Khün language

Not to be confused with Khuen language.

Khün, or Tai Khün (Tai Khün: ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᨡᩨ᩠ᨶ, /taj˧˧.kʰɯːn˧˨˥/; Shan: တႆးၶိုၼ် Thai: ไทเขิน [tʰaj kʰɤ̌ːn]), also known as Kengtung tai, Kengtung Shan, is the language of the Tai Khün people of Kengtung, Shan State, Myanmar (Burma).^[2] It is also spoken in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, and Yunnan Province, China.

Khun
Kengtung Shan Kengtung tai
ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᨡᩨ᩠ᨶ
Pronunciation	/táj kʰɯ̌ːn/
Native to	Myanmar (Shan State), Thailand
Region	Kengtung
Native speakers	(100,000 cited 1990)[1]
Language family	Kra–Dai Tai Southwestern (Thai) Northwestern Khun
Writing system	Tai Tham script, Thai script
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Myanmar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kkh
Glottolog	khun1259

The Khün varieties share 93% to 100% lexical similarity.^[2] Khun is closely related to other Tai languages. Khün shares 90% to 95% lexical similarity with Northern Thai language, 92% to 95% with Lü, 93% to 97% with Shan, and 80% to 83% with standard Thai.^[2]

Tai Khun is traditionally written using a variant of the Tai Tham script.^[3]

Geographical distribution

In China, there are about 10,000 Tai Khuen (Chinese: 傣艮/傣痕) people in the following areas of Yunnan province (Gao 1999).^[4]

• Menglian County 孟连县: in Mengma Town 勐马镇, and in Meng'aba 勐阿坝 (12 villages total)
• Ximeng County 西盟县: in Mengsuo 勐梭
• Lincang Prefecture (small, scattered population)

Phonology

		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar / palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		[m]	[n]	[ɲ]	[ŋ]
Plosive & Affricate	aspirated	[pʰ]	[tʰ]	[tɕʰ]	[kʰ]
	tenuis	[p]	[t]	[tɕ]	[k]	[ʔ][a]
	voiced	[b]	[d]
Fricative		[f]	[s]			[h]
Trill			[r][b]
Approximant			[l]	[j]	[w]

1. The glottal stop is implied^{[What does 'implied' mean? Is it there or not?]} after a short vowel without final, or silent before a vowel.^{[If it's silent, what's the evidence that it's there?]}
2. The [r] is often used with Sanskrit and Pali loanwords.

Tones

There are contrastive five or six tones in Khün.^[5] The varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah have five tones, and the variety spoken in Murng Lang has six tones.^[5] Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Murng Lang are part of Kengtung Township.^[5]

Smooth syllables

The table below presents the tones in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, Kat Fah, and Murng Lang. These tones occur in smooth syllables which are open syllables or closed syllables ending in a sonorant sound, such as /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /w/, or /j/.

Tones in smooth syllables in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Murng Lang
(Owen, 2012, p. 27)^[5]

Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah			Murng Lang
Name	Tone letter	Examples[5]	Name	Tone letter	Examples[5]
falling rising	˧˨˥ (325)	/kaː˧˨˥/ ᨠᩣ "crow"	falling rising	˨˩˥ (215)	/kaː˨˩˥/ ᨠᩣ "crow"
mid	˧ (33)	/kaː˧/ ᨣᩤ "car"	high	˦ (44)	/kaː˦/ ᨣᩤ "car"
low	˨ (22)	/kaː˨/ ᨠ᩵ᩣ "charm" /kaː˨/ ᨣ᩵ᩤ "cost"	low rising	˩˧ (13)	/kaː˩˧/ ᨠ᩵ᩣ "charm"
			low	˨ (22)	/kaː˨/ ᨣ᩵ᩤ "cost"
mid glottalized	ˀ˧ (33ʔ)	/kaːˀ˧/ ᨠ᩶ᩣ "to dance"	mid glottalized	ˀ˧ (33ʔ)	/kaːˀ˧/ ᨠ᩶ᩣ "to dance"
high falling	˦˩ (41)	/kaː˦˩/ ᨣ᩶ᩤ "to trade"	high falling	˥˩ (51)	/kaː˥˩/ ᨣ᩶ᩤ "to trade"

Checked syllables

Three of the five or six phonemic tones occur in checked syllables^[5] which are closed syllables ending in a glottal stop (/ʔ/) or an obstruent sound, such as /p/, /t/, or /k/. The table below presents the three tones in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah.

Tones in checked syllables in the varieties spoken in Keng Tung City, Kang Murng, and Kat Fah
(Owen, 2012, p. 28)^[5]

Tone	Vowel length	Example(s)[5]
mid	short	/kap˧/ ᨠᩢ᩠ᨷ "with"
high falling		/kap˦˩/ ᨣᩢ᩠ᨷ "tight"
low	long	/kaːp˨/ ᨠᩣ᩠ᨷ "coconut husk" /kaːp˨/ ᨣᩤ᩠ᨷ "to grip in teeth"

Sample text

The Article 1 of the UDHR in Khün:

 ᨾᨶᩩᩔ᩼ᨴ᩠ᨦᩢᩉᩖᩣ᩠ᨿᨠᩮ᩠ᨯᩨᨾᩣᨾᩦᨻ᩠ᨦᩈᩁᩓᩢᨹ᩠ᨿ᩵ᨦᨻ᩠ᨿᨦᨠ᩠ᨶᩢ ᨶᩱᨠᩥᨲ᩠ᨲᩥᩈ᩠ᨠᩢ ᩓᩢᩈᩥᨴ᩠ᨵᩥ ᨲ᩵ᩣ᩠ᨦᨣᩳ᩶ᨣᩢᨾᩦᨾᨶᩮᩣᨵᨾ᩠ᨾ᩼ᩓᩢ ᨣ᩠ᩅᩁᨷᨭᩥᨷ᩠ᨲᩢᨲᩳ᩵ᨠ᩠ᨶᩢᨯᩢ᩠ᩅ᩠ᨿᨣ᩠ᩅᩣ᩠ᨾᨹ᩠ᨿ᩵ᨦᨻ᩠ᨿᨦᨠ᩠ᨶᩢ[6]

See also

• Northern Thai language
• Shan language