# 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)
Tai Phake Villages (Morey 2005:22) :
| 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 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
| | | Bilabial | Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Palatal | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Glottal |
| | | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless |
| Plosive | Tenuis | p | | t | | c | | k | | ʔ |
| Plosive | Aspirated | pʰ | | tʰ | | | | kʰ | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | | m | | n | | | | ŋ | |
| Fricative | Fricative | | | s | | | | | | h |
| Lateral | Lateral | | | | l | | | | | |
| Semi-vowel | Semi-vowel | w | | | | | j | | | |

### Final consonants

Tai Phake has the following final consonants:
| | | Bilabial | Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Glottal |
| | | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless |
| Plosive | Tenuis | p | | t | | | k | | ʔ |
| Nasal | Nasal | | m | | n | | | ŋ | |
| Semi-vowel | Semi-vowel | w | | | | j | | | |
-[w] occurs after front vowels and [a]-, -[j] occurs after back vowels and [a]-.

### Vowels

Tai Phake has the following vowel inventory:
| | Front | Back | Back | Back |
| | unr. | unr. | unr. | rnd. |
| | short | short | long | short |
| Close | i | ɯ | | u |
| Mid | e | ɤ | | o |
| Open | ɛ | a | aː | ɔ |

## 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.

### Consonants

* က - kaa - k - [k]
* ၵ - khaa - kh - [kʰ]
* င - ngaa - ng - [ŋ]
* ꩡ - chaa - ch - [t͡ʃ], [t͡s]
* ꩬ - saaa - s - [s]
* ၺ - nyaa - ny - [ɲ]
* တ - taa - t - [t]
* ထ - thaa - th - [tʰ]
* ꩫ - naa - n - [n]
* ပ - paa - p - [p]
* ၸ - phaa - ph - [pʰ]
* မ - maa - m - [m]
* ယ - yaa - y - [j]
* လ - laa - l - [l]
* ဝ - waa - w - [w~v]
* ꩭ - haa - h - [h]
* ဢ - aa - a - [ʔ]

### Vowels

* ႊ - a - [a]
* ႃ - ā - [aː]
* ိ - i - [i]
* ီ - ī - [iː]
* ု - u - [u]
* ူ - ū - [uː]
* ေ - e/ae - [eː/ɛ]
* ႝ - ai - [ai]
* ေႃ - o/aw - [oː/ɔː]
* ံ - ṁ - [am]
* ုံ - um - [um]
* ွံ - om - [ɔm]
* ိုဝ် - eu - [ɛu]
* ်ႍ - au - [au]
* ်ွ - āu - [aːu]
* ွ - aw - [ɒ]
* ွႝ - oi - [oj]
* ် - final consonant