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Southern Tai (Surat)

Phylum: Tai-Kadai

Genus: Tai

Lat/lon: 9.1382389, 99.3217

ISO code: sou

Consonants

Basic short series

bilabiallabio-velarlabio-dentalalveolarpalatalvelarglottal
stopp, pʰ, bt, tʰ, dc, cʰk, kʰʔ
trillr
fricativefsh
nasalmnŋ
approximantwj
lateral approximantl

Short pre-labialised series

alveolar
trillʷr

Vowels

Basic short series

frontcentralback
closeiɯ, u
close-mideɤ, o
open-midɛɔ
opena

Long series

front
close

Diphthongs

/ia/, /ɯa/, /ua/

Tones

454, 343, 33, 121, 24, 11

Licit initial clusters

kl, kʰl, pl, pʰl, kr, kʷr, kʰr, kʰʷr, pr, pʰr, pʰʷr, tr, tʰʷr, ʔw, kw, kʰw

Licit finals

p, t, k, ʔ, m, n, ŋ, w, j

Source: Gedney, William J., and Thomas J. Hudak (eds.) 1997. William J. Gedney’s Tai dialect studies: glossaries, texts, and translations. Michigan papers on South and Southeast Asia no. 45. Ann Arbor, Mich: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, The University of Michigan.

Comments: The phonemic status of [ʷr] is doubtful. The inventory of long vowels is clearly incomplete.

Contributed by: Dmitry Nikolaev (dnikolaev@fastmail.com)