“Chong language”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Chong (Thai: ภาษาชอง, also spelled Chawng, Shong, Xong) is an endangered language spoken in southeastern Thailand and formerly in Cambodia by the Cong people. It is a Western Pearic language in the Mon–Khmer language family. Chong is currently the focus of a language revitalization project in Thailand.

The Chong language is marked by its unusual four-way contrast in register. Its grammar has not been extensively studied, but it is unrelated to the Thai language which is in the Tai–Kadai language family. Chong had no written form until 2000, when researchers at Mahidol University used a simplified version of standard Thai characters to create a Chong writing system, after which the first teaching materials in the language appeared.^[1] Chong is currently considered to be at stage 7 in Joshua Fishman's Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS), where stage 8 is the closest to extinction.^[2]

The Western Chong community in Thailand is primarily located in and around Chanthaburi.^[1]

Central Chong includes the Kasong dialect of Trat. (See that article for details.)

While the language spoken in Thailand has been studied recently, the Chong language in Cambodia has not been investigated yet. Bradley (2007) reports no remaining speakers.

Classification

A number of Pearic languages are called "Chong", and they all do not constitute a single language. Chong proper consists of the majority of varieties which Sidwell (2009) labeled "Western Chong". This includes the main dialect around Chanthaburi Province (mostly in southern Khao Khitchakut District and western Pong Nam Ron District^[3]). on the Thai–Cambodian border. These should not be confused with the variety called "Chong" in Trat Province of western Thailand, nor with "Kasong" Chong, both of which were classified as "Central Chong" along with Samre, and so should perhaps be considered dialects of Samre rather than of Chong. Similarly, the languages called "Chung" in Kanchanaburi Province and in Cambodia are dialects of Sa'och, and were classified as "Southern Chong" along with Suoi.

Isara Choosri (2002) lists the following dialects of Chong spoken in Chanthaburi Province.^[3]

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial

Labiodental

Alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

plain

aspirated

plain

aspirated

plain

aspirated

plain

aspirated

Nasal

m}}

n}}

ɲ}}

ŋ}}

Stop

voiceless

pʰ

tʰ

cʰ

kʰ

ʔ}}

voiced

Fricative

f}}

s}}

h}}

Approximant

j}}

Trill

r}}

Vowels (Dicanio, 2009)

Vowel phonemes of Chong

Front

Central

Back Unrounded

Back Rounded

i, ii}}

u, uu}}

Close-Mid

e, ee}}

ə, əə}}

ɤ, ɤɤ}}

o, oo}}

Open-mid

ɛ, ɛe}}

ɔ, ɔɔ}}

Open

a, aa}}

Diphthongs

iə, iu}}

ai, ao}}

ɤə}}

uə}}

Further reading

References

1. ^¹{{cite news|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/23/features/lang.php | title=Saving Thailand's Other Languages|author=Lim Li Min|publisher=International Herald Tribune|date=October 23, 2006|accessdate=2006-10-24}}
2. ^{{cite web|title=Chong Language Revitalization Project (PDF)|url=http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/aims/Pattaya_SCB_Jun05/Chong_Language_-_Part_1.pdf|date=June 2005|accessdate=2006-10-24}}
3. ^¹Choosri, Isara. 2002. Mapping dialects of Chong in Chanthaburi province, Thailand: an application of Geographical Information System (GIS). M.A. dissertation, Mahidol University.
4. ^Sidwell, Paul (2009). Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 76. Munich: Lincom Europa.
5. ^¹Dicanio, C. T., The Phonetics of Register in Takhian Thong Chong; http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/~dicanio/Chong_phonation.pdf{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
6. ^Suwilai Premsrirat, Chong Language Revitalization Project; http://www.mekongwatch.org/PDF/Suwilai_Part1.pdf