Taman language (Myanmar)

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. Keisuke Huziwara 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.

Language shift

Taman speakers have since shifted to Burmese and Tai Naing, a Tai language spoken in northern Myanmar. Matisoff 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.

Classification

Benedict and Shafer classified Taman as part of the Luish branch of languages.
Words and affixes shared exclusively between Luish and Taman are :

negative prefix
‘put’
‘go, walk’
‘sun’ as a compound word that includes ‘eye’

However, Huziwara 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 concludes that Taman is part of a linkage of Tibeto-Burman languages spanning across northeast India and northern Myanmar, but does not recognizably fit into any known Tibeto-Burman branch.

Phonology

Taman has the following phonemes.

Vowels: a, e, ɛ, i, ɨ, ɐ, o, u, ə
Consonants: p, ph, t, th, c, k, m, n, ŋ, r, l, s, ʃ, x, h, w, y

Sound changes

Below are five innovations from Proto-Tibeto-Burman to Taman identified by Huziwara.

raising of low vowels
fricativization of velar stops in word-initial positions
loss of velar stops in word-final positions
addition of velar stops after high vowels
affrication of *gry-

Lexicon

Below is Brown's Taman word list as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara, and Brown's Taman list re-transcribed by Luce, as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara.
The Taman word for 'river' is the same as the word for 'water'.

Gloss	Taman	Taman
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
bitter	xɔ	xɔ
blood	sʰe	sʰe
boat	li	li
body	tu	tu
bone	raŋ	raŋ
buffalo	mɔk	mɔk
call	lu	–
cat	mətʃeksɔ	mətʃeksɔ
cold	xɑm	xɑːm
dog	vi	vi
ear	nəpʰɑ	nəpʰɑː
earth	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
horse	tʃipòùk	tʃipɔʊk
house	ʃìp	ʃɪp
I	në	në
iron	ʃa	ʃa
kill	səsʰèùk	–
know	tʃùp	–
man	mek	mek
male	laktʃaŋ	lɑk tʃaŋ
moon	səlɔ	səlɔ
mother	nëm	nëm
name	təmeŋ	təmeŋ
night	nɑtaŋ	nɑːtaŋ
road	lam	lam
rock	taŋpɔ	taŋpɔ
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	–

Samples

On March 2, 2015, Keisuke Huziwara 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 :

hɔ əna, hɔ təyauŋ ' went over there.'
kʰam sɔ-nə-kɔ 'Did eat?'
sɔ-kɛʔ 'already ate'
ʔə-sɔ-wɛʔ 'did not eat '
sɔ-nə-kɔ-ya 'ate; finished eating'
tʰitum ŋɔ lɔ 'Where is the water?'
ʔəyɔ pe 'Where did I put it?'
wa dɔ 'Come!'
pi 'firewood'
məla 'tea'
məla sɔ nɔ 'Please drink tea.'

Sample text

The song is transcribed as follows.
Huziwara analyzes the song as follows.

ʔi ʔələyaŋ ʔi ʔələyaŋ: exclamation introducing the song
nənum təhɔ ʔina hɔ: 'The child went.'
məceiʔcɔ he: 'Where is the child?'
lɔcɔ ci:
məceiʔcɔ, ʔina: 'I told the child'
nam ha mina: 'Where did you go?'
hɔ pi cɔ: 'I went outside.'

Altogether, the nouns, verbs, and prefixes elicited from Huziwara's Taman informant are:

kʰam 'food, cooked rice'
tʰi 'water'
məla 'tea'
pi 'firewood'
tum 'container'
məceiʔcɔ 'child'
ʔə- 'negative prefix'
sɔ 'to eat'
hɔ 'to go'
wa 'to come'
pe 'to place, put'