Linguistic and Historical Continuities
of the Tai Dam and Lao Phuan: Case Studies in Boundary Crossings
John Hartmann, Ph.D.
Northern Illinois University
Illinois, USA
Abstract:
One of the most salient and enduring features of ethno-cultural identity is
language. The Tai Dam and Lao Phuan, just two examples of Tai ethnic minorities
who migrated or were moved across the borders of Vietnam and Laos and resettled
in Thailand as early as two centuries ago, are remarkable for having preserved
their sense of ethnic uniqueness. Other Tai groups have similar histories and
exhibit parallel cultural and linguistic continuities and processes of change:
the Lue and Phu Tai, are two other examples that come readily to mind. Using
the analytical tools of comparative-historical linguistics, we will examine one
significant set of underlying language patterns that have persisted in the Tai
Dam and Lao Phuan communities over time, namely tones. This paper presents a new
description determined by Hartmann, Wayland, Thammavongsa in 2003 of the tonal
array of Lao Phuan from Xiang Khuang, Laos to complement the analysis of Lao Lao
Phuan tones recorded by Tanprasert (2003) in thirty-three villages of nineteen
provinces in Thailand. The earlier work on Lao Phuan by Chamberlain (1971, 1975)
is examined in light of these new findings. Tai Dam and Lao Song have identical
tonal arrays that can be traced back to origins in northwestern Vietnam. Lao
Phuan is, in terms of tonal patterns, a copy of Lao of Luang Prabang, except for
its tell-tale split of the proto-Tai *B tone, which also provides the clearest
marker of enduring continuity between Lao Phuan of Laos with all of the Lao
Phuan dialects in Thailand. Prior classification of Lao speech domains by
Hartmann (1980) into three regional dialects – Northern (Luang Prabang), Central
(Vientiane), and Southern (Pakse) – is affirmed but refined by now calling them
“Mekong Lao,” a notion borrowed from Crisfield (p.c.) as my means of drawing
attention to the uniqueness of “non-Mekong” Lao Phuan. A cursory summary of some
of the historical events and sociological factors that lend to the persistence
of the language and culture of these two ethnic Tai groups will be presented.
Their “tribal labels” are political constructs that refer back to historical
states that no longer exist. Still, the preservation of underlying tonal
patterns unique to both groups provides an interesting “linguistic DNA sample,”
showing the continuity of language and culture across national boundaries and
two centuries of Thai, Tai Dam, and Phuan history.