kristína lindell, jan-olof svantcsson, damrong tayanin

PHONOLOGY OF KAMMU DIALECTS

Kasami is a Mon-Khmer language spoken in Northern Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, and in Southern China. For a general description of the Kammu see LeBar et al (1964).

The Kammu recognize within themselves different subgroupings called tmóby. The word

tmooy seems in itself to mean just 'guest* and we can find no better translation of the word. However, at certain occasions it is used in contrast to ce meaning 'Lao* or 'Thai1, thus one speaks of kun, tmooy meaning Kammu village without any further implication» When used together with certain names, eg tmoby Yuan, tmooy Khwèen, it designates the entire Kammu population of a somewhat vaguely defined geographical area. Also the Lamet (Rameet) are regarded as one tmooy. The respective tmooy name is also attached to the dialect or language spoken within the area.

The Kammu themselves use the negative particle to distinguish between the dialects. The negative particles are as follows : Khween : à I ; Yuan : рээ ; Krooq : ploo ; Rook khát ; Uu : am. Tmóoy L+ + is dialectally identified with either Rbok or Yuan. To belong to tmóoy Rook bears a social stigma, and therefore Rook people avoid^their own negative particle (khát) when outside their own area. In the North they say рээ hoping to be identified as Yuan.

In actual fact no one of the Kroon. speakers known to us says plóo except for 'not at all1, as do the Yuan. It is, however, possible that plóo is used in more southernly areas, or that, it is obsolete, as is Rook khát .

The picture given here is seen from the point of view of our informants, and although there is in fact a tmooy Uu to which one of them belongs, anything south of the Rook-speaking aera is summarized as Uu by them. From Smalley .(1964), however, we are aware of it, that the am speakers around Luang Prabang are divided into several tmooy.

We have used a word-list of about "550 words, based on Egerod (1965), which wehave recorded with speakers from different Kammu dialect areas. The same list is used in Lindell (1974).

The Yuan dialect has been the starting point irt the investigation, resulting in the first dialect description, Lindell (1974). Apart from the word-lists, we also have recordings of some 350 folk-tales, interviews and free speech with speakers of all these dialects, collected during several periods of field research.

The following abbreviations are used for our informants :

Y » Yuan, based primarily on Lindell (1974). Kh - Khween, based primarily on word-lists recorded with two speakers.

Cah. de Ling. Asie Orientale № 9 Juin 1981, pp. 45-71.