| Phake | |
|---|---|
| (တႝ)ၸႃကေ | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Assam |
| Ethnicity | Tai Phake people |
Native speakers | 2,000 (2007)[1] |
| |
| Burmese script (Phake variation, called Lik-Tai)[2] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | phk |
| Glottolog | phak1238 |
| ELP | Phake |
The Phake languageorTai Phake language (တႝၸႃကေ, tai phākae) is a Tai language spoken in the Buri Dihing ValleyofAssam, India. It is closely related to the other Southwestern Tai languages in Assam: Aiton, Khamti, Khamyang, and Turung.
Buragohain (1998) lists the following Tai Phake villages.
| Tai name | Translation of Tai name | Assamese/English name | District |
|---|---|---|---|
| ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 ke꞉5 taü3 | Lower Phake village | Namphakey | Dibrugarh |
| ma꞉n3 pha꞉k4 ta꞉5 | Other side of the river village | Tipam Phake | Dibrugarh |
| ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 ke꞉5 nɔ6 | Upper Phake village | Borphake | Tinsukia |
| niŋ1 kam4 | Ning kam Nagas | Nigam Phake | Tinsukia |
| ma꞉n3 pha꞉4 naiŋ2 | Red sky village | Faneng | Tinsukia |
| məŋ2 la꞉ŋ2 | Country of the Lang Nagas | Mounglang | Tinsukia |
| məŋ2 mɔ1 | Mine village | Man Mau | Tinsukia |
| ma꞉n3 loŋ6 | Big village | Man Long | Tinsukia |
| nauŋ1 lai6 | Nong Lai Nagas | Nonglai | - |
The [maːn˧] corresponds to the modern Thai ban (บ้าน) and Shan wan (ဝၢၼ်ႈ), which mean 'village'. (Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see Proto-Tai language#Tones.)
Tai Phake has the following initial consonants[2]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | ||
| Plosive | Tenuis | p | t | c | k | ʔ | ||||
| Aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||
| Fricative | s | h | ||||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||||
| Semi-vowel | w | j | ||||||||
Tai Phake has the following final consonants:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | ||
| Plosive | Tenuis | p | t | k | ʔ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||||
| Semi-vowel | w | j | |||||||
-[w] occurs after front vowels and [a]-, -[j] occurs after back vowels and [a]-.[2]
Tai Phake has the following vowel inventory:[3]
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| unr. | unr. | rnd. | ||
| short | short | long | short | |
| Close | i | ɯ | u | |
| Mid | e | ɤ | o | |
| Open | ɛ | a | aː | ɔ |
The Tai Phake have their own writing system called 'Lik-Tai', which they share with the Khamti people and Tai Aiton people.[2] It closely resembles the Northern Shan script of Myanmar, which is a variant of the Burmese script, with some of the letters taking divergent shapes.[4]
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| Kra |
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| Kam–Sui |
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| Biao |
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| Lakkia |
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| Hlai |
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| Jiamao |
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| Be–Jizhao |
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| Tai (Zhuang, etc.) |
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| Arunachal Pradesh |
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| Assam |
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| Manipur |
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| Meghalaya |
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| Nagaland |
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| Sikkim |
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| Tripura |
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