Phake language
The Phake language or Tai Phake language (တႝၸႃကေ, tai phākae) is a Tai language spoken in the Buri Dihing Valley of Assam, India. It is closely related to the other Southwestern Tai languages in Assam: Aiton, Khamti, Khamyang, and Turung.
Distribution
Buragohain (1998) lists the following Tai Phake villages.
- Man Phake Tau (Namphake village, Assam)
- Man Tipam (Tipam Phake village, Assam)
- Man Phake Neu (Bor Phake village, Assam)
- Man Mo (Man Mo village, Assam)
- Man Phaneng (Phaneng village, Assam)
- Man Long (Long village, Assam)
- Man Nonglai (Nonglaui village, Assam)
- Man Monglang (Monglang village, Assam)
- Man Nigam (Nigam village, Assam)
- Man Wagun (Wagun village, Arunachal Pradesh)
- Man Lung Kung (Lung Kung village, Arunachal Pradesh)
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.)
Phonology
Initial consonants
Tai Phake has the following initial consonants
Final consonants
Tai Phake has the following final consonants:
-[w] occurs after front vowels and [a]-, -[j] occurs after back vowels and [a]-.
Vowels
Tai Phake has the following vowel inventory:
Writing system
The Tai Phake have their own writing system called 'Lik-Tai', which they share with the Khamti people and Tai Aiton people. 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.