Taman language (Myanmar)

Taman speakers have since shifted to Burmese and Tai Naing (Red Shan), a Tai language spoken in northern Myanmar.[1] Matisoff (2013:25)[3] surmises that pressure from the formerly widespread Kadu language had caused Taman to become marginalized. The descendants of Taman speakers have since been assimilated into Shan society.[1]

Benedict (1972) and Shafer (1974) classified Taman as part of the Luish branch of languages.

Words and affixes shared exclusively between Luish and Taman are (Huziwara 2016):

• negative prefix (Proto-Luish *a-, Taman ʔə-)
• ‘put’ (Proto-Luish *péy, Taman pe)
• ‘go, walk’ (Proto-Luish *ha, Taman hɔ)
• ‘sun’ as a compound word that includes ‘eye’

However, Huziwara (2016)[1] notes that despite Taman sharing some similarities with Luish, Taman cannot be securely classified within the Luish branch itself, and its place in Tibeto-Burman remains uncertain. Taman also shares various similarities with many nearby non-Luish languages, including various Sal languages. Huziwara (2016) concludes that Taman is part of a linkage of Tibeto-Burman languages spanning across northeast India and northern Myanmar (i.e., comparable to Scott DeLancey's Central Tibeto-Burman languages), but does not recognizably fit into any known Tibeto-Burman branch.

Taman has the following phonemes.[1]

• Vowels: a, e, ɛ, i, ɨ, ɐ, o [ɔ, ɑ], u, ə
• Consonants: p, ph, t, th, c [ts, tʃ], k, m, n, ŋ, r, l, s (sʰ), ʃ, x, h, w (v), y

Below are five innovations from Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB) to Taman identified by Huziwara (2016).

• raising of low vowels (PTB *-a > Taman -ɔ)
• fricativization of velar stops in word-initial positions (PTB *k- > Taman x-)
• loss of velar stops in word-final positions (PTB *-ak > Taman -a)
• addition of velar stops after high vowels (PTB *-i/-u > Taman -ek/-ouk)
• affrication of *gry- (PTB *gry- > Taman c-)

Below is Brown's (1911) Taman word list as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara (2016:19–29), and Brown's (1911) Taman list re-transcribed by Luce (1985), as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara (2016).

The Taman word for 'river' is the same as the word for 'water'.

On March 2, 2015, Keisuke Huziwara[1] discovered an 83-year-old woman in Htamanthi who remembered some words and phrases of the Taman language, as well as a short song. The woman was born in a village just outside Htamanthi. The elicited words and phrases are (Huziwara 2016:14–16):

• hɔ əna, hɔ təyauŋ '(I) went over there.' (hɔ 'to go')
• kʰam sɔ-nə-kɔ 'Did (you) eat?' (kʰam 'food, cooked rice'; sɔ 'to eat')
• sɔ-kɛʔ 'already ate'
• ʔə-sɔ-wɛʔ 'did not eat (yet)' (ʔə- 'negative prefix')
• sɔ-nə-kɔ-ya 'ate; finished eating' (-nə 'desiderative suffix')
• tʰitum ŋɔ lɔ 'Where is the water?' (tʰi 'water'; tum 'container'; ŋɔ 'where'; lɔ 'interrogative')
• ʔəyɔ pe 'Where did I put it?' (pe 'to place'; ʔəyɔ 'where?')
• wa dɔ 'Come!' (wa 'to come')
• pi 'firewood' (cf. Meithei upi 'firewood')
• məla 'tea'
• məla sɔ nɔ 'Please drink tea.' (məla 'tea'; sɔ 'to eat')

The song is transcribed as follows.

ʔi ʔələyaŋ ʔi ʔələyaŋ

nənum təhɔ ʔinahɔ

məceiʔ cɔ he lɔcɔ ci

məceiʔ cɔ ʔi na

nam ha mina

hɔ pi cɔ

Huziwara (2016:15–16) analyzes the song as follows.

• ʔi ʔələyaŋ ʔi ʔələyaŋ: exclamation introducing the song
• nənum təhɔ ʔina hɔ: 'The child went.'
• məceiʔcɔ he: 'Where is the child?' (Taman məceiʔcɔ 'child' < PTB *tsa-n)
• lɔcɔ ci: [meaning unclear]
• məceiʔcɔ, ʔina: 'I told the child'
• nam ha mina: 'Where did you go?'
• hɔ pi cɔ: 'I went outside.'

Altogether, the nouns, verbs, and prefixes elicited from Huziwara's (2016) Taman informant are:

• kʰam 'food, cooked rice'
• tʰi 'water'
• məla 'tea'
• pi 'firewood'
• tum 'container'
• məceiʔcɔ 'child'
• ʔə- 'negative prefix'
• sɔ 'to eat'
• hɔ 'to go'
• wa 'to come'
• pe 'to place, put'