# Ta'Oi language

Ta'Oi (Ta'Oih, Ta Oi) is a dialect continuum within the Katuic branch of the Austroasiatic language family, spoken amongst the Ta Oi people in the Salavan and Sekong provinces in Laos and the municipality of Huế in Vietnam.

## Varieties

Sidwell (2005) lists the following varieties of Ta'Oi, which is a name applied to speakers of various related dialects.
* Ta'Oi proper
* Ong/Ir/Talan
* Chatong is spoken about 50 to 100 km northeast of Sekong. It has been recorded only by Theraphan L-Thongkum.
* Kriang (Ngkriang, Ngeq) is spoken by up to 4,000 people living in villages between Tatheng and Sekong, such as Ban Chakamngai.
* Kataang (Katang) is a dialect that has been documented by Michel Ferlus, Gerard Diffloth, and other linguists. It is not to be confused with the Bru dialect of Katang.

## Phonology
### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ʔ |
| Fricative | Fricative | | s | | | h |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | r | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | l | j | | |
* There are also creaky syllable-final segments /mʔ, nʔ, ŋʔ, wʔ, lʔ, jʔ/, however; they are not noted as a distinct series.
* /ɟ/ may also be heard as a preglottal sound [ʔj].

### Vowels

Monopthongs :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i iː | ɨ ɨː | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | ə əː | o oː |
| Open | ɛ ɛː | a aː | ɔ ɔː |
Diphthongs :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | ia | ɨa | ua |

## Morphosyntax

Taoih, like other Katuic languages, is largely analytic and slightly inflectional. Taoih has a large amounts of affixes which mark agreement for person and case and derive new lexicalized words. The specific cases that are marked differ by person. There are several grammatical cases in Taoih, including some important ones: nominative, accusative, locative, dative, and genitive.
Taoih Pronouns :
| | 1st person | 1st person | 1st person | 2nd person | 2nd person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 3rd person | 3rd person |
| | singular | dual | plural | singular | dual | plural | singular | dual | plural |
| Initial | aku | nhǎng | muhe | ame | inhoa | ipe | ʔo | anho'a | ape |
| Genitive | ɘɳku | ɘɳnhǎng | ɘɳhe | ɘɳme/ɘɳmaɨ | ɘɳoinhoa | ɘɳoipe | ɘɳo | ɘɳoanho'a | ɘɳoape |
| Dative | aku | anhǎng | ahe | amme/ammai | aoinhoa | aoipe | ao | aoanho'a | aoape |
| Locative | - | - | ihe | ime/imai | - | - | ido | - | imaɨ |
Urɘq
book
ɘɳ-maɨ
GEN-2SG
Urɘq ɘɳ-maɨ
book GEN-2SG
Your book
Taoih is prominently a neutral alignment language. Taoih exhibits neutral alignment for case with (in)transitive verbs and also neutral alignment for agreement in both (in)transitive and ditransitive frames, the verb never shows agreement with any argument, regardless of its transitivity. For ditransitive verbs, Taoih exhibits indirective alignment.
Kuyuk
Kuyu’k
dong
give
urɘq
book
a-o-inho'a
DAT-LK-2SG
anho'a
and
a-o-ndil
DAT-LK-girl
Kuyuk dong urɘq a-o-inho'a anho'a a-o-ndil
Kuyu’k give book DAT-LK-2SG and DAT-LK-girl
"Kuyuk gives the book to you (dual) and the girl."
To mark benefactive arguments, the dative marker and preposition adeh occur before patients.
Ku
1SG
takoóh
cook
adeh
for.BEN
a-o-akoónh
DAT-LK-father
anho'a
and
a-maɨ
DAT-2SG
Ku takoóh adeh a-o-akoónh anho'a a-maɨ
1SG cook for.BEN DAT-LK-father and DAT-2SG
"I cook for father and you."