeches of a few old Phakial persons, but these are
gradually vanishing as all the phakial speakers are now
bilingual speakers having equal competence in Asamiya which
is incidentally a dominant non tonal language in the vicinity.
A few phakial words showing five different tones are given
below
Four varieties
of tones.
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Rising
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Level
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Falling
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Falling-rising
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Rising -falling
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nam
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‘flag’
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nam
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‘thorn’
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nam
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‘black’
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nam
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‘plenty’
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nam
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‘water’
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Syllabic types:
The phakial language is monosyllabic.
It is observed that the suffixes are added to retain
their monosyllabic quality of the words. These words are
not inflected. Words in phakial consist of two syllabic
types like other languages
(1) Open syllabic and
(2) Close syllabic,e.g. :-
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Open Syllables
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C+V
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hu
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‘car’
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C+V+V
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mai
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‘wood’
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Close Syllables
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V+C
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Op
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‘small case made of tin’
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C+V+C
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ben
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‘bracelet’
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C+V+V+C
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maOn
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‘pup’
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peaOn
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‘kid’
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One of the
characteristics of the Phakial language is the absence of
/r/. But in a few loan words /r/ used
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samuktra
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‘Sea/Ocean’
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OmtrOm
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‘Cabbage’
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It is observed that
/n(/
and /N/ do not
contrast as there is neutralization of the two sounds in
all the positions.
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The personal
pronouns used in Phakial language.
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Singular
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Plural
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1st Person
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kau
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I
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hau
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we
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2nd Person
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maw
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You
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su:
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You
( both in honorific and most honorific)
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3rd person
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mwn
mwn saw
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He
He
(most honorific)
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khau
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They
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To denote the negative
sense, the word maka is used
in Phakial. For example:
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kau maka
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I
don’t go
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hau maka
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We
don’t go
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mwm maka
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You
don’t go ( singular)
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su: maka
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You
don’t go (plural)
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mwm maka
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He
doesn’t go
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khau maka
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They
don’t go
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