Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland

As we all know, language and humankind are inseparable. One cannot imagine a full-fleshed human being unfurnished with speech, devoid of a means of communication of thought. Simplistic theories about primitive people who were only able to gesticulate with an occasional grunt have been long abandoned...

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Main Author: Suriya Ratanakul
Other Authors: Mahidol University. Faculty of Arts
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2012
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Online Access:https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/13029
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Institution: Mahidol University
Language: English
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spelling th-mahidol.130292023-04-12T15:24:00Z Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland Suriya Ratanakul Mahidol University. Faculty of Arts Mahidol University. Faculty of Liberal Arts Tai homeland Tai language Tai people As we all know, language and humankind are inseparable. One cannot imagine a full-fleshed human being unfurnished with speech, devoid of a means of communication of thought. Simplistic theories about primitive people who were only able to gesticulate with an occasional grunt have been long abandoned since the dawn of linguistic science. Assuming that people have inhabited the Earth for more than one million years, one must recognize that language, one of man's greatest intellectual accomplishments, is ancient. Historical time and written records however, does not date back more than 7,000 years. Consequently, discussions of the origin and evolution of language, any language, have been taboo in the field of linguistics for a number of years. For example, in the French Societe de Linguistique, if some bold soul dares invoke this question, the best that he or she could hope to get is contemptuous raised eyebrows. One can sympathize with the French scholars, for their silence is caused by our inadequate knowledge on the subject of the evolution of language. No fossil cries were ever found at the Ban Chieng1 dig. Morris Swadesh' s (1971, p. 15 8) tongue in cheek remark emphasizes this fact, "because sounds do not turn to stone". The science of today enables us to date the earliest bones in Ban Chieng around 4430 B.C. (Charoenwongsa & Diskul, 1978, p. 45), but it cannot tell us which language those earliest jaws formulated even though some Thai scholars, in their nationalistic enthusiasm, readily saw the resemblance between the skeletons of Ban Chieng and the present-day Thai people. Having thus phrased the caveat, the writer asks for the reader's understanding that this is not an attempt to answer the unanswerable: the origin of the Tai language. However, the question about the homeland of the Tai people, albeit a human attempt to probe the unsubstantiated past, still permits a variety of research possibilities. Theories put forth by different researchers will be enumerated chronologically (the oldest theory first) in the following. Again I must caution that all of these are still theories, not proven facts. 2012-03-15T07:22:48Z 2018-06-01T03:13:56Z 2012-03-15T07:22:48Z 2018-06-01T03:13:56Z 2012-03-15 2005 Article The Journal. Vol.1, No.1 (2005), 3-15 1686-7831 https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/13029 eng Mahidol University Faculty of Arts Mahidol University
institution Mahidol University
building Mahidol University Library
continent Asia
country Thailand
Thailand
content_provider Mahidol University Library
collection Mahidol University Institutional Repository
language English
topic Tai homeland
Tai language
Tai people
spellingShingle Tai homeland
Tai language
Tai people
Suriya Ratanakul
Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland
description As we all know, language and humankind are inseparable. One cannot imagine a full-fleshed human being unfurnished with speech, devoid of a means of communication of thought. Simplistic theories about primitive people who were only able to gesticulate with an occasional grunt have been long abandoned since the dawn of linguistic science. Assuming that people have inhabited the Earth for more than one million years, one must recognize that language, one of man's greatest intellectual accomplishments, is ancient. Historical time and written records however, does not date back more than 7,000 years. Consequently, discussions of the origin and evolution of language, any language, have been taboo in the field of linguistics for a number of years. For example, in the French Societe de Linguistique, if some bold soul dares invoke this question, the best that he or she could hope to get is contemptuous raised eyebrows. One can sympathize with the French scholars, for their silence is caused by our inadequate knowledge on the subject of the evolution of language. No fossil cries were ever found at the Ban Chieng1 dig. Morris Swadesh' s (1971, p. 15 8) tongue in cheek remark emphasizes this fact, "because sounds do not turn to stone". The science of today enables us to date the earliest bones in Ban Chieng around 4430 B.C. (Charoenwongsa & Diskul, 1978, p. 45), but it cannot tell us which language those earliest jaws formulated even though some Thai scholars, in their nationalistic enthusiasm, readily saw the resemblance between the skeletons of Ban Chieng and the present-day Thai people. Having thus phrased the caveat, the writer asks for the reader's understanding that this is not an attempt to answer the unanswerable: the origin of the Tai language. However, the question about the homeland of the Tai people, albeit a human attempt to probe the unsubstantiated past, still permits a variety of research possibilities. Theories put forth by different researchers will be enumerated chronologically (the oldest theory first) in the following. Again I must caution that all of these are still theories, not proven facts.
author2 Mahidol University. Faculty of Arts
author_facet Mahidol University. Faculty of Arts
Suriya Ratanakul
format Article
author Suriya Ratanakul
author_sort Suriya Ratanakul
title Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland
title_short Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland
title_full Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland
title_fullStr Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland
title_full_unstemmed Tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the Tai language and the Tai homeland
title_sort tai people and their languages: theories concerning the origin of the tai language and the tai homeland
publishDate 2012
url https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/13029
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