1

For questions and comments regarding this thesis, please get in touch by sending an e-mail to
[email protected]

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 Abstract
This thesis is the first descriptive work on Shan-Ni, a Tai-Kadai language spoken in Kachin
state and Sagaing region of Northern Myanmar. Being a Tai language in longterm close
contact with several Tibeto-Burman languages, Shan-Ni has several features that are not
common in other Tai languages, but do show similarities with Tibeto-Burman languages. The
frequency of disyllabic words, the presence of different grammatical markers including TAM
markers, and the variation in word order distinguishes Shan-Ni in particular. This thesis does
not only describe these features, but also connects them to their presence in other languages,
including both Tai-Kadai and Tibeto-Burman languages, Shan-Ni is in contact with. Some
features of Shan-Ni are partially present in other Tai languages, but have developed further
or in a different direction from certain points in history, which correspond with periods of
migration. Through its grammar, Shan-Ni indicates relations with other Southwestern Tai
languages of the Northern tier spoken both at the Myanmar-Chinese and Myanmar-Indian
border. The expression of Tibeto-Burman-like constructions is made possible through the
addition or different usage of grammatical markers, which nonetheless do have a Tai
etymology.

3
 Table of contents
Abstract 3
Acknowledgements 7
Abbreviations 8
List of figures 9
List of tables 10

Preface 11

1 The Shan-Ni and their language 13

1.1 Sociolinguistic situation 13
1.2 History 19
1.3 Genetic affiliation 23
1.4 Aims of this thesis 26
1.5 Methods 27

2 Phonology and orthography 32

2.1 Consonants 32
2.1.1 Consonant clusters 34
2.1.2 Final consonants 34
2.2 Vowels 35
2.3 Tone 37
2.4 Syllables 39
2.5 Allophones and phonological variation 40

3 The shape of words 42

3.1 Compounding 42
3.1.1 The formation of class terms 45
3.1.2 Two words becoming one 47
3.1.3 Personal pronouns 48
3.2 Contractions 50
3.2.1 Determiners 51
3.2.2 Interrogatives 53
3.3 Reduplication 54
3.3.1 Remnants of an old system 55
3.4 Summary 57

4 Sentence structure and types of sentences 59

4.1 Representing and omitting referents 59
4.1.1 Ellipsis 60
4.1.2 Activating referents wit naj⁵/nɛ² 61
4.1.3 Indefinite referents and classifiers constructions 62
4.2 Copula 65
4.3 Existential and possessive phrases with yang⁴ 68

4
 4.4 Questions and indefinite pronouns 71
4.5 Passive 77
4.6 Conditional 77
4.7 Relative clauses 78

5 Grammatical markers 81
5.1 The nominalizer an² ‘thing’ 81
5.2 The verbal plural kan⁴ 84
5.3 The particle kɔ⁵ 85
5.4 The linker si³ 87
5.5 The prohibitive pi¹ 90
5.6 Plurality 90
5.7 Summary 92

6 TAM markers 94
6.1 Phrases with TAM markers 96
6.2 The terminative aspect marker kaa⁵ ‘GO’ 97
6.3 The inchoative aspect marker maa⁴ ‘COME’ 99
6.3.1 Combining maa⁴ and kaa⁵ 101
6.4 The past marker waj⁵ ‘KEEP’ 102
6.5 The perfective marker yaw⁵ ‘FINISHED’ 103
6.6 The past marker kaw¹ ‘OLD’ 104
6.7 The progressive marker u¹ ‘STAY’ 105
6.8 The marker kɤn¹ ‘SHOULD’ or ‘YET’ 106
6.9 The future marker te¹ 107
6.7 Summary 110

7 Shan-Ni and other languages: Genetic affiliations and Contact 112

7.1 Phonology 112
7.1.1Consonant clusters 113
7.1.2 Tone 114
7.2 The shape of words 118
7.2.1 Class terms and sesquisyllables 118
7.2.2 Interrogatives 119
7.2.3 Demonstratives 120
7.3 TAM markers 121
7.3.1kaw¹ and kɤn¹ 122
7.4 Summary: Shan-Ni and other languages 124

Conclusions 127

References 129

Appendix: Wordlist 132

5
6
 Acknowledgements
This research would have been impossible without the help of many amazing people.
Research in rural Myanmar can be difficult, but the kindness and support of the people I have
met throughout my research made it a lot easier. Of course there are a few names I want to
mention in particular. Each in their own way, they have helped me to make this thesis a little
better. Of course any mistakes are mine.

First of all, the speakers Nan Ee Pyu, Khin Shwe Nge, Daw Nyint Yee, Daw Shwe, Ma Khaing,
Daw Sin, Ayee Thida, U Chit Maung, U Than Sein, Daw Cho Me, Sayadaw Pannya Vamsa, Daw
Khin Pyone Yee and Naan Nwe Ni Htun who have worked with me with a lot of patience, and
this work would not have been there without them. Sometimes friends or family would come
in during interviews and comment on things as well, of course I am also grateful for their
contributions.

Outside Indawgyi, I would like to thank the people of the Voice of Shan-Ni newspaper, the
Shan-Ni Youth Network, and the teacher trainers from Shan-Ni literacy course in Mingun and
U Khin Maung Aye, for their kindness, hospitality and helpfulness.

This is the first work about Shan-Ni in English, but there are others working on Shan-Ni in
Burmese and Shan-Ni itself. The authorities in this are Daw Khin Pyone Yee and Naan Nwe
Ni Htun, and their willingness to sit down with me and explain things about the language has
been very important in developing a deeper understanding of the language. Being able to
read their work at home also enabled me to continue studying after coming home.

The idea to do research on Shan-Ni at Indawgyi came from a conversation with Stephen
Traina-Dorge. He and Patrick Compton have been very supportive in my preparation and
throughout my research, helping out with all the practical matters and introducing me to
people in the beginning. Conversations with them, Marshall Kramer and Laur Kiik also helped
me to understand more about Kachin state in general. I also thank Wyn Owen for sending me
his worlists, and André Müller for helping out with the tones and sending me his
questionaires. I also thank Sarah Fairman, Diana Sabogal and Maïra Kaye for proofreading
parts of the thesis.

My supervisor, Mily Crevels, has always been ready to help, not only with the academic issues
but also with the practical and bureaucratic matters related to fieldwork and research. Her
willingness to meet frequently and be responsive to any questions both during my fieldwork
as well as in the writing process has been a great support for me in this research.

A big thank you to all of you!

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 List of figures
Figure 1 Areas where Shan-Ni is spoken (within red circles) and the Indawgyi
lake (blue square) 11
Figure 2 Shwe Myitzu pagoda 13
Figure 3 Map of Indawgyi with major villages and nearby cities 14
Figure 4 Visual representation of Indawgyi villages and their names 16
Figure 5 Map of the Nan-Chao empire in the 8th & 9th century 18
Figure 6 Parabaik manuscript 1179 AD 19
Figure 7 The Tai-Kadai language family 21
Figure 8 Migration history of Tai groups around northern Myanmar 24
Figure 9 Tone boxes of different Tai languages of the Southwestern Tai language
family 112
Figure 10 Shan-Ni’s relationship with Khamti, Phake and Tai Mao 123

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 List of tables
Table 1 Selection of Indawgyi village names and their meaning 15
Table 2 Speakers and types of contributions 26
Table 3 Shan-Ni Consonant inventory 29
Table 4 Minimal pairs distinguishing /pʰ/ and /f/ 30
Table 5 Consonant inventory and transliteration for this study 30
Table 6 Consonant clusters 31
Table 7 Final consonants 32
Table 8 Vowel inventory 32
Table 9 Overview of vowels and their symbols for open and closed syllables 33
Table 10 Diphtongs 33
Table 11 Tones in Shan-Ni (Indawgyi) 34
Table 12 Gedney’s box (adapted from Gedney (1989: 2002) 35
Table 13 Gedney’s box with Shan-Ni tonal categories and samples in each box 35
Table 14 Tones in Myitkyina Shan-Ni (adapted from Wyn Own 2011) 36
Table 15 Syllable structures 36
Table 16 Prefixes with reduced phonology 37
Table 17 Disyllabic words with a <Cə¹> structure as initial syllable 37
Table 18 Overview of allophones and phonological variation 38
Table 19 Examples of compounds 40
Table 20 Body part compounds and their equivalents in Shan Gyi 42
Table 21 Words with unmarked consonant as initial syllable 44
Table 22 Personal and possessive pronouns 45
Table 23 Contractions in Tai Mau (Young 1985) represented in Shan-Ni 47
Table 24 Interrogatives (and indefinite pronouns) 49
Table 25 Shan-Ni reduplication matching examples of affective reduplication in Young
(1985: 19) 52
Table 26 Adjectives with affective reduplication in Shan-Ni fitting Young’s typology 53
Table 27 Numeral classifiers in Shan-Ni 60
Table 28 Question words and indefinite pronouns 68
Table 29 Shan-Ni grammatical markers and their correspondences in other languages 90
Table 30 TAM markers in Shan-Ni and Tai Aiton/ Phake, origin and usages 91
Table 31 TAM markers and their functions in relation to verbs 107
Table 32 Consonant sound changes in Shan-Ni and other Tai-speaking groups 109
Table 33 Consonant clusters in Shan-Ni and their cognates in other Tai languages 110
Table 34 Tone splits in Shan-Ni and other Tai languages 113
Table 35 Interrogatives in Tai languages 116
Table 36 Demonstratives in Shan-Ni and other Tai languages 117
Table 37 The presence of Shan-Ni TAM markers in other languages 118
Table 38 Features in Shan-Ni and other Tai languages 122

9
 Abbrevations
Glosses

gloss meaning gloss meaning

1 first person N noun
2 second person NEG negation
3 third person PL plural
BM burmese POL polite
CAUS causative PROH prohibitive
CLF classifier PRT particle
COP copula QP polar question
DEF definite RDP reduplication
EMPH emphasis Rel relative clause
EXIST existential SG singular
FUT future TAG tag question
H headnoun V Verb
LNK linker VPL verbal plural

Grammaticalizations

The capitalized word represents the original word the grammaticalization derived from

gloss form function

COME maa⁴ TAM marker
FINISHED yaw⁵ TAM marker
GIVE haɯ⁴ causative
GO kaa⁵ TAM marker
KEEP waj⁵ TAM marker
MEET nyaa⁴ "at"
OLD kaw¹ TAM marker
SHOULD kɤn⁴ TAM marker
YET kɤn⁴ TAM marker
STAY u¹ TAM marker

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 Preface
Shan-Ni is one of the most western languages of the Tai-Kadai language family. Whereas
larger and more well-known languages like Thai, Lao and Shan Gyi are spoken in areas
adjacent to each other where the speakers themselves are the majority, the Shan-Ni live in an
area surrounded by speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages. Speakers of Shan-Ni have been in
long-term contact with speakers of Lolo-Burmese (e.g. Lisu, Mru, Burmese), Nungish (e.g.
Rawang, Anong) and Kachinic (e.g. Jinghpaw, Kadu) languages in the east and north, Naga
languages in the west, and Burmese in the south. To a lesser extent, the Shan-Ni have been in
contact with the Austroasiatic languages (Palaung, Wa). It is no wonder then, that Shan-Ni
differs in structure from other Tai languages, and has features that might be common among
its neighbours, but not among its relatives.
Lexically, Shan-Ni is conservative, with most words being of Tai origin. For these words,
consonants and vowels often match, while the tones differ. But in Shan-Ni many of these
words have become disyllabic, or acquired grammatical functions. This makes the
innovations Shan-Ni has gone through clearly observable. I decided to focus on these
innovations, because they are fundamental in understanding how the language works. I also
believe these are of scientific importance. A good description of these features provides clues
on language contact dynamics in the region, but can also inform literature on language
contact in general.
Focussing on these innovations requires space. But despite the importance given to
innovations and language contact in this thesis, it remains a descriptive work. There is no
prior descriptive source, nor any source in English on Shan-Ni. Therefore, my aim remained
to make this thesis as complete as possible, while still shining the light on what makes Shan-
Ni special. I found a balance in this by writing some of the more descriptive pieces in a way
that illustrates either the implications or the background behind which innovations have
taken place.
Like other linguistic minorities in Myanmar, the Shan-Ni have only recently been able to
openly organize language teaching and promotion in their own communities. Due to pressure
from both the Burmese and Kachin armies, their freedom of cultural and linguistic expression
has been limited for decades. Therefore, they have been absent from most linguistic and
anthropological studies of the area, or are claimed to all have assimilated and shifted to
Burmese (e.g. Takatani 2007). Since in 2013 and 2014 amendments in the law made it
possible for schools to host extracurricular language classes, the Shan-Ni have rapidly
developed materials and training to reach schools across the region. The sudden freedom to
study the language means that this research comes at a time that the community itself is very
active and motivated to work with the language, finding ways in which the language can be
integrated into education, culture and society again. Therefore the scientific and community
interest align, and I hope that this study can be complementary to the existing efforts of
people I respect very much.

11
 This thesis focusses on the variety of Shan-Ni spoken at the Indawgyi lake. How
representative this is for other regions is not clear to me yet. Speakers consider Indawgyi
Shan-Ni to be the most “central” variety, intelligible for speakers from both the west
(Chindwin Valley) and the east (Irrawaddy valley).
Chapter I in this thesis describes the sociolinguistic and historical background of the Shan-
Ni, the genetic affiliation, and the methods used in this research. Chaper 2 is about the
phonology and orthography, and the transliteration used in this thesis. The examples used
will have both the local orthography in the unique Shan-Ni script, and the transliteration in
Roman script. Chapter 3 is about the shape of words. It shows how monosyllabic words have
become disyllabic, by adding class terms in front of the earlier noun, which then lost their
transparency making them unrecognizable as independent words. It also shows how Shan-
Ni uses contractions also existing in Tai Mao for interrogatives and determiners, but added
another process on top of it. It also shows how reduplication processes from Tai Mao are
present in a fossilized form in Shan-Ni, and are no longer productive. Chapter 4 is about the
structure of sentences. Shan-Ni distinguishes between referents that are new to the listener,
referents that are known but inactive, and referents that already clear to the listener, in which
case they will omit the whole argument. Because the omission of arguments is very common,
and Shan-Ni has many grammatical markers that affect the structure of the sentence, the
basic SVO order is hardly applicable in practice. While chapter 4 deals with the most common
sentence structures, chapter 5 discusses some of the individual grammatical markers and the
type of sentences in which they occur. The eight tense, aspect and mood markers and a few
of their combinations are described in chapter 6. Finally, chapter 7 compares these features
to the other Tai languages in the region, pointing out how the features described relate to
their neighbours and which features are clear exceptions and should be traced back to
another origin.

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 Chapter 1: The Shan-Ni and their language

1.1 Sociolinguistic situation

Shan-Ni is a Tai-Kadai language spoken in Kachin state and Sagaing region in Northern
Myanmar. The estimate in the Ethnogue (Eberhard et al. 2019) of 100,000 speakers is very
conservative. Some speakers estimate there to be as much as two million speakers, though
most agree that this would be unlikely. The red circles in Figure 1 indicate where the Shan-
Ni live. They are predominantly agriculturalist and live in valleys and plains; the easternmost
group lives in the valley of the Irrawaddy river in Kachin state, while the western group lives
in the valleys of the Chindwin and Uru rivers. The central group lives around the Indawgyi
lake and the flat stretch of land around the railroad going from Katha to Myitkyina. For this
research, most data was collected in the Indawgyi region, which is indicated by the blue
square.

Figure 1 Areas where Shan-Ni is spoken (within red circles) and the Indawgyi lake (blue square)
Map adapted by CEM from MIMU (Myanmar Information Management Unit)

The Shan-Ni call themselves Tai Naing or Tai Leng, but because of the allophones /n/ - /l/
and /ai/ - /ɛ/ many prefer the Burmese name Shan-Ni, avoiding the confusion or region-
specific connotations. The use of the /n/ is associated with the western region and the /l/
with the eastern region. In the Indawgyi region people use both variants interchangeably or
simply refer to the language as khwaam⁴ taaj⁴ ‘Tai language’. The names Tai and Shan refer

13
to their affiliation to the larger Tai group, and Naing/Leng/Ni means ‘red’. According to Hla
Maw Maw (2017: 22), the name ‘red’ refers to their original settlement at the Red River
(China, near frontier with Vietnam) and their traditional costumes with red waistbands. The
name Tai Lieng is sometimes used as well, with lieng meaning ‘red’ in Tai Long or Shan Gyi,
the largest Tai language spoken in Myanmar. The newspaper, youth organization and many
speakers themselves use the name Shan-Ni to refer to the group as a whole, and following
them, so do I in this thesis1.
The language vitality of Shan-Ni differs from place to place. In Kachin state, Shan-Ni is
spoken among all generations in rural places, and to a lesser extent in the cities. This is mainly
due to restrictive language policies during the military regime from 1962 onwards. Due to
the conflict in Kachin state, the rigor of these policies was the strongest between 1962 and
1994. During the ceasefire in the 1990s, the Shan-Ni started to recover old manuscripts,
create literacy books, and secretly teach the language in summer schools. These efforts were
led by Daw Khin Pyone Yee, who in 2011 became Kachin state minister of Shan affairs. When
ethnic minority language classes became legal and supported by the state in 2013, she
institutionalized her material and trainings with financial support from Unicef and other
donors. Currently, about 100 schools in Kachin state have Shan-Ni literacy books and
teachers trained by her team, providing classes for kindergarten, grade one and two (Daw
Khin Pyone Yee, pers. comm.). In some places, this provides support for children who start
school as Shan-Ni monolinguals, elsewhere it provides support for bilingual children who
would otherwise only study Burmese. In urban areas it is more a language revitalization
program. Classes are taught by twenty-year-old teachers who study and teach the language
of their grandparents, even though many parents are not fluent. Although the language is less
vital in these areas, the determination of teachers and families, and the comparatively better
access to resources and information provides hope for the language to have a bright future.
The return of Shan-Ni into public life is very much driven by the youth. Around the same
time language lessons became legal, people began using phones, internet and electricity.
Roads improved and motor bikes became popular contributing to the mobility and
connectivity of Shan-Ni youth. There have been several updates to the Shan-Ni fonts to type
on the computer, and mobile phone apps are being developed. The Shan-Ni organize festivals,
dance competitions and pageants. Many speakers have not learned to read to script yet, but
the Shan-Ni newspaper publishes three pages every edition in Shan-Ni, written by Naan Nwe
Ni Htun and Sai Kyaw Lin. These two writers also published another book, that I use in this
study as a source. It is called ‘Basic Spoken Shan-Ni’ (2017) and includes conversations,
stories, and lists of specific terminology (kinship, body parts, agricultural tools) in Shan-Ni,
Burmese and Shan-Ni transliterated in Burmese script. Within one year 5000 books were

1
Hla Maw Maw (2017) does use the name Taileng in her anthropological thesis about the cultural heritage of the
group, because her study has a strong in-depth focus on the eastern group, who exclusively use this name.

14
sold2. For many adults who have never had literacy lessons, the Shan-Ni transliterated in
Burmese and the conversational style make this book a true treasure. It allows them to
practice reading and writing by themselves, and show their children elements of the language.
Traditionally, the Shan-Ni have always cultivated the lowlands, while trading with the other
ethnic groups who lived in the highlands. They have been in long-term contact with Kachin3
groups, Kadu, Naga and Tai Khamti that live in the region. The shared history with other Tai
groups and the Burmese will be discussed under the sections ‘History’ and ‘Genetic affiliation’.
Due to the conflict, in the 1960s and 1970s Kachin communities who used to live in the
mountains near the Shan-Ni were forced to seek refuge in the lowlands where Shan-Ni
communities lived. They built their own settlements next to the Shan-Ni villages, though they
largely lead separate lives.
This research took place in the Indawgyi region, a wildlife sanctuary home to Myanmar’s
largest lake, the Indawgyi lake. It is an important habitat for hundreds of species of plants,
insects, reptiles, and a resting place for species of migrating birds and fish. Burmese visitors
tend to come for the Shwe Myitzu ( ), a floating pagoda which during the wet
season can only be reached by boat (Figure 2). The Shan-Ni villages are built at the edges of
the lake. The map below (Figure 3) shows the main villages: Nam Mun, Lone Ton and Nyaung

Figure 2 Shwe Myitzu pagoda (photo by Victoria Milko)

2
Since in rural Myanmar it is very normal to copy books, the reach is probably a lot bigger.
3
Including Zaiwa, Lisu, Rawang, Maru, Lashi and Jinghpaw.

15
Bin. Lone Ton is the administrative head village, and is home to a hospital, guesthouses for
visitors and a military base. Nam Mun and Nyaung Bin are the biggest villages of the area, and
function as trade hubs connecting Indawgyi to the cities Hopin (Nam Mun) and Hpakant
(Nyaung Bin). Most people are agriculturists or anglers, though gold, amber and jade mines
also provide opportunities for both labour and trade.
The language vitality and dominance of Shan-Ni in the Indawgyi region differs on each side
of the lake. This has to do with the history and current opportunities. At the north side of the
lake, Shan-Ni is the dominant language. The youth is using more Burmese nowadays, but

Figure 3 Map of Indawgyi with major villages and nearby cities (adapted from Google Maps).

16
many adults are more comfortable with Shan-Ni than they are with Burmese. On the westside,
bilingualism is common among all generations. It is a busy road for trade and tourism, hosting
important cultural and religious sites. Burmese provides economic opportunities, but Shan-
Ni is maintained as the language they use among themselves. People do codeswitch often, but
Shan-Ni remains the preferred language. Children and new residents in these villages learn
Shan-Ni rather than getting by with Burmese. In the south people use more Burmese, and
almost all Shan-Ni speakers are adults over thirty years old. This might be related to the
presence of the military base and thus stricter control in the area in the past. The east side
used to be a dense forest and a swamp, with only few settlements. In the 1990s, Burmese
migrants from central Myanmar came to work in the logging and fishing industries, vastly
outnumbering the pre-existing population. This changed the eastern side from a relatively
inhabitable area to an attractive area to live with a lot of arable land. Members of earlier Shan-
Ni communities married the Burmese migrants. There are still a few older speakers, but often
being part of Burmese families, they rarely use Shan-Ni.
Figure 4 shows all the village names in English and Shan-Ni, with the Shan-Ni script. The
names have been burmanized, but the original Shan-Ni names are still identifiable. The
drawings correspond with the meaning of the village names, and have significance for the
history of the lake. They are descriptive of flora and fauna of villages, functions or oral history.
A selection of them are listed in Table 1 The villages nyɔng²paang¹ ‘Nyaung Bin’ long⁴kɔng⁵
‘Lone Kauk’ refer to types of trees, and long⁴tong² ‘Lone Ton’ long⁴caang⁴ ‘Lonsant’ and
nam⁵mi³lɔng² ‘Nam Mi Laung’ to places where humans, bears and elephants come down from
the mountains and gather. lɔj⁴mon² ‘Loi Mon’ tells the origin story of the lake, which ends in
a widow looking back from the mountain after the area had flooded and the lake was created.

Table 1 Selection of Indawgyi village names and their meaning

Name Shan-Ni script Meaning
nɔng³long³ big lake (bm: indawgyi)
phraa¹nɔng³long³ci¹kham⁴ golden pagoda on the big lake
mɤng⁴ nɔng³ lake city
maak¹mong²kaj¹ chicken mango (small mangos)
long⁴tong² gathering place
long⁴kɔng⁵ poisonous tree
lɔj⁴mon² look back from the mountain
nam⁵mi³lɔng² water (place) where bears descend
nyɔng²paang¹ banyan tree
lɔj⁴kham⁴ gold mountain (bm: shwe taung)
tong¹caang⁵kham⁴ gathering place of golden elephants
long⁴caang⁵ elephants descend
nam⁵mɔ¹kam¹ brown water well
haw³paa⁴ fish louse

17
Figure 4 Map with symbols of Indawgyi villages and their names (Face of Indawgyi4, CM)

4
Illustrations by Dohee Kwon, names were collected in Ywatit and Maing Naung by Stephen Traina-Dorge and CM
and later doublechecked in Pan La by Sayadaw Pannya Vamsa.

18
1.2 History
The Shan-Ni consider their history and heritage to be that of the four city states Mong Yang
‘heron city’ (Mohnyin), Mong Kaung ‘drum city’ (Mogaung), Wun Seu ‘tiger state’ (Wuntho)
and Mong Myit ‘dagger city’ (Momeik). Nowadays, these territories are divided between
different administrative territories. Mohnyin and Mogaung are located in Kachin state,
Wuntho in Sagaing Region, and Momeik in Shan State.
Shan-Ni are believed to have been in this region for at least 2000 years (Hla Maw Maw
2017: 74). Their first important settlement, Maing Mao, no longer exists, but ancient ruins
found in 2009 south of Kachin state’s capital Myitkyina are thought of as being the remnants
of Maing Mao. The first significant empire it was part of, was the Nan-Chao empire. During
the Nan-Chao period, around 600-900 AD, Chinese sources refer to Maing Mao as Lishiu
‘beautiful water’. The Nan-Chao empire (see Figure 5) existed out of a confederation of
several Tai states centred around the old capital of Dali in Southwestern China. Mong Mao
was the westernmost state, connecting Nan-Chao to India. It was the place where Nan-Chao
got a large part of its gold and salt (Luce 1961: 69, 71). Nan-Chao would also send their elite
criminal offenders to wash gold in Lishiu instead of giving them the dead penalty (Luce: 1961
71). Figure 5 shows the capital ‘Lishiu Cheng’ near modern-day Myitkyina, the Ta Erh
Kingdom around the Indawgyi lake, and ‘An Hsi Cheng’ where Mong Kaung is now.
According to the Shan-Ni chronicles, three sons of the Maing Mao king left their father’s
home to establish Mong Kaung (722 CE), Mong Yang (723 CE) and Mong Bann (724)5. The
fourth son stayed home to rule the empire. When the ruler of Mong Kaung died, his brother
Sao Sam6 from Mong Bann, took over Mong Kaung. From there, he conquered many other
areas, including the Hukhawn region, Katha, Assam and Manipur (Hla Maw Maw 2017: 76).
After the tenth century the Nanchao empire gradually became less powerful, until it finally
fell under the Mongol invasion led by Kublai Khan in 1253 (Sai Aung Tun 2009: 10). In the
meantime, a tributary to Nan-Chao, Mong Mao, had grown more prosperous. Tai elites from
Nan-Chao moved to Mong Mao, becoming a new center of power in the region (Sai Aung Tun
2009: 14). The Mong Mao Empire or ‘Mong Mao Long’, was ruled from the Shweli river valley,
with its capital near the current location of the Chinese border city Ruili. While the king
himself stayed in his own capital, his brothers went out and established themselves in Mong
Kaung (1215) and Assam (1218). This was the start of the Ahom Empire in northeastern
India. The brother who went to Mong Kaung, Sao Sam Lung Hpa, made Mong Kaung the new
military capital of Mong Mao. Mong Kaung became powerful again, ruling over at least 99
mongs or (city)states (Sai Aung Tun 2009: 18).

Current location of the Indawgyi lake and the Hpakant jade mines.
5

Sao ‘leader’ and sam ‘third son’ refers to Sao Sam being a king and the third son in his family, hence there are
6

many Shan leaders with the same name.

19
 Mong Kaung preexisted the Sao Sam Lung Hpa and Mong Mao Lung, but it is very likely that

Figure 5 Map of the Nan-Chao empire in the 8th & 9th century (copied from Luce 1961)

20
Sao Sam Lung Hpa brought a lot of people with him into the area. According to Sai Aung Tun,
the people that came with Sao Sam Lung Hpa were the Shan-Ni (Sai Aung Tun 2001: 5). They
mixed with the people who were already living there, though they outnumbered them greatly
(Sai Kam Mong 2004: 15). Large-scale immigration into the region by a welcome group is also
discussed in this parabaik (palm leaf) inscription from 1179 AD (Figure 6), in which is written;

Notification to Mayor,
Maing Mao Minister.
Through Royal’s order the villages of Maing Mao town must be united and properly ruled and
unfair ruling is strictly prohibited. There may be no disputes with neighbouring towns and villages.
Peace must be ensured. Maing Mao city must be divided into 4 regions and 8 villages through royal
order. Some villages such as Wakhaung, Oolauk, Moat Loi, Kazu and Kat Cho/Khat Cho in addition
to Maing Mao Township are to be united through rule of law. The increased population must be
properly provided for. This order was received on the 3rd waning moon day of Tagu, 541 ME.

(Palm-leaf manuscript 1179 AD, adapted from Hla Maw Maw 2017: 85)

Figure 6 Parabaik manuscript 1179 AD (Hla Maw Maw 2017:85)

The manuscript demonstrates that (1) there was an established administration, (2) there was
an increased population, causing tension and requiring one administrative unit to be split up
into multiple smaller units and (3) the rulers were actively supporting the newcomers, by
ordering the established community to provide for them7.
In 1526, a group of armies from different Shan states8 led by a Shan-Ni prince from Mong

7
Although the years do not exactly add up, it must be taken into account that these are subject to different
calendars. The Tai, Burmese, Chinese and western calendars are all different, so confusion easily arises. The point is
here that different sources discuss a large migration into the area around 1200, which influences the linguistic
history of the Shan-Ni.
8
The Shan states were independent Shan princedoms. According to their own interest, they would unite or fight
each other and neighbouring groups. Most of them were located in what is now Shan State in eastern Myanmar.
The places where Shan-Ni live were part of the ‘northern Shan states’.

21
Yang sacked the Burmese court of Ava (Fernquist 2005). The occupation did not last for very
long. When the Burmese regained strength under king Bayinnaung, he took revenge and
occupied the Shan states that had attacked Ava before. By 1557 all Shan-Ni territories were
in Bayinnaung’s hands. This merely meant local kings had to pay tribute to the Burmese
crown. This changed in 1768-1769, when Mong Kaung and other Shan allies supported the
Chinese in a battle against the Burmese and lost (Sai Kam Mong 2004: 33). From that moment
onwards, the Burmese court would hold a tighter grip on the northern Shan states, sending
their own kings and imposing harsh military rule (Sai Kam Mong 2004: 44). The then
important city of Waimaw (south of Myitkyina) was destroyed by the Burmese in 1810.
Gradually the Kachin also started to become more powerful, capturing Mong Kaung and
devastating the Indawgyi valley in 1883 (Hunter 1908b: 137).
The British captured Mandalay and announced the annexation of Upper Burma in 1885.
The ruler of Wuntho, Sao Aung Myat, refused to accept, and continued to fight the British until
1891. The final crackdown by the British was incredibly violent, leading Sao Aung Myat to
flee to China and the other survivors to migrate to other parts of Myanmar (Hla Maw Maw
2017: 106, Hunter 1908a: 155). Wuntho, once was a powerful Shan state, features in the 1908
Imperial Gazetteer of India as a township under Katha district, with only villages (no cities)
and a mention of the population being “almost exclusively Burmese” (Hunter 1908a: 156).
Having been defeated by the Burmese, Kachin and British, the Shan-Ni who stayed in the
area became minorities in their own land. Burmese, Kachin, Indian, Nepali and other people
came into the area to build the railroad, connecting the urban areas of Katha, Mohnyin, Hopin,
Mogaung and Myitkyina to Mandalay. Cochrane (1915:24) reports that in this period the
Shan had assimilated to Burmese customs and speech outside the house, but continued to
maintain Shan customs and speech inside the house. Several people I spoke to in Hopin and
Mohnyin, told me that this continued until the 1960s, when people stopped speaking Shan
inside the house, out of fear to be overheard by Burmese or Kachin soldiers.
After the Second World War the Union of Burma was created, which was supposed to be a
federal state in which ethnic states would have a large amount of autonomy over their own
territories. The Shan-Ni agreed to support the inclusion of their land into Kachin state, which
itself was promised possible independence in ten years time. These agreements were made
under the Burmese general Aung San. He and his cabinet were assassinated before they could
assume office. His successors decided to install more centralist policies, infuriating ethnic
leaders who agreed to be part of the Union under the promise of federalism. This worsened
throughout the 1950s, with a larger emphasis on Buddhism and the Burmese language,
completely banning the teaching of local languages in 1962. All over the country, ethnic
groups started to form their own armies, resisting the Burmese state. During British times,
the majority of the army existed out of Kachin soldiers, but during the 1950s these were
gradually replaced with Burmese soldiers. In 1962 the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) was
formed, and the Shan-Ni got caught in a conflict between the Burmese and Kachin armies (Hla
Maw Maw 2017: 105). Both the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese

22
government claimed to be the legitimate government of Kachin state, and used violence, taxes
and forced recruitment accordingly. Eventually, the Burmese set up their military bases in
the lowlands were the Shan-Ni lived, while the fighting continued in the surrounding hills.
The Kachin villages in the hills were under constant attack in an effort to cut the KIA off from
access to food, information, recruits, and other resources. As a result, many Kachin were
displaced and moved into Shan-Ni villages. Around the Indawgyi lake, there are large Kachin
communities in Nam Mun, Lonton and Maing Naung. During the ceasefire from 1994-2011
there was increased freedom of movement and expression. When the ceasefire ended in 2011,
Myanmar was already going through a democratic transition, giving military personal less
control over people’s daily life.

1.3 Genetic affiliation

Shan-Ni is part of the southwestern branch of the Tai-Kadai language family. Figure 7 shows
the Tai-Kadai family tree according to Diller et al. (2008: 7). Shan-Ni is not present in his
overview, but is discussed later in the same book by Edmondson as part of the southwestern
branch (Edmondson 2008: 192). It shares a large number of cognates and grammatical
features with other languages in the southwestern branch, including some well-known
languages such as Thai and Lao, as well as smaller Tai languages present in geographical
proximity of Shan-Ni (Khamti, Phake, Aiton). The cognates Shan-Ni shares with these
languages oftentimes only differ in tone but have the same consonants and vowels, and have
sometimes changed their meaning or have gained different grammatical functions. The
biggest Tai language of Myanmar is in this overview referred to as ‘Shan’. The word Shan
represents all Shan groups in Myanmar, but the language meant here is the variety spoken
by the dominant Tai group living in Shan State of Myanmar, which is otherwise known as Tai
Yai, Tai Long or Shan Gyi (big/major Shan in Burmese). I will refer to this language
throughout this thesis as Shan Gyi. Within the southwestern branch, Shan Gyi is less related
to Shan-Ni than the Tai languages spoken in the Northern Myanmar – Northeastern India –
Southwestern China border region, but due to its political and cultural prominence, it does
have influence on Shan-Ni.
Edmondson (2008: 203) distinguishes three groups of Shan: Southern Shan, Northern Shan
and Khamti. The northern tier includes the languages of groups that had settled in Northern
Myanmar before the 6th century AD (Edmondson 2008: 184). He shortly discusses the
settlement history and phonology of the different groups, and places Shan-Ni in the northern
group. The Shan-Ni in Kachin state themselves are familiar with four other ‘Tai’ groups: Tai
Khamti, Tai Nua (Lue), Tai Long (Shan Gyi) and Tai Sa. Of these, they understand most of Tai
Khamti, followed by Tai Nua. They consider the Khamti their closest relatives. Depending on
the person, Shan-Ni and Khamti might be considered mutually intelligible, since they
understand most of each other’s words (including tones) but the word order and grammar
differs. Some Shan-Ni see the Khamti as a representation of their own past, since the Khamti

23
live in more isolated areas and have preserved traditions which the Shan-Ni only know about
from the stories of their grandparents. People who have had more exposure to Shan Gyi
understand that as well, though people experience the language as quite distant. The Shan-
Ni do not understand Tai Sa, but that is probably because it is not a Tai language but a variety
of the Tibeto-Burman Ngochang. However, the Tai Sa are seen as Tai because they are
culturally Tai (Edmondson 2008: 193).
Looking at the different Tai languages in the broader region, Shan-Ni shares a lot more
similarities to Tai Phake than to any other language. The Tai Phake migrated from Mong
Kaung to Assam around 1775 (Morey 2005a: 19), which means they were at the center of the
Shan-Ni court, and their ancestors probably spoke the exact same language as the ancestors
of the Shan-Ni 250 years ago. The Khamti on the other hand, have lived separately from the
Shan-Ni from at least the Nan-Chao period onwards (±1400 years). They are included in the
Nan-Chao map (Figure 5) as “little Brahmins of the north” referring to their affiliation with
Tibet at the time (Sai Kam Mong 2004: 15). Throughout history, they have paid tribute to the

Figure 7 The Tai-Kadai language family (copied from Diller et al. 2008: 7)

24
rulers of Mong Kaung, but their territory was too isolated for them to maintain intensive
contact with the Shan-Ni.
In the history described above, a large group of other Tai people moved to the Mong
Kaung/Myitkyina together with Sao Sam Lung Hpa around 1215 CE. These people most likely
came from the Shweli river valley. Around the same time, his brother and a large group of
followers started the Ahom Empire in Assam. This area is currently the border of Ruili (China)
and Namkham (Myanmar). The languages spoken there are Tai Nua and Tai Mau. Tai Mau is
restricted to a small area around Namkham. There is a short description of Tai Mau by Young
(1985), whose book also includes various narratives and an extensive Tai Mau wordlists. Tai
Lue or Tai Nua is spoken in a large area in China, Lao, Thailand and Myanmar, and has a lot
of internal variety.
Chantanaroj (2007) compares the phonology of different dialects of Tai Nua, and includes
Tai Mau, Tai Long and Shan-Ni as well. In her study, Shan-Ni is included under the name Tai
Lai, and includes data from six different locations. Her study showed that the western dialects
of Tai Nua were closer to Shan-Ni than they are to the eastern dialects of Tai Nua, with the
data collected in Ruili, Zhefang and Namkham (Tai Mau) in the Shweli river valley showing
the most similarity to Shan-Ni (Chantanaroj 2007: 78). This is the area where Sao Sam Lung
Hpa came from around 1200, so similarities between Tai Nua spoken in that area and Shan-
Ni support the theory that a large group of people migrated with Sao Sam Lung Hpa into the
area. Edmondson (2008: 203) who also compared the phonology different varieties of Tai
languages in the borderlands, found innovations in the Shweli river valley that he finds more
likely to be the result of considerable in-migration from the east rather than innovation
within the sedentary population.
Figure 8 shows the probable migration history of the different groups related to the Shan-
Ni. I have added geographical references to show which groups are currently living in the
same location. Based on this we can expect indeed Shan-Ni shares most features with Tai
Phake, followed by Tai Aiton. A large group from Ruili/Namkham joined the pre-existing Tai
group in Mong Kaung in around 1215, while at the same time a group moved to Assam
(Ahom). The people that stayed behind, nowadays speak Tai Mau and Tai Lue. There may
thus be features all these group share with Shan-Ni, having a shared history until 1200. The
pre-existing population was related to the Tai Khamti, and maintained contact throughout
the centuries, though they lived in different places. Currently, there are Khamti in the
Chindwin region living alongside Shan-Ni, and Khamti in Assam alongside the Phake and
Aiton. The Shan-Ni in the Indawgyi and Irrawaddy region do not live alongside a large
population of another Tai group. All different Tai groups are in contact with different Tibeto-
Burman speaking groups in the region, but due to the differences in agricultural and lifestyle
practices, this contact is not necessarily very intense.
In terms of descriptive work on languages related to Shan-Ni, the most relevant is the work
of Morey (2005a, 2005b, 2008). His description includes the Tai languages spoken in Assam,
India (Phake, Aiton, Khamyang and Khamti), focusing mostly on Aiton and Phake. Earlier

25
 Figure 8 Migration history of Tai groups around northern Myanmar

work on the varieties spoken in India by Diller (1992) is less extensive but provides useful
insights as well. Khamti is included in many 19th and 20th century sources (e.g. Robinson 1849,
Needham 1894, Grierson 1904). Descriptive work specifically focusing on Khamti includes a
phonology and wordlist by Weidert (1977) and a PhD thesis by Inglis (2014). Rikker Dockum
has also been working on Khamti in recent years and has given various conference
presentations relevant to Shan-Ni, though, to my knowledge, he has not published on Khamti
yet. For Tai Mau I will refer to Young (1985). Lao (Enfield 2007) is less closely related to
Shan-Ni, but Enfield’s work includes many theoretical considerations that are relevant for
Shan-Ni as well. When comparing words from different languages, I have retrieved data from
SEALang (a.o. for Lao, Shan Gyi, Ahom and Phake). The SEAlang is a database of digitized
dictionaries and wordlists of several Southeast Asian languages. For each entry SEALang
includes the source, which is often written by the same authors I cite elsewhere (e.g. Enfield
for Lao, Morey for Phake and Ahom), controlling the variation between lexical items from the
database and from other sources.

1.4 Aims of this thesis

The absence of research on Shan-Ni means that there is a large gap in understanding the
developments within the Tai language family, as well as the language contact situation in the
India-Myanmar-China border region. With at least 100,000 speakers spread over a large area
and a history of ruling over an even larger region, it is a missing puzzle piece in many ways.
Understanding more about Shan-Ni thus goes beyond Shan-Ni itself. But before any
conclusions can be drawn regarding Shan-Ni’s place in the language family and contact with

26
other languages, Shan-Ni needs a solid description first. This thesis aims to lay a foundation
for this in two ways. First by describing the main features of the language, and second, by
connecting these findings to other Tai and non-Tai languages in region.
Shan-Ni is conservative in the sense that it most words do have a clear Tai origin, but
innovative in way these words are used. This makes Shan-Ni unintelligible for most other Tai
speakers in northern Myanmar. There are two main ways in which Shan-Ni stands out. (1)
the use of disyllabic words where other Tai languages have monosyllabic words (2) the
presence of grammatical markers allowing constructions not present or common in other Tai
languages. This creates a unique situation in which the innovations that distinguish Shan-Ni
from other Tai languages, are very overt and are fundamental in understanding how the
language is structured. The presence of an extra syllable that lacks for the same word in all
other Tai languages, or tense marking unique to Shan-Ni are strange phenomena that
deserve their own chapters.
The structure of this thesis is centred around these innovations. These require more
attention than features that are more common in Tai languages. However, having no prior
descriptive work on Shan-Ni, it is important to give enough descriptive information to
understand the environment in which these innovations operate. The result is that the
structure differs from what one might expect from a descriptive thesis.
After the phonology, chapter 3 describes the shape of words, centred around the question
of how disyllabic words are structured. While studying these different processes, the
structures of nouns, pronouns, demonstratives and interrogatives are described. The
structure of sentences in Shan-Ni also differs from other Tai languages, because it is often
influenced by the omission of arguments and the presence of grammatical markers. Chapter
4 thus discusses the sentence structure by describing the omission of arguments, and
different types of sentences. Chapter 5 describes grammatical markers, which each have their
own function in the language as well. Chapter 6 is dedicated to the TAM markers, perhaps the
strangest phenomenon for a Tai language. Even in closely related languages in which these
markers are present is, the system is less elaborate than in Shan-Ni. Chapter 7 discussed how
these innovations are represented in related languages, and what the comparisons might
teach us about the position of Shan-Ni within the Tai language family and the history of the
language contact.

1.5 Methods

For this research I spent five months in Myanmar from April – August 2018. Most of that time
I spent at the Indawgyi lake, and I also interviewed people in Myitkyina, Hopin, Mogaung,
Mohnyin, and Mandalay and attended a teacher training in Mingon. I also followed an
intensive Burmese course in Yangon for two weeks in the beginning of my fieldwork. The
people I worked with were bilingual in Shan-Ni and Burmese, and did not speak English. In
the first few weeks before my course an English-Burmese interpreter joined me, who

27
normally worked for Face of Indawgyi. Stephen and Patrick from Face of Indawgyi also
introduced me to several people in the community, which helped me to get started with my
research. Other people I met in the train, or cafés, or through other friends. After the Burmese
course, I conducted my research independently in Burmese and Shan-Ni. I collected six types
of data:
1. word lists (Swadesh)
2. narratives – traditional stories people choose to tell
3. narratives based on stimuli (Frog story, Hunting story, Pear story)
4. elicitation based on questionnaires (lists with sentences in Burmese)
5. elicitation (questions I asked)
6. The Basic Spoken Shan-Ni book (to be discussed)

I asked people to choose whether they would like to tell a traditional story, a personal story
or a story based on stimuli. Most people preferred traditional stories, especially the women,
who are very skilled and passionate storytellers. I planned to use the stimuli as a back-up,
but since most people had (traditional) stories to tell, I ended up using the stimuli only on a
few occasions. In the beginning I used the Frog story as a stimulus, because I was less familiar
with both Shan-Ni and Burmese, and knowing what kind of words to expect made it easier to
start with. Later I asked specifically for narratives based on stimuli, because the usage of
certain grammatical features such as TAM markers is different for traditional stories (events
in the past, citing conversations, etc.) or more dynamic stimuli (talking about what is going
on the present). The Hunting story (created by Marine Vuillermet) is specifically designed to
elicit motion events.
Before recording narratives, I always asked for verbal consent. I asked speakers if they
agreed to being recorded, and I explained them that if at any point they did not want to
continue or start again, or if at a later moment after the recording they would change their
minds and preffered not to participate, that this would be no problem. I also asked them
whether they would like their names to be mentioned or whether they would prefer to be
anonymous, and all wanted their names to be included. I always let them listen to the
recording afterwords, and asked them if they were happy with the recording, if they wanted
me to send it to their phone (if possible), and if they wanted to continue to write out this
version. One person got insecure before the recording and decided not to participate. Another
person stopped halfway and wanted to start again. Another person was initially very
enthusiastic about the recording, but a family member came in and criticized her language
use, after which she did not want to continue. In those cases, I did not use the recordings they
did not want me to use.
An issue that I encounted was that for some stories, there was not enough time to write out
a full narrative. I tried to prevent this by asking people to tell me a story of around three
minutes, which usually would end up to be at least five minutes. But some people would
continue speaking for longer anyway, and I did not cut them off. I chose to accept this, because

28
I wanted people to tell stories they enjoyed telling in the way they themselves preferred. With
a story of five minutes, I could start writing out the story directly after the recording, and
make one more appointment to continue, and then finish. If it was longer, it could happen
that it was either not possible to meet more times, or the person got bored of the old story
and suggested to tell a better story. Because my Burmese as meta language was developing
over time, writing out stories went slower and it was harder for me to control the situation.
As a consequence, I have several stories of which I have only written out the first part.
The Burmese elicitation questionnaires have been designed by André Müller, who uses
them to compare several languages in northern Myanmar. They contain sentences aimed to
elicit different ways of expressing emphasis, causation, and new situations. The
questionnaires allowed me to elicit more complex sentences that I would not have been able
to formulate as clearly and accurately myself in Burmese. The disadvantage here is the
influence of Burmese, which especially in long sentences may affect the word order and the
use of grammatical markers. This made the ‘emphasis’ list most effective, because the
sentences were shorter and included more things people say in daily life. I elicited the
emphasis list in three villages (Nammilaung, Ywatit and Pan La), all lists in Nammilaung, and
parts of the other lists in Ywatit and Pan La. Asking the same sentence in multiple villages
helped me to confirm whether variation was local, free or dependent on the context. For
example, ang¹ ‘for’ and caa⁴ ‘for’ are always used in the same sentences, but preference
differs per village/person. There is no distinction in meaning between the different
pronunciations of the linker si³/yi³/i³/ni³, but the presence of either of them is obligatory.
Without having compared these lists, these findings would have been a lot harder to uncover.
An overview of all the people I worked with and the meaning of codes that are used with the
examples in this thesis can be found in Table 2. In the examples, numbers refer to the
sentence in the story, except for the elicitation and fieldnote items (DS_LT and MK_LT),
where numbers refer to the month it was written down.
The Basic Spoken Shanni book (2017) was a very valuable source I used to fill gaps in my
own data when I had already returned to the Netherlands. Especially when I had few
instances of a certain phenomenon in my own data of which I did not fully understand what
the function was, I could search for it in the Basic Spoken Shan-Ni book. This makes this thesis
consirably more substantive than it would otherwise be. The book is written by Naan Nwe
Ni Htun and Sai Kyaw Lin. Both write Shan-Ni language content for the newspaper ‘The Voice
of Shan-Ni’. I recorded a few stories with Naan Nwe, and I have had many discussions about
the language with her as well. She is from Ailithu, a small village north of Indawgyi lake. She
grew up speaking Shan-Ni, and learned Burmese later in school. The book contains 130 pages
of dialogues, narratives and wordlists from specific domains. It is called ‘Basic Spoken Shan-
Ni’ because it contains examples of the spoken language people use in their daily lives.
Whenever I use this book as a source, the reference is (BSS_page number). It is popular
among adults and children alike, as it features a Burmese translation and transliteration,

29
 Table 2 Speakers and types of contributions
Name Village (birth village) Items Comment
Ee Phyu Le Pon Lay (Nyaung Bin) EP_LPL Story ‘Na Upin’
Ma Khaing Lonton MK_IH Story ‘Indawgyi History’
MK_LT Elicitation and fieldnotes
Daw Shwe Zin Lonton (Nyaung Bin) DS_LT Elicitation and fieldnotes
Ayee Thida Lonton (Nyaung Bin) AT_PS Pear Story
Daw Nyint Yee Nammilaung NY_NSIT Elicitation questionnaire
Khin Shwe Nge Nammilaung KSN_FS Frog story
KSN_EMP Elicitation questionnaire
Naan Nwe Ni Htun Mandalay (Ailithu) NN_TH Story ‘Tai history’
NN_ITL Story ‘I Top La’
U Than Sein Maing Naung TS_HS Hunting story
Sayadaw Pannya Pan La PV_CAUS Elicitation questionnaire
Vamsa (+others) PV_EMP Elicitation questionnaire
PV_NSIT Elicitation questionnaire
Daw Cho May Ywathit CM_EMP Elicitation questionnaire
(+others)
Daw Cho May Ywathit CM_ML Story ‘Me Loom Me On’

making it accessible for adults who are fluent but have never learned how to read in Shan-Ni,
and for children who are studying the language in school. To avoid misinterpretations
because of the Burmese translation, I have cross-checked most Shan-Ni terms I used from the
book with speakers in person, and when that was not possible I checked their Phake and Shan
Gyi cognates in the online SEAlang database, to come as close to the original meaning as
possible.
The examples of other data I collected follow the orthography of the Basic Spoken Shanni
book as much as possible. This is possible due to the completeness of the book. I also used it
to check the tones. When I could not find a word in the book, I tried to check the spelling and
tone with Naan Nwe. The tones were very difficult for me, because I had never worked with
tones before, I was not sure how many tones there were, and most people I worked with were
not very aware of which tone they used in which word either. Eventually I learned how to
use Gedney’s box (see section 2.3), figured out which tones there were, and learned to
recognize them. Since the writers already had a system and mark tones in the script, I could
easily check the book or with writers or teachers which tone was used, not to rely only on my
own hearing.
For each section, I tried as much as possible to use a mix of examples from both spoken data
and the book. This was not always possible, because even if grammatical particles were used
by speakers, I could not verify this with them when I had already returned to the Netherlands.

30
Due to phonological reduction, grammatical particles may sound similar, it is not always clear
which particle was meant by speakers. For example, the TAM markers kaa⁵ and kɤn⁴ and the
verbal plural particle kan⁴ can all be pronounced as /ɣə(n)/ in fast speech, especially when
followed by a word starting with a nasal. Because these are quite complex grammatical
functions, when I asked people about it during the interviews, they would often say it was
just a sound.
There are no secondary sources in English on Shan-Ni itself, but there are sources on
related languages I cite in my work. These include many cognates that have retained a very
similar shape to Shan-Ni. Although the comparison is important, I have decided not to adapt
the transliterations chosen by the orginal authors. This is because the Tai languages
discussed have a large vowel and tone inventory, making the transliteration very precise
work. Tai langauges in the region have four, five or six tones, which may partially correspond
with each other, but never match exactly. Vowels merge and split; sometimes there might be
two different vowels in another language representing one vowel in Shan-Ni or the other way
around. Hence, a tone represented in Shan-Ni as < ⁵ > corresponds with tone < ⁴ > in Phake
(Morey 2002), though Shan-Ni tone < ² > in Phake can be either < ³ > or < ⁵ >. This will be
discussed in more detail in Chapter 7, where in the first part the phonology of the different
Tai languages will be compared.

31
 Chapter 2: Phonology and Orthography
Shan-Ni is written is in its own variety of lik tai or ‘tai script’. It shares most similarities with
the scripts of Tai Khamti and the Tai languages of Assam in northeastern India9. The script is
syllabic; vowels are attached to consonant graphemes. In the 1990s, the Shan-Ni added tones
to their script. Many of the consonants correspond with the Burmese script, and those that
do not correspond in form often do not have an exact Burmese equivalent. Some of these
differences with Burmese are shared with Tai Yai or Shan Gyi, the main Shan language in
Myanmar, though there are more similarities with the script of the Tai languages of
Northeastern India. Since the script itself is the best fit for the phonology of Shan-Ni, I will
include the script in my discussion of the phonology and throughout my thesis. The
phonology and orthography of Shan-Ni are also discussed in a powerpoint by Wyn Owen
(2013) based on wordlists from Myitkyina, northeast of where my data was collected. With
a few exceptions, there are quite some similarities between his analysis and mine in the
vowels and consonants, though it differs with regards to the tones. He also uses slightly
different graphemes for the consonants. In some cases that can be attributed to the font used,
with some graphemes belonging to Shan Gyi rather than Shan-Ni. The font I am using is the
newest available edition of the same font used by the newspaper and the Basic Spoken Shan-
Ni book, the 2018 version of the Shan-Ni font developed by the Mandalay Art House.

2.1 Consonants
The consonant inventory of Shan-Ni exists of 19 consonants. There is no distinction between
voiced and voiceless consonants, though there is an alveolar voiced stop /d/ which is an
allophone of the nasal /n/ and the lateral approximant /l/. Many words in Shan-Ni which
start with the lateral /l/ in the eastern region, are pronounced with the nasal /n/ in the west.
In the Indawgyi region where my data was collected, words of both varieties are accepted
and used interchangeably, sometimes even within the same sentence. I thus treat these as
Table 3 Shan-Ni consonant inventory
Labial Alveolar Velar Palatal Glottal
Plosive p t k [ɣ] ɂ
Plosive (asp.) pʰ tʰ kʰ [x]
Nasal m n [l,d,ɾ] ŋ ɲ
Tap ɾ
Affricate ts
Fricative f s h
Approximant w j
Lateral Aprx. l [n,d,ɾ]

9
For more on the Tai scripts of Assam, see Morey 2005a (179-205). For the development and history of Shan scripts
in general, see Sai Kam Mong (2004)

32
allophones of each other, though since they are of equal status so they both get a place in the
consonant inventory. They both are occasionally pronounced as a voiced alveolar stop /d/ or
an alveolar tap /ɾ/. The alveolar tap is marked in cursive, because as a phoneme by itself the
/ɾ/ only occurs in Buddhist terminology, borrowed from Pali10. The velar stop /k/ is often
pronounced a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ and the aspirated velar stop /kʰ/ is often pronounced
as the voiceless velar fricative /x/. The affricate /ts/ is a sharp sound, contrasting with the
alveolar fricative /s/ which may sometimes be slightly aspirated. The labial fricative /f/ and
the aspirated labial stop /pʰ/ are treated as a single phoneme by some speakers, though there
are enough minimal pairs to recognise the distinction, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Minimal pairs distinguishing /pʰ/ and /f/

pʰaa³ bamboo wall faa³ fragrance
pʰaa⁵ sky faa⁵ knife
pʰaj⁴ to braid faj⁴ fire
pʰaaj⁴ monster faaj⁴ to row, to paddle

The transliteration of the consonants in this study is straightforward. Aspirated plosives are
represented by the relevant plosive followed by an <h>, the affricate /ts/ is represented by a
<c>. The palatal approximant /j/ is represented by a <y>, and the palatal nasal /ɲ/ as <ny>.

Table 5 Consonant inventory and transliteration for this study

IPA Orthography Transliteration IPA Orthography Transliteration
k k p p
kʰ kh pʰ ph
ŋ ng f f

ʦ ts m m
s s j y

ɲ ny ɾ r
t t l l

tʰ th w w
n n h h

ʔ -

10
See Owen (2013) for a complete overview of Shan-Ni graphemes of Pali consonants. I have included only the /ɾ/,
since this consonant is present in commonly used terminology, such as ɾa¹haan⁴ ‘monk’.

33
2.1.1 Consonant clusters

The first consonant is followed by either a vowel or an approximant, in that case forming a
consonant cluster. The velar approximant /w/ can follow the velar stops /k/ and /kʰ/, and
the palatal /j/ can follow the stops /k, kʰ, t, tʰ, p, pʰ/ and the labial nasal /m/. In clusters
where the palatal /j/ follows the velar /k/ or / kʰ/, it modifies the sound of the cluster to an
alveolar palatal /tɕ/ or /tɕʰ/. The palatal approximants is represented in the transliteration
by a <y>, hence for example /pj/ is represented as <py>. The velar approximant /w/ is
represented by a <w>, hence /kw/ is represented as <kw>.
These consonant clusters occur in both native words and Burmese loans. If they are native
words, the have been through a sound change unique to Tai varieties of northern Myanmar
(see section 7.1). The palatal approximant /j/ in native words occurs between consonants
and the vowels /e/, /i/ and /ɛ/. Similarly, the clusters <kw> and <khw> are always followed
an /a/ or /a:/. Since most cognates in Tai languages have retained the same vowels and
consants, the addition of approximants in Shan-Ni stands out. In other Tai languages, these
consonant clusters only exist in loan words.
The alveolar tap /ɾ/ is also as second part of the cluster only used for religious terms of Pali
origin. As part of the cluster many speakers tend to pronounce as a lateral approximant with
an epenthetic vowel preceding it, making the pronunciation of phraa⁴ more like phə¹laa⁴.

Table 6 Consonant clusters

Cluster Orthography Transliteration Example
kw kw kwaa¹ ‘go’
kʰw khw khwam⁴ ‘language’
tɕ ky kyin⁴ ‘eat’
tɕʰ khy khyem³ ‘needle’
pj py pyet¹ ‘duck’
pʰj phy phyit¹ ‘to quarrel’
mj my myit⁵ ‘to slice’
pʰr phr phraa⁴ ‘temple’
tr tra traa⁴ ‘Buddhist law’

2.1.2 Final consonants

Syllables can either be open (ending in a vowel) or closed (ending in a consonant). When
syllables are closed, vowels can be followed by any unaspirated plosive, nasal or approximant.
Below is an overview of all different possibilities in combination with an initial consonant
/k/ [ ], the unmarked vowel /a/ and unmarked tone /¹/. In the script they are represented

34
with their regular grapheme with a little crescent on top, marking the difference between an
initial consonant /k/ [ ] and a final consonant /k/ [ ]. The pronunciation of the final
consonant can be more or less explicit, with stops sometimes being quite silent, approaching
a glottal. The approximant /j/ is represented in the script in two ways, depending on the
vowel preceding it. Following the vowels /a/, /a:/ and /ɔ/ it is represented by a high comma,
illustrated the table 7 by kaj¹ ‘chicken’ [ ]. With the vowels /u/ and /o/the symbol for <ny>
is used, illustrated the table 7 by koj² banana [ ]. The final [ ] is sometimes aspirated.

Table 7 Final consonants

IPA Orthography Transliteration IPA Orthography Transliteration
kap kap¹ ‘communicate’ kam kam¹ ‘brown’
kat kat¹ ‘cold’ kàn kan² ‘starve’
kak kak¹ ‘stutter’ kàŋ kang² ‘cover’
kaw kaw¹ ‘old’ kaj kaj¹ ‘chicken’
kùj koj² ‘banana’

2.2 Vowels
Shan-Ni has an elaborate vowel system, with an especially large group of back vowels,
including diphthongs. An overview is given in Table 8. There is distinction in vowel length
between /a/ and /a:/, but this does not apply for other vowels. In speech, vowels are
sometimes reduced to an /ɤ/ or /ə/, but while /ɤ/ is also a phoneme by itself, /ə/ is not,
although it is common to be used in a non-stressed position instead of /a/, especially in
disyllabic words.

Table 8 Vowel inventory

Front Central Back Back
unrounded unrounded unrounded Rounded
Close i ɯ u
Close-Mid e (ə) ɤ o
Open-Mid ɛ ɔ
Open a a:

Since Shan-Ni has many vowels, I use a few IPA vowel symbols in my transliteration, with the
exception of /a:/, which is represented as <aa>. Some vowels are represented differently in
the orthography when they are followed by a consonant, so both variants are included in
table 8. The independent symbols include the symbol for the “inherent vowel”, the /a/. The

35
inherent vowel does not have a diacritic in this script, hence any consonant without diacritic
or crescent (closing a syllable), is automatically followed by an /a/. Often the /a/ is not
stressed and has a level tone. In that case, it is often pronounced as a /ə/. Hence the symbol
for /m/ < > in the Table below representing ma¹ ‘NEG’, and the the symbol for /k/ < > in
in kat¹ ‘cold’ represents the sound ka.

Table 9 Overview of vowels and their symbols for open and closed syllables
vowel Independent Diacritics in open syllables Diacritics in closed syllables
symbol
/a/ ma¹ ‘NEG’ kat¹ ‘cold’
/a:/ waa² ‘speak’ maan² ‘village’
/i/ si¹ ‘four’ sip¹ ‘ten’
/e/ me⁴ ‘wife’ het¹ ‘do’
/ɛ/ tɛ¹ ‘build’ tɛn¹ ‘hit’
/ɔ/ mɔ² ‘pot’ nɔn⁴ ‘sleep’
/u/ ngu⁴ ‘snake’ put¹ ‘open’
/o/ ngo⁴ ‘cow’ tok¹ ‘fall’
/ɯ/ mɯ⁴ ‘hand’ sɯt⁵ ‘push’
/ɤ/ mɤ² ‘time’ lɤt⁵ ‘blood’

In open syllables the vowels end the syllable, in closed syllables they are followed by a
consonant, which can be an approximant /j/ or /w/. When they are followed by an
approximant, this modifies the vowel itself. I consider the modified sounds that emerge
diphthongs, as they are pronounced as a single phoneme. They cannot be followed by a
consonant, which full vowels would. The vowel can be pronounced as either /aɯ/ or /ɛɯ/.
Some words can be pronounced in both ways, while others are more likely be pronounced as
either /aɯ/ or /ɛɯ/11. The example ‘1SG’ can be pronounced as either kaɯ⁴ or kɛɯ⁴, but
the interrogatives are always pronounced with /ɛɯ/ ( lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’) and the word for ‘new’
as maɯ¹. In the transliteration I will use the variant that corresponds with the utterance.
The /ɔj/ is sometimes pronounced as ɔaj making for example sɔj¹ ‘glasspot’ sound like
/sɔaj/ and tɔj⁴ ‘look’ sound like /tɔaj/. This variant also exists in a few other Tai languages
(Edmondson 2008: 198).
Table 10 Diphtongs
kaj¹ ‘chicken’ kuj¹ ‘cotton’
paaj² ‘run’ koj² ‘banana’
sɔj¹ ‘glass pot’ kaɯ⁴ /kɛɯ⁴ ‘1SG’

11
Looking at the languages in the region, this might be an ongoing sound change in Shan-Ni. Cognates in different
languages have sounds similar to either /aɯ/ or /ɛɯ/. However, this variety does not seem to be common within
languages (as least this is not described).

36
2.3 Tone
For tone there is a slight distinction between the Myitkyina (eastern) variant of Shan-Ni and
the Indawgyi (central) variant of Shan-Ni. The Myitkyina variant is used in literacy books for
school children across the region, and was also the variant Wyn Owen (2013) based his
phonological overview on. In that variant, there are six tones. My data is from the Indawgyi
region, and has five tones. However, sometimes the sixth tone is represented in the written
language for words that are written very frequently, for example the word for ‘year’ pi⁶,
which is included in documents with a date and posters and merchandise for new year
celebrations. Therefore, I have included this tone in the overview as a symbol, but not as a
phoneme. An overview of the tones is given in Table (11). The tones differ in pitch and
contour, and can have additional features such as creakiness or a ‘longer’ tone. The order of
the numbers corresponds with the order they are presented in in Shan-Ni literature and
teacher trainings. Tone 1 is the unmarked level tone, Tone 2 the low dash represening the
low falling creaky tone, Tone 3 the high dash representing the high level tone, Tone 4 the
colon representing the midfalling ‘long tone’ and Tone 5 the low dot the high falling creaky
tone. Words that have the the sixth tone in Myitkyina, at Indawgyi either have the second
(low falling) or fourth (mid slightly falling) tone. This development will be discussion further
in Chapter 3.

Table 11 Tones in Shan-Ni (Indawgyi)

Pitch Description Additional Orthography Example
features
ka³³ midlevel - (unmarked) ho³ma¹ ‘shoulder’
ka²¹ˀ low falling glottalized/creaky maa² ‘mad’
ka³⁵ high rising - maa³ ‘dog’
ka⁴⁴² mid falling ‘long’ tone maa⁴ ‘come’
ka⁴¹ˀ high falling glottalized/creaky maa⁵ ‘horse’
Same as tone 2 or tone 4 pi⁶ ‘year’

The development of tones in Tai languages is very systematic, and can be studied through
‘Gedney’s box’ (Gedney 1989). Depending on the original phonology of the words, they can
be categorized in a “boxes” (Table 12). The vertical axis categorizes words based on the
original consonant in Proto-Tai, and the horizontal axis categorizes words based on whether
they ended in a certain tone or a long or short dead syllable. Hence, all words that in Proto-
Tai would have a voiced consonant and “Tone A” are together in one box (A4). Though
currently tones differ among the Tai languages, all words that belong to a certain box (for
example A4) are likely to have the same tone. Based on this, Gedney compiled a word list,
connecting sets of words to each box. When studying a Tai language, this can be used to check

37
 Table 12 Gedney’s box (adapted from Gedney (1989: 2002)
Tone A Tone B Tone C D-long D-short
Voiceless friction sounds *s, A1 B1 C1 DL1 DS1
hm, ph, etc.
Voiceless unaspirated stops A2 B2 C2 DL2 DS2
*p, t, k etc.
Glottal *ʔ, ʔb etc. A3 B3 C3 DL3 DS3
Voiced *b, m, l, z , etc. A4 B4 C4 DL4 DS4

the tonal categories. Usually words belonging to the same box will have the same tone, and
based on that different boxes with the same tones can be grouped together. For Shan-Ni this
works very well, most words belonging to the same box indeed share the same tone. When
grouping boxes with the same tones together, this results in the overview shown in Table 10.
I have given one example in each box, and gave them a colour to illustrate which boxes share
the same tone. In this overview, the mid- level tone 1=B123-DS123-DL123, low falling
(creaky) tone 2 = B4-C123, high rising tone 3=A1, mid falling (long) tone 4=A234 and high
falling (creaky) tone 5=C4-DS4-DL4. This system is designed for monosyllabic Tai languages,
but in Shan-Ni disyllabic words are common. As this method is based on of proto-Tai, it thus
applies to the syllables which are cognates to the old proto-Tai lexemes targeted. In box B3,
ma¹ derives from proto-Tai, while the modern Shan-Ni word for ‘shoulder’ is ho³maa¹. In box
DL3, mɔk¹ derives from proto-Tai while mɔk¹ya² is the Shan-Ni word for ‘flower’. The
syllables of disyllabic words in the table that correspond with the targeted Proto-Tai
cognates are therefore underlined.

Table 13 Gedney’s box with Shan-Ni tonal categories and samples in each box
A B C DS DL
1 3 high rising 1 mid level 2 low falling 1 mid level 1 mid level
(creaky)
hu³ khaj¹ mɔ² phak¹ khat¹
‘ear’ ‘egg’ ‘pot’ ‘vegetable’ ‘broken’
2 4 mid falling
(long) kaj¹ kaw² khyet¹ pɔt¹
kyin⁴ ‘chicken’ ‘nine’ ‘frog’ ‘lungs’
‘eat’

3 lin⁴ ho³ma¹ maan² naa²ɔk¹ mɔk¹ya²

‘earth’ ‘shoulder’ ‘village’
‘chest’ ‘flower’
4 2 low falling 5 high falling
mɯ⁴ (creaky) (creaky)
‘hand’ pɔ² nam⁵ nok⁵ lɤt⁵
‘father’ ‘water’ ‘bird’ ‘blood’
38
The word pi⁶ ‘year’ belongs to box A2, hence at Indawgyi is pronounced as pi⁴ . Table 14
shows the tone box for Myitkyina Shan-Ni (adapted from Wyn Owen 2013). The sixth tone in
Myitkyina is used in words that fall under the boxes A2, A3 and B4. In Indawgyi Shan-Ni A2
and A3 are categorized as Tone 4 (mid falling long), while B4 is categorized as Tone 2 (low
falling creaky). In Myitkyina Shan-Ni both Tone 4 (mid long) and Tone six (mid falling) are
similar to Tone 4 (mid long falling) at Indawgyi, but the distinction is significant in that
variety, and Tone 6 is also used for box B4 which in Shan-Ni is Tone 2 (low falling creaky),
which is quite distant.

Table 14 Tones in Myitkyina Shan-Ni (adapted from Wyn Own

2013)
A B C DS DL
1 3 1 2 1
high rising mid level low mid level
2 6 creaky
3 mid
falling
4 4 6 5
mid long mid high falling creaky
falling

2.4aSyllables
A Shan-Ni syllable exists of at least a consonant, a vowel, and a tone. If the initial consonant
is a plosive, it can form a cluster with an approximant. The syllable can be open or closed in
by a consonant. If the syllable is closed, the vowel can be followed by a nasal or a stop. These
can be alveolar, velar or palatal. In summary, the structure can thus be displayed as
C(A)V(C)T, hence allowing the following variations;

Table 15 Syllable structures

CVT si¹ ‘four’ mu² ‘pig’
CAVT kwaa¹ ‘go’ pyaa⁴ ‘show’
CVCT nam⁵ ‘water’ phak¹ ‘vegetable’
CAVCT myit⁴ ‘knife’ kyin⁴ ‘eat’

The majority of Shan-Ni words are monosyllabic, although in comparison with other Tai
languages it has a relatively large disyllabic group in its lexicon. Some of these are compounds
of two monosyllabic words, which both exist in their separate forms in Shan-Ni as well. I have
not found any phonological differences between the same word in isolation and as part of a

39
compound yet12.
A full syllable cannot have a <Cə¹> structure with an /ə/ and a level tone /¹/. There are two
types of syllables that can have a <Cə¹> structure: prefixes and initial syllables of disyllabic
words. In both cases, this is probably the result of these syllables being unstressed, and have
gradually developed a reduced phonology. The prefixes are listed in Table 16, with ma¹ being
the negator, te¹ the future marker, and kha¹ the deseritative. Though te¹ is not represented
by a lone consonant like the others, the pronunciation is the same.

Table 16 Prefixes with reduced phonology

ma¹ NEG
te¹ FUT
kha¹ DES, full form khai²

Within disyllabic words the <Cə¹> only occurs in initial syllables (Table 17). These are
reduced forms of previously meaningful initial syllables of compounds, which can be shown
by a number of words in transition that accept two forms, one that is phonologically reduced
and one that is not. In their reduced forms they are not transparent. Because full syllables
cannot have the syllable structures these reduced variants have, they are referred to as minor
syllables, and words that start with a minor syllable as sesquisyllables or ‘one-and-half
syllables’. This is described in more detail in Chapter 3. For the phonology, it matters that a
<Cə¹> is never independent, but dependent on the the word following it.

Table 17 Disyllabic words with a <Cə¹> structure as initial syllable

ma¹su³ ‘they’
a¹sang⁴ ‘now’ / HESIT
a¹saak⁵ ‘age’
na¹hɯ⁴ ‘how’
pha¹lɔ³ ‘onion’
kha¹ləɯ⁴ ‘how much’

2.5 Allophones and phonological variation

A few sounds discussed in the sections above are allophones and allow variation. These are
listed in Table 18. Sometimes this depends on the position of the phoneme within the word,
sometimes this differs per word, sometimes on the function of the lexeme. The phonemes /k/,
/kʰ/, /a/, /a:/ are often pronounced in their alternative pronounciation, though this might
be considered less polite. The /a/ is usually pronounced as /ə/ when it is unstressed and/or
not followed by a coda. The /a:/ is usually pronounced as /ə/ when it is a grammaticalized

12
This might be something to look into for future research, especially since the reduction to a sesquisyllable does
change both the vowel and the tone, one may expect to find this as at a less advanced stage in compounds as well.

40
TAM marker. For example maa⁴ ‘come’ is pronounced as /ma:/ when it is the regular verb
‘come’, but is often reduced to /mə/ when it is used as TAM marker. The /l/ and /n/ are equal
in status, and usually allow variation between each other and sometimes to /d/ and /ɾ/,
though this is less common. There are some words that are usually pronounced with either
/l/ or /n/, but in most words both varieites are acceptable. The only clear exception is the
word for ‘sister’ naang⁴, which people agree should not be pronounced as *laang⁴. This is the
same for /aɯ/ and /ɛɯ/, which usually can be used in both ways. They are represented by
the same symbol < >. The linker si³ allows variation to yi³ and i³. I think this is free
variation, but because I am not sure yet, I always include the original pronunciation in the
transliteration.

Table 18 Overview of allophones and phonological variation

Phoneme Alternative Symbol Transliteration Variation
pronunciation
/k/ /x/ k word initial often /x/
/kʰ/ /ɣ/ kh word initial often /ɣ/
/l/ /n/,/d/, /ɾ/ l, n, d, r usually both /l/ and /n/ accepted,
/d/and/ɾ/ rare
/n/ /l/, /d/, /ɾ/ n, l, d, r usually both /n/ and /l/ accepted,
/d/and/ɾ/ rare
/s/ /j/, /ø/ s, y, ø free variation in linker si³
/a/ /ə/ a Unstressed or without coda often ə
/a:/ /ə/ aa unstressed ə in TAM markers
/aɯ/, /ɛɯ/, /aɯ/ aɯ, ɛɯ Word specific, either both or one
/ɛɯ/ of them accepted

41
 Chapter 3: The shape of words
With the exception of a few Burmese and perhaps Pali loans, the large majority of words in
Shan-Ni have a clear Tai origin. Yet, the shape of Shan-Ni words distinguishes Shan-Ni from
other Tai languages. Nouns are often disyllabic, words have shifted to another word class and
gained grammatical functions, and otherwise independent words have contracted into new
lexemes. These processes are often connected; a lexeme may become part of new disyllabic
noun, while its old shape becomes a grammatical marker. While specific grammatical
functions will mostly be discussed in other chapters (4, 5 and 6), this chapter is concerned
with the development of the shape of words, and the different processes involved in shaping
particular domains in the Shan-Ni lexicon.
A recurrent theme in this respect are the “layered” innovations. Certain innovations in Tai
Mau described by Young (1985), appear to be the foundation on which Shan-Ni has built
further. This concerns, for example, the determiners and interrogatives, which in Tai Mau
have been ‘contracted’. Shan-Ni integrates these same contracted forms in its own
innovations. The same goes for reduplication. Young (1985) describes a productive process
for reduplication, and Shan-Ni is using fossilized elements of the same system, complemented
by words from other word classes. Through these innovations, the shape of words in Shan-
Ni in comparison to other Tai languages can reveal details about historical developments in
the language and the broader language family.
This chapter will start by discussing the dynamics of compounding processes, followed by
an analysis of the transition from compounds to sesquisyllables (1,5 syllables), disyllabic
words of which the the first syllable is reduced and non-transparant. This is followed by an
illustration of the same process in pronouns, demonstratives and interrogatives.
Demonstratives and interrogatives include the same contractions described by Young (1985)
for Tai Mau, but have expanded beyond these forms. The final section (3.3) shows how parts
of an old system of reduplication are still present in Shan-Ni, though no longer productive.
All these different developments together show layers of innovations, developments that
have been interrupted at some point in history, and continued in another direction.

3.1 Compounding
Most words in Shan-Ni are monosyllabic; among nouns, however, the share of disyllabic
words is a lot larger. Some of these disyllabic words are transparent compounds, with two
items that can both be traced back to two separate lexemes. Other dissyllabic words are not
transparent; when the two syllables are split, the meaning of at least one of them cannot be
traced back to an earlier monosyllabic form. The presence of non-reduced compounds allows
us to understand the way compounds are put together, the presence of words in transition
allows us to study the process of how words lose their transparency.
Compound nouns in Shan-Ni are formed through a regular process, in which the first word
refers to a ‘type’ of concept. In Lao there is a similar process, which Enfield refers to as class

42
terms, following the typology of Grinevald (2000). This is a specific group of words, which
can form the initial part of a compound with a more general meaning, while also occurring as
independent words. These initial parts categorize the whole compound (not only the element
they are attached to) and are phonologically dependent and lexically specified. For Lao,
Enfield (2007:147) describes a partial overlap with numeral classifiers, with class terms
having a broader lexicon. In Shan-Ni there are class terms that also exist as classifiers, though
I cannot say whether all classifiers can be used as class terms. In Shan-Ni class terms are
lexically specific and obligatory elements which become part of a word, so they cannot be
freely attached to words. While classifiers are used to count objects, class terms become part
of the compound itself. I think it is likely that transparent classifiers qualify as a possible
source for class terms, and that these can become obligatory class terms when used
frequently by speakers. Morey (2005a: 229) refers to the equivalent of class terms in Phake
and Aiton as noun class markers, but he does not enter too much in detail and it does not seem
to be as common as in Shan-Ni.
What Enfield describes for class terms in Lao also applies to Shan-Ni, though the usage in
Shan-Ni is more extensive, and, as will be shown, has advanced to the stage of phonological
reduction and loosing transparency. A major difference is that while in Lao this only applies
to objects and people (Enfield 2007:147), in Shan-Ni it is also applied for ‘intangible’ nouns
referring to e.g. time, feelings and colours (see Table 19).
In both Lao and Shan-Ni, the same class term could be followed by a subcategory of the
object the class term refers to, or it could be followed by a description of the object. For Lao,
Enfield (2007: 146) gives the example of paa³ ‘fish’. The usage of paa³ is regardless of
whether the class term paa³ ‘fish’ is followed by the name of a species (e.g. mackerel) or a
description which needs paa³ ‘fish’ to form this particular meaning (e.g. ‘ink’ to form ‘inkfish’
or ‘gold’ to form ‘goldfish’).
While a compound with the name of a species (e.g. mackerel) might be classified as
exocentric, and a compound with a descriptive feature (e.g. goldfish) as endocentric, what
Table 19 Examples of compounds
Class term Second syllable Compound
mɤ² ‘time’ maj² ‘hot’ mɤ² maj² ‘hot season’
phok⁵ ‘tomorrow’ mɤ² phok⁵ ‘tomorrow’
naj⁵ ‘this’ mɤ² naj⁵ ‘now’
phaa² ‘cloth’ sɤ¹ ‘spread’ phaa² sɤ¹ ‘bedsheet’
ho³ ‘head’ phaa² ho³ ‘turban’
taj⁴ ‘tai/shan’ phaa² taj⁴ ‘traditional clothes’
si¹ ‘colour’ khew³ ‘green’ si¹ khew³ ‘green’
lɤng³ ‘yellow’ si¹ lɤng³ ‘yellow’
nɛng⁴ ‘red’ si¹ nɛng⁴ ‘red’
caɯ⁴ ‘heart’ maj² ‘hot’ caɯ⁴ maj² ‘worried’
yaɯ¹ ‘big’ caɯ⁴ yaɯ¹ ‘angry’
un² ‘happy’ caɯ⁴ on² ‘happy’

43
matters in Lao (and Shan-Ni) is that all fall within the category fish, and therefore start with
paa³. The same process applies to the formation of compounds in Shan-Ni. The first word is
a more categorical term, which could be considered a class term. Table 19 illustrates how
these class terms work in Shan-Ni, by showing different class terms as part of different
compounds. For example, the class term phaa² ‘cloth’, can refer to all kinds of cloths, and can
take different kinds of word (classes) to form new words. In combination with the verb sɤ¹
‘spread’, it creates the concept ‘bedsheet’. With the word ho³ ‘head’, phaa² ho³ ‘turban’ is
formed. With taj⁴, the Tai/Shan autonym, the new meaning phaa² taj⁴ ‘traditional clothes’ is
created.
Adding mɤ² ‘time’ to phok⁵ ‘tomorrow’ or caɯ⁴ ‘heart’ to on² ‘happy’ merely categorizes
them as types of periods and feelings. However, adding mɤ² ‘time’ or caɯ⁴ ‘heart’ to maj² ‘hot’,
both create new meanings; mɤ² maj² becomes ‘hot season’ and caɯ⁴ maj² becomes ‘worried’.
The result is that regardless of whether the second syllable has a different meaning on its
own, all types of feelings start with caɯ⁴, and all types of temporal references start with mɤ².
In Shan-Ni the first component is not necessarily phonologically reduced, and hence can be
seen as a type of compound.
For colour terms, the class term si¹ ‘colour’ marks a difference in word class. As a noun, si¹
is an obligatory element of the colour terms. When the colour term functions as an adjective,
it comes behind the noun, without si¹. For example, in (1), a ‘red turban’ is phaa² ho³ nɛng⁴,
without si¹. This reflects the Burmese usage of colour terms, which as adjectives are also ‘bare’
colour terms, but as nouns are placed between the nominalizer ə- and -jaun ‘colour’.

(1) a. b.
si¹ nɛng⁴ phaa² ho³ nɛng⁴
colour red cloth head red
‘red’ ‘red turban’

[Burmese]
a. b. ေခါင်းေပါင်းနီ
ə-ni–jaun khaung-paung-ni
NMLZ-red-colour head-wrap-red
‘red’ ‘red turban’
(BSS_47,55)

In Lao, there is a distinction between ‘basic’ colour terms and derived colour terms (e.g. sky
for blue, lotus for purple), with the second category sometimes being obligatory marked with
sii3, while this is not obligatory for the category of basic colour terms (Enfield 2007: 148). In
Shan-Ni there is no distinction between types of colours, only between colours in different
word classes.

44
3.1.1 The formation of class terms

The formation or addition of class terms and hence the transition from monosyllabic words
to disyllabic compounds, can be studied by looking at body parts. A number of body parts are
listed in Table 20. Most body parts in Shan-Ni are disyllabic, and contain one syllable that
corresponds with other Tai languages. Usually this is the second syllable (not the class term),
though this is not always the case. To illustrate this, I compare Shan-Ni body parts with their
Shan Gyi counterparts13. Shan Gyi has a few compounds in body parts, but is predominantly
monosyllabic. For example, the word ‘eye’ in Shan Gyi is taa⁴, which in Shan-Ni is the second
part of word for hoj¹taa⁴ ‘eye’. The class term hoj¹ is also a classifier for round objects,
referring here to the shape of the eye.
Class terms being more general, means that they are often used to refer to the shape or
Table 20 Body part compounds and their equivalents in Shan Gyi
Body part Compound Etmology Shan Gyi
(SEALang)
knee ho³khaw² head + knee /kʰaw²/
shoulder ho³maa¹ head + shoulder /maa²/
hair khun³ho³ hair + head /kʰon¹/
eyebrows khun³taa⁴ hair + eye /kʰon¹ taa¹/
heart maak¹ho³ cɛɯ⁴ fruit + head + feeling /ho¹tsaɯ¹/
shin naa²khyɛng² shin (including face) /naa³ kʰɛŋ³/
chest (m) naa²ok¹ face + chest /ʔɯk⁴/
chest (f) naa² cɛɯ⁴ face + feeling /ʔok⁴/
eye hoj¹taa⁴ round + eye /taa¹/
hand palm phaa¹mɯ⁴ palm/sole + hand /pʰaa² mɯ⁴/
cheek phaa¹kyɛm² palm/sole + cheek /kɛm³/
neck khɔ⁴ neck/throat /kʰɔ⁴/
throat kɔng²khɔ⁴ hole + neck/throat /kʰɔ⁴/
mouth sop¹ mouth/lips /sʰop⁴/
lips ping¹sop¹ edge + lips /sʰop⁴/
moustache mɔj³sop¹ short body hair + mouth /not²/
waist hɛng⁵ɛng² shape + waist /ʔɛŋ³/
brain ɔk¹ɛk¹ brain/marrow + yoke /ʔɔk/

13
I have chosen Shan Gyi (or Tai Long) because it is the most spoken Shan language of Myanmar, and therefore has
a useful and extensive database on the SEALang website allowing me to find cognates. It also has not gone through
any of the processes described in this chapter, unlike some other Tai languages (to be discussed in Chapter 4).

45
structure of the object, while the second part of the compound is more specific. Hence
depending on the position within the compound, the same lexeme can have a different
function. The word ho³ ‘head’, for instance, can be added both as class term (first syllable)
and as a second syllable, but the function is not the same. The class term ho³ ‘head’ is used
for body parts that are ‘on top’ or ‘point to the outside’, like ho³khaw² ‘knee’ and ho³maa¹
‘shoulder. When ho³ is added as a second syllable, it refers to something literally located on
the head, for example khon³ho³ ‘hair’. In khon³ho³ ‘hair (on the head)’ khon³ ‘hair’ is the class
term, which is used in Shan-Ni for other types of hair as well, such as khon³taa⁴ ‘eyebrows’
which is also a compound in Shan Gyi. Shan-Ni also uses ho³ in maak¹ho³cɛɯ⁴ ‘heart’. The
word Shan Gyi uses for heart, ho¹tsaɯ¹, also exists in Shan-Ni, but refers exclusively to the
heart in the emotional sense. To refer to the physical heart, it needs to add maak¹ ‘fruit’, a
distinction Shan Gyi does not make.
Shan-Ni also has a tendency to eliminate ambiguities. The word khɔ⁴ in Shan-Ni exclusively
refers to ‘neck’, whereas the Shan Gyi cognates refers to both ‘neck’ and ‘throat’. To
distinguish between ‘neck’ and ‘throat’, Shan-Ni includes kɔng⁴ ‘hole’ in the compound
kɔng⁴khɔ⁴ ‘throat’. The same goes for sʰop⁴ which can mean both ‘mouth’ and ‘lips’ in Shan
Gyi. In Shan-Ni, sop⁴ is only ‘mouth’, whereas ping¹sop¹, literally ‘the edge of the mouth’,
refers to lips. In that same way, sop⁴ is used in mɔj³sop¹ ‘moustache’, with mɔj³ referring to
‘short body hair’. In these compounds, Shan Gyi uses a different monosyllabic word.
Another process is the grammaticalization of parts of compounds into class terms. For
example, phaa¹ ‘sole/palm’ is used in other Tai languages in combination with ‘hand’ for
‘palm’ phaa¹mɯ⁴ and with ‘foot’ phaa¹tin⁴. Shan-Ni extends the usage to ‘cheek’, adding it to
the Shan Gyi cognate kyɛm², forming disyllabic phaa¹kyɛm². The same goes for naa²
‘face/front’ which is part of the word for ‘shin’ naa²khyɛng², which is the front part of the leg.
Shan-Ni goes beyond this and adds naa² also to other words, such as the male and female
varieties of ‘chest’. But while the other part of the compound for ‘male chest’ is the same in
Shan Gyi, for ‘female chest’ Shan-Ni uses naa²cɛɯ⁴ literally ‘the face of feeling’. This probably
refers to the chest being in front of the heart, connecting it to (maak¹)ho³cɛɯ⁴ ‘heart’
described above.
Through different processes, Shan-Ni is moving towards more disyllabic nouns. This allows
the language to be more specific with concepts, eliminating ambiguities and describing
features of the object referred to. For some words, this looks like a classifier function.
However, the typical features marked by the initial syllable do affect the meaning,
determining information about the concept as a whole, not just providing a category like
classifiers do. They are not used for counting, like classifiers are. They become part of a new
word, which sometimes in meaning may be similar to the older, monosyllabic variant,
although there is often a slight semantic change, or a more specific distinction (e.g. kɔng⁴khɔ⁴
‘troath’ rather than only khɔ⁴ ‘neck/throat’. At the stage discussed above, both parts of the
compound are still transparent and can be traced back to two meaningful lexical items. The

46
next section will specify how they merge towards disyllabic words with less transparent
initial syllables.

3.1.2 Two words becoming one

The addition of class terms to form compounds is a first step in a process that for some words
is already at a more advanced stage. At this more advanced stage, the class terms have
reduced their shape to the initial consonant +/ə/ and a level tone, represented as <a¹>. This
type of unstressed vowel <a¹> exclusively occurs in prefixes and the first syllable of disyllabic
words. In both cases, they are unstressed and followed by a full, stressed syllable. This is an
areal feature, present in many Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages in the region,
including Burmese, Jinghpaw and Palaung. Because these syllables are reduced to a shape
that regular, full syllables never have, they are referred to as minor syllables or parts of
sesquisyllables ‘one and a half syllables’ (Butler 2014: 11). The term sesquisyllables was first
proposed by Matisoff (1973) for Austroasiatic. Butler (2014) dedicated her thesis to
deconstructing the Southeast Asian sesquisyllable by studying it in Burmese, Khmer and
Bunong14. She lists the following properties for sesquisyllables (Butler 2014: 11):

a. Prosodic prominence is word-final

b. Non-final syllables are phonologically reduced
- Non-final syllables have a reduced segmental inventory
- Non-final syllables have a reduced syllable shape
- Non-final syllables are light
o Non-final syllables do not constitute well-formed prosodic words on their
own.

These properties are also part of the sesquisyllables in Shan-Ni. The prosodic prominence is
word-final, and the non-final syllables are phonologically reduced, limited to a /ə/ or /ɤ/.
Their shape is reduced to a form which full words never have, and the non-final syllables are
never well-formed prosodic words on their own. In Shan-Ni this phonological reduction is an
active process. Several words are still in transition, and thus have two acceptable forms. A
few of them are listed in Table 21.

Table 21 Words in transition from a disyllabic to a sesquisyllabic shape

concept Disyllabic shape Sesquisyllabic shape Phonological
reduction
lips luk⁵ɔn¹ (lit: offspring small) la¹ɔn¹ luk⁵  la¹
mango ping¹sop¹ (lit: edge mouth) pa¹sop¹ ping¹  pa¹
child maak¹mong² (lit: fruit mango) ma¹mong² maak¹  ma¹

14
Burmese is a Tibeto-Burman language, Khmer and Bunong are Austroasiatic languages.

47
 While in their reduced form the minor syllables are not transparent, in their shape as
constituents of full compounds they are clearly class terms. The word ‘lips’ presented in
Section 3.1.2 in its complete form ping¹sop¹ is often pronounced as pa¹sop¹. The fruit species
‘mango’ can be refered to as both ma¹mong² and maak¹mong², showing clearly that ma¹ is a
reduced form of maak¹ ‘fruit’. The word luk⁵ɔn¹ ‘child’ is in transition to la¹ɔn¹. Although luk⁵
is clearly the word for ‘offspring’ and ping¹ for edge, in their alternative forms la¹ and pa¹
they are not recognizable as such. The words in Table 22 are words that have already been
through the process. Their first syllables have lost their transparency, and can no longer be
traced back to an independent morpheme. For people, pa¹ is a common prefix, explaining the
pa¹ in pa¹ying⁴ ‘girl’. However, pa¹ is also part of pa¹laa³ ‘almost’, where this would not fit.
The words pha¹lɔ³ ‘onion’ and pha¹maaw¹ ‘bachelor’ have the same initial syllable, but are
also unlikely to have derived from the same source. It is thus impossible to derive the origin
from the shape of the initial syllable itself.

Table 22 Words with unmarked consonant as initial syllable

la¹ling⁴ ‘monkey’
a¹saak⁵ ‘age’
pa¹ying⁴ ‘girl’
pha¹lɔ³ ‘onion’
pha¹maaw¹ ‘bachelor’
pa¹laa³ ‘almost’

3.1.3 Personal pronouns

The formation of disyllabic nouns on the one hand, and the grammaticalization of the
monosyllabic variants of the same origin on the other can be illustrated by looking at the
personal and possessive pronouns. The second and third person personal pronouns have
become disyllabic, while the monosyllabic variants are still used as possessive pronouns. The
third person plural possessive khaw³ also has acquired a few other function, which will be
discussed in this section as well.

Table 23 Personal and possessive pronouns

Personal pronouns Possessive pronouns
1SG kaɯ⁴ kaɯ⁴
2SG mɛɯ⁴ mɛɯ⁴
3SG mɯn⁴/man⁴ mɯn⁴/man⁴
1PL haw⁴ haw⁴
2PL ma¹su³ su³
3PL ma¹haw³ khaw³

48
Table 23 shows the personal and possessive pronouns in Shan-Ni. The personal and
possessive pronouns for the first, second and third person singular and the first person plural
are identical, while for the second and third person plural the personal and possessive
pronouns differ. When a personal pronoun follows a noun, it is a possessive pronoun. For the
singular pronouns and first person plural haw⁴ the same pronoun is used, hence the
interlocutor has to interpret from the position of a pronoun whether it is meant to be
possessive or not. In the example below, kaɯ⁴ ‘1SG’ follows the noun luk⁵ ‘son’, hence it is a
possessive forming the clause ‘my son’. This is followed by a new clause, starting with mɛɯ⁴
‘2SG’ without a noun preceding it, hence it refers to the personal pronoun ‘you’.

(2)
luk⁵ kaɯ⁴ mɛɯ⁴ kha¹ laaj² sang⁴
child 1SG 2SG DES get what
‘My son, what do you want?’
(BSS_29)

For the second and third person plural, there is a difference between the possessive and non-
possessive personal pronouns. The possessive pronouns are the same as the personal
pronouns of other Tai languages in the region, but the personal pronouns have developed
into disyllabic lexemes. They have both acquired the prefix ma¹, which may have been
derived from any word starting with the consonant /m/. It is likely that this /m/ has been
taken from the second and third person singular, mɛɯ⁴ and mɯn⁴ respectively. In addition,
the initial consonant /kh/ of khaw³ is reduced to /h/ becoming ma¹haw³. I have encountered
ma¹khaw³ as well in the newspaper, but not in spoken language. Since the tone is the same,
it is likely that ma¹haw³ derived from khaw³. That both forms are used by the same speakers
in different positions to express different functions, is illustrated in the examples below. Both
sentences (3) and (4) are part of the same story, uttered by the same character (stepmother)
addressing the same two daughters (Yee and Ee). In (3) ma¹su³ ‘2PL’ is used as a personal
pronoun, while in (4) the possessive pronoun su³ ‘2PL’ follows pɔ² ‘father’, forming the
nominal phrase ‘your father’.

(3)
ma¹su³ pi²nɔng⁵ lɔng² an² kaɯ⁴ caɯ⁴ waj⁵ naa⁵
2PL sisters work thing 1SG order KEEP TAG
‘You sisters, the work I ordered you…’
(BSS_210)
(4)
pɔ² su³ pɔk⁵ maa⁴ ma¹ mɔk¹
father 2PL return COME NEG anncounce
‘Your father has returned unannounced.’
(BSS_216)
49
khaw³ has gained a range of functions. In example (5) it functions as a conjunction connecting
‘Yee’ and ‘Ee’. In (6) and (7) it is a type of plural marker, which following two nouns denotes
a category of people, for example ‘biological parents’ (6) or grandparents (7). If this literally
refers to two people, it requires to be followed by the classifier construction sɔng³ kɔ⁵. As a
plural marker, khaw³ can only be used for humans. Plurality is discussed in more detail
Chapter 5.

(5)
ye² khaw³ i¹
yee 3PL ee
‘Yee and Ee’ (first and second daughter)
(BSS_126)
(6)
pɔ² lɛng⁵ mɛ² lɛng⁵ khaw³
father give.birth mother give.birth 3PL
‘biological parents’
(BSS_80)
(7)
a¹ pu¹ a¹ yaa² khaw³
for grandfather for grandmother 3PL
‘for grandparents/elderly people’
(BSS_78)
(8)
pu¹ ta¹ yaa² sɔng³ kɔ⁵ yang⁴ a¹
grandfather and grandmother two CLF.people EXIST PRT
‘There were a grandfather and a grandmother.’
(NN_ITL_3)

3.2 Contractions
Besides nouns, determiners and interrogatives can also be disyllabic in Shan-Ni. In these
words, the shape of the second part often corresponds with monosyllabic determiners and
interrogatives in Tai Mau, but not necessarily with other Tai languages. According to Young
(1985), these determiners and interrogatives have derived from two different morphemes
themselves, and have contracted together into a new (usually monosyllabic) shape. Disyllabic
determiners and interrogatives in Shan-Ni thus have gone through two processes. The first
process (shared with Tai Mau) resulted in contraction, and the second process (exclusively
in Shan-Ni) formed disyllabic determiners and interrogatives. Both processes will be
discussed in this section.

50
 Young (1985:24) lists a number of Tai Mau words15 that emerged from contractions of two
words that were still present in the language, but merged together to create a new meaning.
For example, the words ti ‘place’ and nâi this’ have merged together to form thài ‘here’. The
same ti ‘place’ also merged with laɨ ‘which’, forming the new word thàɨ ‘where’. Some of the
words she includes in her list are also present in Shan-Ni16, though for most of them Shan-Ni
is going a step further. I have summarized the contractions she discusses for Tai Mau and
their innovations in Shan-Ni in Table 24. I assume that part of this is a shared development
between Shan-Ni and Tai Mau, which at a later stage has developed into two different ways
for both languages. The Tai Mau contractions listed below, are present in different forms in
Shan-Ni. The interrogatives thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’ and phɛɯ⁴ ‘who’ are the same in both languages;
The Tai Mau determiners thài and thàn are preceded by an extra word in Shan-Ni, resulting in ti²thai²
‘here’ and ti²/pɯn⁴ than² ‘(over) there’, respectively. The interrogative kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how much’
is a reduced form of the Tai Mau khaɨ ‘how much’ with an additional lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’. In addition,
there are also other processes within Shan-Ni that have affected the shape of determiners
and interrogatives. The following subsections will discuss the processes in these two
domains.

Table 24 Contractions in Tai Mau (Young 1985) represented in Shan-Ni

Original morphemes in Tai Mau Contraction in Tai Mau Innovation in Shan-Ni
ti ‘place’ + nâi ‘this’ thài ‘here’ ti²thai² ‘here’
ti ‘place’ + nân ‘that’ thàn ‘there’ ti²than² ‘there’
pɯn⁴than² ‘over there’
ti ‘place’ + laɨ ‘which’ thàɨ ‘where’ thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’
phù ‘person’ + laɨ ‘which’ phǎ ɨ ‘who’ phɛɯ⁴ ‘who’
kaa ‘price’ + h ̌ ‘or not’ khaɨ ‘how much’ kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how much’

3.2.1 Determiners

While ti² ‘place’ is already included in the contractions thai² and than² (see Table 24), Shan-
Ni requires an extra ti² to form ti²thai² ‘here’ and ti²than² ‘there’. In addition, pɯn⁴ ‘yonder’
can be used instead of ti² in pɯn⁴than² ‘over there’ to mark a difference between something
which is relatively near (ti² than²) and something that is further away (pɯn⁴than²).

(9) a. b. c.
ti² thai² ti²than² pɯn⁴than²
‘here’ ‘there’ (near) ‘over there’ (distant)
(DS_LT_08)

15
phǎ ɨ ‘who’ is not included in that list, but is used throughout Young (1985).
16
I do not exclude the possibility of other words from her list also having a presence in Shan-Ni, but in that case
they have been through phonological processes and need more evidence than I can provide at this stage.

51
The words for ‘this’ and ‘that’ are also not expressed by a single syllable anymore. Though
the cognates of nâi ‘this’ and nân ‘that’ in Tai Mau are present in Shan-Ni, they have developed
additional functions. For the demonstrative ‘that’, Shan-Ni uses the same pɯn⁴ ‘yonder’ used
in pɯn⁴than² ‘over there’ to form pɯn⁴nan⁵ ‘that (thing over there)’. pɯn⁴nan⁵ always refers
to an object in the distance, either unspecified without noun (10a), or preceded by a noun
(10b).

(10) a. b.
pɯn⁴nan⁵ hɤn⁴ pɯn⁴nan⁵
that house that
‘that (thing over there)’ ‘that house’
(DS_LT_08)

For nearby objects, Shan-Ni has added nang¹ to nɛ²/naj⁵, creating demonstrative nang¹nɛ².
As described above for pɯn⁴nan⁵ ‘that (thing over there)’, nang¹nɛ² can be used by itself (11a)
or behind a noun (11b). When only nɛ²/naj⁵ is used behind a noun, it is a definite marker
(11c) rather than a demonstrative.
(11) a. b. c.
nang¹nɛ² waan¹ nang¹nɛ² waan¹nɛ²
this cup this cup DEF
‘this’ ‘this cup’ ‘the cup’
(DS_LT_08)

By itself, nɛ²/naj⁵ has a range of functions, of which the most common can be analyzed as a
definite marker or a topicalizer. The difference between using nɛ² and nang¹nɛ² is illustrated
below. With only nɛ² the speaker makes clear s/he is referring to ‘the water’ mentioned
earlier in the story (12). When using nang¹nɛ² the speaker implies there are perhaps multiple
waterbodies, but only this specific one is getting big (13).

(12)
nam² nɛ² yaɯ¹ maa⁴
water DEF big COME
‘The water got big’
(MK_IH_17)

(13)
nam² nang¹nɛ² yaɯ¹ maa⁴
water this big COME
‘This water got big’
(MK_LT_08)

52
3.3.1 Interrogatives

Table 25 Interrogatives (and indefinite pronouns)

Interrogatives Contractions Compounds
lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’ - -
thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’ ti ‘place’+ laɨ ‘which’ -
phɛɯ⁴ ‘who’ phù ‘person’+ laɨ -
‘which’
mɯ² lɛɯ⁴ ‘when’ - mɯ² ‘time’ + lɛɯ⁴
mɯ² thɛɯ⁴ ‘which’ /thɛɯ⁴
‘where’
kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how much’ kaa ‘price’ + h ̌ ‘or not’ khaɨ + lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’
kha¹lɛɯ⁴+CLF ‘how many’ kaa ‘price’ + h ̌ ‘or not’ khaɨ + lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’
na¹hɯ⁴ ‘how’ - nang¹ ‘this’ + hɯ⁴
‘how’
kɔp⁵ sang⁴ ‘why’ - kɔp⁵ ‘reason’ + sang⁴
‘what’
sang⁴ ‘what’ - -
le⁴/lɛ² ‘yes or no?’ - -

Shan-Ni uses the same interrogatives for ‘where’ and ‘who’ mentioned by Young (1985) as
contractions in Tai Mau, but has applied its own processes to the interrogatives as well. In
the overview given in Table 25, the ‘contractions’ refer to processes also present in Tai Mau,
and ‘compounds’ refer to processes specific to Shan-Ni. Using the word mɯ² ‘time’ in
combination with either lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’ or thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’ forms the interrogative ‘when’. While
the other interrogatives have joined two words into a new shape, mɯ² lɛɯ⁴ and mɯ² thɛɯ⁴
have not gone through such a process, and in both cases mɯ² ‘time’ is still very much a
separate lexeme from lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’ or thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’. The interrogative hɯ⁴ follows nang¹ ‘this’
in Shan-Ni, though this is often reduced to na¹hɯ⁴. The interrogative kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how much’
underwent both the contracting and the compounding process. First it became a contraction
described for Tai Mau as existing of kaa ‘price’ and h ̌ ‘or not’ with khaɨ as a result. In Shan-
Ni, lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’ was added and khaɨ was reduced to kha¹ through the process initial syllables
undergo, described earlier in this chapter. Shan-Ni uses kha¹lɛɯ⁴ both for ‘how much’ and
‘how many’, with ‘how many’ requiring an extra word specifying the type of thing asked about.
This is described in more detail in section 4.4.

53
3.3 Reduplication
Shan-Ni reduplicates adjectives, adverbs and verbs. Reduplicated adjectives modify nouns
they follow, and reduplicated adverbs modify verbs they follow. This form of reduplication is
obligatory; a non-reduplicated adjective functions as a verb in an intransitive predicate, and
many adverbs simply do not exist in a non-reduplicated form. The difference between the
absence and presence of reduplication is shown in the following sentences, which each start
with a disyllabic body part noun. Behind kɔng²kaang⁴ ‘chin’, yaaw⁴ ‘long’ is only used once
(14), hence it functions as a verb, forming the phrase ‘the chin is long’. When yaaw⁴ is
reduplicated, it becomes an adjective, hence with khon³ho³ ‘hair’, yaaw⁴ yaaw⁴ ‘long.RDP’
forms the phrase ‘long hair’ (15).

(14)
kɔng²kaang⁴ yaaw⁴
chin long
‘[The] chin is long.’
(BSS_87)
(15)
khon³ho³ yaaw⁴yaaw⁴
hair long.RDP
‘long hair’
(BSS_87)
(16)
kon⁴ tin⁴ yaaw⁴
person leg long
‘a long-legged person’
(Lit: ‘(S)he is a person of whom the legs are long’)
(BSS_87)

In (16) it might seem like long-legged is an adjective modifying ‘person’, but actually these
are two verb phrases built into each other. tin⁴ yaaw⁴ means ‘the legs are long’, which
together functions as a verb in relation to kon⁴ ‘person. This is outlined below.

(17) a. [ ] [ ] b. [ ] [ ]
[tin⁴] [yaaw⁴] [kon⁴] [tin⁴ yaaw⁴]
N V N V
‘N (tin⁴) is V (yaaw⁴)’ ‘N (kon⁴) is V (tin⁴ yaaw⁴)

The constructions above are not part of the same process described in section 3.1, used to
form disyllabic nouns. In nominal compounds the class term specifying the category comes
first, followed by a specifying item. Adjectives and verbs follow the noun. Hence, when as in

54
(18a) huj¹ ‘round’ precedes taa⁴, it is a class term part of the nominal compound. When pɔm²
‘round’ comes behind laa² ‘face’, it is a separate word, in this case a verb, creating the phrase
‘[the] face is round’.

(18) a. b.
huj¹ taa⁴ laa² pɔm²
round eye face round
‘eye’ ‘round face’ (Lit. ‘[the] face is round).

Reduplicated adverbs modify the verbs they follow, in the same way adjectives modify the
nouns they follow. In (19) the reduplication kyaang¹kyaang¹ ‘fast’ modifies kwaa¹ ‘go’, in (20)
cɔng³cɔng³ ‘a little’ modifies sɔn³ ‘study’, in (21) lɔj⁴lɔj⁴ ‘slow’ modifies kwaa¹ ‘go’ and in (22)
nam³nam³ ‘many’ modifies taan² khwaam⁴ ‘talk’. The adverbs in the examples below are not
used without reduplication, unless they are preceded by the intensifier aaj⁴ ‘very’.

(19)
kwaa¹ kyaang¹ kyaang¹ taang⁴ te¹ kaa⁵ taaj⁴
go fast.RDP manner FUT go die
‘If you go too fast, you’ll die.’ (Lit: ‘Going fast is the way to die’)
(MK_LT_07)
(20)
khwaam⁴ tai⁴ cɔng³cɔng³ te¹ sɔn³ nɛ²
language shan little.RDP FUTstudy DEF
‘[We] will study a little bit more Shan.’
(MK_LT_08)
(21)
kwaa¹ lɔj⁴lɔj⁴
go slow.RDP
‘Take it easy/drive carefully.’
(MK_LT_07)
(22)
pi¹ taan² khwaam⁴ nam³nam³
PROH talk language many.RDP
‘Don’t talk a lot.’
(BSS_65)

3.3.1 Remnants of an old system

Adjectives and certain intransitive verbs can be modified by reduplicated dummy words that
have no meaning by themselves. Young (1985:19) calls this “affective reduplication” and
describes how in Tai Mau there are pairs of these “nonsense items” with good and bad

55
connotations. These pairs usually exist of the same consonants, but have different vowels.
Items with a good connotation use the vowels /ɔ, ɛ, i, e/ and items with a bad connotation
use the vowels /u, o, a:/. For example, to change ʔū n ‘warm’ to ‘very warm’, ʔū n tɔ̂ t-tɔ̂ t would
indicate that it’s a pleasant kind of warmth, while ʔū n tû t-tû t would be the unpleasant variety.
Similarly, kɛ̄ n kɛ̌ k kɛ̌ k ‘very solid’ might refer to a solid construction that won’t fall apart
anytime soon, kɛ̄ n kǎ ak kǎ ak ‘very solid’ might refer to something that is supposed to be more
smooth or flexible (Young 1985:21).

good connotation bad connotation

‘warm’ ʔū n ʔū n tɔ̂ t-tɔ̂ t ʔū n tû t-tû t
‘solid’ kɛ̄ n kɛ̄ n kɛ̌ k kɛ̌ k kɛ̄ n kǎ ak kǎ ak

(Young 1985: 20, 21)

This system is not productive in Shan-Ni, but remnants of this system are present. Several
items listed by Young (1985) also feature in the Basic Spoken Shan-Ni book (Table 25).
Table 25 Shan-Ni reduplication matching examples of affective reduplication in Young
(1985: 19)
concept reduplicated form Connotation
‘cold’ kat¹ good
kat¹cit¹cit¹
‘hot’ maj² bad
maj²waat¹waat¹
‘red’ nɛng⁴ good
nɛng⁴khying¹khying¹
‘stiff’ khyɛng³ good
khyɛng³khɔng¹ khɔng¹
‘sweet’ waan³ bad
waan³ta¹lɤm² lɤm²

However, there is only one variant of each in Shan-Ni, hence the distinction between
‘good’ and ‘bad’ cannot be verified for Shan-Ni . In Table 26 I give an overview of the pairs I
found in both the Basic Spoken Shanni book and in Young (1985), and the connotation they
should have according to her. Of the other examples I found, the first three (hɛng² ‘dry’, lɛt¹
‘sunny’ and yɔm³ ‘thin’) are concepts that are not in Young’s list but fit the pattern she
describes. Others are partially included, but do not match completely. For example un¹
‘warm’ is included in Young’s list, but not with mun²mun². Instead it is included as un tɔ̂ t tɔ̂ t
(positive) – un tût tût (negative) (Young 1985: 21).
Tai Mau uses yɔt tsǔ k tsǔ k for ‘to trickle down’, of which the last part corresponds with yɯk⁵
cɯk⁵ cɯk⁵, which Shan-Ni uses for ‘wet’. Both are used when talking about rain, but not in the
same way. The other variant Shan-Ni uses for ‘wet’, yam⁴, does have two variants, but they

56
do not necessarily represent a pair with a good and bad connotation, and start with another
consonant. For ‘mushy’ Shan-Ni uses ɛ²paap⁵paap⁵ while Tai Mau uses yaam ʔɛ̂ t ʔɛ̂ t – yaam
ʔâat ʔâat.

Table 26 Adjectives with affective reduplication in Shan-Ni fitting Young’s typology

‘dry’ hɛng² ‘warm’ un¹
hɛng²khaap⁵khaap⁵ un¹mun²mun²
‘sunny’ lɛt¹ ‘wet’ yɯk⁵
lɛt¹taang¹taang¹ yɯk⁵ cɯk⁵ cɯk⁵
‘thin’ yɔm³ ‘wet’ yam⁴
yɔm³khyɛng² khyɛng² yam⁴pup⁵pup⁵
‘mushy’ ɛ²
ɛ²paap⁵paap⁵si³ yam⁴laaj⁴cɔp⁵cɔp⁵

In addition to the ones listed in tables 25 and 26, there are quite a lot of different
reduplication patterns that resemble the system as described by Young, though they do not
seem to follow the same rules. In view of the absence of the good/bad connotation, I expect
that affective reduplication is no longer a productive process in Shan-Ni, but that the
fossilized forms are present in the language. Shan-Ni takes in new words that are either verbs,
adverbs or adjectives themselves. Besides the structure described above with a single item
followed by two of the same items (XYY), another common pattern is two times two words
(XXYY). These are more common patterns in Burmese as well, and might be gradually
replacing affective reduplication in Shan-Ni.

(23)
mɤ² hɤ² naj⁵ kɔ⁵ phun³ tuk¹ sɔk⁵sɔk⁵ si³ yik⁵yik⁵ cɤk⁵cɤk⁵
time monsoon DEF PRT rain fall trickle.RDP LNK moist.RDP trickle.RDP
‘In the monsoon season it rains a lot.’
(BSS_109)

In the example above (23), sɔk⁵sɔk⁵ and cɤk⁵cɤk⁵ are connected to ‘trickle’ in Tai Mau (yɔt
tsɔ̌ k tsɔ̌ k (good), yɔt tsǔ k tsǔ k (bad)), though they are used together in a way that they
complement each other rather than being opposites expressing good and bad connotations.
They are used together with yik⁵yik⁵, which refers to ‘moist’, a related concept connected to
rain, though not a “nonsense item” or synonym to cɤk⁵cɤk⁵.

3.4 Summary
The shape of words in Shan-Ni illustrate the different innovation processes words have been
through, sometimes in combination with each other. Shan-Ni shares parts of these
developments with other languages, but other parts not. Class terms and similar phenomena
exist in other Tai languages, but they do not complement the majority of nouns like they do

57
in Shan-Ni. The next step in the process, reducing the first syllable/constituent of the
compound and turning the class terms into a minor syllable without a meaning of its own, is
a process common in non-Tai languages in the area. The old monosyllabic form, is no longer
a regular noun but gains a grammatical function. A good example to demonstrate this process
are the personal pronouns. While in their monosyllabic shape the former personal pronouns
are still used as possessive pronouns, the second and third person plural personal pronouns
have acquired class terms.
The shape of the question words and determiners also reveal participation in two different
processes. First the contractions, similar to Tai Mau, and second, the addition of class terms.
Through the combination of these processes, Shan-Ni has developed complex forms to ask
questions and talk about space, that do not correspond exactly with any other language in
the region. This process of layering innovations is applied in a similar way to reduplication.
Shan-Ni is using fossilized parts of what is a productive system in Tai Mau. Shan-Ni only uses
one half of pairs, lacking the good and bad connotation distinction, and is also uses
reduplication without the “nonsense items”.
The sesquisyllables, interrogatives and determiners will be compared in more depth to
other Tai languages in Chapter 7, alongside other features that will be discussed in the coming
chapters. The unique contribution the shape of words have to this, is that they illustrate the
layeredness of developments, which might be less clear in other features, though it certainly
affects the way these other features should be looked at.

58
 Chapter 4: Sentence structure and types of sentences
In a sentence with an overt subject, object and verb without TAM or other grammatical
markers, Shan-Ni has a subject-verb-object order, as in the sentences below. In (24) the dog
scares a child, and in (25) someone calls a frog.

(24)
maa³ khyauk⁵ luk⁵ɔn¹
dog scare.BM child
‘The dog scares the child.’
(PV_CAUS_2)
(25)
man⁴ hɔng⁵ taaj⁴ khyet¹
3SG call scream frog
‘He calls the frog.’
(KSN_FS_11)

Sentences like the ones above are rare. Most sentences do not have an overt subject, object
and verb without TAM or other grammatical markers. The subject, and sometimes the object,
may be omitted through ellipsis. Grammatical markers are present in almost every sentence,
influencing the word order and sentence structure. To understand how sentences work in
Shan-Ni, this chapter will thus focus on different types of sentences and the grammatical
processes that govern them. First information structure and ellipsis will be discussed, the
expression of arguments within the sentence. Then different types of sentences with copula,
existentials, questions and passives will be discussed. The other frequent grammatical
markers that are not present in these constructions will be explained in chapter 5, and the
usage of TAM markers in chapter 6.

4.1 Representing and omitting referents

The way referents are included in sentences in Shan-Ni depends on the information required
in order for the speaker to convey the intended message. In order to make an accessible
message with the least amount of processing effort, different types of coding are employed
(Van Valin & La Polla 1997: 201). New referents need an introduction, inactive referents need
to be activated, and active referent can be left out. When it is already clear to the listener who
the referent is, the referent is ‘active’. In sentences with active referents, Shan-Ni omits the
referent. This process is called ellipsis. To introduce a new referent an indefinite NP is used,
and to activate an accessible but inactive referent a definite NP is used (Van Valin & La Polla
1997: 201).

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4.1.1 Ellipsis
Ellipsis in Shan-Ni can apply to one or more noun phrases that are omitted, because the
speaker does not consider it necessary to mention them. This is either because they are clear
within the context or because the speaker already mentioned them before. For example,
sentences like (26),(27), and (28) are completely normal:

(26)
pi⁴ han³ aw⁴ pɔk⁵ maa⁴ kɤn⁴
if see take return come SHOULD
‘If [you] see [it], [you] should bring it back.’
(BSS_23)
(27)
kwaa¹ kaa⁵ taaj⁴ waj⁵
go GO die KEEP
‘[he] went [into the fire] and died’
(EP_LPL_38)
(28)
en² tok¹ ji³ te¹ kwaa¹
play fall LNK FUT go
‘[he] falls and goes [down to the water]’
(KSN_FS_43)

Sentence (26) does not specify 1) who should be returning something 2) what is supposed to
be returned. Similarly, (27) does not specify 1) who went (and died) and 2) where he went.
(27) and (28) almost exclusively contain verbs and TAM markers. Hence, in a regular
conversation between two people about themselves and their daily activities, a large
component of their conversation may consist almost exclusively of verbs and TAM markers,
because they can drop all noun phrases referring to themselves and everything obvious to
themselves. This means that, for example, a verb like khaaj³ ‘sell’ which is clearly
(di)transitive because it is used to refer to selling ‘something’, often is not accompanied by
an argument specifying what is being sold, because everybody knows what is being sold.
The usage of ellipsis thus requires an alternative way to study sentence structures and
transivity. For Lao, Enfield (2008: 88) suggests that the best way to look at transitivity is to
distinguish between phrases where the argument is present but ellipsed, and those in which
there is no argument at all. In practice, this means that it is often impossible to verify the
distinction. Rather than classifying verbs as ‘transitive’, ‘intransitive’ or ‘ambitransitive’, he
suggests looking at a variety of argument structure constructions and the accessibility of
verbs to those constructions. When looking into different argument structure constructions
in Shan-Ni, the difference in word order seems to depend on the presence of certain

60
grammatical markers. Therefore, throughout this chapter and the next, sentence structure
will be discussed in relation to the different grammatical markers.

4.1.2 Activating referents with naj⁵/nɛ²

The definite marker naj⁵ (often reduced to nɛ²) originally derived from the meaning ‘this’.
The most common usage of naj⁵ is as a definite marker, marking inactive or accessible
referents. These are referents that either been mentioned before or are present in the context,
though not active at the moment of speech yet. It is common for definite markers to assume
this role (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997: 201). Because ellipsis in Shan-Ni is very common, active
referents that are already the topic of conversation are usually left out. The usage of naj⁵
allows the speaker to switch between different referents present within the context. In (29)
this is illustrated by marking both ‘father’ and ‘mother’. The preceding conversation is about
family, and now we learn where the parents live; the father lives in Hpakant, and the mother
lives in Yangon. In (30), the story is about two women, Me Long and Me On, hence nɛ² is used
to clarify that this part is about what Me Long does. In (31) the speaker is talking about the
age she will have. In (32) nɛ² marks a longer argument ‘last month’.

(29)
pɔ² naj⁵ u¹ ti² phaa³ kaan⁵ mɛ² naj⁵ u¹ ti² taa¹koong¹
father DEF stay place stone.plates break.off mother DEF stay place yangon
‘Father stays in Hpakant, mother stays in Yangon.’
(BSS_30)
(30)
mɛ⁴ long³ nɛ² suk⁵ kaa⁵ kan⁴
wife big DEF rinse GO VPL
‘Me Long rinsed [the vegetables].’
(CM_ML_8)
(31)
kɛw⁴ naj⁵ saam³ sip¹ te¹ thon² yaw⁵
1SG DEF three ten FUT reach FINISHED
‘I will be thirty years old then.’
(BSS_32)
(32)
pon⁵ mɤ² mɤ² lɤn⁴ nɛ² sɯ⁵ waj⁵
last time time month DEF buy KEEP
‘It was bought last month.’
(NY_NMLe_17)
In conversations and spoken narratives man⁴ ‘3SG’ is often used in combination with naj⁵.
This would be the equivalent of English ‘as for X ...’. It is the same as shown above in (29),
where the mother and father are both marked in their own clause to inform where each of

61
them lives. In the following examples, U Than Sein is describing a family scene from a picture.
Since there are multiple people on the picture, he points out the activities of different
participants in the scene. For example, in (33) with pho³long³ man⁴ naj⁵ ‘as for the husband’
followed by a description of his activity het¹ lɔng² ‘does work’. After describing the other
things happening in the picture, the ‘husband’ is reintroduced as ‘father’ with pɔ² man⁴ naj⁵
‘as for the father’ followed by what he is about to do; te¹ kwaa¹ laɯ⁴ tɤn² ‘will go into the
forest’ (34). The father is alone in the forest, and he remains the active referent in the story.
Because it is clear that the referent is the father, the argument is dropped from that moment
onwards (35).

(33)
pho³long ³ man⁴ naj⁵ het ¹ lɔng²
husband 3SG DEF do work
‘The husband is working.’
(TS_HS_01)
(34)
pɔ² man⁴ naj⁵ te¹ kwaa¹ laɯ⁴ tɤn²
father 3SG DEF FUT go in forest
‘The father will go into the forest.’
(TS_HS_04)
(35)
te¹ kwaa¹ tɤn² te¹ kwaa¹ het ¹ lɔng²
FUT go forest FUT go do work
‘He is going into the forest, he is going to work.’
(TS_HS_05)
General concepts such as money or rice, are directly understood by all interlocutors and
require no introduction. Therefore, they are already treated as accessible referents (Van
Valin & LaPolla 1997: 200). In (36) ngɯn⁴ ‘money’ is marked by nɛ² in the general statement
‘money doesn’t make people happy’.

(36)
ngɯn⁴ nɛ² caa⁴ kon⁴ ma¹ haɯ⁴ com⁴ caɯ⁴
money DEF for person NEG give happy heart
‘Money doesn’t make people happy.’
Lit: Money does not give people a happy heart
(PV_CAUS_8)

4.1.3 Indefinite referents and classifier constructions

Indefinite constructions can be used to introduce new referents into the context (Van Valin
& LaPolla 1997: 201). In (37) the classifier constructions fulfil that role. First classifier

62
constructions introduce a boy (la¹ɔn¹ kɔ⁵ nɤng²) and a dog (maa³ to⁴ nɤng²) who are new to
the hearer. Besides these two referents there is also a frog (introduced with the classifier
construction khyet¹to⁴nɤng²) which was caught by ‘the boy’. Because this referent has
already been introduced, la¹ɔn¹ nɛ² ‘the boy’ has a definite marker.

(37)
la¹ɔn¹ kɔ⁵ nɤng² maa³ to⁴ nɤng² yaa¹ sɔj¹ khyet¹ to⁴
child CLF.human one dog CLF.animal one place pot frog CLF.animal

nɤng² nɛ² yang⁴ an² naj⁵ la¹ɔn¹ nɛ² waam⁵ aaj⁵

one DEF EXIST thing DEF child DEF catch PRT
‘There are a boy and a dog, and a frog, which was caught by the boy.’
(KSN_FS_01)
When using nouns in combination with numerals, Shan-Ni uses numeral classifiers, with both
the classifier and numeral following the noun. In case of a single object, the numeral nɤng²
‘one’ follows the classifier (38a), while with two or more objects the numeral precedes the
classifier (38b). When following a classifier, the first consonant of nɤng² ‘one’ is often
pronounced differently depending on what precedes it, making it sound like ɣɤng² or ʔɤng².
(38) a. b.
ngo⁴ to⁴ nɤng² ngo⁴ song³ to⁴
cow CLF.animal-one cow two CLF.animal
‘one cow’ ‘two cows’

In a sentence, a classifier construction functions as a normal noun phrase. In (39) the person
referred to has one shirt, expressed by sɤ² phɯn³ nɤng² with phɯn³ ‘cloth’ referring to the
material of the shirt, and nɤng² ‘one’ to in the number of shirts. In (40) the speaker has three
oranges, expressed by maak¹ cɔk¹ saam³ hoj¹ with saam³ referring to the number ‘three’, and
huj¹ to the shape ‘round’. The classifier hoj¹ is also used for fruits that are not necessarily
round17, for example bananas. In (41) two different arguments that are classified with hoj¹
are listed by the speaker. The two classifier constructions remain separate with hoj¹ marking
each of them individually, but they do follow each other without any linking particle.

(39)
ya¹ mɯn⁴ sɤ² phɯn³ nɤng² yang⁴ u¹
at 3SG shirt CLF.cloth one EXIST STAY
‘She has one shirt.’
(BSS_18)

17
And other objects that are not necessarily round, e.g. stones.

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 (40)
ya¹ kaw⁴ maak¹ cɔk¹ saam³ hoj¹ yang⁴ u¹
place 1SG fruit orange 3 CLF.round EXIST STAY
‘I have three oranges.’
(BSS_18)

(41)
khaw² mun² an² waan³ caa⁴ het¹ ang¹ ma¹haw³ khuj² sɔng³ hoj¹
food cake thing sweet for make for 3PL banana two CLF.round

maak¹un³hoj¹ ɤng² haɯ⁴ maa⁴

coconut CLF.round one give COME
‘I gave them two bananas and a coconut to make sweets.’

(KSN_CAUS_21)

Table 27 Numeral classifiers in Shan-Ni

Classifier Used for
an² general
kɔ⁵ persons
to⁴ animals
hoj¹ round, solid objects, e.g. stones, oranges
khyɛp¹ flat, hard objects
waan¹ round, open objects, e.g. bowls, cups
phɯn³ flat, flexible objects, e.g. blankets or leaves
thun³ bags
hu⁴ holes, drops, dots
mɔk¹ flowers
kɔk¹ cups
op⁵ books
lɛm² long, slender objects, e.g. boats, pencils, fans
maɯ⁴ spoons
taɯ² bottles
ku² pairs, e.g. shoes
thɤng² trees, plants
paa² side

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An overview of the classifiers in Shan-Ni is given in Table 27, though this overview is far from
complete. Other Tai languages such as Shan Gyi, Aiton or Phake have around 50 classifiers,
and the same can be expected for Shan-Ni. It might also be an open word class, accepting new
members. For example mɔk¹ the classifier for flower, exists as the noun ‘flower’ in other Tai
languages, but not as a classifier. The noun ‘flower’ itself in Shan-Ni is the disyllabic noun
mɔk¹yaa². This process may be influenced by the possibility in Shan-Ni to classify nouns with
an¹ ‘thing’, or the noun itself. For example, the noun hɤn⁴ ‘house’ can be classified in three
ways (42). In (a) hɤn⁴ ‘house’ is classified by hɤn⁴ itself, in (b) by the general classifier an²
‘thing’ and in (c) by lɛm², the classifier for long objects. To my knowledge, there is no
pragmatic difference between these three variations.

(42) a. b.
hɤn⁴ hɤn⁴ nɤng² hɤn⁴ an² nɤng²
house CLF.house one house CLF.thing one
‘one house’ ‘one house’

c.
hɤn⁴ lɛm² nɤng²
house CLF.long one
‘one house’

(MK_LT_08)

4.2 Copula
Like other Tai languages, Shan-Ni has a copula pen⁴/ pyin⁴/pyen⁴, but its usage is quite limited.
It is used in specific constructions like the superlative (see the section 5.1 on an²) and
otherwise as the verb ‘happen’. Cognates of pen⁴ in other Tai languages usually mean
‘be/become’ and are used for equation and proper inclusion. In this kind of sentences Shan-
Ni omits the copula and the subject is juxtaposed with it predicate. For example in (43), the
personal pronoun kaɯ⁴ ‘1SG’ and the name ‘Sai Aik’ suffice to make the phrase ‘I’m Sai Aik’. In
(44) kɔng²kaang⁴ ‘chin’ and yaaw⁴, ‘long’ are also juxtaposed without a copula, with yaaw⁴
functioning as an attributive verb. In (45) yaaw⁴yaaw⁴ ‘long’ is reduplicated, and functions as
an adjective instead. The distinction between yaaw⁴ ‘long’ as an attributive verb and
yaaw⁴yaaw⁴ is thus made by republication, and does not require a copula.

(43)
kaɯ⁴ caai⁴aai²
1SG sai aik
‘I’m Sai Aik’ (first-born son)
(BSS_14)

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 (44)
kɔng²kaang⁴ yaaw⁴
chin long
‘[The] chin is long.’
(BSS_87)
(45)
khon³ho³ yaaw⁴yaaw⁴
hair long.RDP
‘long hair’
(BSS_87)

When talking about someone’s occupation, Shan-Ni uses the phrase het¹ lɔng² X ‘do work X’.
Both (46) and (47) are answers to the same question meɯ⁴ hit¹ lɔng² sang⁴ ‘what kind of
work do you do?’. Though normally het¹ ‘do’ is a verb, and lɔng² ‘work’ is a noun, in this
construction we could say het¹ lɔng² ‘do work’ works as a single verb. In (46) it is followed
by another verb tɔ⁴ ‘weave’ and a noun huk¹ ‘loom’, making the sentence literally ‘I do work
weave loom’. (47) omits the subject, and includes two jobs: farmer and driver. For the
farmwork, only naa⁴ ‘land’ is placed behind het¹ lɔng². In the second part of the sentence the
noun kaa⁴ ‘car’ is marked by kɔ⁵ ‘also’, thus in this case the verb hɔ² ‘drive’ comes behind the
noun.

(46)
kaɯ⁴ het¹ lɔng² tɔ⁴ huk¹
1SG do work weave loom
‘I’m a weaver.’
(BSS_31)
(47)
het¹ lɔng² naa⁴ kaa⁴ kɔ⁵ hɔ²
do work land car also drive
‘[I] work on the farm, and I also drive a car.’
(BSS_31)

In some contexts, the copula pen⁴ is still used. In (48) pen⁴ is used to say that the water got
very high. This is what Me Mai sees at the end of the story, when she looks back from the
mountain of Lwemon. It is used in combination with the TAM markers kaa⁵ and waj⁵, with
kaa⁵ marking that the action is finished, and waj⁵ marking that this is something that was set
in motion, hence the water had finished getting very high. Earlier in the story, (49) shows
that pen⁴ is not used when the water is still rising. To express the concept ‘become’ Shan-Ni
uses the TAM marker maa⁴, which is explained in Chapter 6.

66
 (48)
nam⁵ pi⁴pi⁴ pen⁴ kaa⁵ waj⁵
water very.big COP GO KEEP
‘The water had gotten VERY big.’
(MK_IH_30)
(49)
nam² nɛ² yaɯ¹ maa⁴
water DEF big COME
‘The water got big.’
(MK_IH_17)

Below are three sentences with pyin⁴, which follow each other as part of the origin story of
how the Shan-Ni came to their current homeland. In (50), pyin⁴ is used as ‘happen’, with the
literal translation of the sentence being ‘fever happened’. The following two sentences (51)
and (52) start with pyin⁴ sang (waj⁵) yi³ ‘what happened was that…’, introducing an
explanation into the story. When sang⁴ follows a verb, the sentence turns into a question,
hence pyin⁴ sang⁴ means ‘what happened?’. When the linker si³/yi³ ‘that because’ follows
pyin⁴ sang⁴, this becomes ‘what happened was that…’.

(50)
khaj² naɯ³ pyin⁴ maa⁴ kaa⁵
sick cold COP COME GO
‘[He] got a fever’
(NN_TH_15)
(51)
pyin⁴ sang⁴ waj⁵ yi³ on² maa⁴ taa² maa⁴ taa²
happen what KEEP LNK weak COME PRT COME PRT
‘What happened was that he got weaker and weaker.’
(NN_TH_16)
(52)
pyin⁴ sang⁴ si³ nyaa⁴ caw² pung¹naa⁴
happen what LNK meet leader brahmin
‘What happened was that he met an astrologer.’
(NN_TH_17)

The combination with sang⁴ ‘what’ is by far the most common usage of pen⁴ in Shan-Ni. By
itself, it is a question pen⁴ sang⁴ ‘what happened?’ which could be answered by sang⁴ ma¹
pen⁴ ‘nothing happened’. As shown above, followed by si³ ‘LNK’, the phrase can be used in a
declarative sense, following an explanation of what happened. In some constructions, si³ is
not necessary, for example when followed by a negated clause initiated by ma¹. In (53) this

67
is illustrated with the sentence ‘I cannot say what happened to his slipper’. In (54) a husband
comes home, finds his wife’s blood on the floor, which makes him wonder what could have
happened. Here pyen⁴ sang⁴ is preceded by te¹ laj², resulting in the question ‘what could have
happened’.

(53)
yaa¹ khɔ²tin⁴mɯn⁴ pen⁴ sang⁴ ma¹ waa² pɛ⁵
place slipper 3SG COP what NEG say able
‘[I] cannot say what happened to his slipper.’
(BSS_90)
(54)
lɤt ⁵ pa¹ying⁴ kɛɯ⁴ te¹ laj² pyen⁴ sang⁴ i³
blood wife 1SG FUT GET COP what LNK
‘[That’s] my wife’s blood – what could have happened?’
(EP_NU_31)

4.3 Existential and possessive predicates with yang⁴

The existential verb in Shan-Ni is yang⁴. As an existential verb, it functions as a normal verb,
and does not require any specific particles. It can be used to refer to things that are physically
present in a place, like jade inside a mountain (55), or to say that there were a grandmother
a grandfather (56), or that the situation referred to was a long time ago (57). All TAM markers
can be used with yang⁴.
(55)
sɛng³ khew³ naj⁵ yang⁴ sɛng³ khew³ naj⁵ khaa³
gem green DEF EXIST gem green DEF search
‘There is jade, search for the jade.’
(NN_TH_20)
(56)
pu¹ ta¹ yaa² sɔng³ kɔ⁵ yang⁴ a¹
grandfather and grandmother two CLF.people EXIST PRT
‘There were a grandfather and a grandmother.’
(NN_ITL_3)
(57)
mɤ² ɔn⁴taang⁴ taang⁴ nang¹tɛ⁵tɛ⁵ yang⁴ maa⁴
time long.ago really EXIST COME
‘A really long time ago...’
(NN_TH_01)

An existential predicate can be initiated with yaa¹ ti² X ‘at place X’ to refer the place where
the subject ‘exists’. The same construction can also be used to express possession. In the two

68
sentences below the same construction is used, but in (58) yaa¹ ti²…yang⁴ is used to describe
the existence of a tree at a house, and in (59) yaa¹ ti²…yang⁴ is used to refer to the teacher
having two flowers.

(58)
yaa¹ ti² hɤn⁴ ton² ma¹kyɛng⁴ yang⁴ khaa² ɔ⁴
at place house tree tamarind EXIST POL PRT
‘At home there’s a tamarind tree.’
(BSS_18)
(59)
yaa¹ ti² mɔ³sɔn³mɔk¹yaa² sɔng³ mɔk yang⁴ u¹
at place teacher flower two CLF.flower EXIST STAY
‘The teacher has two flowers’
(BSS_18)

Instead of yaa¹ ti², the predicate can also start with only ti² ‘place’ (60), only yaa¹ ‘at’ (61),
(62) or nyaa⁴ ‘MEET’ (63), which all have the same function in this position. These variants are
used interchangeably depending on personal preference, but villages or cities are usually
preceded by nyaa⁴. This usage of nyaa⁴ ‘MEET’ is striking because it is used as ‘place’ but it is
a verb, and verbs are strange in this position. It is does not have a similar function in other
Tai languages. In Burmese ‘place’ is neya, which is pronounced in a similar way. This might
be influencing the usage of the nyaa⁴ in this position in Shan-Ni. Whenever nyaa⁴ is used to
refer to a place rather than used as a verb, it will be glossed in small caps.

(60)
ti² məhɤ³pu¹ta¹ya² sɔng³ kɔ⁵ lɛɯ⁴ luk⁵sao³ sip¹ kɔ⁵ yang⁴ nɛ²
at 3PL grandparents two CLF.people at child.F seven CLF.person EXIST DEF
‘The grandparents had seven daughters.’
(NN_ITL_4)
(61)
yaa¹ mɯn⁴ sɤ² phɯn³ nɤng² yang⁴ u¹
at 3SG shirt CLF.cloth one EXIST STAY
‘She has one shirt.’
(BSS_18)
(62)
yaa¹ kaw⁴ maak¹ cɔk¹ saam³ hoj¹ yang⁴ u¹
at 1SG fruit orange 3 CLF.round EXIST STAY
‘I have three oranges.’
(BSS_18)

69
 (63)
nyaa⁴ kaw⁴mɤ² mɤ²ngaa⁴ saam³ pak¹ yang⁴ acang de haa² heng³ yang⁴
MEET 1SG time yesterday three hundred EXIST now DEF five thousand EXIST
‘I had 300 yesterday, now I have 5000.’
(NY_NSIT_26)

For Phake, Morey (2005a: 310) describes only the option of having ti²…yang⁴ or only yang⁴
by itself. According to him, the difference in Phake is that ti² ‘place’ is used for alienable
possession, while in predicates with inalienable possession ti² is not used. For Shan-Ni that
does not work, because in (60) ti² does occur in front of the grandparents who have seven
daughters, but in (63) only the first part of the sentence is between nyaa⁴… yang⁴, the while
second predicate has yang⁴ without ti²/nyaa⁴/yaa¹/yaa¹ ti². The difference is not alienability,
but whether the subject (possessor) is dropped or not. Since ti²/nyaa⁴/yaa¹/yaa¹ ti²
precedes a subject, it will not be there either when there is no subject.

(64)
luk⁵caai⁴ kɔ⁵ nɤng² yang⁴ khaa² ɔ⁴
son CLF.human one EXIST POL EMPH
‘[She] has one son.’
(BSS_36)
(65)
pi²nɔng⁵ yang⁴ saam³ kɔ⁵
siblings EXIST three CLF.human
‘[I] have three sisters.’
(BSS_30)
(66)
kam²cɯm⁴ saam³ lɛm² yang⁴
ball.pen three CLF.thin.long EXIST
‘[I] have three ball pens.’
(BSS_60)

For things that are not there, yang⁴ is used in combination with ma¹ ‘NEG’. In (67) it refers to
the lack of money, in (68) the frog not being there anymore, in (69) there not being any food,
and in (70) it is used within the construction mɤ² mɛ² ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵ naj⁵ ‘when the mother
is not there anymore’.

(67)
caa⁴ man⁴ tɔj⁴ lu³ ngɯn⁴ ma¹ yang⁴ si³ waa² yi³ kaa⁴ maɯ¹ lɛm²
for 3SG look PRT money NEG EXIST LNK say LNK car new CLF.vehicle

70
 nɤng² sɯ⁵ maɯ¹ hɤn³ maa⁴
one buy new again COME
‘Look at him, he said he has no money but he bought a new car again.’
(PV_EMP_18)
(68)
phaa⁵ lɛng⁴ maa⁴ kaa⁵ man⁴ luk⁵ maa⁴ kwaa¹ tɔj⁴ khyet¹ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵
sky shine COME GO 3SG get.up come go see frog NEG EXIST GO
‘When the sun is up he gets up and checks, the frog is not there anymore.’
(KSN_FS_07)
(69)
caa⁴ kyin⁴ caa⁴ yam⁵ kɔ⁵ ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵ yaap¹ maa⁴
for eat for chew PRT NEG EXIST GO difficult COME
‘There was nothing to eat or to chew anymore, it became difficult.’
(NN_ITL_11)
(70)
mɤ² mɛ² ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵ naj⁵ pɔ² naj⁵ mɛ² kɔ⁵ nɤng² jaw⁵
time mother NEG EXIST GO DEF father DEF mother CLF.human one FINISH
‘When there is no mother anymore, the father is already a mother.’
(BSS_78)
In most of these examples yang⁴ is followed by the TAM marker kaa⁵ ‘GO’. When this TAM
marker is used the meaning becomes ‘not anymore’, hence referring to things that have been
there, but are gone now. The difference is illustrated by the pair below (71). Without kaa⁵,
the phrase sang⁴ ma¹ yang⁴ means ‘there’s nothing’. With kaa⁵, the phrase sang⁴ ma¹ yang⁴
kaa⁵ means ‘there isn’t anything anymore’, which is used for example when a restaurant runs
out of a favorite dish at the end of the day.
(71) a. b.
sang⁴ ma¹ yang⁴ sang⁴ ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵
what NEG EXIST what NEG EXIST GO
‘There’s nothing.’ ‘There isn’t anything anymore.’
(MK_LT_08)

4.4 Questions and indefinite pronouns

Question words used in content questions and indefinite pronouns are expressed with the
same words in different positions. Content questions are formed by placing the question
word at the end of the sentence, possibly followed by a TAM marker. These same words at
the beginning of a predicate function as indefinite pronouns. Table (28) provides an overview
of all the question words and indefinite pronouns in Shan-Ni.

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 Table 28 Question words and indefinite pronouns
Shan-Ni word Question word Indefinite Indefinite pron. +NEG ma¹
pronoun
le⁴/ lɛ² ‘yes or no?’ - -
sang⁴ ‘what’ ‘something’ ‘nothing’
phɛw⁴ ‘who’ ‘whoever’ ‘nobody’
thɛw⁴ ‘where’ ‘anywhere’ ‘nowhere’
mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ ‘when’ ‘whenever’ ‘never’
mɤ² thɛɯ⁴
nahɯ⁴ ‘how’ - -
kɔp⁵sang⁴ ‘why’ - -
kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how much’ - -
lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’ - -

The question words sang⁴, phɛɯ⁴ and thɛɯ⁴ always come at the end of the question. In (72)
the question phɯn³lik⁵ phɛɯ⁴ ‘whose book?’ only exists of the word phɯn³lik⁵ ‘book’ and the
question word phɛɯ⁴ ‘who’. In (73) thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’ follows the serial verb construction kwaa¹
laj² khaa³ ‘go get search’ with preverbal TAM marking te¹. In (74) the noun phak¹ ‘curry’
precedes sang⁴ ‘what’ to ask about the type of curry that will be cooked.

(72)
phɯn³lik⁵ phɛɯ⁴
book who
‘Whose book is that?’
(BSS_63)
(73)
te¹ kwaa¹ laj² khaa³ thɛɯ⁴
WILL go get searchwhere
‘Where can [I] go look for it?’
(BSS_34)
(74)
mɛɯ⁴ te¹ tang² phak¹ sang⁴
2SG FUT cook curry what
‘What curry will you cook?’
(BSS_116)

When these same words are used at the beginning of the sentence, they are indefinite
pronouns. In (75), phɛɯ⁴at the beginning on the sentence refers to ‘anybody’, and in (76)
thɛɯ⁴ refers to ‘anywhere’, which at the end of the sentence would be ‘who’ and ‘where’
respectively. Sometimes instead of sang⁴ ‘something’, ka¹sang⁴ (77) is used, though sang⁴

72
itself is also used (78). In all these sentences, the indefinite pronoun comes at the beginning
of the sentence, usually followed by the particle kɔ⁵. Usually, whether kɔ⁵ is included or not
makes no difference because the location already clarifies the meaning of the indefinite
pronoun versus the interrogative. For mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ ‘anytime’ it does matter whether kɔ⁵ is
included, because mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ ‘when’ can also be an interrogative at the beginning of the
sentence, and kɔ⁵ removes this ambiguity. In (79) mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ with kɔ⁵ thus refers to ‘anytime’,
while later in (82) mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ appears without kɔ⁵ at the beginning of the sentence, meaning
‘when’.

(75)
phɛɯ⁴ kɔ⁵ ma¹ het¹ leh¹
anybody PRT NEG do also.BM
‘Nobody cares.’
(MK_IH_14)
(76)
thɛɯ⁴ ma¹ kwaa¹
anywhere NEG go
‘I’m not going anywhere.’
(MK_LT_08)
(77)
ka¹sang⁴ kɔ⁵ ma¹ ko⁴
anything PRT NEG afraid
‘not afraid at all’
(PV_EMP_12)
(78)
sang⁴ ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵
anything NEG EXIST GO
‘There isn’t anything anymore.’
(MK_LT_08)
(79)
mɤ⁴ lɛɯ⁴ kɔ⁵ pi¹ maa⁴
time INDF PRT PROH come
‘Never come.’
(BSS_24)

The post-verbal TAM markers kaa⁵ and maa⁴ both come after the question word. (80) and
(81) contain almost the same questions, only in (80) maa⁴ indicates that somebody started
to cook something in the past and kaa⁵ that somebody finished cooking in the past. For
further discussion on kaa⁵ and maa⁴ Chapter 6.

73
 (80)
mɛɯ⁴ tang² phak¹ sang⁴ maa⁴
2SG cook curry what COME
‘What curry did you cook?’
(BSS_116)
(81)
tang² phak¹ sang⁴ kaa⁵
cook curry what GO
‘What curry did [you] cook?’
(BSS_96)

The question words kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how much’ and mɤ² thɛw⁴/ lɛɯ⁴ ‘when’ do not need to come
at the end of a sentence. In this case lɛɯ⁴ already follows what it modifies, for example mɤ²
‘time’, making mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ literally ‘which time’. In (82) mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ comes at the beginning of the
sentence, while in (83) it comes at the end. In both cases the other way around would be
acceptable as well, the emphasis would just be different. In (84) the verb thɤng³ ‘arrive’ and
the TAM marker maa⁴ follow the question word mɤ² thɛw⁴, because the TAM marker maa⁴
should come at the end, and this way the verb and the TAM marker do not have to be split up.

(82)
mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ te¹ maa⁴ maɯ¹
time which FUT come new
‘When will [you] come again?’
(BSS_33)
(83)
kaa⁴ ɔk¹ mɤ² lɛɯ⁴
car leave time which
‘When does the (bus)car leave?’
(BSS_49)
(84)
pɔ² hɛɯ⁴ mɤ² thɛɯ⁴ thɤng³ maa⁴
father 1PL time when arrive COME
‘What time did our father arrive?’
(NY_NS_01)

A similar situation in which lɛɯ⁴ already modifies what it follows applies to kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how
much’. The syllable kha¹ is already fossilized and attached to lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’ in kha¹lɛɯ⁴, but
from Tai Mau (Young 1985: 27) we can learn that originally kha¹ is a reduction from khaɨ
(‘how much’ in Tai Mau). This is the result of a contraction in Tai Mau is merger from kaa

74
‘price’ and h ̌ ‘or not’, making kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘which price’. For kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ‘how much’ it is to have
a verb such as yang⁴ ‘have’ (85) or laj² ‘get’ (86) following it.

(85)
a¹saak⁵ məɯ⁴ kha¹lɛɯ⁴ yang⁴ khaa⁵
age 2SG how.much have POL
‘How old are you?
(BSS_32)
(86)
kaa² man⁴ kha¹lɛɯ⁴ laj²
salary 3SG how.much get
‘How much salary does he get?’
(BSS_31)

Shan-Ni uses kha¹lɛɯ⁴ both for ‘how much’ and ‘how many’, with ‘how many’ requiring an
extra word specifying the type of thing asked about. In Khamti, Phake and Aiton only the
interrogative for ‘how much’ is similar to Shan-Ni’s kha¹lɛɯ⁴, for ‘how many’ they use a word
similar to kii. In Shan-Ni, when the referent itself is included in the question, the word to
specify the type of object asked about is often a classifier, such as kɔ⁵ ‘CLF.human’ (87) or hu⁴
‘CLF.hole’ (89) in the examples below. But in (88), the question is not about khɯn² ‘attend’ or
the dropped subject ‘school’, but about the time, hence mɔng⁴ ‘hour’ is used. If instead of
mɔng⁴ a classifier for school would be used, the question would be ‘how many schools attend?
(e.g. in a sports tournament)’. In the same way, in (89) the question is not about the quantity
of stairs, it is about the quantity of places for stairs. This reflects the fact that stairs are not
necessarily fixed, so the quantity of ‘stairs’ and ‘places for stairs’ do not have to be the same.

(87)
pi²nɔng⁵ yang⁴ kha¹lɛɯ⁴ kɔ⁵
siblings EXIST how.many people
‘How many siblings do you have?’
(BSS_30)
(88)
khɯn² kha¹lɛɯ⁴ mɔng⁴
attend how.many hour
‘What time does [school] start?’
(BSS_64)
(89)
hung⁴kha¹laaj³ kha¹lɛɯ⁴ ti² yang⁴
stairs how.many place EXIST
‘How many stairs (places) are there?’ (BSS_61)

75
 (90)
hu⁴ sap¹pa¹tu⁴ kha¹lɛɯ⁴ hu⁴ yang⁴
hole window how.many hole EXIST
‘How many window (holes) are there?’
(BSS_61)

For polar questions, Shan-Ni uses the interrogative particle le⁴ (or lɛ²) at the end of
the phrase. It is unique to Shan-Ni, and does not seem to have an equivalent cognate in other
Tai languages. It is possible that it is cognate with the question word nai¹ in Khamti, though
in Khamti it is also used in combination with content questions (Inglis 2014: 112). It would
not be strange, since /n/ and /l/ are allophones in Shan-Ni for words that often have an initial
/n/ in Khamti. In these questions the speaker aims at finding out whether something is true
or not, for example in (91) whether the interlocutor is free tomorrow, or in (92) whether the
item is bought already or in (93) whether the interlocutor would like to drink sweet tea.

(91)
mɤ² phɔk⁵ laap⁵ le⁴
time tomorrow free QP
‘Are you free tomorrow?’
(BSS_69)
(92)
sɯ⁵ yaw⁵ lɛ²
buy FINISHED QP
‘Did you buy it already?
(BSS_34)
(93)
nam⁵ leng² waan³ te¹ sot⁵ le⁴
water tea sweet FUT drink QP
‘Would you like some (sweet) tea?’
(BSS_97)

Alternatively, le⁴ or lɛ² can be replaced by nɔ³ or naa³ when the answer is already implied.
This is the same in Aiton and Phake (Morey 2005a: 350). nɔ³ (95) and naa⁵ (96) are tag
questions, meaning something similar to ‘isn’t it?’ or ‘right?’. They might be (old) borrowings,
both based on the frequently used Burmese particle nɔ ‘isn’t it’.

(94)
haw⁴ te¹ khyi¹ hɤ⁵ men⁴ naa⁵
1PL FUT ride boat fly TAG
‘We’re going by airplane, isn’t it?’
(BSS_70)
76
 (95)
lɤn⁴ laa² te¹ maa⁴ thop¹ nɔ³ te¹ thop¹ tɔ¹ kan⁴ yu¹
month face FUT come meet TAG FUT meet talk VPL STAY
‘Next month you will come meet [me] right? [We] will speak to each other.’
(BSS_98)

4.5 Passive
Shan-Ni can make passive-like sentences with laj² khaam² ‘get crossed’, literally indicating
that a subject got “crossed” by some outside force. In (96) the subject was bitten by a dog,
and in (97) a daughter was expelled from school. Verbs made passive in these constructions
are nominalized by an² ‘thing’. For example, in (96) kaap⁵ ‘bite’ (verb) is nominalized to
an²kaap⁵ ‘bite’ (noun), and then followed by laj² khaam² ‘got crossed’, meaning that the
subject ‘got crossed’ by a bite. In (97) an² nominalizes ha⁴ ɔk¹ ‘made to exit’ becoming an²
ha⁴ ɔk¹ ‘expulsion’, hence in this phrase, the daughter ‘got crossed’ by expulsion. This
construction does not exist in any other Tai or Tibeto-Burman language in the region.

(96)
kaɯ⁴maa³ an² kaap⁵ laj² khaam² kaa⁵
1SG dog thing bite GET CROSS GO
‘I was bitten by a dog.’
(PV_NS_2)
(97)
luk⁵saaw³ man⁴ caa⁴ hung⁵hen⁴ an² ha⁴ ɔk¹ laj² khaam²
daughter 3SG for school thing CAUS exit GET CROSS
‘His daughter was expelled from school.’
(PV_NS_9)

4.6 Conditional
Conditional sentences in Shan-Ni can be made by with sang³ pi⁴, pi⁴ or (sang⁴)pɯ⁴. I did
not find any distinctions in their usage, though sang³ pi⁴ seems to be the most common
variant in spoken language. The conditional is followed by a verb, such as tang² ‘cook’ in
(98) or han³ ‘see’ in (100). In both of these sentences the subject is omitted, but when this
is not the case, as in (99) with nam⁵ ‘water’ and in (101) with lom⁴ ‘wind’, the subject
precedes the conditional marker sang⁴ pɯ⁴. In (102) the adverb later also precedes the
conditional pɯ⁴.

77
 (98)
sang³pi⁴ tang² khaw² nam⁵ pi⁴ haɯ⁴ nam³
if cook rice water PROH give much
‘If [you] cook rice, don’t put too much water.’
(BSS_117)
(99)
nam⁵ sang³pi⁴ nam³ ɛ²paap⁵paap⁵ si³ mə ¹kyin⁴ li⁴
water if many soft.RDP LNK NEG eat good
‘If [you add] too much water it will be soft and not tasty.’
(BSS_177)
(100)
pi⁴ han³ aw⁴ pɔk⁵ maa⁴ kɤn⁴
if see take return come SHOULD
‘If [you] see [it], [you] should bring it back.’
(BSS_23)
(101)
lom⁴ sang⁴pɯ⁴ hɛng⁴ sɤ²phaa² sing⁴ waj⁵ ni⁴ni⁴ naa⁵ caang²
wind if strong shirt cloth tighten keep good.RDP TAG know

pɛw⁴ lom⁴ kwaa¹

decrease wind go
‘If the wind is strong tighten your clothes well, if the wind decreases [you] can go.’
(BSS_110)
(102)
kha¹nang³ pɯ⁴ thop¹ kɔ⁵ hɔng⁵ khaa² naa³
later if meet PRT call POL isn’t.it
‘If [you] find it back later, please call me’
(BSS_33)

4.7 Dependent clauses with an² ‘thing’, mɤ² ‘time’ and ti² ‘place’
Dependent clauses are usually iniated by an² [the thing that…], ti² [the place that] or mɤ²
[the time time that] and are closed by the definite marker naj⁵/nɛ². Sentences with an² ‘thing’
might be analyzed as relative clauses, while this would be less suitable for sentences with
mɤ² ‘time’ and ti² ‘place’. Because the usage and structureof these sentences in Shan-Ni is
identical, I will discuss them together. an² may or may not be preceded by a head noun
specifying the ‘thing’ that is talked about. (103) includes the head noun kaa⁴ ‘car’,
specificying that the thing the interlocuter had talked about was a car. In (104) lɔng² ‘work’

78
precedes an², specifying that the thing that was ordered was work. These sentences would
still be correct when removing the headnoun.

(103)
kaa⁴an² mɛɯ⁴ waa² naj⁵ sɯ⁵ kaa⁵ de⁴
car thing 2SG say DEF buy GO Q
[H] [ DC ]
‘Did you buy the car you were talking about?’
(NY_NS_18)
(104)
ma¹su³ pi²nɔng⁵ lɔng² an² kaɯ⁴ caɯ⁴waj⁵ naa⁵
2PL sisters work thing 1SG order KEEP PRT
[H] [ DC ]
‘You sisters, the work I ordered you…’
(BSS_210)

Without a head noun, not much changes in the sentence, it is just that the type of thing is not
specified by a noun preceding it, like above with ‘car’ and ‘work’. In (105) the relative clause
is ‘the thing we wanted to do’ and in (106) ‘thing(s) that give strength’. In (105) the preceding
sentences are about gold mining, so it is clear from the context that the ‘thing’ refered to is
the activity gold mining. In (106) the interlocutor is advised to eat ‘things that give strength’,
so it is clear this refers to food. Similar to the ellipsis discussed at the beginning of this chapter
where already obvious subjects are omitted, obvious head nouns can also be omitted.

(105)
an² khaj² het¹ naj⁵ tang⁴long³ het¹ si³ laj²
thing want do DEF everyone do LKN GET
[ DC ]
‘the thing [we] wanted to do, everybody can do.’
(BSS_39)
(106)
an² te¹ yang⁴ hɛng⁴ naj⁵ kyin⁴
thing FUT EXIST strength DEF eat
[ DC ]
‘Eat things that give strenght.’
(BSS_72)

This could be seen as posthead (102, 103) and internally headed relative clauses (104, 105),
but that would suggest two different types of relative clauses. Since this is again about
information structure in which a known and active argument is omitted, it should not be read
that way. The head noun is there, either literally, or in the understanding of the speaker and

79
listener. If it is there, it precedes the relative clause. If it would be seen as and internally
headed relative clause, the headnoun would be an². Since an² is included regardless of the
presence of an external headnoun, that analysis does not work for Shan-Ni.
Temporal dependent clauses start with mɤ² ‘time’ and end in the definite marker naj⁵,
similar to relative clauses with an² ‘thing’. In (106) mɤ² mɛɯ⁴ thɤng³ naj⁵ refers to ‘the time
you arrived’, and is followed a direct question about what happened in the recent past. (107)
can be read in a more conditional way, with mɤ² mɛ² ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵ naj⁵ ‘the time mother
isn’t there anymore’ referring to any situation in which the mother is not present anymore.

(107)
mɤ² mɛɯ⁴ thɤng³ naj⁵ pi²caai⁴ mɛɯ⁴ thɤng³ kaa⁵ de⁴
time 2SG arrive DEF brother 2SG arrive GO QP
[ DC ]
‘When you arrived, had your brother arrived already?’
(NY_NS_20)
(108)
mɤ² mɛ² ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵ naj⁵ pɔ² naj⁵ mɛ² kɔ⁵ nɤng² jaw⁵
time mother NEG EXIST GO DEF father DEF mother CLF.human one FINISH
[ DC ]
‘When there is no mother anymore, the father is already a mother.’
(BSS_78)
Any noun, noun phrase or clause about physical places (including ‘at’ people) starts with ti²,
yaa¹, nyaa⁴ or yaa¹ ti². Similar to an² and mɤ², spatial referents can head relative clauses. In
(109) it used in front of a classifier structure, ending with the demonstrative lɛɯ⁴ ‘at’ rather
than naj⁵. In (110) naj⁵ is also not used, but it is clear that nyaa⁴ laɯ⁴ hɤn⁴ haw⁴ ‘in our
household’ is a relative clause because otherwise the personal pronoun kaɯ⁴ ‘1SG’ would
have to be a possessive pronoun instead.
(109)
ti² məhɤ³pu¹ta¹ya² sɔng³kɔ⁵ lɛɯ⁴ luk⁵sao³ sip¹ kɔ⁵ yang⁴ nɛ²
place 3PL grandparents two CLF.people at child.F 7 CLF.person EXIST DEF
[ DC ]
‘The grandparents had seven daughters.’
(NN_ITL_4)
(110)
nyaa ⁴ laɯ⁴ hɤn⁴ haw⁴ kaɯ⁴ an² jaɯ¹ ji³ pen⁴
MEET inside house 1PL 1SG thing big LNK be
[ DC ]
‘In our household I’m the oldest.’
(MK_LT_08)

80
 Chapter 5: Grammatical markers
Apart from the different types of sentences discussed in Chapter 4, there are also a number
of words that have developed into grammatical markers, each with their own unique function.
Some of these have developed from regular words, whereas others also exist as grammatical
markers in other Tai languages but often are slightly different or have additional functions in
Shan-Ni. Some of these markers may have quite different functions depending on their
context, and in general this relates to two patterns. Firstly, they all have some relation to the
meaning of the word they derived from, and secondly, they often mirror Tibeto-Burman
grammatical markers in different ways. To illustrate this, I will point out the correspondences
these markers have with Burmese. Nevertheless, as elsewhere, it has to be taken into account
that Shan-Ni is and has for a long time been in contact with a large number of other
neighbouring Tibeto-Burman languages, hence similarities may also be due to contact
between Shan-Ni and these languages. Of course the fact that interviews went through
Burmese facilitates this connection, but all these markers are common in daily oral
communication and non-elicited texts as well. It is striking that each of these markers
facilitates Shan-Ni/ Burmese bilinguals to communicate the same nuances through the
different languages in their repertoire, though none of them are direct lexical borrowings,
nor translations of the Burmese equivalents.

5.1 The nominalizer an² ‘thing’

Noun phrases are often headed by an² ‘thing’, referring to ‘something that is X’. It can precede
words from a variety of word classes, modifying them to into a noun (phrase). Followed by
only a verb, an² can form a new noun. The nouns for ‘food’, ‘death’, ‘love’ and ‘dance’ (111)
are formed that way. This way of forming new nouns is quite productive, for example with
an²kaap⁵ ‘bite’ (112) derived from the verb ‘bite’ and an²haaj² ‘cry’ (113) derived from the
verb ‘cry’.
(111) a. b. c. d.
an² kyin⁴ an² taaj⁴ an² hak⁵ an² kaa²
thing eat thing die thing love thing dance
‘food’ ‘death’ ‘love’ ‘dance’
(MK_LT_08)
(112)
kaɯ⁴ maa³ an² kaap⁵ laj² khaam² kaa⁵
1SG dog thing bite get CROSS GO
‘I was bitten by a dog.’
(PV_NS_2)

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 (113)
an² haaj² kɔ⁵ yin⁵ kan⁴ kwaa¹ yaw⁵
thing cry PRT hear VPL go FINISHED
‘you hear the cry [slowly] ceasing’
(BSS_129)

an² can also be used with attributive verbs followed by the linker si³ and the verb pen⁴ ‘be’
to make superlative constructions. For example, to speak about the oldest (115), the
smallest (116) or the most most beautiful (117).

(114)
nyaa ⁴ laɯ⁴ hɤn⁴ haw⁴ kaɯ⁴ an² jaɯ¹ ji³ pen⁴
MEET inside house 1PL 1SG thing big LNK be
‘I’m the oldest in our house.’
(MK_LT_08)

(115)
nang ¹ nɛ² an² ɔn¹ ji³ pen⁴
this DEF thing small LNK be
‘This is the smallest.’
(MK_LT_08)
(116)
an² saan⁴ ni³ pen⁴
thing beautiful LNK be
‘the most beautiful’
(MK_LT_08)

With demonstratives an² can refer to objects specifying the distance, as in ‘that/this thing
(over there)’. This construction may or may not include the definite particle naj⁵/nɛ²/naa⁵,
which is obligatory when an² introduces a full noun phrase. In (118) an² and nang¹nɛ² ‘this’
together form ‘this thing’, in (119) an² and pɯn⁴ naj⁵ together form ‘that thing’ and in (120)
an² and pɯn⁴than² refers to ‘that thing over there’.

(117)
an² nang¹nɛ² kaa² aaj⁴te⁴kɔ⁵ mɔ³sɔn³
thing this car friend teacher
‘This is my friend’s teacher’s car.’
Lit. This thing is my friend’s teacher’s car
(PV_EMP_16)

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 (118)
an² pɯn⁴ nai⁵ hu⁵ ma¹ caɯ² le⁴
thing there this know NEG true QP
‘You know that thing, right?’
(BSS_96)
(119)
an² pɯn⁴than² aw⁴ maa⁴ kyaang¹kyaang¹
thing over.there take come fast.RDP
‘Bring that thing over there quickly.’
(BSS_26)

Nouns can precede an² in this construction, specifying the type of ‘thing’ an² refers to. Hence
in (121) an² naj⁵ ‘this thing’ is specified by lɤ⁵ ‘meat’ making it ‘this meat (thing)’. In (122)
the noun lɔng² comes before an² making it ‘work thing’, but here instead of naa⁵ following
an² directly, there is a whole sentence in between an² and naa⁵.

(120)
lɤ⁵ an² naj⁵ kaɯ⁴ kwaa¹ sɯ⁵ maa⁴ nan⁵ na¹hɯ⁴ ni⁴ yu¹ le⁴
meat thing this 1SG go buy COME that how good STAY QP
‘How good is this meat I bought?’
(BSS_96)
(121)
ma¹su³ pi²nɔng⁵ lɔng² an² kaɯ⁴ caɯ⁴ waj⁵ naa⁵
2PL sisters work thing 1SG order KEEP PRT
‘You (sisters), the work I ordered you…’
(BSS_210)

When an² modifies a more complex noun phrase, the noun phrase needs to be closed with
the particle naj⁵/ nɛ² to mark what is included in the noun phrase. Whereas above an²
nominalizes verbs, in the examples below this is not the case. For example, an² khaj² het¹ naj⁵
is ‘the thing [we] wanted to do’ (122) and an² te¹ yang⁴ hɛng⁴ naj⁵ ‘the thing that gives
strength’ (123).

(122)
an² khaj² het¹ nai⁵
thing want do DEF
‘the thing [we] wanted to do.’
(BSS_39)

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 (123)
an² te¹ yang⁴ hɛng⁴ nai⁵ kyin⁴
thing FUT EXIST strength DEF eat
‘Eat [food] that gives strenght.’
(BSS_72)

5.2 The verbal plural marker kan⁴

The verbal plural marker kan⁴ is used in Shan-Ni to refer to things that are done by multiple
people, either reciprocally or simultaneously. The reciprocical function of kan⁴ is common in
other Tai languages, while the simultaneous function is not. In the examples below kan⁴ is
used reciprocally. In (124) kan⁴ is used to show that this couple will continue quarrelling
with each other their whole lives. Similarly, in (125) kan⁴ is used in the second part to show
that [we] will speak to each other.

(124)
pho³ ta¹ me⁴ sɔng³ kɔ⁵ caa⁵caa⁵ thaa⁴thaa⁴ u¹ kan⁴ tɔ¹ co²
husband.wife two CLF.human angry.RDP swear.RDP STAY VPL until life
‘That couple will keep quarrelling their whole lives.’
(BSS_80)
(125)
lɤn⁴ laa² te¹ maa⁴ thop¹ nɔ³ te¹ thop¹ tɔ¹ kan⁴ yu¹
month face FUT come meet isn’t.it FUT meet talk VPL STAY
‘Next month you will come meet [me] right? [We] will speak to each other.’
(BSS_98)

In most contexts, kan⁴ is used to refer to situations in which actions are done by multiple
persons at the same time. Though this has overlap with reciprocity, it is broader than that.
Simultaneous actions only require the participation of multiple persons, but is does not
require people to do a certain action ‘to each other’. Both the speakers I worked with and the
book Basic Spoken Shan-Ni consistently translate kan⁴ as kya [ က ], which in Burmese is used
as a plural marker for verbs. Okell and Allott (2001:16) describe Burmese kya as a marker
which “emphasizes (a) the mutuality of the action, or (b) the fact that several actors were
engaged separately, severally or (c) (confusingly) that all actors acted together”. The
description “(a) the mutuality of the action” fits the reciprocal examples discussed above, but
the examples below indeed fit the last two parts of the description better. In (126) two sisters
are pounding rice the whole day, which is not reciprocal, but is a joint action. In (128) the
parents are both worried about their child, not about each other, so also here it is
simultaneous rather than reciprocal.

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 (126)
tang⁴ waan⁴ het¹ kan⁴ yu¹
with day do VPL STAY
‘[They] are doing it [pounding rice] the whole day.’
(BSS_121)
(127)
haw⁴ kyin⁴ kan⁴ cɔm⁴
PL eat VPL follow
‘We eat together.’
(MK_LT_08)
(128)
pɔ² mɛ² khaw³ kɔ⁵ caɯ⁴ maj² kan⁴ yu¹
father mother 3PL also heart hot VPL STAY
‘[The parents] are also worried.’
(BSS_14)

5.3 The particle kɔ⁵

The particle kɔ⁵ ‘also’ is a homonym of the human classifier kɔ⁵. They are easily confused, but
their functions are quite different. Both words also occur as separate lexemes in Phake
(Morey 2005a: 145). In most sentences kɔ⁵ can be translated directly as ‘also’ after a verb
(129) or noun (130). In (129) someone is offered a ride because the driver goes into the same
direction, and (130) is a common phrase hosts say about their own food when they have
guests.

(129)
tang⁴ kaa⁴ khyi¹ kɔ⁵ laj²
with car ride PRT GET
‘[You] can also drive along with the car.’
(BSS_48)
(130)
phak¹ kɔ⁵ ma¹ li⁴
curry PRT not good
‘The curry is also not good.’
(BSS_45)

Sometimes when kɔ⁵ is used, it cannot be directly translated as ‘also’, nor does it really have
a translation. Often kɔ⁵ follows a clause, like in the examples below (131, 132, 133). Except
for closing a clause it does not seem to have a specific function in this context. In Phake this

85
would mark a topicalized phrase, indicating that the core sentence is following (Morey 2005a:
248). This analysis does not entirely work for Shan-Ni, as in (133) it does follow a conditional
clause but it is not necessarily topicalized.

(131)
kha¹nang³ pɯ⁴ thop¹ kɔ⁵ hɔng⁵ khaa² naa³
later if meet PRT call POL isn’t.it
‘If you find it back later, please call me’
(BSS_33)
(132)
an² man⁴ phaan³ nɛ² kɔ⁵ caa⁴ pa¹ying⁴man⁴ kha¹laj² nɛ² ma¹ laj²
thing 3SG poor DEF PRT for girl 3SG want DEF NEG GET

thop¹ nyaa⁴ pɛ⁵

encounter meet can
‘Because of his poverty he cannot marry the girl he wants.’
(PV_CAUS_7)
(133)
mɤ² hɤ² nai⁵ kɔ⁵ phun³ tok¹ sɔk⁵sɔk⁵ si³ yik⁵yik⁵ cɤk⁵cɤk⁵
time monsoon DEF PRT rain fall trickle.RDP LNK moist.RDP trickle.RDP
‘In the monsoon season it rains a lot.’
(BSS_109)

Another function of kɔ⁵ is as an indefinite in combination with an interrogative, together

forming an indefinite pronoun. In this construction the indefinite pronoun is at the beginning
of the phrase, whereas when used for question it would usually come at the end. The
examples below are all negated. For example, in (134) as ka¹sang⁴ kɔ⁵ refers to ‘nothing’, in
(135) mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ kɔ⁵ to ‘never’ and in (136) phɛɯ³ kɔ⁵ to ‘nobody’.

(134)
ka¹sang⁴ kɔ⁵ ma¹ ko⁴
what PRT NEG afraid
‘not afraid at all’
(PV_EMP_12)
(135)
mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ kɔ⁵ pi¹ maa⁴
time which PRT PROH come
‘never come.’
(BSS_24)

86
 (136)
tang⁴ phɛɯ⁴ kɔ⁵ ma¹ kaɯ² kan⁴
with who PRT NEG near VPL
‘with nobody near’
(BSS_120)

This function is not limited to interrogatives either; Shan-Ni can also use kɔ⁵ as an indefinite
marker after a noun, for example below in (137) kaa² kɔ⁵ ‘any dance’. In (138) kɔ⁵ follows
caa⁴ kyin⁴ caa⁴ yam⁵ ‘for eating, for chewing’, meaning that there was nothing to eat or to
chew.

(137)
ma¹ taang² kaa² kɔ⁵ kaa²
NEG way dance PRT dance
‘I also don’t know any dance.’
(BSS_33)
(138)
caa⁴ kyin⁴ caa⁴ yam⁵ kɔ⁵ ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵ yaap¹ maa⁴
for eat for chew PRT NEG EXIST GO difficult COME
‘There was nothing to eat or to chew, it became difficult.’
(NN_ITL_11)

5.4 The linker si³

The particle si³ is a linker used to connect two phrases. It can occur as si³, ni³, yi³ or i³. It has
several functions, most of which have some overlap with Burmese lo [ လိ ].့ Depending on the
context it could be translated as ‘that’, ‘and’ or ‘because’, or remain untranslated. The most
basic usage of si³ is to link two verbs that are separate actions, rather than part of the same
serial verb construction contributing to the same action. In (139) hɔng⁵ ‘call’ and taaj⁴ ’shout’
are part of the same action, but simultaneously the children are also sitting, hence si³ is used
to connect nang² ‘sit’ to hɔng⁵ taaj⁴ ‘(call) shout’. In (140) the boy is ‘faring a tree’ tɤn²maj⁵
khyi¹ and ‘climbing (going upstream) back’ khɯn² pɔk⁵ maa⁴ to where he came from. The two
actions connected by yi³ show that he is doing both things simultaneously, though they still
remain described as two different things. At the same time, khɯn² ‘climb’ and pɔk⁵ ‘return’
are not separated by another yi³, since they contribute to the same action.

(139)
luk⁵ɔn¹ nang² si³ hɔng⁵ taaj⁴ su¹ u¹
child sit LNK call shout towards STAY
‘The children are sitting and shouting at each other.’
(DS_LT_08)

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 (140)
an² nyaa⁴ tɤn²maj⁵ khyi¹ yi³ te¹ khɯn²pɔk⁵ maa⁴
thing MEET tree ride LNK FUT climb return COME
‘On the tree he fares back.’
(KSN_FS_46)
When it links two verbs, si³ can follow both verbs to show multiple things happened in a
certain time frame. In (141) wa² yi³ ‘talk’ kap¹ yi³ ‘communicate’ are both connected to te¹
pɔk⁴ maa⁴ kaa⁵ ‘was going back’ because the subject did both when he was going back. In
(142) the astrologer explains the king that (a) he will get rid of the illness and (b) he will
become better, which are both followed by si³, linking them both to waa² ‘say’.

(141)
wa² yi³ kap¹ yi³ te¹ pɔk⁴ maa⁴ kaa⁵ lɤt⁵ pɤ⁴pɤ⁴
talk LNK communicate LNK FUT return COME GO blood all.over
‘Talking and discussing [with his mother] he was going back, and the blood was
all over.’
(EP_LP_30)
(142)
yo¹ga¹ te¹ haaj³ si³ te¹ li⁴ maa⁴ si³ waa²
illness.BM FUT loose LNK FUT good come LNK say
‘You will get rid of the illness and get better, he said.’
(NN_TH_21)

When si³ is used to link two actions the most common verb to be part of such a combination
is kwaa¹ ‘go’. This thus means somebody did something and left. In (143) the frog ran out and
went away. In (144) a man is coming towards the speaker with a goat and leaves again. In
(145) si³ kwaa¹ is used in a slightly different way, to emphasize that the person has eaten
completely everything. A similar construction with just tang⁴long³ kyin⁴ ‘eat everything’
would be enough to express that everything was eaten, but si³kwaa¹ is used to add extra
emphasis.
(143)
khyet¹to⁴ nɤng² paaj² aw⁴ yi³ kwaa¹
frog CLF.animal one run take LNK go
‘The frog ran out.’
(KSN_FS_06)
(144)
tang¹ seik¹ maa⁴ si³ kwaa¹
with goat.BM come LNK go
‘With the goat he comes and goes.’
(AT_LT_30)

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 (145)
man⁴ tang⁴long³ kyin⁴ si³ kwaa¹ yaw⁵
3SG everything eat LNK go FINISHED
‘He ate everything.’
(CM_EMP_5)
A very common expression with si³ is si³ma¹laj², the equivalent of ‘cannot’. It is used in
combination with any verb, telling the interlocutor something cannot be done. For example
in (147), the interlocutor is told (s)he cannot go to the pagoda festival today. This does not
imply that the speaker is the one putting on the restriction, or that the interlocutor is not
allowed to go. If the interlocutor would not be allowed to go, this would be expressed with
ma¹ haɯ⁴ kwaa¹, as shown in (148). This construction also works without the negator ma¹,
as shown in (149) with khaw² si³ laj² yaw⁵ ‘can enter already’.

(146)
wan¹ma¹laj⁵ mɛɯ⁴ pɔj⁴ phraa⁴ kwaa¹ ji³ ma¹ laj²
today 2SG fair pagoda go LNK NEG GET
‘You cannot go to the pagoda festival today.’
(PV_CAUS_25)

(147)
mɤ²phok⁵ pɔj⁴ phraa⁴ ma¹ haɯ⁴ kwaa¹
tomorrow fair pagoda NEG GIVE go
‘You are not allowed to go to the temple fair tomorrow.’
(PV_CAUS_01)

(148)
khaw² si³ laj² jaw⁵ sap¹pa¹tu⁴ put¹ jaw⁵
enter LNK get FINISHED door open FINISHED
‘You can come in already, the door is already open. ‘
(NY_NS_38)

The linker si³ is also part of the construction si³ u¹ with the TAM marker u¹ ‘STAY’. This is
discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.

(149)
luk⁵ɔn¹ ne¹ eng² si³ u¹
child PL play LNK STAY
‘The children are playing.’
(CM_EMP_3)

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5.5 The prohibitive pi¹
The prohibitive pi¹ ‘prohibits’ the action indicated by the verb it precedes. In (150) it
precedes taan² khwaam⁴ ‘talk’, in (151) u¹ ‘stay’, and in (152) maa⁴ ‘come’. As it is about
actions the speaker prohibits the listener to do, there is no TAM marking, and since is it
usually part of a conversation where the referent is clear, there will not be any subject
expressed.

(150)
pi¹ taan² khwaam⁴ nam³nam³
PROH talk language a.lot.RDP
‘Don’t talk a lot.’
(BSS_65)
(151)
nyaa⁴ thaj² pi¹ u¹ nyaa⁴ nam⁵ nɔng³ long³
MEET here PROH stay MEET water lake big
‘Don’t stay here, at Indawgi.’
(MK_IH_07)
(152)
mɤ⁴ lɛɯ⁴ kɔ⁵ pi¹ maa⁴
time INDF PRT PROH come
‘Never come.’
(BSS_24)
(153)
pi¹ khaan⁵ aan¹ lik⁵
PROH lazy count write
‘Don’t be lazy to study.’
(BSS_65)
(154)
nang¹nan⁵ pi¹ het¹ nang¹nɛ² het¹
that PROH do this do
‘Don’t do that, do this.’

(BSS_23)

5.6 Plurality
As already briefly mentioned in section 3.1.3, one of the grammatical functions of the no
longer used personal pronoun khaw³ ‘3PL’ is that of a plurality marker for humans. To
indicate plurality, it is placed behind two important participants of the group it applies to, for
example in (156) pɔ² lɛng⁵ ‘biological father’ and mɛ² lɛng⁵ ‘biological mother’ are followed

90
by khaw³ to refer to the concept ‘biological parents’. The combination of pu¹ ‘grandfather’
and yaa² ‘grandmother’ refers to old people in general. Any prepositions or morphology can
be marked on both elements of the pair, like the reduced a¹ (from ang¹ ‘for’) preceding both
pu¹ ‘grandfather’ and yaa² ‘grandmother’ in (156). When it is specifically about the two
people mentioned, for example grandfather and grandmother in (157), sɔng³ kɔ⁵ ‘two
people’ is used instead of khaw³.

(155)
pɔ² lɛng⁵ mɛ² lɛng⁵ khaw³
father give.birth mother give.birth 3PL
‘biological parents’
(BSS_80)
(156)
a¹ pu¹ a¹ yaa² khaw³
for grandfather for grandmother 3PL
‘for grandparents/elderly people’
(BSS_78)
(157)
pu¹ ta¹ yaa² sɔng³ kɔ⁵ yang⁴ a¹
grandfather and grandmother two CLF.people EXIST PRT
‘There were a grandfather and a grandmother.’
(NN_ITL_3)

The same process with khaw³ as a plural marker also exists in Khamti, sometimes in
combination with nai¹ ‘this’ as nai¹khaw⁵ (Inglis 2014: 40) . However, Khamti uses khaw³ as
a general plural marker, whereas Shan-Ni restricts the usage of khaw³ to people. Plural
objects or animals in Shan-Ni can be marked with the marker ne¹/le¹, which is probably
derived from the definite marker naj⁵/nɛ². It specifies the difference between the indefinite
concept which may or may not involve plurality and a concept that is definitely plural. Hence
in example (158), tin⁴ man⁴ mɯ⁴ man⁴ is unmarked hence denotes the concept of ‘his limb(s)’
without specifying whether this is plural or not. If we want to specify whether the limbs are
plural or not, we can say mɯ⁴ man⁴ tin⁴ man⁴ ne¹ for ‘his limbs’ or tin⁴ man⁴ paa² nɤng² or
e.g. ‘his foot (one side)’. Unmarked by anything this works the same; in (161) the dishes are
referred to as ‘flat plate round plate’ without a definite marker, leaving it open what type of
dishes there actually are and whether it is plural or not.

(158)
tin⁴man⁴ mɯ⁴ man⁴
foot 3SG hand 3SG
‘his limb(s)’
(BSS_126)
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 (159)
mɯ⁴ man⁴ tin⁴ man⁴ ne¹
hand 3SG foot 3SG PL
‘his limbs’
(BSS_126)
(160)
tin⁴ man⁴ paa² nɤng²
foot 3SG side one
‘his leg’
(BSS_126)
(161)
kyin⁴ yau⁵ laang⁵ paan⁵ wan¹
eat FINISHED wash plate.flat plate.round
‘After eating wash the dishes.’

(BSS_72)

Although in some sentences ne¹ could be seen as a definite marker, there are sentences in
which this does not seem to be the case. This is also the only function in which the definite
marker can be pronounced with an /l/. Though it is common for naj⁵ to be reduced to nɛ² or
maybe even ne¹, le¹ is only used as a plural marker. Still, it is not used for people. The examples
below are almost identical in structure, though in (162) ngo⁴ ‘cows’ is marked by le¹ while in
(163) kɔn⁴ ‘people’ remains unmarked.

(162)
yaa¹ maan² ngo⁴ le¹ aaj⁴ phɔ⁴ u¹
at village cow PL very enough stay
‘In the village there are many cows.’
(BSS_19)
(163)
yaa¹ ti² mɤng⁴ kɔn⁴ aaj⁴ nam³ u¹
at place city people very many stay
‘In the city there are many people.’
(BSS_18)

5.7 Summary
The grammatical markers discussed in this chapter are all very common in Shan-Ni daily
speech. Most of them do not exist or do not have the exact same function in other Tai
languages, though they do have a Burmese equivalent. This is most evident with the verbal
plural kan⁴and the linker si³. kan⁴ exists as a reciprocal marker in other Tai languages, but in

92
Shan-Ni it is commonly used for simultaneous actions or actions done by multiple
participants, similar to Burmese cha. si³ in other Tai languages is mostly used between verbs,
but in Shan-Ni is also used as a linker, similar to the usage of the Burmese lo, often meaning
‘because’ or ‘that’.
The word for ‘thing’ an² in Shan-Ni is used as a nominalizer, identical to the Burmese prefix
a-. Similar to Burmese it can also be part of superlative structures. The difference is that Shan-
Ni also uses it before demonstratives, which does not happen in Burmese. The only other Tai
language in which a cognate of an² has similar functions is Khamti, which Inglis (2014)
describes in detail in his dissertation.
The markers kɔ⁵, pi¹ and ne¹ / le¹ also allow direct translation to and from Burmese. Though
they may have additional functions, they allow for bilinguals to express common Burmese
expressions through Shan-Ni, in ways that do not always exist in other Tai languages. The
plural marker ne¹ / le¹ is unique to Shan-Ni and like the Burmese twe not obligatory, but used
for emphasis. The difference is that Shan-Ni does not use this plural marker for people, but
uses khaw³ instead. In Khamti, khaw⁵ is used as a plural marker for both people and objects.

Table 29 Shan-Ni grammatical markers and their correspondences in other languages

Shan-Ni Function Burmese Other Tai Comment
equivalent languages
an² Nominalizer အ- [a-] Only in Khamti Not for demonstratives in
Burmese
kan⁴ Verbal plural က [cha] Only reciprocal In Shan-Ni reciprocal and
multiple participants/
simultaneous, like
Burmese
kɔ⁵ ‘also’ လည်း [leeh] Common
Clausefinal - Topicalization in
particle Phake
si³ Linker လံ [lo] Between verbs Between verbs and as
‘because’ or ‘that’
pi¹ Prohibitive မ..နဲ [mə..
့ nɛ]
ne¹/ le¹ Plural ေတွ [twe] Absent, khaw⁵ in Both non-obligatory
Khamti

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 Chapter 6: Tense, Aspect, Mood (TAM) markers
Shan-Ni has nine tense, aspect and mood markers. Individually or in combination with each
other, they place events in time. The TAM markers have grammaticalized from words that
still exist in their original function in the language. To a certain extent, they correspond with
the TAM markers in Phake and Aiton described by Morey (2005a, 2008). Because of the
extensive description Morey has given on the TAM markers, I will discuss the TAM markers
in Shan-Ni mostly in comparison to his work.
The TAM markers derived from words (mostly verbs), having to different degrees retained
transparency to the original words they derived from. For example waj⁵ ‘keep’ has retained
the same form as both regular verb and TAM marker, while the TAM marker kaa⁵ ‘GO’ is
derived from the same origin as the verb kwaa¹ ‘go’. Some of these markers have a reduced
vowel (/ə/ or /ɤ/) in comparison to the word they derived from. In those cases the script has
often retained the vowel of the source word. Morey (2005a: 321) categorizes these markers
Table 30 TAM markers in Shan-Ni and Tai Aiton/ Phake, origin and usages
Shan-Ni Tai Aiton Derived Description Morey (2008) Usage in Shan-Ni
(Morey from
2008)
kaa⁵ kaa⁵ GO Marker of past time Similar
maa⁴ maa² COME Marker of past time, used when Similar
the scope of the process indicated
by the verb is in some way
towards the speaker
waj⁵ wai³ KEEP Marker of past time, used when Similar
the process indicated by the verb
had or has some continuation
yaw⁵ ʒau³ FINISHED Indicates that the process of the Similar
verb is complete, or that a section
of the text has been completed
te¹ tak¹/ta¹/t - Marker of future action, or action Similar
i¹ which should be undertaken
u¹ uu¹ STAY Emphatic, continuous/ Similar to other sources,
progressive in other sources not to Morey
kɤn¹ - SHOULD/ - Something expected to
YET occur in the future, but
has not occurred yet
kaw¹ - OLD - Something the speaker
has already experienced
at some point in the past
laj² dai³/nai³ GET In preverbal position, indicates Same, possibly more
that the process has been or will complex
be accomplished

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in three different groups: those that precede the verb, those that can either follow the verb
directly or come at the end of the core sentence, and those that can only come at the end of
the core sentence. An overview of the TAM markers in Shan-Ni and a comparison with their
description in Morey (2005a, 2008) is provided below.
Five TAM markers in Shan-Ni look similar to the ones described by Morey for Phake and
Aiton. However, their functions and usages in Shan-Ni are not completely identical. Two
Shan-Ni TAM markers are not included in Morey’s description for the Tai languages of Assam.
One of these is kɤn¹, which in the Tai languages of Assam does mean ‘should’, but is not used
as a TAM marker. In Shan-Ni it is frequently used as a TAM marker, especially in combination
with the negator ma¹, referring to things that have not happened yet. The other marker is
kaw¹, which in other Tai languages simply means ‘old’. In Shan-Ni, kaw¹ marks whether
events have already been experienced in the past. The grammaticalization of verbs into TAM
markers is thus an active process, with markers existing in both varieties, having slightly
different functions and Shan-Ni introducing new TAM markers. This does not only provide
insights into the different functions Shan-Ni can express, but also into the historical processes
behind these developments.
Most Shan-Ni’s TAM markers refer to the past when used alone, but have a different
function in combination with one or two other TAM markers. They do not all fit nicely into
the categories tense, aspect and mood, and have other features distinguishing them from one
another. For that reason, I follow Morey’s glosses referring to the original verbs they derived
from, writing them in small caps to mark that they are grammaticalized. Hence, the lexical
gloss ‘go’ refers to the regular verb ‘go’ whereas ‘GO’ refers to the TAM marker which is a
grammaticalization of the verb ‘go’. Following this system, I have given the Shan-Ni specific
TAM markers kaw¹ and kɤn¹ the glosses OLD and SHOULD/YET, referring to their original
meanings. For the future marker te¹ I gloss FUT, because Morey’s gloss WILL does not match
the origin nor function of the marker in Shan-Ni.
In this overview, laj² ‘GET’ is only discussed in preverbal position in combination with the
future marker te¹. Although it is possible for laj² to be a TAM marker postverbally as well (as
it is in other Tai languages), the sound changes and additional functions TAM markers
acquire in Shan-Ni make that many particles could be interpreted as having derived from laj².
At this point, I cannot say anything conclusive about the post verbal developments of laj².
Touching upon that level of complexity goes beyond the scope of this thesis and should be
left for future research.
TAM marking in Shan-Ni is not obligatory, nor exclusive. A sentence can have zero, one,
two or more TAM markers. There is no combination I have found to be impossible, though I
will only discuss the combinations that are most common and are influencing the way the
Shan-Ni speak about time.

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6.1 Phrases with TAM markers
Shan-Ni marks tense, aspect and mood either before the verb or at the end of the clause. The
examples below illustrate three ways to express time, and will later be elaborated on in their
own sections. In (a), kaa¹ ‘GO’ is used because father and mother left in a particular moment
in the past. In (b), yau⁵ ‘FINISHED’ is used, expressing that three days have come to an end. In
(c) kɤn¹ ‘YET’ is used to express the parents have not returned yet.

a) aymV arBF cE0f tGuf wMif; ugm um h

po² mɛ² khaw³ ɔk¹ taang⁴ kwaa¹ kaa⁵
father mother PL leave path go GO
‘Father and mother went travelling…’

b)
saam³ wan⁴ yang⁴ yau⁵
three day have FINISHED
‘…three days have passed already…’

c)
ma¹ thɤng³ pɔk⁴ maa⁴ kɤn¹
NEG arrive return come YET
‘…they haven’t return yet.’
(BSS_78)

The same set of TAM markers can be used to refer to the current state of the sun, using, kaa¹
for the time after sunrise, yau⁵ FINISHED for daytime, when they sky has shown “its face”
already and kɤn¹ for the sun not having risen yet.

a)
phaa⁵ lɛng⁴ kaa¹
sky bright GO
‘after sunrise’

b)
phaa⁵ laa² yaw⁵
sky face FINISHED
‘daytime’

c)
phaa⁵ ma¹ lɛng⁴ kɤn¹
sky NEG bright YET
‘before sunrise’
(BSS_66, 67)

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6.2 The terminative aspect marker kaa⁵ ‘GO’
The marker kaa⁵ [ ] is derived from kwaa¹ [ ] ‘go’. It is used post-verbally to describe
an event that happened in the past, without specifying the moment it happened. It
corresponds with the Tai Aiton equivalent described by Morey (2005a: 326) as “the simple
past time, indicating that the action of the verb is ‘gone’ “. In this way, it is a terminative aspect
marker, in contrast with the inchoative aspect marker maa⁴. It is used as the most general
past marker, with maa⁴, yau⁵ and kau¹ being used in more specified contexts. While the TAM
marker kaa¹ in Shan-Ni differs from the verb it derived from, kwaa¹ ‘to go’, it does correspond
with both the TAM marker and the regular verb in the Tai languages of Assam, both being
kaa¹. In (164), one of the examples also given in the introduction, kaa⁵ is used to say the
parents went travelling, in (165) to say that the boy slept and in (166) that his returned. All
of these actions were completed at a particular moment in the past18.

(164) aymV arBF cE0f tGuf wMif; ugm um h

po² mɛ² khaw³ ɔk¹ taang⁴ kwaa¹ kaa⁵
father mother PL leave path go GO
‘Father and mother went travelling…’
(BSS_77)
(165)
mɤ² man⁴ lǝ⁵ɔn¹ lɔn⁴ kaa⁵
time 3SG child sleep GO
‘When he was asleep…’
(KSN_FS_5)
(166)
pa¹ying⁴ mɛɯ⁴ pɔk⁵ kaa⁵
wife 2SG return GO
‘Your wife has returned.’
(EP_LP_28)

Similar to the function of kaa¹ in Tai Aiton (Morey 2005a: 326), kaa⁵ in Shan-Ni can mark
multiple verbs in the same construction. In Shan-Ni this is a strategy often used in narratives
to describe a sequence of actions, usually repetitive. In the examples below, the main
character is running away from home because her mother-in-law put glass in the rice pot, so
her daughter-in-law would cut herself. In (167), she is running down the stairs while blood
is falling on the stairs. In (168), she arrived in the banana forest and is trying to clean her
wounds while continuing to run.

18
The verb lɔn⁴ ‘sleep’ also means ‘laying down’, hence kaa⁵ is used because he already laid down.

97
 (167)
yaa¹ hung⁴kha¹laaj³ lɤt⁵ thwe⁴ ho⁴ tuk¹ kaa⁵ maa⁴ kaa⁵
at stairs blood blood.BM stairs fall GO come GO
‘The blood fell onto the ladder.’
(EP_LP_13)
(168)
nyaa⁴ tɤn² khuy² suk⁵ kaa⁵ maa⁴ kaa⁵
MEET tree banana clean GO come GO
‘Around the banana trees she was cleaning and going.’
(EP_LP_17)

kaa¹ is also always used to talk about death, things that have finished and are already not
there anymore, although they once were (169). The expression yaw⁵ kaa⁵ (170) is used to
express a sequence, like ‘and then’ in English. In Tai Aiton and Phake this expression occurs
as yau³ maa², hence using COME instead of GO (Morey 2005a: 329). Example (171) shows the
difference between a sentence without kaa⁵ ‘there’s nothing’ and with kaa⁵ ‘there’s nothing
anymore (but there was something)’. In this context kaa⁵ in combination with the negator
means ‘not anymore’.

(169)
lu³ jɯ⁴ kaa⁵ sap¹ kwaa¹ taaj⁴ kaa⁵
mouse shoot GO strike go die GO
‘He shot the mouse and the mouse died.’
(TS_HS_25)
(170)
kwaa¹ nam⁵mi³lɔng² yaw⁵ kaa⁵ te¹ kwaa¹ mɤng⁴nɔng³
go water.bear.descend FINISHED GO FUT go lake.city
‘After going to Nammilaung, go to Maing Naung.’19

(MK_LT_08)
(171) a. b.
sang⁴ ma¹ yang⁴ sang⁴ ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵
thing NEG EXIST thing NEG EXIST GO
‘There’s nothing.’ ‘There isn’t anything anymore’
(MK_LT_08)

19
Village names were changed to sound Burmese, but the original names are Shan-Ni. Therefore ‘Maing Naung’ is
actually mɤng⁴nɔng³ ‘lake city’ and ‘Nammilaung’ nam⁵mi³lɔng² the place where bears come down to the water.

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6.3 The inchoative aspect marker maa⁴ ‘COME’
The inchoative aspect marker maa⁴ ‘COME’ is grammaticalized from the verb maa⁴ ‘come’. It
marks the addition of an initial boundary to an action (Ljungqvist 2003: 22). It recognizes the
initial phase as a separate state, distinguished from the other state(s) occurring or imagined
in the background. It may be interpreted as a single point in time, or it can refer to an
intermittent state varying in length. (Zanned 2011: 195). In other words; it marks the
beginning of a verb, without specifying any details on the final boundary or the duration of
the verb. When maa⁴ is the only TAM marker, it is used for past events. In many cases, maa⁴
and kaa⁵ can be used in similar contexts, like in (172) and (173). With kaa⁵ in (173), it is clear
that the interlocutor is already done cooking, while in (172) with maa⁴ it is only specified
that the interlocutor started cooking. (S)he might be finished, but she might also still be
cooking.

(172)
mɛɯ⁴ tang² phak¹ sang⁴ maa⁴
2SG cook curry what COME
‘What curry did you (start) cook(ing)?’
(BSS_116)
(173)
tang² phak¹ sang⁴ kaa⁵
cook curry what GO
‘What curry did [you] cook?’
(BSS_96)

In (175) and (176) maa⁴ iniates a narrative; something has happened and it is not known yet
how it ended. In (175) the widow had a dream, and the sentences after that specify what
happened in that dream. In (176) we learn that the frog escaped, started a narrative in which
the boy and the dog search for the escaped frog.

(174)
mɛ² maai² phan³ han³ maa⁴
lady widow dream see COME
‘The widow had a dream.’
(MK_IH_4)
(175)
maa³ ti² lɔt⁵ maa⁴
dog place escape COME
‘[The frog] escaped from the dog’s place.’
(KSN_FS_16)

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In (176) and (177) the verbs ‘give’ and ‘jump’ do not allow for a long duration, so it is clear
that these (past) actions have already been completed. In these sentences, maa⁴ is used
because it marks the initial phase of something different than that what was happening in the
background.
(176)
maak¹un³huj¹ ɤng² haɯ⁴ maa⁴
coconut CLF.round one give COME
‘I gave them two bananas and a coconut to make sweets.’
(KSN_CAUS_21)
(177)
caa⁴ si³ lɤ⁴ hɤn⁴ wɛn³ tuk¹ maa⁴
for LNK on house jump fall COME
‘[He] jumped down from the house.’
(BSS_20)
With stative verbs, maa⁴ refers to things that “became” something. It can refer to the state of
a person, for example in (178) where someone became rich, or other physical things, such as
rising water (179), or to situations, like in (180) where the lack of food made life difficult.
(178)
man⁴ nai⁵ caa⁴ mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ mi⁴ maa⁴
3SG PRT for time which rich COME
‘When did he become rich?’
(BSS_37)
(179)
nam⁵ nɛ¹ yaɯ¹ maa⁴
water DEF big COME
‘The water became big.’
(MK_IH_17)
(180)
caa⁴ kyin⁴ caa⁴ yam⁵ kɔ⁵ ma¹ yang⁴ kaa⁵ yaap¹ maa⁴
for eat for chew PRT NEG EXIST GO difficult COME
‘There was nothing to eat or to chew, it became difficult.’
(NN_ITL_11)
For Tai Aiton and Phake, Morey (2002: 328) describes maa² as “...marker of past time [..] in
the specific context of the action referring towards the speaker or place where the speaker
is.” This definition could work for (174), where a dream came towards the widow, or (177)
where someone jumped down from a house. It does not work for sentences like (175), where
the frog escaped (to an unknown place), or in other setences where the direction does not
seem to be specified by maa⁴. Rather, it marks the initial phase of an action, without
specifying a final boundary. It is also not exclusively used for the past; in combination with

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the future marker te¹ it can also be used as ‘become’, as in (181) where the water will rise
(become big) in seven days.

(181)
cet¹ wan⁴ pɔ⁴ waa² nam⁵ te¹ yaɯ⁴ maa⁴
seven day enough say water FUT big COME
‘In seven days the water will rise.’
(MK_IH_13)

6.3.1 Combining [ ] maa⁴ and [ ] kaa⁵

In the previous sections we have seen that the inchoative maa⁴ is used in sentences where
the speaker refers to actions that were initiated in the past (regardless of their ending), while
the terminative kaa⁵ is used to talk about actions that were finished in the past (regardless
of their beginning). The combination of the two markers, maa⁴ kaa⁵, is used for events that
were both initiated and finished in the past. In the examples below, the narrator describes
the moment the subject had already arrived on the mountain (182), the water had risen
already (183), and the subject had returned already (184). Within the Indawgyi History
narrative, example (183) actually follows (179), discussed above for maa⁴. The sentences
only differ in the usage of maa⁴ versus maa⁴ kaa⁵, describing a sequence saying ‘The water
got big’ (it started, but we do not know whether it ended) ‘The water got big already’ (it
started and finished, that’s where we are now). This repetition with a change from maa⁴ to
maa⁴kaa⁵ is common in storytelling.

(182)
nyaa⁴ lɤ³ lɔj⁴ thɤng³ maa⁴ kaa⁵
MEET on mountain arrive come GO
‘They had arrived on the mountain’
(MK_IH_23)
(183)
nam⁵ nɛ¹ yɛɯ¹ maa⁴kaa⁵
water DEF big COME GO
‘The water got big already.’
(MK_IH_18)
(184)
pɔk⁵ maa⁴ kaa⁵ pho³lung³ man⁴ pɔk⁵ maa⁴ kaa⁵
return COME GO husband 3SG return COME GO
‘When she came back her husband also had come back.’
(EP_LP_26)

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6.4 The past marker waj⁵ ‘KEEP’
The past marker waj⁵ derived from the verb ‘keep’ and is used to mark the initiation of an
action, with the intention of having a lasting result. Morey (2005a: 331) describes the
function of the Tai Phake equivalent waj³ to be an action with the intention to have a lasting
result, though there is no mention of the action being deliberately initiated by the subject.
When speaking about waj⁵ in Shan-Ni, speakers tend to explain waj⁵ by translating it literally
to the Burmese particle [ထား] htaa, derived from the verb [ထား] htaa ‘put’. Okell & Allot
(2001: 142) describe the function of htaa as “V permanently, V and leave, V so that there is
some lasting result” 20 . The most important factor for Shan-Ni however remains that it is
something deliberately initiated. In (185) waj⁵ is used show that the speaker gave the book
to the hearer, and in (186) to show that the item was bought last month. In both cases the
actions where deliberate, and iniated a new situation. In (187) waj⁵ is used to refer the work
the speakers ordered the sisters, emphasizing that she ordered them to work, and they are
still obliged to complete it. In (188) waj⁵ follows leng⁵ ‘bare’, referring to a pig giving birth,
hence also marking an action indicating a new state.

(185)
phɯn³lik⁵ kaɯ⁴ haɯ⁴ waj⁵ kaa⁵ mɛɯ⁴ pat¹ jaw⁵ le⁴
book 1SG give KEEP GO 2SG read FINISHED QP
‘Did you read the book I gave you?’
(PV_NS_3)
(186)
pon¹ mɤ² mɤ² lɤn⁴ ne⁵ sɯ⁵ waj⁵
last time time month DEF buy KEEP
‘It was bought last month.’
(NY_NMLe_17)
(187)
ma¹su³ pi²nɔng⁵ lɔng² an² kaɯ⁴ caɯ⁴ waj⁵ naa⁵
2PL sisters work thing 1SG order KEEP PRT
‘You sisters, the work I ordered you…’
(BSS_210)
(188)
mu³ to⁴ nɤng² leng⁵ waj⁵ nai⁵ tɔj⁴ cɔm⁴ kɤn¹
pig CLF.animal one give.birth KEEP DEF look follow SHOULD
‘A pig just gave birth come take a look.’
(BSS_12)

20
Okell & Allot (2001) use V here to refer to ‘verb’, and can be replaced with a verb of choice

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Another usage of waj⁵ is as an imperative, telling someone to do something. For example in
(189) where the speaker asks the interlocutor to clean the plates after using them, or in (190)
where the speaker urges the interlocutor to pick the fruit carefully.

(189)
kyin⁴ yau⁵ laang⁵ pɔk⁵ waj⁵
eat FINISHED clean return KEEP
‘After eating clean [the plates] again.’
(BSS_45)
(190)
mak¹ maj⁵ sɔng⁴ nɤng² tim⁴ tim⁴ kyip¹ waj⁵
fruit yellow CLF.fruit one slow slow pick KEEP
‘Pick the fruit carefully.’
(BSS_13)

6.5 The perfective marker yaw⁵ ‘FINISHED’

The verb yau⁵ ‘finish’ is grammaticalized from the verb ‘finish’ to a past marker describing
actions that have been completed. In most contexts, it can be translated literally to English as
‘already’. They describe actions with some duration, whereas kaa⁵ and maa⁴ are used for
actions with a shorter time span. Similar to the English word ‘already’, there is an emphasis
on the action being completed, perhaps against the expectation of the interlocutor. In the
examples below, yaw⁵ is used to describe a situation where three days have passed already,
someone has eaten ‘everything’ emphasizing duration and completeness of the action.

(191)
saam³ wan⁴ yang⁴ yaw⁵
three day have FINISHED
‘…three days have passed already…’
(BSS_78)
(192)
man⁴ tang⁴long³ kyin⁴ si³ kwaa¹ yaw⁵
3SG everything eat LNK go FINISHED
‘He ate everything.’
(CM_EMP_5)
(193)
sɯ⁵ yaw⁵ lɛ²
buy FINISHED Q.POL
‘Did you buy it already?
(BSS_34)

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According to Morey (2005a: 337) yau⁴ in Phake is a perfective aspect marker, because it can
also be used to speak about the future. In Shan-Ni this is also possible, though in those cases
yaw⁵ has to be combined with the future marker te¹. It can be used to speak about things that
will be completed in the future, for example an age that will be reached at the moment
referred to (194). It is also used in combination with te¹ to speak about things that are
happening already, for example when people are coming back already (195).

(194)
kaw⁴ nai⁵ saam³ sip¹ te¹ thon² yaw⁵
1SG DEF three ten FUT reach FINISHED
‘I will be thirty years old then.’
(BSS_32)
(195)
te¹ pɔk⁵ yaw⁵
FUT return FINISHED
‘Coming back already.’
(BSS_33)

6.6 The past marker kaw¹ ‘OLD’

The past marker kaw¹ is used to refer to actions that have already happened, that already
have been experienced. It is derived from the verb kaw¹ ‘be old’, hence referring to
something that is part of the past. It is similar to the usage of the Burmese particle [ ဖး ] hpuu
which also denotes something that has already happened or the speaker has already
experienced. This TAM marker is not included in Morey’s (2005a, 2008) descriptions. In
Inglis (2014) I only found kaw³ as the verb ‘be old’. It is thus possible that this is a
development limited to Shan-Ni, which considering the presence of a particle with a similar
function in Burmese, might be result of Burmese influence. The Burmese particle hpuu itself
does not have a connection with the concept of being old, it is more likely to be a
grammaticalization of the verb hpuu, which means ‘to visit’. It is used in questions and
sentences where English would use ‘ever’ or ‘never’ (in combination with negation), as in
examples (196) and (197). It can also be used to declare how many times something has
already happened or has already been experienced, as in (198).

(196)
kɛɯ⁴ caa⁵ man⁴ ma¹ han³ kaw¹
1SG for 3SG NEG see OLD
‘I have never seen her before.’
(CM_YT_EMP)

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 (197)
nyaa⁴ yaan¹kong¹ thɤng³ kaw¹de⁴
MEET yangon arrive OLD Q.POL
‘Have you ever been to Yangon?’
(NY_NS_23)
(198)
ɤ⁴ sɔng³ ha¹ thɤng³ kaw¹
EMP two CLF.times arrive OLD
‘Yes, I have been there twice.’
(NY_NS_24)

6.8 The progressive marker u¹ ‘STAY’

The progressive marker u¹ derives from the verb ‘stay’. As a regular verb, it is used for both
someone’s living place as well as to talk about someone’s state of being, for examples in the
phrase u¹ ni⁴ le⁴ ‘how are you?’. As a TAM marker it is a progressive marker, used to describe
actions that are going on at the moment referred to, usually in combination with the linker
si³. Diller (1992: 24) describes it as a progressive-continuative marker, marking progressive
aspect. Morey (2005a: 334) only found u¹ with emphatic meaning, often used in combination
with adjectives. I did also not really find u¹ by itself, only in combination with the linker si³.
However, it is included in the Basic Spoken Shan-Ni book, and a possible explanation might
be that because TAM markers are usually phonologically reduced, the pronunciation of u¹
could be very subtile. Therefore, I do include the examples from the book here, but I would
like to emphasize that its usage without si³ needs further research. Written Shan-Ni allows
variation between [ ] u¹ and [ ] yu¹, though yu¹ never comes up in spontaneous speech
or elicitation.

(199)
caa⁵ man⁴ kaw⁴ hak⁵ yu¹
to 3SG 1SG love STAY
‘I love her.’
(BSS_19)
(200)
kyin⁴ waan³ u¹ le⁴
eat sweet STAY Q.POL
‘Is the food good?’
(BSS_45)

Often u¹ is preceded by the linker si³, meaning that something is happening or someone is
doing something; for example, children who are playing or a person who is eating a lot. When
preceded by an adjective, it refers to a temporary state, for example being hungry. In example
(34), si³ u¹ is combined with yaw⁵ to emphasize ‘we’ are hungry already.

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 (201)
luk⁵ɔn¹ ne¹ eng² si³ u¹
child PL play LNK STAY
‘The children are playing.’
(CM_EMP_3)
(202)
ai² pɯn²nan⁵ kha¹ləɯ⁴ kyin⁴ si³ u¹ tɔj⁴ kaa⁵ lu⁴
guy over.there how.much eat LNK STAY look COME PRT
‘Look at how much that guy over there is eating.’
(CM_EMP_5)
(203)
haw⁴ khaa² tɔng⁵ maj⁵ si³ u¹ yaw⁵
1PL POL belly hot LNK STAY FINISHED
‘We are hungry already.’
(CM_EMP_15)

6.8 The marker kɤn¹ ‘SHOULD’ or ‘YET’

kɤn¹ is used to describe situations that should happen or did not occur yet. It can either
express a request of the speaker for the interlocutor, or in combination with the negator, to
speak about things the speaker did not do yet or things that did not happen yet. It is not
mentioned by Morey (2005a) or Inglis (2014) as having any meaning beyond ‘should’, but is
used very frequently in Shan-Ni, especially in combination with the negator ma¹. When not
negated, kɤn¹ can be used to mark a request. This usage of kɤn¹ is closer to the original
meaning of the lexeme ‘should’. In (204) kɤn¹ is used to invite someone to take a look at
newborn piglets, and in (205) it is used for a request in a conditional phrase.
(204)
mu³ to⁴ nɤng² leng⁵ wai⁵ nai⁵ tɔj⁴ cɔm⁴ kɤn¹
pig CLF.animal one give.birth KEEP DEF look follow SHOULD
‘A pig just gave birth, come take a look.’
(BSS_12)
(205)
sang³ pi⁴ het¹ maa⁴ mɔk¹ kɤn¹
thing if do come inform SHOULD
‘If you do it let me know.’
(BSS_23)

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The usage of kɤn¹ in combination with the negator is identical to the Burmese particle [ ေသး ]
tee. Since this usage is unique to Shan-Ni and not found in other Tai languages, it is very likely
to be Burmese influence. Similar to kaw¹ it appears to be a Shan-Ni word which gained the
function of a common Burmese particle, probably as a result of widespread Burmese/Shan-
Ni bilingualism among the Shan-Ni.
(206)
kwaa¹ thɛɯ⁴ ma¹ hu⁵ kɤn¹
go where NEG know YET
‘I’m not sure where I’m going yet.’
(MK_LT_07)
(207)
ma¹ lai² yap⁵ kɤn¹
NEG GET sow YET
‘[I] didn’t get it sowed yet.’
(BSS_33)
(208)
ma¹ thɤng³pɔk⁴ ma⁴ kɤn¹
NEG arrive return COME YET
‘…they didn’t return yet.’
(BSS_78)

6.9 The future marker te¹

The future marker te¹ is the only TAM particle that occurs preverbally. The most basic usage
of te¹ is to refer to events that will happen in the future. In (209) it is used for an illness that
will be cured, and in (210) to talk about what is going to happen next months. For all events
happening in the future, te ¹ is een obligatory marker.

(209)
yɔ¹ga¹ te¹ haaj³
illness.BM FUT loose
‘The illness will be cured.’
(NN_TH_22)
(210)
lɤn⁴ laa² te¹ maa⁴ thop¹ nɔ³ te¹ thop¹ tɔ¹ kan⁴ yu¹
month face FUT come meet TAG FUT meet talk SIM STAY
‘Next month you will come meet [me] right? [We] will speak to each other.’
(BSS_98)
te¹ is also used for things that are about to start. In (211) it is used to announce the speaker
is going to tell a story, and in (212) it used to say that the father goes into the forest. When

107
combined with kwaa¹ ‘go’ it might be that someone is already on their way, for example in
(212) where the father is already walking into the forest.
(211)
a¹cang¹ te¹ khaj²pyaa⁴ pom¹ nɛ²
now FUT tell show story DEF
‘Now I’m going to tell a story.’
(NN_ITL_1)
(212)
pɔ² man⁴ te¹ kwaa¹ lɛɯ⁴ tɤn²
father 3SG FUT go inside forest
‘The father goes into the forest.’
(TS_HS_4)

To express uncertainty, things that the speaker assumes to be true but is not entirely sure of,
or things that the speaker proposes to the interlocutor, te¹ is used in combination with laj²
‘GET’. In (213), the main character of the story is wondering whether the blood he sees is his
wife’s blood. In (214), the speaker tells her fellow villagers that they could run before the
flood. (215) is a typical market situation, where the speaker is asking the how much (s)he
should give, asking the vendor to tell reveal the price.

(213)
lɤt ⁵ pa¹ying⁴ kɛw⁴ te¹ laj² pjen⁴ sang⁴ i³
blood wife 1SG FUT GET be what LNK
‘Maybe that's my wife’s blood’
(EP_NU_31)
(214)
cet¹ wan⁴ pɔ⁴ waa² nam⁵ te¹ jaɯ¹ maa⁴ haw⁴ te¹ laj² paaj²
seven day enough say water FUT big COME 1PL FUT GET run
‘In seven days the water will rise, we could run.’
(MK_IH_13)
(215)
haw⁴ kha¹ləɯ⁴ te¹ laj² haɯ²
1PL how.much FUT GET give
‘How much should I give?’
(KSN_CAS_23)
Diller (1992) and Morey (2005a) include the function of expression of volition or intention
to the marker te¹ for the languages of Assam. For an irrealis this would make sense; the future
spoken about is of course the one expected or desired to happen. However, in Shan-Ni te¹
distinguishes itself from kɤn¹: whereas kɤn¹ expresses volition in relation to the

108
interlocutor’s actions, te¹ simply refers to the expected future, which can include one’s own
actions. In order to explicitly express volition, Shan-Ni can use the auxiliary verb khaj² ‘want’,
shortened in speech in front of a verb to kə².

(216)
ma¹ khaj² nɔn⁴
NEG want sleep
‘I don’t want to sleep.’
(MK_LT_07)
(217)
khaj² kyin⁴ sang⁴
want eat what
‘What do you want to eat?’
(MK_LT_07)

In combination with other TAM markers, it may be used to talk about the past as well as the
future. When te¹ is combined with kaa⁵ or maa⁴ kaa⁵ it refers to something someone was
going to do. In that context it can be interpreted as being about volition. In combination with
yaw⁵ or maa⁴, it refers to things that will be completed in the future. This distinction shows
that while these are all past markers, in combination with te¹ they may refer to very different
points in time. In (218) te¹ pɔk⁴ maa⁴ kaa⁵ is used to say that someone was about to go back,
and in (219) te¹ sɔt¹ phaj⁴ kaa⁵ they were already about to light the fire. These events both
refer to things that were about to happen in the past. In contrast, in (220) te¹ thon² yaw⁵ is
about the age the speaker will reach in future, and (221) te¹ yaɯ⁴ maa⁴ is about something
that will become big.

(218)
wa² ji³ kap¹ ji³ te¹ pɔk⁴ maa⁴ kaa⁵ lɤt⁵ pɤ⁴pɤ⁴
talk LNK communicate LNK FUT return COME GO blood all.over
‘After discussing, he was going back and there was blood all over.’
(EP_LP_30)
(219)
te¹ sɔt¹ phaj⁴ kaa⁵
FUT alight fire GO
‘When they were going to light the fire….’
(EP_LP_34)
(220)
kaw⁴ nai⁵ saam³ sip¹ te¹ thon² yaw⁵
1SG DEF three ten FUT reach FINISHED
‘I will be thirty years old then.’
(BSS_32)

109
 (221)
cet¹ wan⁴ pɔ⁴ waa² nam⁵ te¹ jaɯ¹ maa⁴
seven day enough say water FUT big COME
‘In seven days the water will rise.’
(MK_IH_13)

6.10 Summary
Table 31 summarizes the functions of Shan-Ni TAM markers and how they relate to verbs.
Shan-Ni has at least five past markers, and more when including the possible combinations
and the negation of kɤn¹ for things that have not happened yet. All of these markers are of
Tai etymology, though their functions as TAM markers are likely to have developed under
influence of Burmese and other neighbouring languages. Shan-Ni TAM markers illustrate two
types of developments: changes in form, and changes in meaning. Changes in form are
phonological changes that TAM markers have gone through, resulting in a difference between
Table 31 TAM markers and their functions in relation to verbs (V)

maa⁴ COME V started in the past moment referred to

kaa⁵ GO V finished in the past moment referred to

maa⁴ kaa⁵ COME GO V started and finished in the past moment

referred to
waj⁵ KEEP V was deliberately started, often with the
intention to have a lasting result
jaw⁵ FINISHED V is already finished

kaw¹ OLD V has been experienced

u¹ STAY V happens right now

si³ u¹ LNK STAY V is happening right now

kɤn¹ SHOULD V should happen

ma¹…kɤn¹ NEG YET V hasn’t happened yet

te¹ FUT V will happen

te¹… yaw⁵ FUT V will be completed

FINISHED
te¹… maa⁴ FUT will become V
COME
te¹… (maa⁴) FUT (when) V was going to happen
kaa⁵ COME GO

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the word it derived from and the grammaticalized TAM marker. In some cases, they can be
observed from a difference between Shan-Ni and other Tai languages, or because the Shan-
Ni writing system still retains the old form. The clearest example of this is kaa⁵ ‘GO’ which has
developed from kwaa¹ ‘go’. In pronunciation however, both kaa⁵ and maa⁴ often get a /ə/ or
/ɤ/. The progressive u¹ can be written as both u¹ and yu¹ though yu¹ is rarely used in spoken
Shan-Ni.
The other development is the acquisition of new functions. The usages of kɤn¹ and kaw¹ are
unique to Shan-Ni. While the other TAM markers have developed from verbs, especially kaw¹
‘OLD’ is an odd one out. They are however not odd, when considering Burmese, which has
particles with the same function that are used very frequently. The past marker waj⁵ ‘KEEP’
does exist in other Tai languages, although the function in Shan-Ni appears to have additional
features not present in other Tai languages. In other Tai languages this marker refers to
actions which are intended to have a long-lasting result, in Shan-Ni they are actions that have
been initiated deliberately by the speaker. This is identical to the function of the Burmese
marker [ တား ] htaa, a particle derived from the verb ‘put’.
Other TAM markers share small differences with the TAM markers of the Tai languages of
Assam, and do not show any clear signs of influence from other languages. Combinations of
TAM markers allow Shan-Ni speakers to express themselves about time in even more ways.
The past marker yaw⁵ and (maa⁴) kaa⁵ differ slightly from each other when used individually,
though they could be interpreted in the same way depending on the context. In combination
with the future marker te¹, the usage diverges: te¹…yaw⁵ is used for something that will be
completed, while te¹…(maa⁴) kaa⁵ means something was going to happen.

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 Chapter 7:
Shan-Ni and other languages: Genetic affiliations and contact
The different features of Shan-Ni discussed in the preceding chapters, provide clues about its
position within the Tai language family. This chapter is dedicated to a more extensive
discussion on the relation between Shan-Ni and the other Tai languages of the region, going
deeper into the processes described in earlier chapters. It also looks into the extent to which
diverging features in Shan-Ni correspond with Burmese, indicating where these could be a
result of contact. Burmese is the language with which Shan-Ni speakers have had most
contact in the last few centuries. The other languages spoken in the region are mostly also
Tibeto-Burman languages, and share features with Burmese, hence similarities may be the
result of older contact between Shan-Ni and these languages as well. This chapter will
highlight a few features that stand out, and for which there is sufficient data available for the
languages in the comparison. The phonology, including consonant clusters and tones, the
interrogatives, demonstratives and TAM markers are relatively well described for the other
Tai languages. The formation of disyllabic nouns and its reduction to sesquisyllabic
structures (introduced in Chapter 3) will be included shortly as well, as a special feature
within Shan-Ni. As discussed in secton 1.5, there are historical accounts suggesting different
instances of migration of the Tai groups in Northern Myanmar. This chapter will conclude by
looking at the extent to which the connections between Shan-Ni and different Tai groups fit
with the possible migration patterns suggested in Chapter 1. Based on this I will suggest a
preliminary genetic affiliation for Shan-Ni, which is meant to set the foundation for more
extensive genetic research in the future.

7.1 Phonology
Both Edmondson (2008) and Chantanaroj (2007) compare different varieties of
Southwestern Tai languages based on the phonology. Edmondson’s conclusion is that the
phonology shows influence of migration from the east into the Shweli river valley, and
Chantanaroj’s analysis shows a great number of correspondences between the Tai varieties
of the Shweli river valley and the different Shan-Ni locations included in her study.
Edmondson recorded a number of sound changes in Shan-Ni and Tai langauges in the region
which are enlisted in Table 32, alongside their pronunciation in Shan-Ni, and the places in

Table 32 Consonant sound changes in Shan-Ni and other Tai-speaking groups

Proto Tai phoneme Shan-Ni pronunciation Locations with same pronunciation
(Edmondson 2008)
*kh /x/ Dehong (China), Bhamo, Puta-O
*f /pʰ/ Kachin state
*k(h)w /kw/ Dehong and Kachin
*k /tɕ/ Outside Shan state

112
which the pronunciation of these consonants corresponds with Shan-Ni. Overall, this shows
that Shan-Ni shares most phonological features with other locations within Kachin state and
the Dehong region in China. According to Edmondson, the shift from *k  /tɕ/ is very
common in the region, but this shift is not included in any of the language descriptions of Tai
languages in the region (e.g. Inglis 2014, Morey 2005, Young 1985). The consonant clusters
are the most interesting part of Edmondson’s comparison, and will be discussed in more
detail in the next section.

7.1.1 Consonant clusters

Table 33 Consonant clusters in Shan-Ni and their cognates in other Tai languages21
Shan-Ni English Phake Tai Mau Shan Gyi Lao
kwaa¹/kaa⁵ ‘go’ kā¹ kā a kwaa² kà ːy
khwam⁴ ‘language’ khām² k(w)áam kwaam⁴ kʰwá ːm
khwaaj⁴ ‘buffalo’ khāi² k(w)áai kwaaj⁴ kʰwá ːy
kyin⁴ ‘eat’ kin² kin kin¹ kin
kyep¹ ‘pick up’ kep¹ kěp kep⁴ kʰı̑ːp
khyem³ ‘needle’ khem⁶ khěm kʰem¹ kʰě m
khyɛk¹ ‘guest’ khaik¹ khɛk kʰɛk² kʰɛ̏ ːk
khyet¹ ‘frog’ khet¹ khēt kʰet² kʰı̏at
pyet¹ ‘duck’ pɛt¹ pět pet⁴ pé t
pyɛt¹ ‘eight’ pɛt¹ pɛ̄ t pɛt² *
pyin⁴/pin⁴ ‘happen’/COP pen² pen pen¹ pen
maak¹phyit¹ ‘chillies’ (ma¹)phit⁴ phı̂t pʰit⁵ *
pyɛt⁵ ‘quarrel’ phit¹ phǐt pʰit⁴ pʰı́t
myit⁵ ‘knife’ mit⁴ * mit⁵ mı̂ːt
myet¹ ‘fishing hook’ met¹ mět met⁴ bét
myin⁵ ‘turmeric’ khau³ min⁴ * min5 kʰá mı̏n
Both consonant clusters /kw/ and /tɕ/ <ky> included in Edmondson (2008) are common in
Shan-Ni. The cluster /kw/ is retained from proto-Tai, but has reduced to a /k/ in many Tai
varieties. The Tai varieties in Kachin state (including Shan-Ni) and the Dehong region in
China have retained the old form. In Tai Mau (Young 1985) many words allow variation in

21
Sources: Morey 2005a (Phake), Young 1985 (Tai Mau), SEALang Database (Shan Gyi), Enfield 2007 (Lao).

113
k~kw and kh ~ khw. The /k/ itself did change in many words to a /tɕ/, represented as <ky>.
Edmondson does not discuss the other consonant clusters or palatalizations common in
Shan-Ni. Edmondson mentions palatalization as a possible next stage in loss of consonant
clusters, but he did not find this in his own data (Edmondson 2008: 201).
In Shan-Ni palatalization occurs between the consonants /k, p, ph, m/ and vowels /e, i, ɛ/.
Table 33 shows the consonant clusters in Shan-Ni and their cognates in other Tai languages.
Palatalization of the consonants /k, kh, p, ph, m/ is part of many Shan-Ni words with Tai
origin. It is most common in combination with the velar stops /k, kh/, which correspond with
Edmondson’s findings for other Shan varieties. There are also many palatalizations with the
labial stops /p, ph/, and less with the labial nasal /m/. I would need more data to confirm
this, but I did not find any instances of any of these consonants followed by /-ɛt, -et, -it/
without palatization. In combination with other final consonants and the vowels /e, i, ɛ/,
palatization of the initial consonants /k, kh, p, ph, m/ in combination with is possible but not
obligatory.
Shan-Ni shares the cluster /kw/ with Shan Gyi and Lao. In Tai Mau /k/ and /kw/ are
allophones, and may be both used within the same words. In Shan-Ni the word kwaa¹ is the
verb ‘go’ and kaa⁵ is a TAM marker grammaticalized from the verb go. Hence both these
variants are present, though they have different meanings. The interesting thing is that in
Phake this same TAM marker exists in this form, but it is idenitical to the ungrammaticalized
verb ‘go’ in Phake. This supports the narrative that there might have been a pre-existing Tai
group in the Mogaung area, and that migrants came in together with the ruler of Mong Mao
around 1200. In that scenario the reduction to kaa⁵ and its grammaticalization to a TAM
marker could be a development in the sedentary Tai group, which merged with the incoming
Tai language of migrants that had retained the cluster /kw/. The variant with /kw/ could
then be used for the verb ‘go’ but not for the TAM marker, because it was not present in the
variety that had retained /kw/. The problem with that theory is that it would not explain why
Phake does have kā¹ both as the verb ‘go’ and as the TAM marker.

7.1.2 Tone
Figure 9 shows all the Tai tone boxes of the region. Note that the numbers indicate how the
tones are grouped together within individual languages, not how they compare across
languages. The colours give an indication of how the tones are grouped together across
different languages. They might have developed different contours and pitch levels, but the
splits are indicators of more salient changes, and therefore provide more reliable information
about the historical relations between these different languages. I have tried to take the most
recent, reliable tone boxes available, but this does not take away from the fact that regional
and individual nuances do effect the tone boxes. My Indawgyi tone box does not correspond
with the tone box recorded by Wyn Owen for Shan-Ni as spoken in Myitkyina, which is a
regional difference speakers are also aware of. For Khamti there are many different tone
boxes, though most of them are from very old sources and the region unspecified. I have taken

114
Figure 9 Tone boxes of different Tai languages of the Southwestern Tai language family

Shan-Ni (Indawgyi) Khamti (Chindwin, adapted from Dockum 2014)

A B C DS DL A B C DS DL
1 3 1 2 1 1 3 1 2 1
2 4 2 4
3 3
4 2 5 4

Tai Phake (adapted from Morey 2005a) Shan-Ni (Myitkyina, adapted from Owen 2013)
A B C DS DL A B C DS DL
1 6 1 3 1 1 3 1 2 1
2 2 2 6
3 3
4 5 4 4 4 6 5

Tai Aiton (adapted from Diller 1992) Khamyang (adapted from Morey 2005b)
A B C DS DL A B C DS DL
1 4 6 5 6 1 6 1 3 1
2 3 2 5
3 3
4 1 2 1 1 4 2 5 4

Tai Nua (adapted from Chantanaroj 2007) Tai Mao (adapted from Chantanaroj 2007)
A B C DS DL A B C DS DL
1 1 4 5 4 1 1 1 4 5 4 1
2 2 2 2
3 3
4 3 2 6 2 2 4 3 2 6 2 6

115
the tone box by Dockum (2014), which is a recent one of the Chindwin region, where Shan-
Ni is spoken as well. For Phake and Khamyang I use the tone boxes by Morey (2005a, 2005b),
and for Aiton I use the work of Diller (1992). Chantanaroj’s (2007) thesis is on Tai Nua, but
she also includes an overview of the tone boxes of different languages including Tai Mao22.
The Indawgyi Shan-Ni tone box corresponds most with Khamti (Chindwin) and Tai Phake.
The only difference with Khamti is that it distinguishes B4-C123 (blue) from C4-DS4-DL4
(orange), which in Khamti is the same tone. In Phake B4-C123 is split up further between
C123 (blue) and B4 (red). In Myitkyina Shan-Ni and Khamyang B4 is also different, but
grouped together with A23 (red). This A23-B4 group also exists in Tai Mao and Tai Nua,
though in these languages it also includes DS4 and for Tai Nua DL4. Tai Mao and Tai Nua
furthermore group DL123 with A1, which is not the case in any of the other languages. Aiton
is also interesting, because it groups A234 together like Indawgyi Shan-Ni, Khamti and Tai
Phake do, but follows the exact same pattern of Tai Nua in row 4 (B4-C4-DS4-DL4). The
different correspondences between these tonal splits are summarized in Table 34.

Table 34 Tone splits in Shan-Ni and other Tai languages (based on Figure 9)
A23 B4 C4 DS4 DL4 DL123
Khamti (Chindwin) x x x
Shan-Ni (Indawgyi) x x x x x x
Phake x x x x x
Aiton x x x
Shan-Ni (Myitkyina) x x x x
Khamyang x x x x
Tai Mao x x
Tai Nua x

The developments shown in Table 34 do not show a gradual move from one tonal pattern
to the other. Rather, my assumption is that it shows the different ways migrants (related to
the Tai Nua) and the sedentary population (related to the Tai Khamti) have adapted their
tones to each other at different times, places and probably in different proportions of
population groups. Myitkyina Shan-Ni tonal splits are identical to Khamyang, which would
suggest that they might be closely related. Although little is known about the Khamyang, no
sources suggest they might originate near Myitkyina23.

22
She cites Robinson (1994) and Gedney (1973), but she does not specify per language which source she uses. Since
I compare Shan-Ni with Tai Mao elsewhere I wanted to include it, but if new work on Tai Mao is published this part
should be revised.
23
Morey (2005a: 20) is unsure about the history of the Khamyang, writing that he only found one pamphlet
without sources mentioned saying the Khamyang had lived in Sagaing near the Indian border for 500 years before
they moved to Assam in 1780 (Morey 2005a:20). However, they also use the initial /l/ like speakers of Myitkyina
Shan-Ni do, in words that in Sagaing and India always are pronounced with an /n/. This connection should be
further investigated.

116
 Tai Nua and Tai Mao are distinct from all others by grouping DL123 with A1, while all the
other languages group DL123 with B123 and DS123 together. Geographically, the other
groups are all northwest of where Tai Nua and Tai Mao are spoken, and they share a history
under the rulers of Mogaung, while the Tai Nua and Tai Mao do not. However, around 1200
Mogaung was under Mong Mao in the Shweli region, where Tai Mao is spoken today. The
parabaik manuscript24 included in the thesis of Hla Maw Maw (2017: 85) describes a royal
order to the mayor of Maing Mao (near Myitkyina) to ensure peace, accommodate and
provide for the increased population and divide the township into four new regions.
Edmondson (2008: 203) refers to a large scale migration around that same time from the Tai
Nua area into the Shweli area, where the Tai Mao live. It is very likely that the same wave of
migration from the east came to both the Shweli valley as well as the Myitkyina region. The
significantly stronger similarity between Tai Nua and Tai Mao may point to a stronger
influence of Tai Nua on Tai Mao than on the other languages. There are three possible reasons
for this: (a) the proportion of migrants might have been bigger in the Shweli valley; (b) the
sedentary population in the Shweli valley may have spoken a language which was already
more similar to Tai Nua prior to the arrival of the migrants; (c) the migrants may have first
gone to the Shweli valley and later gone up to Mogaung/Maing Mao. The last theory supports
that they came along with the new king Sam Long Hpa who was a brother of the king of Mong
Mao, and that the migrants had a royal endorsement, as mentioned in the parabaik
manuscript.
Aiton, Phake, Indawgyi Shan-Ni and Khamti group A234 are together, while Myitkyina
Shan-Ni, Khamyang, Tai Mao and Tai Nua have a split between A23 and A4. This might show
a stronger influence of Tai Nua/Tai Mao migrants in Myitkyina in comparison to the other
areas. Myitkyina Shan-Ni and Khamyang also group A23 together with B4, like Tai Mao and
Tai Nue do as well. In Indawgyi Shan-Ni and Khamti B4 is grouped together with C123. All
groups except for the Khamti distinguish C4-DS4-DL4 from C123. This is a development all
groups have gone through, except the Khamti who remained more isolated in the north.
The Aiton split DS4-DL4 off from C4 in the same way Tai Nua does. The Aiton presumably
left Mogaung earlier than the Phake, though it is not exactly sure when. Morey (2005a)
assumes that the Tai Aiton have been in Assam from at least 1500 onwards. This would
explain their retention of the Tai Nua DS4-DL4 tones. The Phake left Mogaung in 1775 for
Assam, joining the Aiton who had come earlier. The A23 and B4 distinction Phake and Aiton
have in common, might be a result of their renewed contact.
Both tonal developments and historical events need more reseach, but the fact is clear that
migration of large population groups has affected tonal developments in Tai languages of
northern Myanmar and the surrounding borderlands.

24
Discussed earlier in section 1.5.

117
7.2 The shape of words
7.2.1 Class terms and sesquisyllables
The formation of sesquisyllables is an active process in Shan-Ni (section 3.1.1), and can be
found to a limited extent in other Tai languages, but nowhere as frequent as in Shan-Ni. It is
connected to the process of forming compounds by adding class terms, followed by a
reduction of the first syllable. However, it also used to expand the number of demonstratives
(discussed separately in section 7.3.3) and distinguish between personal and possessive
pronouns.
In Lao (Enfield 2007: 147) class terms apply to objects, and are not phonologically reduced
to sesquisyllables. They are also very much still transparent and seperarable compounds, of
which each syllable also has a meaning when used individually. The process to get there
however, is idenitical to the formation of class terms in Shan-Ni. The class terms are the first
part of the compound, indicating the category (e.g. ‘fish’) and the second part can be either a
name of a specific thing within that category (e.g. ‘mackerel’) or a descriptive term, forming
in a new meaning together with the class term (e.g. ‘gold’ to form ‘goldfish’).
The application of class terms and sesquisyllables to personal pronouns is especially
interesting, because in Khamti and Phake all personal and possessive pronouns are the same,
with their position specifying whether they are personal (preceding the noun) or possessive
(following the noun). In Shan-Ni this is also the case, though the second and third person
plural 25 are prefixed by mə¹, probably derived from the pronouns for second and third
person singular , mɛɯ⁴ ‘2SG’ and man⁴ ‘3SG’.
Phake and Aiton have what Morey (2002: 229) refers to as “noun class markers”. In his
description most of these are already intransparent, and do not have a full-form equivalent
like some nouns in transition in Shan-Ni have. Due to this lack of transparency, he also does
not link their semantics to full lexemes, though he does describe their functions. The forms
and their descriptions correspond with Shan-Ni. The two noun class markers that are not
phonologically reduced in Phake he does consider to be be full nouns, but he does not discuss
a possible transition.
The partial presence of this process in Phake and Aiton, shows that the phonological
reduction probably already took place in a time when the Phake and Shan-Ni were still living
alongside each other, but that Shan-Ni expanded the use of class terms signicifantly, creating
more disyllabic nouns than any other Tai language. The description of the formation of class
terms in Lao facilitates the understanding of this process in Shan-Ni, which works exactly as
Enfield describes, though it is more extensive.
The way these compounds are reduced phonologically, meets all the requirements listed
by Butler (2014: 11) for sesquisyllables. The prosodic prominence is word final, the non-final
syllables are reduced phonologically through a reduced segmental inventory; reduced

25
mə¹su³ ‘2PL’ and mə¹haw³ ‘3PL’ while the possessive pronouns are su³ ‘2PL.POS’ and khaw³ ‘3PL.POS’, corresponding
to Phake and Khamti personal and possessive pronouns.

118
syllable shape and the non-final syllables do not constitute well-formed prosodic words on
their own. The development of this as a very dominant feature in the language should be seen
in relation to other languages in the area that also have sesquisyllables. These are all Tibeto-
Burman and Austroasiatic languages, and in order to understand how this process has come
into Shan-Ni more information and further research is required into the exact
correspondence between these features and the contact history.

7.2.1 Interrogatives

Tai interrogatives usually correspond with the indefinite pronouns, with their function
depending on their place within the syntax. All Tai languages in Table 35 have cognates of
Shan-Ni lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’, pheɯ⁴ ‘who’ and mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ ‘when’/’which time’, but the rest of the
interrogatives vary.
Table 35 Interrogatives in Tai languages26
English Shan-Ni Phake27 Khamti Tai Shan Gyi Lao28
(+Aiton) Mau
polar Q le⁴/lɛ² -/nɔ⁶ nai⁵ hâa nɔ bòò³
what sang⁴ ka³saŋ⁶ ksang⁵-nai⁵ sǎ ŋ sʰaŋ nang³
which lɛɯ⁴ naü⁶ an³laeu⁵-nai⁵ laɨ laɯ N-daj³
who pheɯ⁴ phaü⁶ phaeu⁵-nai⁵ phǎ ɨ pʰaɯ phaj³
where thɛɯ⁴ thaü amai⁵-nai⁵ thàɨ ti; laɯ saj³
how nang¹hɯ⁴ nüŋ¹ hǖ ⁶ heu⁵leu⁵sii⁵ ȟ hɯ -
when mɤ² lɛɯ⁴ mə⁵naü⁶ meeu³laeu⁵-nai⁵ mə laɨ mə: lɛɯ mùa¹daj³
how much kha¹lɛɯ⁴ kha¹laü¹ khaeu⁵laeu⁵-nai⁵ khaɨ - -
how many kha¹lɛɯ⁴ + kı̄¹ kii⁵ - laaj (+) cak²
CLF (+CLF)

The innovation thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’ is described by Young (1984: 27) as a contraction of ti² ‘place’
and lɛɯ⁴ ‘which’. This innovation is present in Tai Mau, Shan-Ni and Phake, but not in Khamti,
Shan Gyi and Lao. In Shan Gyi ti; laɯ ‘which place’ is the uncontracted form of what Young
suggests to be the source of thɛɯ⁴ ‘where’ its cognates, while Khamti and Lao interrogatives
have been through different developments. In Khamti, amai⁵-nai⁵ ‘where’ is a compound of
an³ ‘thing’, mai³ ‘here’ and nai⁵ ‘Q’. The Khamti word for ‘here’ mai³ does not exist in the other
Tai languages in the table.

26
Sources: Morey 2005a; (Phake), Inglis 2014 (Khamti), Young 1985 (Tai Mau), Glick & Sao Tern Moeng 1991 (Shan
Gyi), Enfield 2007 (Lao).
27
Aiton is not included in the table. In Morey (2005a: 222) all Aiton interrogatives are cognates of the Phake
interrogatives, the only differences are minor, regular phonological distinctions between Phake and Aiton.
28
This table does not do justice to the complexity of interrogatives in Shan Gyi and Lao. They are used here in
comparison to Shan-Ni, but for a comprehensive overview see Enfield (2007) and Glick & Sao Tern Moeng (1991).

119
 Most Shan-Ni interrogatives correspond with Phake, with the exception of ‘how many’ and
the polar question particle le⁴/lɛ². Cognates of the Phake word kı̄¹ also exist in Khamti and
Aiton. In Shan-Ni kha¹lɛɯ⁴ is used for both ‘how much’ and ‘how many’, though ‘how many’
requires a classifier or other word indicating the entity asked about. Lao and Shan Gyi also
require a word inidicating the type of entity for their own varieties of ‘how many’, though I
could not find whether they had a separate interrogative for ‘how much’. For ‘how’, Shan-Ni,
Phake and Aiton each use a variation of nang¹hɯ⁴, while in the other languages only use the
second syllable of that compound (e.g. hɯ in Shan Gyi) fealing out nang¹ ‘that’.
For polar questions, all Tai languages have a different strategy. In all langauges mentioned
except for Shan-Ni and Khamti it is also possible to ask questions without a questions particle;
however, how common this is and in which situations this is acceptable differs and is not
comparable. Despite this possibility, all languages do have a polar question particle. Shan Gyi,
Phake and Aiton use a variety of nɔ for polar questions, which may have derived from
Burmese tag question ေနာ် nɔ ‘isn’t it’. In Shan-Ni this is only used as a tag question, while
polar questions obligatorily end in le⁴/lɛ². The Lao particle bòò³ is the most neutral of several
polar question particles (Enfield 2007: 43). In Khamti the polar question particle is nai⁵,
which is also obligatory marked behind every other question word, expect for kii⁵ ‘how many’
and heu⁵leu⁵sii⁵ ‘how’. Looking at the interrogatives, the relation between Shan-Ni, Phake and
Aiton is clear. Innovations from Tai Mau are also found or developed further in these three
languages, but not in Khamti. Shan Gyi and Lao are clearly more distant.

7.3.3 Demonstratives

Demonstratives in Shan-Ni have gone through two processes. Like the interrogatives, they
show a few contractions, and like the nouns, they have become disyllabic. In some cases, both
processes implied the addition of the same lexeme ti² ‘place’, for example in ti² thai², in which
thai² itself is a contraction between ti² ‘place’ and naj⁵ ‘this’. The combination of these
different processes allows Shan-Ni to be more specific in the way space is discussed. The
contractions are described by Young (1985) for Tai Mao, and are also present in Phake,
though none of these languages use disyllabic demonstratives.
Table 36 Demonstratives in Shan-Ni and other Tai languages
Shan-Ni gloss Tai Mau gloss Phake gloss Khamti gloss
ti² thai² here thài here than³ there an³-nai¹ here.SG
ti²than² there (near) thàn there thai³ here a-meau⁴-nai¹ there.SG
pɯn⁴than² there (far) nâi this nan⁴ that an³-pun²-nai¹ distant.SG
nang¹nɛ² this nân that nai⁴ this an³-nai¹-khau⁵ here.PL
pɯn⁴nan⁵ that lan⁴ that a-meau⁴- there.PL
nai¹khau⁵
an²nai¹ this thing lai⁴ this an³-pun³-nai¹- distant.PL
khau⁵

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 Phake uses the words thai³ ‘here’ and than³ there’ similar to Shan-Ni, but does not combine
them with ti² or pɯn⁴. In Morey (2005a) pa¹lan³ ‘that side’ and ti² nan⁵ ‘that place’ do occur,
though monosyllabic determiners are more common in his Phake data and combinations
with than³ ‘there’ or thai³ do not occur. Similarly, Phake uses the monosyllabic words nai⁴
and lai⁴ for ‘this’ and nan⁴ and lan⁴ for ‘that’, while these are disyllabic in Shan-Ni. Morey does
not mention word-initial /n/ and /l/ to be allophones in Phake, while they certainly are in
most words in Indawgyi Shan-ni. The acceptance of both variants in Phake for the
demonstratives is interesting, and they might be revealing a connection at an earlier stage
where /n/-/l/ allophony was less extensive then it is now in Indawgyi Shan-Ni.
Khamti has developed a totally different system and includes an³ ‘thing’ in all
demonstratives, and also marks number by adding khau⁵ ‘they’ for plural objects. Clearly,
Shan-Ni has extended the Tai Mau system with the formation of disyllabic terms. However,
the distinction Shan-Ni makes between ‘here’, ‘there (near)’ and ‘there (distant)’ is shared
with Khamti, though it uses different terms to express that. However, Shan-Ni does not mark
plurality with demonstratives like Khamti does.

7.3 TAM markers

TAM markation in Tai languages is rare. Table 37 shows an overview of the different TAM
markers acroos Tai languages. The extensive TAM markation present in Shan-Ni is the result
of a longterm development, which to different extends can be found in other Tai languages.
In chapter 6, TAM markers were discussed in relation to Phake and Aiton, as described by
Morey (2005a, 2008). Some of these TAM markers are also present in Khamti, Tai Mau and
Shan Gyi. As these are grammaticalized words also exist in their ungrammaticalized form in
Shan-Ni and other Tai languages, we can also expect these developments to at different stages
in different languages.
Most sentences in Shan Gyi and Tai Mau do not have TAM markation, hence tense, aspect
and mood can then be filled in by the interpretation of the listener. They do use the words for
‘already’ and ‘will’ in similar ways Shan-Ni uses them. I also found the words for ‘keep’ and
‘stay’ in dictionaries as ‘verbal particles’. In some texts29 they do occur in ways that could be
interpreted as having similar functions the TAM markers in Shan-Ni, though these could also
be interpreted as parts of serial verb constructions. I did not find evidence convincing enough
to call them TAM markers, not in the last place because these are rare. Of course, their
function within a serial verb construction could be the first step to further
grammaticalization into a TAM marker, but they clearly did not reach that state yet.
The markers maa⁴ and kaa⁵ in Shan-Ni as inchoative and terminative aspect markers,
mostly used for events in the past. In Phake and Khamti these are also present as past
markers. Inglis (2014) glosses kaa⁵ refers to distant time and maa⁴ to the perfective.
Unfortunately, he does not elobarate on it and does not include enough examples to see how

29
Narratives in Young (1985) and Glick & Sao Tern Moeng (1991)

121
the usage of these markers in Khamti corresponds with the usage of TAM markers in Shan-
Ni.
The shape of these TAM markers is also interesting, since these in Shan-Ni these differ from
the verbs they derived from. The TAM markers themselves share the same shape as they have
in Khamti and Phake, but in these languages they also exist as normal verbs for ‘go’ and ‘come’.
These verbs in Shan-Ni have different shapes, corresponding with Tai Mao.

Table 37 The presence of Shan-Ni TAM markers in other languages

Shan-Ni Phake Khamti Tai Mau Shan Gyi
marker yaw⁵ yau⁴ yau⁴ yâu jaw⁵
gloss FINISHED FINISHED FINISH/ALREADY already perfective
marker u¹ ū uu¹ - ju²
gloss STAY STAY IMPERFECTIVE progressive
marker waj⁵ wai⁴ wai¹ wâi waj⁵
gloss KEEP KEEP DURATIVE keep keep
marker te¹ ta¹ tii⁵ tı̌ te¹
gloss FUT WILL IRREALIS will will
marker kaa⁵ kā ¹ kaa⁵ - -
gloss GO GO DISTANT TIME
marker maa⁴ mā ² maa⁴ - -
gloss COME COME PERFECTIVE
marker kaw¹ - - - -
gloss OLD
marker kɤn⁴ - - - -
gloss SHOULD/YET

7.3.1 kaw¹ ‘OLD’ and kɤn¹ ‘SHOULD’/’YET’

The grammaticalisation of two TAM markers, kaw¹ ‘OLD’ and kɤn¹ ‘SHOULD’/’YET’ seems to be
unique to Shan-Ni. They occur only marginally as lexical, ungrammaticalized items in other
Tai languages. In Morey (2005a), both are mentioned as lexical items in lists cited from
Banchob (1987), but they do not occur in any of Morey’s own examples. They are also not
found in Khamti (Inglis 2014). They do both have Burmese equivalents that are frequently
used in colloquial speech. Although these do not correspond entirely with Shan-Ni and have
grammacalized from different words than their Shan-Ni equivalents, the fact that Shan-Ni
speakers feel the need to have a TAM marker in the same situations may indicate that this a
result of widespread Shan-Ni/Burmese bilingualism. Of these two markers, kɤn¹
‘SHOULD’/’YET’ is used the most frequently. It is used in two ways, with and without negator.
Without negator it is used for request from the speaker to the interlocutor. With negator it is
used for events that have not happened yet or things that the subject did not do yet. The usage
with negetor is the most frequent and corresponds with the Burmese particle [ ေသး ] thee.
The examples below are shown together with their Burmese translations in the Basic Spoken
122
Shanni book. In (222) and (223) it is about things that the speaker did not do yet, and (224)
refers to the time before sunrise, which is described as ‘the sky is not bright yet’. The usage
of ma¹..kɤn¹ ‘not yet’ corresponds the Burmese ma…thee buu ‘not yet’ in all instances I found,
both in spoken and written examples given by bilinguals. The function of kɤn¹ without
negation in Shan-Ni does not correspond with a specific Burmese particle, so it is not entirely
the same, but the ma¹..kɤn¹ construction does allow Shan-Ni speakers a express a very
frequently used particle in Burmese.

(222) a. [SHAN-NI] b. [BURMESE]

မ ချ ပ် ေသး ဘး
ma¹ lai² yap⁵ kɤn¹ ma khyup thee buu
NEG GET sow YET NEG sow YET NEG
‘[I] didn’t get it sowed yet.’ ‘[I] didn’t get it sowed yet.’
(BSS_33)
(223) a. [SHAN-NI] b. [BURMESE]
မ ၀ယ် ရ ေသး ဘး
ma¹ laj² sɯ⁵ kɤn¹ ma we ya thee buu
NEG get buy YET NEG buy get YET NEG
‘[I] didn’t buy it yet.’ ‘[I] didn’t buy it yet.’
(BSS_74)
(224) a. [SHAN-NI] b. [BURMESE]
မိး မ လင် ေသး ဘး
phaa⁵ ma¹ lɛng⁴ kɤn¹ moe ma leng thee buu
sky NEG light YET sky NEG bright YET NEG
‘before sunrise’ ‘before sunrise’
Lit: The sky is not bright yet. Lit: The sky is not bright yet.
(BSS_66)
For Phake küŋ¹ ‘should’ (cognate of kɤn¹ ‘SHOULD’ in Shan-Ni) is listed as an auxiliary verb in
Morey (2005a: 234) citing Banchob (1987). His work does not feature examples of the usage
of küŋ¹ in Phake. For ‘not yet’, there is one example by Morey (2005a: 350) with the word
paj¹. As far as I know this word does not exist in Shan-Ni. Later Morey (2005a: 259) does
mention “pai1/pi1/pa1 ‘don’t’, ‘not yet’”. If this is indeed the same lexeme, it only exists as
the prohibitive pi¹ in Shan-Ni.
The TAM marker kaw¹ ‘OLD’ is used in sentences that in English would include ‘ever’, ‘X
times’ or ‘never’, but searching on these terms through the work of Morey (2005a) and Inglis
(2014) did not yield any results, hence I do not know how Khamti, Phake and Aiton express
these kind of constructions. kaw¹ ‘OLD’ does correspond with the Burmese marker hpuu [ ဖး ],
itself a grammaticalization of the verb ‘visit’. Below are the Shan-Ni sentences from the

123
section on kaw¹ in Chapter 6 and their Burmese equivalents. In (225) ma¹..kaw¹ is used as
‘never’, in (226) kaw¹ is used for ‘ever’ and in (227) sɔng³ ha¹…kaw¹ is used for ‘two times’.

(225) a. [SHAN-NI]

kɛɯ⁴ caa⁵ man⁴ ma¹ han³ kaw¹

1SG for 3SG NEG see OLD
‘I have never seen her before.’
(CM_EMP_13)
b. [BURMESE]
က န်ေတာ့် သ ကိ မ ြမင် ဖး ဘး
chendo tu go ma mjen hpuu buu
1SG.M 3SG OBJ NEG see EVER NEG
‘I have never seen her before.’
(EMP_13)
(226) a. [SHAN-NI]

nyaa⁴ yaan¹kong¹ thɤng³ kaw¹ de⁴

MEET yangon arrive OLD Q.POL
‘Have you ever been to Yangon?’
(NY_NS_23a)
b. [BURMESE]
ရန်ကန် ေရာက် ဖး လား
yangon jauk hpuu laa
yangon arrive EVER Q
‘Have you ever been to Yangon?’
(NS_23a)
(227) a. [SHAN-NI]

ɤ⁴ sɔng³ ha¹ thɤng³ kaw¹

EMP two CLF.times arrive OLD
‘Yes, I have been there twice.’
(NY_NS_23b)
b.[BURMESE]
ဟတ်၊ စ် ခါ ေရာက် ဖး တယ်
ho hni khaa jauk hpuu de
yes two time arrive EVER REAL
‘Yes, I have been there twice.’
(NS_23b)

124
 The lack of these frequently used TAM marker in Phake and other Tai langauges means
innovation must have taken place after the migration of the Phake in 1775. From that
moment onwards the Burmese administration has been very influential in the Shan-Ni areas,
hence this is very likely a result of bilingualism.

7.4 Summary

Table 38 Features in Shan-Ni and other Tai languages

Feature Shan-Ni Similar in Different in
Consonant cluster yes Tai Mao, Tai Nua, Lao Phake, Khamti,
/kw/ Aiton
Consonant yes - All other Tai
clusters with /-j/ languages
Tones See Figure 9 Khamti, Phake Tai Mao, Tai Nua
Interrogatives Monosyllabic Tai Mao, Phake, Khamti, Lao, Shan
constractions Aiton Gyi
Class terms Almost all nouns Applies to objects Nowhere as
and people in Lao frequent as in Shan-
Ni
Sesquisyllabic Applies to disyllabic Marginally present in All other Tai
structure with class terms Phake languages
Demonstratives Contractions+ Contractions like Tai All
disyllabic Mao and Phake,
near-far distinction
like Khamti
TAM markers 8 different ones Phake (6), Khamti Tai Mao, Shan Gyi
(6)
Shape TAM Different shape as TAM markers same Original verbs same
markers verbs they derive in Phake and Khamti as Tai Mao
from
Pronouns 2PL+3PL different for Possessives same as 2PL+3PL personal
personal and other Tai languages pronouns unique
possessive distinction

Shan-Ni shares features with the Tai languages to the northwest (e.g Khamti, Phake and
Aiton), as well as with the Tai languages to the southeast (e.g. Tai Nua and Tai Mao). While
the presence of TAM markers is clearly shared with the northwestern languages, the
interrogatives are similar to Tai Mao, as well as the retention of the cluster word initial
clusters /kw/ and /khw/. Class terms are present in other languages, though never as
common as they are in Shan-Ni. The addition of class terms is responsible for a large chunk
of Shan-Ni’s disyllabic vocabulary. But the major application of the formation of disyllabic
terms can be found in grammatical features. Shan-Ni favours the inclusion of all innovations,
both those shared with the northwestern languages, and those shared with the southeast.

125
This is well represented in the demonstratives, which include the contractions present in Tai
Mao and Phake, but through which disyllabic terms can also distinguish between different
degrees of proximity like Tai Khamti does. This tendency to create disyllabic terms also
allows Shan-Ni to distinguish between personal and possessive pronouns for the second and
third person plural, which are the same in Khamti and Tai Phake. Similarly, the TAM markers
kaa⁵ ‘GO’ and maa⁴ ‘COME’ are identical to the verbs they derived from in Khamti and Tai Phake,
but have different shapes in Shan-Ni. These features together show how Shan-Ni has a strong
tendency to make distinctions in the language, that go beyond the incorporation of features
also present in other different Tai languages.
Though data on some of the languages mentioned above is lacking, Phake, Khamti and Tai
Mao show clear relationships to Shan-Ni in different ways. A similar set of innovations from
Tai Mao are present in both Shan-Ni and Tai Phake. However, features absent in Tai Mao but
present in Tai Khamti are as well. This supports the theory that a large group of migrants
from the Tai Nue/Tai Mao region integrated into the sedentary Tai group living in the area of
Mogaung, who are related to the Khamti. The Tai Phake, who probably left Mogaung around
1775, share a lot of features with Shan-Ni, although the formation of disyllabic words is not
that frequently presented in Tai Phake. The relationship between Shan-Ni, Khamti, Phake and
Tai Mao is demonstrated in Figure 10.

Figure 10 Shan-Ni’s relationship with Khamti, Phake and Tai Mao

126
 Conclusions
Shan-Ni as spoken at the Indawagyi lake shares features with the Tai languages spoken in
India, the Chinese-Burmese border, and Khamti further in the north of Myanmar. It also has
some very unique features, which in other Tai languages are either absent or only marginally
present. Though all the languages spoken in India and northern Myanmar have distinct
features that may be read as Tibeto-Burman influence, Shan-Ni seems to have a few more
recent developments that are more explicitly Burmese inlfluence. In addition, it has taken
some processes that exist in other Tai languages and built new processes on top of that. These
developments point to several moments in history where groups merged or split off. Since
their movements have been all either towards or from Mogaung, where the Shan-Ni live,
knowledge of Shan-Ni is crucial in understanding the developments within the Southwestern
Tai language family.
The phonology of Shan-Ni is similar to other Tai languages, with aspirated and non-
aspirated voiceless stops, no voiced stops, a variety of nasals, fricatives and approximants,
and a large vowel inventory. It has retained the initial consonant cluster /kw/, and
palatalized the consonants /k, kh, p, ph, m/ when followed by the vowels /ɛ, i, e/, in which
did not happen in other Tai varieties in the region is likely to be a relatively new innovation.
Shan-Ni is actively making nouns disyllabic through the addition of class terms. These are
words that provide categories to a noun, for example ‘round’ or ‘time’ or ‘fruit’. These then
form compounds, often with the old form, and then gradually reduce the phonology of the
class term, making it a sesquisyllabic word of which the meaning of the first syllable is no
longer transparent. A similar process is applied to determiners, but here different class terms
added to the same word allows Shan-Ni to make additional destinction when talking about
place. Several word classes, including determiners, question words and adjectives,
incorporate shapes of words that have been formed through processes active in Tai Mao, but
have developed further or fossilized in Shan-Ni.
The sentence structure in Shan-Ni is affected by ellipsis, the omission of arguments, and the
presence of grammatical markers, including TAM markers. Elipsis happens when the referent
is active and clear, hence does not need to be mentioned anymore. New referents are often
introduced with a classifier construction, and inactive referents are marked by the definite
marker naj⁵. Possession can be expressed either through predicates with the existential verb
yang⁴ or by putting the personal pronoun referring to the possessor behind the possessed.
Similarly, the same words that are indefinite pronouns at the beginning of a phrase, are
question words when placed at the end. Grammatical markers include a linker, a verbal plural
marker, a prohibitive and others that each in their own way modify the sentence structure.
The TAM markers mostly correspond with the Tai Phake and Khamti, though the functions
slightly differ and Shan-Ni has two additional TAM markers that are not found in any other
Tai language, (mə¹…) kɤn⁴ ‘should/not yet’ and kaw¹ ‘has been experienced in the past. These
do correspond to the function of the particle tee and hpuu in Burmese, hence it looks like a

127
recent innovation.
When looking at the representation of these features in other Tai languages, it seems very
likely that the Shan-Ni are descendents of two Tai groups that merged around 1200 around
Mogaung. The sedentary population probably spoke a language similar to Khamti, while a
large group of migrants coming in spoke a language similar to Tai Mao and Tai Nua. The
language most similar to Shan-Ni is Tai Phake, who left Mogaung in 1775 to Assam. The
differences between Shan-Ni and Phake are thus developments that have occurred in the last
250 years. These include the extention of some pre-existing phenomena, but also some things
are very clearly Burmese influence, which makes sense because from that time onwards the
Burmese became dominant in previously Shan-Ni strongholds.
Some innovations in Shan-Ni still allow variation in certain items, making language change
processes more transparent. Other innovations are regional, hence these too ask for a deeper
study into language change. What this study has pointed out, is that Shan-Ni is a crucial link
to understand the connections between Tai languages in northern Myanmar, northeast India,
and southwestern China. This is not a linear relation, but rather one of various periods of
migration causing populations to meet and separate. Since they were also at the center of a
larger kingdom, which included different Tibeto-Burman peoples, a description of Shan-Ni
allows us to study how these languages have been influenced by Shan-Ni and vice-versa.
Tibeto-Burman studies that include comparison with “Shan” up to now only had Khamti and
Shan Gyi to look at, which are both quite distinct from Shan-Ni grammatically.
This thesis only scratched the surface of Shan-Ni grammar and its possible contributions to
understanding language change in the region. Future research can go both broader and
deeper into what has been introduced here. Broader with the inclusion of Shan-Ni dialects
spoken in other regions, deeper with in-depth research on individual features discussed here.

128
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 Appendix
Wordlist
u -k
ka¹kyi⁴ɛng² armpit

kaa² dance

kaa⁴ car

kaa⁵ GO (TAM)

kaan⁵ break off

kaap⁵ bite

kaj¹ chicken
kak¹ stutter
kam¹ brown
kam²cɯm⁴ ball pen
kaɯ⁴ /kɛɯ⁴ 1SG
kan² starve
⁴ kan⁴ verbal plural (VPL)

kang² cover
kap¹ communicate

kat¹ cold
kaw¹ old
kɔ⁵ CLF for humans

kɔ⁵ also
kɔk¹ classifier for cups

kɔng²kaang⁴ chin
kɔng²khɔ⁴ throat
kɔp⁵sang⁴ why

kɤn¹ SHOULD/ YET

ko⁴ afraid

132
koj² banana
kon² buttocks

kon⁴ person
ku² classifier for pairs
kuj¹ cotton
kwaa¹ go
kwak¹ cup

kyaang¹ fast

kyep¹ pick up

kyin⁴ eat

c -kh
kha¹laaj² want
kha¹ləɯ⁴ how much, how many
kha¹nang³ later

khaa² politeness marker

khaa³ search
khaa³ upper leg

khaam² cross (verb)

khaan⁵ lazy

khaj¹ egg
khaj² want

khat¹ broken
khaw² enter

khaw² rice
khaw³ 3PL .POS, their
khɔ² mɯ⁴ wrist lit: useful hand
khɔ²tin⁴ ankle lit: useful foot

khɔ²tin⁴ slipper

133
khɔ⁴ neck
khɔj⁴ male genitals

khew³ green
khi³ female genitals

khɯn² attend

khɯn² climb

khuj² banana
khun³ho³ hair lit: hair head
khun³mɯ⁴ hair on the hand lit: hair hand
khun³ping¹taa⁴ eyelashes lit: hair edge eye
khun³taa⁴ eyebrows lit: hair eye
khun³tin⁴ hair on the foot lit: hair foot

khwaaj⁴ buffalo

khwam⁴ language
khyem³ needle
khyet¹ frog
khyew² teeth
khyɛn³ mɯ⁴ forearm

khyɛng³ stiff
khyɛp¹ classifier for classifier for flat, hard objects

khyi¹ ride, drive

khyi²hu³ ear wax lit: shit ear
khyi²khyew² teeth impurities lit: shit teeth
khyi²muk⁵ snot lit: shit snot
khyi²taa² eye boogers lit: shit eye

i - ng
ngɯn⁴ money
ngo⁴ cow

134
ngu⁴ snake

p-c
caa⁴ for

caa⁵ angry

caɯ⁴ order
caɯ⁴ heart
caɯ⁴ maj² worried
caɯ⁴ on² happy
caɯ⁴ yaɯ¹ angry
cɔm⁴ follow

cɔng³ little

cet¹ seven
cum¹pu⁴li⁴ navel lit: sink count navel

q-s
saaj² intestines
saaj²ɔn¹ small intestine Lit: intestine small
saaj²king² appendix Lit: intestine branch
saaj²long³ large intestine Lit: intestine big
saaj²tap¹ inner organs Lit: intestines liver

saam³ three

saan³ inside

saan⁴ beautiful

sang⁴ what, something

sap¹ strike

sap¹pa¹tu⁴ window

sap¹pa¹tu⁴ door

sɔj¹ glass pot

135
 sɔk¹ mɯ⁴ elbow lit: elbow hand

sɔn³ study

sɔng³ two

sɔt¹ alight, burn

sɔt⁵ drink
sɛng³ gem

sɛng³khew³ jade

sɤ² shirt

si¹ four
si¹ colour
qDcAof si¹ khew³ green
si¹ lɤng³ yellow
si¹ nɛng⁴ red
si³ LINKER, because, that, and

sip¹ ten
siw³ pimple

sɯ⁵ buy

sɯt⁵ push
son²tin⁴ heel lit: heel foot
sop¹ mouth
su³ 2PL .POS, your

suk⁵ rinse

n - ny
nyaa⁴ meet, at

w -t
taa¹koong¹ Yangon (city)
taa⁴tin⁴ bowl of the ankle lit: eye foot

136
 taaj⁴ shout

taaj⁴ die

taan² talk

taang⁴ way, manner

taap¹kon² hips lit: flat side buttocks
taɯ² classifier for bottles

tang² cook

tang⁴ with

tang⁴long³ everything
tap¹ liver
tap¹phɤk¹ spleen Liver

tɔ¹ talk

tɔ¹ until

tɔj⁴ look
aw te¹ FUTURE (TAM), will

te⁴kɔ⁵ friend

tɛ¹ build
tɛn¹ hit
tɤn² forest

tɤn²maj⁵ tree
wDB ti² place

ti²thai² here
ti²than² there

tin⁴ foot
to⁴ classifier for animals
to⁴ body

tok¹ fall
traa⁴ Buddhist law
tuk¹ fall

137
 x - th
thaa⁴ swear
thɛɯ⁴ where
thɤng² classifier for trees, plants

thon² arrive

thop¹ encounter, meet

thun³ classifier for bags

thung³ bag

e -n
na¹hɯ⁴ how
naa²caɯ⁴ chest (female) lit: face feeling
naa²khyɛng² shin
naa²ok¹ chest (male) lit: face chest
naa²phaak¹ forehead

naa⁵ TAG, isn't it?

nam³ many

nam⁵ water
erfhvFifBoMEef nam⁵ leng²waan³ tea (sweet)
nam⁵naaj⁴ spit lit: water saliva
nam⁵naaj⁴khum³ saliva lit: water saliva ?
nam⁵taa⁴ tears lit: water eye
nang¹hɯ⁴ how
nang¹nɛ² this

nang² sit
nang³ back
nɔn⁴ sleep
nɔng³ lake

138
ne¹ plural

y-p
pa¹laa³ almost
pa¹ying⁴ girl
paa² side

paaj² run
paaj⁴ mɯ⁴ top of the hand lit: top hand
paaj⁴ tin⁴ top of the foot lit: top foot
paak¹ mouth

paan⁵ plate (flat)

pak¹ hundred

pɔ² father
pɔj⁴ fair

pɔk⁵ return

pɔm² round
pɔng²kaaw² calf (of leg) lit: joint calf (of leg)

pɔt¹ lungs
pen⁴ COPULA, happen, be

pɛ⁵ can

pi¹ PROHIBITIVE, don't

pi²nɔng⁵ sisters
pi⁶ year
pin⁴ COPULA, happen, be
ping¹sop¹ lips

pɯ⁴ if
pɯn⁴nan⁵ that
pɯn⁴than² over there

pom¹ story

139
pon⁵ last, previous

pu¹ grandfather

pu¹ta¹ya² grandparents

put¹ open
pyaa⁴ show
pyen⁴ COPULA, happen, be

pyet¹ duck
pyet¹ eight

z -ph
pha¹lɔ³ onion
pha¹maaw¹ bachelor
phaa¹kyɛm² cheek lit: palm/sole hand
phaa¹mɯ⁴ hand palm lit: sole/palm cheek
phaa¹tin⁴ sole lit: palm/sole foot
phaa² cloth
phaa² ho³ turban
phaa² sɤ¹ bedsheet
phaa² taj⁴ traditional clothes
stone plates
phaa³
phaa³kaan⁵ Hpakant (city), stone plates break off
phaa⁵ sky
phaa⁵lɛng⁴ daylight, sunshine

phaan³ poor

phaj⁴ fire

phak¹ dish next to rice

phan³ dream
phɛɯ⁴ who

phɤng² bee

140
phɯn³ classifier for flat, flexible objects

pho³long ³ husband

pho³ta¹me⁴ couple (husband and wife)

phraa⁴ temple
phraa⁴ pagoda

phun³ rain

phyit¹ to quarrel

r -m
ma¹ NEG
ma¹haw³ 3PL, they
ma¹mong² mango
ma¹su³ 3PL
maa² mad
maa³ dog
maa⁴ come
maa⁵ horse
maai² widow

maak¹ fruit

maak¹ phyit¹ chillies

maak¹cɔk¹ orange
maak¹ho³ cɛɯ⁴ heart
maak¹lan⁴ kidneys

maak¹un³ coconut

maan² village
maɯ¹ new
maɯ⁴ classifier for spoons
man⁴ 3SG (POS), he/she

mɔ² pot

141
 mɔj³sop¹ moustache lit: (short facial) hair mouth

mɔk¹ inform
mɔk¹ classifier for flowers

mɔk¹ya² flower
mɔng⁴ hour

me⁴ wife
men⁴ fly

mɛ² mother

mɛ² lady

mɛ⁴ wife
mɛɯ⁴ 2SG, you
mɤ² time
mɤ² maj² hot season
rlofBebh mɤ² naj⁵ now
rlofBzlufh mɤ² phok⁵ tomorrow
mɤ²mɤ²ngaa⁴ yesterday

mi⁴ rich
mɯ² lɛɯ⁴ when

mɯ² thɛɯ⁴ when

mɯ⁴ hand
mɯn⁴ 3SG (POS), he/she, his/hers
mu² pig
myet¹ fishing hook

myin⁵ turmeric

myit⁵ knife, slice (verb)

,-y
yaa¹ at, place

yaa² grandmother

142
 yaap¹ difficult

yaaw⁴ long
yam⁴ wet

yam⁵ chew

yang⁴ EXIST, have

yau⁵ finish, FINISHED (TAM)

yew² urine

yɯk⁵ wet

yu¹ stay

yaɯ¹ big

yɯ⁴ shoot

yɔ¹ga¹ illness

v -l
la¹ɔn¹ child
la¹ling⁴ monkey

laa² face

laang⁵ wash
vMyfh laap⁵ free

laj² GET

laɯ⁴ in
lang³mɯ⁴ back of the hand lit: back hand
lang³tin⁴ back of the foot lit: back foot

lɔj⁴ slow

lɔj⁴ mountain
lɔng² work
lɔt¹ lom⁴ trachea lit: pipe wind
lɔt¹yɤ² esophagus lit: pipe food

lɔt⁵ escape

143
 lep⁵tin⁴ toenail lit: nail foot
lɛm² classifier for long, slender objects
lɛɯ⁴ which

lɛng⁴ bright

lɛng⁵ give birth

lɛp⁵mɯ⁴ fingernail lit: nail hand
lɤ⁵ meat

lɤn⁴ month

lɤt⁵ blood
li⁴ good

lik⁵ write

lin⁴ earth lit: finger hand

ling⁵ tongue lit: finger foot
liw⁵mɯ⁴ finger
liw⁵tin⁴ toe

long³ big

lu³ particle implying plea

lu³ mouse
luk⁵ daughter, son

luk⁵ get up, stand up

luk⁵caai⁴ son

luk⁵ɔn¹ child

luk⁵sao³ daughter

o -w
waa² speak, talk
waam⁵ catch
classifier for round, open
waan¹
objects
oMEef waan³ sweet

144
waan⁴ day

waj⁵ keep, KEEP (TAM)

wan¹ plate (round)

wan¹ma¹laj⁵ today

[-h
haa² five

haaj² cry

haaj³ loose

hak⁵ love

haɯ⁴ give

han³ see
haw⁴ 1PL (POS), we, our

hɔng⁵ call

heng³ thousand

het¹ do, make lit: shape waist

hɛng² dry

hɛng⁴ strength
hɛng⁵ɛng² waist
hɤ¹ sweat

hɤ⁵ boat

hɤ⁵men⁴ airplane lit: head knee

hɤn⁴ house
ho³ head lit: spacious.place rice
ho³khaw¹ knee
ho³maa¹ shoulder includes ear
hong⁴khaw² stomach
hu³ ear
hu³nang⁴ nose lit: hole buttocks
hu⁴ classifier for holes, drops, dots

145
hu⁴ hole
hu⁴kɔn² anus
classifier for round, solid
huj¹
objects
huj¹taa⁴ eye

hung⁴kha¹laaj³ stairs, ladder

hung⁵hen school

t - a (vowels)
a¹saak⁵ age
a¹sang⁴ now
aaj⁴ very

aaj⁴te⁴kɔ⁵ best friend

aan¹ count
an² thing
an² hak⁵ love
an² kyin⁴ food
an² taaj⁴ death

ang¹ for

aw⁴ take

ɔk¹ leave
ɔk¹ɛk¹ brain

ɛ² mushy

u¹ stay, STAY (TAM)

un¹ warm
up⁵ classifier for books

146