Taman is an extinct Sino-Tibetan language that was spoken in Htamanthi village in Homalin Township, Sagaing Region, northern Myanmar. It was documented in a list of 75 words in Brown (1911). Keisuke Huziwara (2016)[1] discovered an elderly rememberer of Taman in Htamanthi who could remember some Taman phrases as well as a short song, but was not fluent in the Taman language. However, no fluent speakers of Taman remained in the area.
Taman | |
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Native to | Myanmar |
Region | Htamanthi, Sagaing Region |
Ethnicity | Shan |
Extinct | 1931[1][2] |
Language family | Sino-Tibetan
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | tcl |
Glottolog | tama1328 |
Taman speakers have since shifted to Burmese and Tai Naing (Red Shan), a Tai language spoken in northern Myanmar.[1] Matisoff (2013:25)[3] surmises that pressure from the formerly widespread Kadu language had caused Taman to become marginalized. The descendants of Taman speakers have since been assimilated into Shan society.[1]
Benedict (1972) and Shafer (1974) classified Taman as part of the Luish branch of languages.
Words and affixes shared exclusively between Luish and Taman are (Huziwara 2016):
However, Huziwara (2016)[1] notes that despite Taman sharing some similarities with Luish, Taman cannot be securely classified within the Luish branch itself, and its place in Tibeto-Burman remains uncertain. Taman also shares various similarities with many nearby non-Luish languages, including various Sal languages. Huziwara (2016) concludes that Taman is part of a linkage of Tibeto-Burman languages spanning across northeast India and northern Myanmar (i.e., comparable to Scott DeLancey's Central Tibeto-Burman languages), but does not recognizably fit into any known Tibeto-Burman branch.
Taman has the following phonemes.[1]
Below are five innovations from Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB) to Taman identified by Huziwara (2016).
Below is Brown's (1911) Taman word list as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara (2016:19–29), and Brown's (1911) Taman list re-transcribed by Luce (1985), as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara (2016).
The Taman word for 'river' is the same as the word for 'water'.
Gloss | Taman (Brown 1911) | Taman (Luce 1985) |
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one | tɔ | tə |
two | nek | nek |
three | sùm | sum |
four | pəli | pəli |
five | məŋɔ | məŋə |
six | kwa | kwɑ |
seven | sənè | səne |
eight | pəsè | pəse |
nine | təxɐ | tə̈xəː |
ten | ʃi | ʃi |
ape | jùn | – |
arm, hand | la | la |
arrow | pʰəlɔ | pʰəlɔ |
axe | wɔtùm | wɔtum |
bag | tʰùmbɔ | tʰumbə |
bamboo | wɔ | wɔ |
bat | sɔŋpʰula | sɔŋ-pulɑ |
bear | sʰap | sʰap |
bee | ùìŋ | uiŋ |
big | lwaŋ | lwɑŋ |
bird | kətʃeksɔ | kətʃeksɔ (sparrow) |
bitter | xɔ | xɔ |
blood | sʰe | sʰe |
boat | li | li |
body | tu | tu |
bone | raŋ | raŋ |
buffalo | mɔk | mɔk (cattle) |
call | lu | – |
cat | mətʃeksɔ | mətʃeksɔ |
cold | xɑm | xɑːm |
dog | vi | vi |
ear | nəpʰɑ | nəpʰɑː |
earth (soil) | pəkɔ | pəkɔ |
eat | sɔ | – |
elephant | məki | məki |
eye | pekkwe | pəkkwe |
father | vɔ ~ wɔ | vɔ ~ wɔ |
female | nëm | nëm |
fire | vè | ve |
fish | ətsɔ | ətsɔ |
flesh | hè | he |
give | nëm | nëm |
go | hɔ | hɔ |
gold | xɑm | xɑːm |
good | kəmë | kəmë |
grass | sʰèìŋ | sʰeɪŋ |
head | kəkɐ | kəkəː |
hill | kɔùŋrwe | kɔʊŋrwe |
hog | va ~ wa | va ~ wa (pig) |
horse | tʃipòùk | tʃipɔʊk |
house | ʃìp | ʃɪp |
I | në | në |
iron | ʃa | ʃa |
kill | səsʰèùk | – |
know | tʃùp | – |
man (human being) | mek | mek |
male | laktʃaŋ | lɑk tʃaŋ |
moon | səlɔ | səlɔ |
mother | nëm | nëm |
name | təmeŋ | təmeŋ |
night | nɑtaŋ | nɑːtaŋ |
road | lam | lam |
rock | taŋpɔ | taŋpɔ (stone) |
salt | tsùm | tsum |
snake | pɐ | pəː |
silk | nè | – |
speak | tʰè | – |
star | taŋpɐ | taŋpəː |
steal | xɐlɔ | xəːlɔ |
sun | pupek | pupek |
tooth | vɑkòùn ~ wɑkòùn | vɑkɔʊn ~ wɑkɔʊn |
water | tʰi | tʰi |
write | rek | – |
year | kèìŋ | – |
On March 2, 2015, Keisuke Huziwara[1] discovered an 83-year-old woman in Htamanthi who remembered some words and phrases of the Taman language, as well as a short song. The woman was born in a village just outside Htamanthi. The elicited words and phrases are (Huziwara 2016:14–16):
The song is transcribed as follows.
Huziwara (2016:15–16) analyzes the song as follows.
Altogether, the nouns, verbs, and prefixes elicited from Huziwara's (2016) Taman informant are:
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
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Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim) |
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Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal) | |||||
Myanmar and Indo-Burmese border |
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East and Southeast Asia |
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Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal) |
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Proposed groupings |
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Proto-languages |
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Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. |