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Shan language
Shan is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken in pockets in other parts of Myanmar, in Northern Thailand, in Yunnan, in Laos, in Cambodia, in Vietnam and decreasingly in Assam and Meghalaya. Shan is a member of the Kra–Dai language family and is related to Thai. It has five tones, which do not correspond exactly to Thai tones, plus a sixth tone used for emphasis. The term Shan is also used for related Northwestern Tai languages, and it is called Tai Yai or Tai Long in other Tai languages. Standard Shan, which is also known as Tachileik Shan, is based on the dialect of the city of Tachileik.[citation needed]
In 2019, Ethnologue estimated there were 3.3 million Shan speakers, including 3.2 million in Myanmar. The Mahidol University Institute for Language and Culture estimates there are gave the number of Shan speakers in Thailand as 95,000 in 2006.[citation needed] Many Shan speak local dialects as well as the language of their trading partners.
Historically, the dominance of Shan as a regional lingua franca made it the source of many loanwords in other regional languages, especially Jingpo and Palaung.
By the same token, Shan has been significantly influenced by Burmese, mediated by centuries of historical and ongoing contact and exchange between Burmese and Shan speakers, especially between the Burmese royal court and Shan principalities. For instance, the lack of a /f/ sound in most Shan dialects is attributed to Burmese influence; this sound is present in the closely related Khün and Northern Thai languages. Shan vocabulary has been significantly enriched by Burmese contact, with Burmese loan words appearing throughout the Shan lexicon, including loanwords borrowed from Pali via Burmese. Burmese appears to have also influenced Shan grammar, with respect to the use of complex prepositions and certain word patterns that do not exist in closely related Tai languages.
Due to Shan's status as a lingua franca in the region, it has served as an intermediary, passing loanwords from Burmese into other regional languages.
Due to labour migration in recent decades, one million ethnic Shan now live in Thailand. As a result of ongoing language contact, Thai has increasingly become a competing source of loanwords into Shan, especially for scientific and political concepts. These Thai loanwords are often more difficult to detect, because of phonetic and structural similarities between Shan and Thai. Some recent phonological developments, like the reversal of the historical /f/ > /pʰ/ shift especially among younger Shan speakers, is attributed to contact with Thai.
The Shan language has a number of names in different Tai languages and Burmese.
The Shan dialects spoken in Shan State can be divided into three groups, roughly coinciding with geographical and modern administrative boundaries, namely the northern, southern, and eastern dialects. Dialects differ to a certain extent in vocabulary and pronunciation, but are generally mutually intelligible.
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Shan language
Shan is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken in pockets in other parts of Myanmar, in Northern Thailand, in Yunnan, in Laos, in Cambodia, in Vietnam and decreasingly in Assam and Meghalaya. Shan is a member of the Kra–Dai language family and is related to Thai. It has five tones, which do not correspond exactly to Thai tones, plus a sixth tone used for emphasis. The term Shan is also used for related Northwestern Tai languages, and it is called Tai Yai or Tai Long in other Tai languages. Standard Shan, which is also known as Tachileik Shan, is based on the dialect of the city of Tachileik.[citation needed]
In 2019, Ethnologue estimated there were 3.3 million Shan speakers, including 3.2 million in Myanmar. The Mahidol University Institute for Language and Culture estimates there are gave the number of Shan speakers in Thailand as 95,000 in 2006.[citation needed] Many Shan speak local dialects as well as the language of their trading partners.
Historically, the dominance of Shan as a regional lingua franca made it the source of many loanwords in other regional languages, especially Jingpo and Palaung.
By the same token, Shan has been significantly influenced by Burmese, mediated by centuries of historical and ongoing contact and exchange between Burmese and Shan speakers, especially between the Burmese royal court and Shan principalities. For instance, the lack of a /f/ sound in most Shan dialects is attributed to Burmese influence; this sound is present in the closely related Khün and Northern Thai languages. Shan vocabulary has been significantly enriched by Burmese contact, with Burmese loan words appearing throughout the Shan lexicon, including loanwords borrowed from Pali via Burmese. Burmese appears to have also influenced Shan grammar, with respect to the use of complex prepositions and certain word patterns that do not exist in closely related Tai languages.
Due to Shan's status as a lingua franca in the region, it has served as an intermediary, passing loanwords from Burmese into other regional languages.
Due to labour migration in recent decades, one million ethnic Shan now live in Thailand. As a result of ongoing language contact, Thai has increasingly become a competing source of loanwords into Shan, especially for scientific and political concepts. These Thai loanwords are often more difficult to detect, because of phonetic and structural similarities between Shan and Thai. Some recent phonological developments, like the reversal of the historical /f/ > /pʰ/ shift especially among younger Shan speakers, is attributed to contact with Thai.
The Shan language has a number of names in different Tai languages and Burmese.
The Shan dialects spoken in Shan State can be divided into three groups, roughly coinciding with geographical and modern administrative boundaries, namely the northern, southern, and eastern dialects. Dialects differ to a certain extent in vocabulary and pronunciation, but are generally mutually intelligible.