Khün language

Not to be confused with Khuen language.

Khun
Pronunciation	/táj kʰɯ̌ːn/
Native to	Burma (Shan State), Thailand
Region	Kengtung
Native speakers	(100,000 cited 1990)
Language family	Kra–Dai Tai Southwestern (Thai) Northwestern Khun
Writing system	Tai Tham script, Thai script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kkh
Glottolog	khun1259

Khün, or Tai Khün (Tai Khün: ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᨡᩨ᩠ᨶ, /táj kʰɯ̌ːn/; Thai: ไทเขิน Thai pronunciation: [tʰaj kʰɤ̌ːn]), is the language of the Tai Khün people of Kengtung, Shan State, Myanmar. It is a Tai language that is closely related to Thai and Lao. It is also spoken in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, and Yunnan Province, China.

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).

• 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]
Plosives and affricates	[pʰ]	[tʰ]	[tɕʰ]	[kʰ]
	[p]	[t]	[tɕ]	[k]	[ʔ]*
	[b]	[d]
Fricative	[f]	[s]			[h]
Trill		[r]**
Approximant		[l]	[j]	[w]

^* The glottal plosive is implied after a short vowel without final, or silent before a vowel.

^** The [r] is often used with Sankrit and Pali loanwords.

See also

• Northern Thai language
• Shan language

References

• Owen, R. Wyn. 2012. "A tonal analysis of contemporary Tai Khuen varieties". Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (JSEALS) 5:12-31.
• Petsuk, Rasi (1978). General characteristics of the Khün language. Mahidol University MA thesis.

External links

• Khün alphabet