Waic languages

Waic
EthnicityWa people
Geographic
distribution
Burma, China
Linguistic classificationAustroasiatic
Glottologwaic1245

The Waic languages are spoken in Shan State, Burma, in Northern Thailand, and in Yunnan province, China.

Classification[edit]

Gérard Diffloth reconstructed Proto-Waic in a 1980 paper. His classification is as follows (Sidwell 2009). (Note: Individual languages are highlighted in italics.)

  • Waic
    • Samtau (later renamed "Blang" by Diffloth)
      • Samtau
    • Wa–Lawa–La
      • Wa proper
      • Lawa
        • Bo Luang
        • Umphal

The recently discovered Meung Yum and Savaiq languages[1][2] of Shan State, Burma also belong to the Wa language cluster.

Other Waic languages in Shan State, eastern Myanmar are En and Siam (Hsem),[3][4] which are referred to by Scott (1900)[5] as En and Son. Hsiu (2015)[6] 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[edit]

  1. ^ Myint Myint Phyu (2013). A Sociolinguistic Survey of Selected Meung Yum and Savaiq Varieties (PDF) (MA thesis). Payap University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-29.
  2. ^ Phung Wei Ping (2013). A Phonological Description of Meung Yum and Phonological Comparison of Meung Yum with Three Wa Dialects in China (PDF) (MA thesis). Payap University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-29.
  3. ^ Shintani Tadahiko. 2016. The Siam (Hsem) language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA), 107. Tokyo: ILCAA.
  4. ^ Shintani Tadahiko. 2016. The Va (En) language. Linguistic survey of Tay cultural area (LSTCA), 108. Tokyo: ILCAA.
  5. ^ Scott, J. G. 1900. Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States. Superintendent, Government Printing, Rangoon.
  6. ^ Hsiu, Andrew. 2015. The Angkuic languages: a preliminary survey. Paper presented ICAAL 6 (6th International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics), Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]