Sila language (Sino-Tibetan)
| Sila | |
|---|---|
| Sida | |
| Native to | Laos, Vietnam |
| Ethnicity | Si La people |
Native speakers | 4,100 (2015 & 2019 censuses)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | slt |
| Glottolog | sila1247 |
| ELP | Sila |
Sila (also called Sida[2]) is a Loloish language spoken by 2,000 people in Laos and Vietnam (Bradley 1997). Sila speakers are an officially recognized group in Vietnam, where they are known as the Si La.
Phonology
[edit]Source:[2]
Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Dental/ | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Stop | plain | p | t | tɕ | k |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | tɕʰ | kʰ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | x | |
| voiced | ɣ | ||||
| Approximant | voiceless | l̥ | |||
| voiced | w | l | j | ||
Unaspirated plosives are usually realised as voiced stops. Phonetically, /l̥/ is realized as [͡l̥l]. The palatal nasal is noted as /ɲ/ although the phonetic realisation is closer to [ȵ], with the blade of the tongue remaining at a short distance from the palate.
Example contrasts
[edit]/p/ vs. /pʰ/: /pa33la33/ ‘moon’ vs. /ɐ31pʰa31/ ‘leaf’
/t/ vs. /tʰ/: /ta31/ ‘to look at’ vs. /tʰa33/ ‘PROHIBITIVE’
/tɕ/ vs. /tɕʰ/: /tɕɐ31/ ‘to have, to exist’ vs. /tɕʰɐ31/ ‘to speak’
/k/ vs. /kʰ/: /ki55lɯ55/ ‘green’ vs. /a31kʰi55/ ‘foot’
/f/ vs. /s/: /fɔ31/ ‘to protect vs. /sɔ31/ ‘to study’
/x/ vs. /ɣ/: /xɯ55/ ‘gold’ vs. /ɣɯ55/ ‘good’
/m/ vs. /n/: /ma̰31/ ‘person’ vs. /na̰31/ ‘deep’
/ɲ/ vs. /ŋ/: /ɲa55/ ‘frost’ vs. /ŋa55/ ‘salty’
/w/ vs. /j/: /wa33/ ‘careless’ vs. /ja31/ ‘child’
/l/ vs. /l̥/: /lɐ33wa33/ ‘palm of hand’ vs. /l̥a33/ ‘to fall down’
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close | i | y | ɯ | u |
| Close-mid | e | ø | ɤ | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | a | ɐ | ||
All vowels can be creaky vowels, which are contrastive.
Sila diphthongs are /ɤi/, /ai/, /ao/, /oa/.
Example contrasts
[edit]/i/ vs. /e/ vs. /ɛ/: /pi33/ ‘to win’ vs. /pe33/ ‘to divide up’ vs. /pɛ33jo31/ ‘dragon’
/y/ vs. /ø/: /tʰy31/ ‘to spit out/ vs. /tʰø31/ ‘to wrap up’
/ɯ/ vs. /ɤ/: /tɯ31/ ‘to hit’ vs. /tɤ31/ ‘to soak’
/u/ vs. /o/ vs. /ɔ/: /tʰu55/ ‘thick’ vs. /tʰo55/ ‘to open a hole’ vs. /tʰɔ55/ ‘number of times/
/a/ vs. /ɐ/: /tɕa31/ ‘to eat’ vs. /tɕɐ31/ ‘to have, to exist/
Tones
[edit]Sila has three lexical tonemes and two grammatical tonemes.
| Toneme | Class |
|---|---|
| 55 | Lexical |
| 35 | Grammatical |
| 53 | Grammatical |
| 33 | Lexical |
| 31 | Lexical |
Phonotactics
[edit]All consonants can occur as onsets, with /m/ able to form a syllabic nasal.
/j/ and /l/ may occur as medials, but /j/ only after bilabial and velar stops and /m/, and /l/ only after bilabial stops and /m/.
Unvoiced stops and nasals can occur as codas, but these are only found in words recently borrowed from Lao
Distribution
[edit]According to Edmondson (2002), the Sila number about 700 people in Vietnam and live in the following 3 villages.
- Seo Hay, Can Hồ Commune, Lai Châu Province, Vietnam
- Xì Theo Chai, Can Hồ Commune, Lai Châu Province, Vietnam
- Nậm Sín, Mường Nhé Commune, Điện Biên Province, Vietnam
According to the elderly Sila, seven Sila families had emigrated from Mường U and Mường Lá of Phongsaly Province, Laos, 175 years ago. They initially arrived at a location called Mường Tùng, and relocated several times before arriving at their present locations.
In Laos, Sila is spoken in:[3]
- Naahok Village, Nyot U District, Phongsaly Province
- Ban Ban Sida, Muang Namtha, Luang Namtha Province (autonym: vɛ33 ɲɯ33)
- Chaohoi village, Nyot U District; Phongsai village, Bun Neua District (autonym: go55ɯ55 a11ma11) (Kingsada 1999)[4]
- Longthang village, Nyot U District; Sida village, Luang Namtha District, Luang Namtha province (autonym: si33 la33) (Shintani 2001)[5]
- Namsing village, Nyot U District (autonym: ko55 ɯ21) (Kato 2008)[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Sila at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b Badenoch, Nathan; Norihiko, Hayashi (2017-06-01). "Phonological Sketch of the Sida Language of Luang Namtha, Laos". eVols. ISSN 1836-6821. Retrieved 2024-03-10. Badenoch, Nathan; Hayashi, Norihiko. 2017. Phonological Sketch of the Sida Language of Luang Namtha, Laos. JSEALS Volume 10.1 (2017).
- ^ "Language name and location: Sila, Vietnam, Laos". Archived from the original on 2017-12-12.
- ^ Kingsadā, Thō̜ngphet, and Tadahiko Shintani. 1999 Basic Vocabularies of the Languages Spoken in Phongxaly, Lao P.D.R. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
- ^ Shintani, Tadahiko, Ryuichi Kosaka, and Takashi Kato. 2001. Linguistic Survey of Phongxaly, Lao P.D.R. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
- ^ Kato, Takashi. 2008. Linguistic Survey of Tibeto-Burman languages in Lao P.D.R. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA).
Sources
[edit]- Edmondson, Jerold A. 2002. "The Central and Southern Loloish Languages of Vietnam". Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on Tibeto-Burman and Southeast Asian Linguistics (2002), pp. 1–13.
- Ma Ngọc Dung. 2000. Văn hóa Si La. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất ban văn hóa dân tôc.