Talk:Phu Thai language

message: It is also spelled Phutai as one word without a second h. See http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pht which spells it Phu Thai and gives as alternate names Puthai, Putai, Phuu Thai, Phutai. One should be picked as the Wikipedia spelling for the article and other spellings re-directed to it. See also
http://www.arts.chula.ac.th/~ling/abs/1998phinnarat.htm
http://www.thai-isan-lao.com/phutai-index-english.html
http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rop3=108016&rog3=TH
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/papers/browse-papers-action.cfm?PaperID=7142
Institution:  Chulalongkorn University  
Linguistic Subfield:  Phonetics; Phonology; Sociolinguistics  
Subject Language:  Gelao
Nyaw
Phu Thai
 
Subject Language Family:  Tai-Kadai; Southwestern Tai  
Abstract:  Compares the tonal systems and the phonetic characteristics of tones in the speech of the 'Lao', the 'Nyo', and the 'Phutai' in That Phanom district, Nakhon Phanom province in order to show the extent to which speakers of languages in the same language family who live in the same area and are in constant contact manage to maintain their distinct tonal systems and phonetic characteristics of tones. Nine villages (three in the north, three in the centre, and three in the south of the northern part of That Phanom district) were selected as study locations. Based on information from village headmen and villagers, each study location selected must be inhabited only by a single group. The data were collected from 45 informants (20 of the 'Lao', 15 of the 'Nyo', and 10 of the 'Phutai'. The wordlist consists of 150 items) 10 tokens of 15 words in two analogous sets. Auditory judgement was used to analyse the tonal systems while instrumental analysis to analyse the phonetic characteristics. As far as tonal system is concerned, that of the 'Phutai' is distinct from those of the 'Lao' and the 'Nyo'. The 'Phutai' systems found in this study still maintain the distinctive characteristics of the typical Phutai tonal system. The 'Lao' systems all vary from the typical Lao tonal system while all except one of the Nyo systems also vary from the typical Nyo tonal system. As far as phonetic characteristics are concerned, many tones in the speech of the three groups are found to be similar. Considering the relationship between how a group calls themselves and their language as well as the linguistic characteristics of their speech, it is found that in the area of study the 'Phutai' is the only group which is consistent in all of the three aspects. The 'Lao' and the Nyo' call themselves and their languages differently but the linguistic characteristics of their speech show a considerable amount of mixture. This research shows that a tonal study can demonstrate the patterns of language mixture among the ethnic groups that speak languages in the same family and live in the same area.
 
Type:  Individual Paper
 
Status:  Completed
Page Updated: 03-Aug-2007  
Pawyilee 09:21, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: This is original research, but I hope it is of help to people who come to update this page which is currently much improved over a few years ago.  
Major changes happend to the population of Isan shortly after the second world war.  Prior to these changes, the Phu Thai villages were separated by jungle and connected by paths.  Lao speakers were relocated due to dam construction and given land between these Phu Thai villages.  This has had the effect of separating Phu Thai villages and making each villages dialect different although still mutually understandable.
Modern day Phu Thai speakers are taught standard Thai and often travel to and from work in Bangkok, leading Phu Thai to be influenced much more by standard Thai than Isan.  It is easy to find Thai speakers in a Phu Thai village, but relatively rare to find Isan speakers.
Standard Thai is more similar to Phu Thai and more similar to Isan than Phu Thai is with Isan.  Phu Thai and standard Thai are differentiated mainly by tones, while Isan and standard Thai are differentiated by word changes and consonant changes. 
Sorry there is nothing written to reference.  86.144.204.223 (talk) 09:55, 13 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Phu Thai as understood from discussions with a Sakon Nakhon Phu Thai native