# Tai Dón language

Tai Dón (ꪼꪕ ꪒ꪿ꪮꪙ, /taj˦.dɔn˦˥/), also known as Tai Khao or White Tai, is a Tai language of northern Vietnam, Laos and China.

## Classification

Tai Dón is classified as belonging to the Tai-Kadai language group, located in the Tai languages and Southwestern Tai languages subgroups.

## Geographical distribution

In China, White Tai (Tai Khaw 傣皓) people are located in the following townships of Yunnan province, with about 40,000 people (Gao 1999).
* Jinping County 金平县: Mengla Township 勐拉乡 and Zhemi Township 者米乡 (along the banks of the Zhemi River 者米河 and Tengtiao River 藤条)
* Malipo County 麻栗坡县: Nanwenhe Township 南温河乡
* Maguan County 马关县: Dulong Town 都龙镇
* Jiangcheng County 江城县: Qushui Township 曲水乡 (along the banks of the Tuka River 土卡河)

## Phonology

Each syllable has at least one onset, one nucleus, and one tone. The following sections present the consonants, vowels, and tones in Tai Dón.

### Consonants
#### Initial consonants

Initial consonants in Tai Dón$^{:9–10}$ :
| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Stop/Affricate | voiced | b | d | | | |
| Stop/Affricate | voiceless unaspirated | p | t | t͡ɕ | k | ʔ |
| Stop/Affricate | voiceless aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | t͡ɕʰ | kʰ | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Fricative | voiced | v | | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | | x | h |
| Approximant | Approximant | | l | j | | |
* ↑ "Hudak (2008)$^{:9}$ likely used <c> to transcribe /t͡ɕ/. Fippinger and Fippinger (1970) used <c> to transcribe /t͡ɕ/, by writing "/c/ [č] alveopalatal affricate", for /t͡ɕ/ in Tai Dam, a language closely related to Tai Dón, in an article that compares Tai Dam phonemes to Tai Dón phonemes.$^{:85}$
* ↑ /v/ is likely a sonorant because of its sonority and low level of friction.$^{:10}$ It is also in complementary distribution with [w] which occurs only at the end of a syllable.$^{:10}$
* ↑ /j/ is often pronounced as [z] in initial position due to the influence of Vietnamese phonology.$^{:10}$
The following table presents the above consonant phonemes in words reported in Hudak's (2008) book.$^{:9–10}$
| Phoneme | Example | Phoneme | Example | Phoneme | Example | Phoneme | Example | Phoneme | Example |
| /b/ | /bɤn˨˨/ ꪚꪷꪙ "moon" | /d/ | /dɔn˦˥/ ꪒꪮꪙꫀ "white" | | | | | | |
| /p/ | /pɔ˦˥˦/ ꪝ꪿ꪮ "father" | /t/ | /tu˨˨/ ꪔꪴ "door" | /t͡ɕ/ | /t͡ɕɔn˧˩ʔ/ ꪋꪮꪙꫂ "spoon" | /k/ | /kaːŋ˨˨/ ꪀꪱꪉ "middle" | /ʔ/ | /ʔaːŋ˦˥/ ꪮꪱꪉꫀ "basin" |
| /pʰ/ | /pʰaː˨˦ʔ/ ꪞꪱꫂ "cloth" | /tʰ/ | /tʰiw˨˨/ ꪖꪲꪫ "to whistle" | /t͡ɕʰ/ | /t͡ɕʰaj˦˥/ ꪼꪌꫀ "egg" | /kʰ/ | /kʰo˨˦ʔ/ ꪂꪺꫂ "to cook" | | |
| /m/ | /mɯŋ˦˦/ ꪣꪳꪉ "you" | /n/ | /naː˨˦ʔ/ ꪘꪱꫂ "face" | /ɲ/ | /ɲuŋ˦˦/ ꪶꪑꪉ "mosquito" | /ŋ/ | /ŋaːj˦˥˦/ ꪉꪱꪥꫀ "easy" | | |
| /v/ | /vaːn˨˨/ ꪪꪱꪙ "sweet" | | | | | | | | |
| /f/ | /faː˨˨/ ꪠꪱ "lid" | /s/ | /sɔŋ˨˨/ ꪎꪮꪉ "two" | | | /x/ | /xaj˨˨/ ꪼꪄ "tallow" | /h/ | /hɤ˦˥/ ꪬꪷꫀ "sweat" |
| | | /l/ | /loŋ˦˦/ ꪩꪺꪉ "dragon" | /j/ | /jɔj˧˩ʔ/ ꪥꪮꪥꫂ "to drool" | | | | |
There are four consonant clusters that occur at the beginning of a syllable.
Initial consonant clusters in Tai Dón$^{:10}$ :
| Cluster | Example |
| kw | /kwaː˦˥˦/ ꪁꪫꪱꫀ "to visit" |
| kʰw | /kʰwe˦˥/ ꪂꪫꪸꫀ "to dig" |
| ŋw | /ŋwaː˦˥˦/ ꪉꪫꪱꫀ "fig" |
| xw | /xwan˦˦/ ꪅꪫꪽ "smoke" |

#### Final consonants

Final consonants in Tai Dón$^{:10–11}$ :
| | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Stop | p | t | | k | ʔ |
| Nasal | m | n | | ŋ | |
| Approximant | w | | j | ɰ |
* ↑ "/ɰ/ occurs after /a/ (e.g., /baɰ˨˨/ ꪻꪚ "leaf")$^{:11}$

### Vowels

Tai Dón has nine short vowels, and one long vowel. However, the short vowels are phonetically realized as long in final position$^{:10}$ (e.g., /e/ is phonetically [eː] in final position).
Vowels in Tai Dón$^{:10}$ :
| | Front | Front | Front | Back | Back |
| | unrounded | unrounded | unrounded | unrounded | rounded |
| High | i | | | ɯ | u |
| Mid | e | | | ɤ | o |
| Low | ɛ | a | aː | | ɔ |

### Tones

There are six tones on a smooth syllable (an open syllable or a closed syllable ending in a sonorant).$^{:9}$
Tai Dón tones in smooth syllables$^{:9}$ :
| Description | Tone letters | Example |
| level, slightly lower than mid | 22 (or ˨˨) | /kaː˨˨/ ꪀꪱ "crow" |
| high-rising | 45 (or ˦˥) | /kaː˦˥/ ꪀꪱꫀ "all the way to" |
| low-rising, glottalized | 24ʔ (or ˨˦ʔ) | /kaː˨˦ʔ/ ꪀꪱꫂ "young rice plant" |
| level, somewhat higher than mid | 44 (or ˦˦) | /kaː˦˦/ ꪁꪱ "stuck" |
| level, somewhat higher than mid with a rise and fall | 454 (or ˦˥˦) | /kaː˦˥˦/ ꪁꪱꫀ "price" |
| falling, glottalized | 31ʔ (or ˧˩ʔ) | /kaː˧˩ʔ/ ꪁꪱꫂ "to trade" |
Two of the six tones occur on a checked syllable (a syllable ending in a stop).
Tai Dón tones in checked syllables$^{:9}$ :
| Tone | Vowel length | Example |
| high-rising | short | /sat˦˥/ ꪎꪰꪒ "animal" |
| high-rising | long | /ʔaːp˦˥/ ꪮꪱꪚ "to bathe" |
| level, somewhat higher than mid | short | /mot˦˦/ ꪣꪺꪒ "ant" |
| level, somewhat higher than mid | long | /laːt˦˦/ ꪩꪱꪒ "to cover" |