Videos by Jean Pacquement
Papers by Jean Pacquement
Papers from the 30th Conference of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (2021) 8th JSEALS Special Publication, 2022
This article on Tai Meuay first discusses their ethnonym, attested in Vietnam (Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa... more This article on Tai Meuay first discusses their ethnonym, attested in Vietnam (Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa) and Laos (Bolikhamxay). After introducing the language data available in the literature, it analyzes Tai Meuay data collected in the districts of Khamkeuth, Pakkading, and Viengthong of Bolikhamxay Province. It also takes into account speakers’ perception of their ethnic group and language. Regarding the Tai Meuay tonal diversity, this article identifies a main type with a 123-4 split in the A, B, C and DL columns of Gedney’s tone diagram, as against marginal types characterized by no split in DL. Although the considered varieties share lexical items with Tai dialects of Nghệ An, tonal features (e.g., absence of split in DS) and phonological features (e.g., the reflex of the initial *ɣ-) indicate that Tai Meuay is affiliated with Tai Daeng within the Southwestern Tai branch of the Tai language family.
The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia, 2021
SIKKHA Journal of Education, 2018
The objective of this article is to document a Nyo variety spoken in Kut Kho Kan village (Khok Sa... more The objective of this article is to document a Nyo variety spoken in Kut Kho Kan village (Khok Samran subdistrict, Loeng Nok Tha district, Yasothon province), which has not been previously mentioned in the linguistic literature about Nyo dialects in Northeast Thailand.
Among the Nyo speakers of Kut Kho Kan village who contributed to this research were two students of Roi Et Rajabhat University, still aware of the use of a distinct dialect in their native place. They helped the researcher reach Nyo speakers as well as speakers of other Tai dialects in a micro-linguistic area comprising districts belonging to three provinces (Mukdahan, Yasothon, and Amnat Charoen) of Northeast Thailand, where specific varieties of Tai languages (Southwestern branch) such as Phu Thai are also spoken. Further studies should thus include the documentation of those varieties, especially those of Phu Thai.
Nyo as well as Phu Thai are language names as well as ethnonyms which can be found not only in Thailand, but also in neighboring countries such as Laos and Vietnam.
Keywords: Language documentation, Nyo language, Phu Thai language, Tonal patterns, Micro-linguistic areas.
(résumé non intégré dans la publication)
En Thaïlande, où l’on compte plus de cinquante langues e... more (résumé non intégré dans la publication)
En Thaïlande, où l’on compte plus de cinquante langues et dialectes appartenant à cinq familles linguistiques distinctes, les Thaï des grands centres urbains pensent - et veulent que l’on pense - que le multilinguisme du pays n’est pas leur affaire. Le système scolaire, d’autre part, a fait le choix, aussi ambitieux qu’idéaliste, de l’anglais et de quelques autres grandes langues internationales, langues à la fois géographiquement lointaines et typologiquement très différentes, aux dépens des langues des pays voisins, qui contribueraient pourtant au développement des capacités linguistiques des écoliers !
Revue SOCLES, Jun 2014
English translation of the title
Words of Women: Prostitutes in Pune (India)
English translat... more English translation of the title
Words of Women: Prostitutes in Pune (India)
English translation of the summary as proposed by the author
The following article was giving in its first version an account of the space of prostitution in the prostitutes’ area of Pune (India). However, given the fact that the words used by two of them were underlying the text, its original scope got broadened to include the different spaces marking their personal stories. In this second version, these testimonies are situated in the context of the rather unlikely encounter of Indian prostitutes with a linguist from Europe and of their interactions with clients.
Keywords: Space of Prostitution, Houses of Prostitution, Urban Space, Displaced People, Feminine Biographies
Titre en français
Paroles de femmes : prostituées à Poona (Inde)
Résumé en français de l'auteur (non intégré dans la publication)
L’article ci-dessous se proposait, dans une première version, de rendre compte de l’espace de la prostitution dans le quartier des prostituées de Poona (Inde). Mais, dans la mesure où c’étaient les mots mêmes utilisés par deux d’entre elles qui sous-tendaient le texte, l’objet initial s’en est trouvé d’emblée élargi pour inclure les différents espaces jalonnant leurs histoires personnelles respectives. Cette deuxième version resitue le témoignage de ces femmes dans le cadre de leur rencontre avec un étranger venu d’Europe, sans oublier celui de leurs interactions avec leurs clients.
Mots-clés : espace de la prostitution, maisons de prostituées, espace urbain, personnes déplacées, biographies féminines
(in English)
Multilingualism, Language Use and Linguistic Competence among
Phu Thai Speakers of... more (in English)
Multilingualism, Language Use and Linguistic Competence among
Phu Thai Speakers of Central Laos and Northeastern Thailand: Case Study of Phu Thai students at Savannakhet University
Summary: After describing the multilingual context of the Phu Thai, a Tai ethnic group of Central Laos and Northeastern Thailand having contacts both with the Lao and with Mon-Khmer ethnic groups, the writers of this article propose a case study of Phu Thai speakers studying at Savannakhet University and try to answer the following questions: what are the language attitudes of Phu Thai speakers in such a multilingual context? Do they actually use many languages? How is it possible to comprehend their linguistic competence?
Keywords: Phu Thai Language, Language Attitudes, Linguistic Competence, Ethnic Groups and Ethno-linguistics in Laos, Learners at the University Level in Laos.
(in French)
Multilinguisme, plurilinguisme et compétence linguistique chez les Phu Thaï du centre du Laos et du nord-est de la Thaïlande : le cas des étudiants phu thaï de l’Université de Savannakhet
Résumé : Partant de la description du contexte multilingue des Phu Thaï, une ethnie taï du centre du Laos et du nord-est de la Thaïlande vivant au contact des Lao d’une part et des ethnies môn-khmères d’autre part, les auteurs ont étudié le cas de locuteurs phu thaï étudiant à l’université de Savannakhet pour tenter de répondre aux questions suivantes : quelles attitudes langagières correspondent à ce multilinguisme ? de quelle nature est le plurilinguisme des Phu Thaï ? et comment est-il possible d’appréhender la compétence linguistique de ces derniers ?
Mots-clés : langue phu thaï, attitudes langagières, compétence linguistique, ethnies et ethnolinguistique au Laos, public d’apprenants universitaires au Laos
Journal of Mekong Societies 7-1, January-April 2011, p. 17-38, 2011
The present article deals with some syntactical, morphemic and lexical variations of Phu Tai, a S... more The present article deals with some syntactical, morphemic and lexical variations of Phu Tai, a Southwestern Tai language which is spoken in Northeastern Thailand and Central Laos. The examples discussed include serialized sentence patterns (“to give” and “to be made of”), pre-verbal morphemes expressing present continuous and future and a few lexical items (“beautiful”, “(maternal) grandmother” and “where”). On the basis of this corpus of linguistic variations, this article proposes three possible kinds of linguistic maps. In addition, the author, who has been interacting with many Phu Tai informants for 3 years, expresses his views about Phu Tai speakers’ language usage, attitudes towards Phu Tai language and Phu Tai language revitalization programs.
Keywords: Phu Tai, Northeastern Thailand, dialectology
Proceedings of The International Conference on “National Language Policy : Language Diversity for National Unity”, p. 348-353, 2008
Abstract: While multilingualism in countries having many languages of recognized status, such as ... more Abstract: While multilingualism in countries having many languages of recognized status, such as India which has 2 official languages (Hindi and English) and around 15 national languages, actually boosts the capacities of the learners attempting to acquire new languages, the sociolinguistic difference of status between Thai and local dialects of Thailand may explain the difficulty for Thai students to learn new languages and to switch languages. Thai being the predominant language of education is the written language and the medium through which Thai students learn their first grammar. Needless to say that, far from being only a tool for broader communication, Thai is the very tool of linguistic analysis for the students educated in the Thai system of education. Thai system of writing will thus be the conscious or unconscious tool for noting or memorizing other languages, while its grammatical categories, sometimes borrowed from other linguistic systems, will be the privileged medium in any further linguistic analysis when learning languages. The examples dealt with in this paper will be selected from some experiences of teaching and interacting with Phu Thai students studying French at Mahasarakham University.
Key Words: local languages of Thailand; Phu Thai; diglossia; code-switching; teaching a foreign language at the university level
Actes du deuxième colloque international de Bangkok-2007 : Le français comme médiateur de la diversité culturelle et linguistique, p.464-482, 2007
Le thaï - et ce constat vaut pour les langues de la même famille linguistique - et le français se... more Le thaï - et ce constat vaut pour les langues de la même famille linguistique - et le français semblent partager une large base de phonèmes vocaliques et consonantiques. Ce constat permet-il de penser que l’acquisition de la phonétique française pourrait s’en trouver facilitée ? Cette réflexion se fonde sur l’observation de l’apprentissage de primo-apprenants de la région Isan (de langue maternelle phu thaï) et donne le point de vue d’un locuteur français natif.
Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 88, 2001. pp. 299-305, 2001
Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 87 N°2, 2000. pp. 741-763, 2000
(in English)
Jean Pacquement Historical linguistics and history of language Eighty years after J... more (in English)
Jean Pacquement Historical linguistics and history of language Eighty years after Jules Block's La formation de la langue marathe
On the occasion of the centenary of the EFEO, this paper deals with La formation de la langue marathe by Jules Bloch, the first historical grammar of the Marathi language, published in 1919, whose approach to the history of the Indo-Aryan languages takes its inspiration from the comparativist school of Antoine Meillet and which has been a landmark in the field of Indo-Aryan linguistics generally, much as the Linguistic Survey of India of the same period authored by George Grierson, and particularly in the field of Marathi philological studies. This contribution presents the origin of Marathi and the main stages of its "formation", includes a history of the Marathi language from 1012 to the present day and finally mentions, by way of conclusion, the influence of La formation de la langue marathe on Indo-Aryan linguistics.
(in French)
Jean Pacquement Linguistique historique et histoire de la langue 80 ans après La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch
À l'occasion du centenaire de l'EFEO, cet article revient sur La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch, première grammaire historique du marathi publiée en 1919, qui se caractérise par une approche de l'histoire de l'indo-aryen inspirée de l'école comparatiste d'Antoine Meillet et qui a marqué, au même titre que le Linguistic Survey of India contemporain de George Grierson, le champ de la linguistique indo-aryenne et en l'occurrence le domaine des études philologiques marathi. La présente contribution présente l'origine du marathi et les principales étapes de sa « formation », inclut une histoire de la langue marathe entre 1012 et aujourd'hui, avant d'évoquer en conclusion l'influence de La formation de la langue marathe sur la linguistique indo-aryenne.
Urbanisme 302 (sept.-oct. 1998), p. 82-86, Oct 1998
Faits de langues n°10, Septembre 1997 pp. 179-183, 1997
Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute 56-57, p. 249-255, 1997
Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 83, 1996. pp. 35-64, 1996
Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute 54-55, p. 223-233, 1995
Adyatan(Inalco) 6, p. 79-112, 1992
Bulletin d'études indiennes 7-8, p. 185-238, 1990
The aim of this paper is to present the literature of the meteorological aphorisms in some North ... more The aim of this paper is to present the literature of the meteorological aphorisms in some North Indian Indo-Aryan languages. Our presentation is based only upon written data, which are available in collections of proverbs and other sayings or in corpus of folk astrology.
The meteorological aphorisms, which can be considered as a class by themselves, contain two kinds of elements dealing respectively with the observation and the forecasting of weather and crops. This literature can be presented as didactic and predictive and is connected with folk astrology, especially as far as expressing date and time is concerned. Moreover, in North India, such corpus have been ascribed to legendary astrologers, whose names, as can be seen in the bhanitas, are linked with one another.
Many meteorological aphorisms can be traced as identical, with small formulary or dialectic differences, in many regions of North India. Hence we have a "continuum" of both aphorisms and formulae, the variations of which indicate their diffusion and their circulation. Thus, on the basis of this continuum, it is possible to create a thesaurus of meteorological aphorisms, which could be the beginning of a critical study.
Data by Jean Pacquement
This introduction to Tai Muong numerals is intended to accompany 10 recordings by Lương Thị Hào, ... more This introduction to Tai Muong numerals is intended to accompany 10 recordings by Lương Thị Hào, a female speaker living in Châu Phong Commune (Quỳ Châu District, Nghệ An Province, Vietnam).
The reference of the present account and the 10 recordings by the speaker (the former and the latter having been uploaded to Zenodo) is: Pacquement, Jean. (2023). Tai Muong numerals. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7576485
Uploads
Videos by Jean Pacquement
The link to the video (a much better one) which will be played during the conference (31st Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society) on the 18th May is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgZPU8Vxp8U
More details: https://seals31.sched.com/event/11Uuq/the-laotian-of-theodore-guignard-and-the-thay-of-paul-doquet
Papers by Jean Pacquement
The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia
A comprehensive guide
Edited by: Paul Sidwell and Mathias Jenny
Volume 8 in the series The World of Linguistics
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110558142
---
(https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110558142/html)
Among the Nyo speakers of Kut Kho Kan village who contributed to this research were two students of Roi Et Rajabhat University, still aware of the use of a distinct dialect in their native place. They helped the researcher reach Nyo speakers as well as speakers of other Tai dialects in a micro-linguistic area comprising districts belonging to three provinces (Mukdahan, Yasothon, and Amnat Charoen) of Northeast Thailand, where specific varieties of Tai languages (Southwestern branch) such as Phu Thai are also spoken. Further studies should thus include the documentation of those varieties, especially those of Phu Thai.
Nyo as well as Phu Thai are language names as well as ethnonyms which can be found not only in Thailand, but also in neighboring countries such as Laos and Vietnam.
Keywords: Language documentation, Nyo language, Phu Thai language, Tonal patterns, Micro-linguistic areas.
En Thaïlande, où l’on compte plus de cinquante langues et dialectes appartenant à cinq familles linguistiques distinctes, les Thaï des grands centres urbains pensent - et veulent que l’on pense - que le multilinguisme du pays n’est pas leur affaire. Le système scolaire, d’autre part, a fait le choix, aussi ambitieux qu’idéaliste, de l’anglais et de quelques autres grandes langues internationales, langues à la fois géographiquement lointaines et typologiquement très différentes, aux dépens des langues des pays voisins, qui contribueraient pourtant au développement des capacités linguistiques des écoliers !
Words of Women: Prostitutes in Pune (India)
English translation of the summary as proposed by the author
The following article was giving in its first version an account of the space of prostitution in the prostitutes’ area of Pune (India). However, given the fact that the words used by two of them were underlying the text, its original scope got broadened to include the different spaces marking their personal stories. In this second version, these testimonies are situated in the context of the rather unlikely encounter of Indian prostitutes with a linguist from Europe and of their interactions with clients.
Keywords: Space of Prostitution, Houses of Prostitution, Urban Space, Displaced People, Feminine Biographies
Titre en français
Paroles de femmes : prostituées à Poona (Inde)
Résumé en français de l'auteur (non intégré dans la publication)
L’article ci-dessous se proposait, dans une première version, de rendre compte de l’espace de la prostitution dans le quartier des prostituées de Poona (Inde). Mais, dans la mesure où c’étaient les mots mêmes utilisés par deux d’entre elles qui sous-tendaient le texte, l’objet initial s’en est trouvé d’emblée élargi pour inclure les différents espaces jalonnant leurs histoires personnelles respectives. Cette deuxième version resitue le témoignage de ces femmes dans le cadre de leur rencontre avec un étranger venu d’Europe, sans oublier celui de leurs interactions avec leurs clients.
Mots-clés : espace de la prostitution, maisons de prostituées, espace urbain, personnes déplacées, biographies féminines
Multilingualism, Language Use and Linguistic Competence among
Phu Thai Speakers of Central Laos and Northeastern Thailand: Case Study of Phu Thai students at Savannakhet University
Summary: After describing the multilingual context of the Phu Thai, a Tai ethnic group of Central Laos and Northeastern Thailand having contacts both with the Lao and with Mon-Khmer ethnic groups, the writers of this article propose a case study of Phu Thai speakers studying at Savannakhet University and try to answer the following questions: what are the language attitudes of Phu Thai speakers in such a multilingual context? Do they actually use many languages? How is it possible to comprehend their linguistic competence?
Keywords: Phu Thai Language, Language Attitudes, Linguistic Competence, Ethnic Groups and Ethno-linguistics in Laos, Learners at the University Level in Laos.
(in French)
Multilinguisme, plurilinguisme et compétence linguistique chez les Phu Thaï du centre du Laos et du nord-est de la Thaïlande : le cas des étudiants phu thaï de l’Université de Savannakhet
Résumé : Partant de la description du contexte multilingue des Phu Thaï, une ethnie taï du centre du Laos et du nord-est de la Thaïlande vivant au contact des Lao d’une part et des ethnies môn-khmères d’autre part, les auteurs ont étudié le cas de locuteurs phu thaï étudiant à l’université de Savannakhet pour tenter de répondre aux questions suivantes : quelles attitudes langagières correspondent à ce multilinguisme ? de quelle nature est le plurilinguisme des Phu Thaï ? et comment est-il possible d’appréhender la compétence linguistique de ces derniers ?
Mots-clés : langue phu thaï, attitudes langagières, compétence linguistique, ethnies et ethnolinguistique au Laos, public d’apprenants universitaires au Laos
Keywords: Phu Tai, Northeastern Thailand, dialectology
Key Words: local languages of Thailand; Phu Thai; diglossia; code-switching; teaching a foreign language at the university level
Jean Pacquement Historical linguistics and history of language Eighty years after Jules Block's La formation de la langue marathe
On the occasion of the centenary of the EFEO, this paper deals with La formation de la langue marathe by Jules Bloch, the first historical grammar of the Marathi language, published in 1919, whose approach to the history of the Indo-Aryan languages takes its inspiration from the comparativist school of Antoine Meillet and which has been a landmark in the field of Indo-Aryan linguistics generally, much as the Linguistic Survey of India of the same period authored by George Grierson, and particularly in the field of Marathi philological studies. This contribution presents the origin of Marathi and the main stages of its "formation", includes a history of the Marathi language from 1012 to the present day and finally mentions, by way of conclusion, the influence of La formation de la langue marathe on Indo-Aryan linguistics.
(in French)
Jean Pacquement Linguistique historique et histoire de la langue 80 ans après La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch
À l'occasion du centenaire de l'EFEO, cet article revient sur La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch, première grammaire historique du marathi publiée en 1919, qui se caractérise par une approche de l'histoire de l'indo-aryen inspirée de l'école comparatiste d'Antoine Meillet et qui a marqué, au même titre que le Linguistic Survey of India contemporain de George Grierson, le champ de la linguistique indo-aryenne et en l'occurrence le domaine des études philologiques marathi. La présente contribution présente l'origine du marathi et les principales étapes de sa « formation », inclut une histoire de la langue marathe entre 1012 et aujourd'hui, avant d'évoquer en conclusion l'influence de La formation de la langue marathe sur la linguistique indo-aryenne.
The meteorological aphorisms, which can be considered as a class by themselves, contain two kinds of elements dealing respectively with the observation and the forecasting of weather and crops. This literature can be presented as didactic and predictive and is connected with folk astrology, especially as far as expressing date and time is concerned. Moreover, in North India, such corpus have been ascribed to legendary astrologers, whose names, as can be seen in the bhanitas, are linked with one another.
Many meteorological aphorisms can be traced as identical, with small formulary or dialectic differences, in many regions of North India. Hence we have a "continuum" of both aphorisms and formulae, the variations of which indicate their diffusion and their circulation. Thus, on the basis of this continuum, it is possible to create a thesaurus of meteorological aphorisms, which could be the beginning of a critical study.
Data by Jean Pacquement
The reference of the present account and the 10 recordings by the speaker (the former and the latter having been uploaded to Zenodo) is: Pacquement, Jean. (2023). Tai Muong numerals. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7576485
The link to the video (a much better one) which will be played during the conference (31st Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society) on the 18th May is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgZPU8Vxp8U
More details: https://seals31.sched.com/event/11Uuq/the-laotian-of-theodore-guignard-and-the-thay-of-paul-doquet
The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia
A comprehensive guide
Edited by: Paul Sidwell and Mathias Jenny
Volume 8 in the series The World of Linguistics
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110558142
---
(https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110558142/html)
Among the Nyo speakers of Kut Kho Kan village who contributed to this research were two students of Roi Et Rajabhat University, still aware of the use of a distinct dialect in their native place. They helped the researcher reach Nyo speakers as well as speakers of other Tai dialects in a micro-linguistic area comprising districts belonging to three provinces (Mukdahan, Yasothon, and Amnat Charoen) of Northeast Thailand, where specific varieties of Tai languages (Southwestern branch) such as Phu Thai are also spoken. Further studies should thus include the documentation of those varieties, especially those of Phu Thai.
Nyo as well as Phu Thai are language names as well as ethnonyms which can be found not only in Thailand, but also in neighboring countries such as Laos and Vietnam.
Keywords: Language documentation, Nyo language, Phu Thai language, Tonal patterns, Micro-linguistic areas.
En Thaïlande, où l’on compte plus de cinquante langues et dialectes appartenant à cinq familles linguistiques distinctes, les Thaï des grands centres urbains pensent - et veulent que l’on pense - que le multilinguisme du pays n’est pas leur affaire. Le système scolaire, d’autre part, a fait le choix, aussi ambitieux qu’idéaliste, de l’anglais et de quelques autres grandes langues internationales, langues à la fois géographiquement lointaines et typologiquement très différentes, aux dépens des langues des pays voisins, qui contribueraient pourtant au développement des capacités linguistiques des écoliers !
Words of Women: Prostitutes in Pune (India)
English translation of the summary as proposed by the author
The following article was giving in its first version an account of the space of prostitution in the prostitutes’ area of Pune (India). However, given the fact that the words used by two of them were underlying the text, its original scope got broadened to include the different spaces marking their personal stories. In this second version, these testimonies are situated in the context of the rather unlikely encounter of Indian prostitutes with a linguist from Europe and of their interactions with clients.
Keywords: Space of Prostitution, Houses of Prostitution, Urban Space, Displaced People, Feminine Biographies
Titre en français
Paroles de femmes : prostituées à Poona (Inde)
Résumé en français de l'auteur (non intégré dans la publication)
L’article ci-dessous se proposait, dans une première version, de rendre compte de l’espace de la prostitution dans le quartier des prostituées de Poona (Inde). Mais, dans la mesure où c’étaient les mots mêmes utilisés par deux d’entre elles qui sous-tendaient le texte, l’objet initial s’en est trouvé d’emblée élargi pour inclure les différents espaces jalonnant leurs histoires personnelles respectives. Cette deuxième version resitue le témoignage de ces femmes dans le cadre de leur rencontre avec un étranger venu d’Europe, sans oublier celui de leurs interactions avec leurs clients.
Mots-clés : espace de la prostitution, maisons de prostituées, espace urbain, personnes déplacées, biographies féminines
Multilingualism, Language Use and Linguistic Competence among
Phu Thai Speakers of Central Laos and Northeastern Thailand: Case Study of Phu Thai students at Savannakhet University
Summary: After describing the multilingual context of the Phu Thai, a Tai ethnic group of Central Laos and Northeastern Thailand having contacts both with the Lao and with Mon-Khmer ethnic groups, the writers of this article propose a case study of Phu Thai speakers studying at Savannakhet University and try to answer the following questions: what are the language attitudes of Phu Thai speakers in such a multilingual context? Do they actually use many languages? How is it possible to comprehend their linguistic competence?
Keywords: Phu Thai Language, Language Attitudes, Linguistic Competence, Ethnic Groups and Ethno-linguistics in Laos, Learners at the University Level in Laos.
(in French)
Multilinguisme, plurilinguisme et compétence linguistique chez les Phu Thaï du centre du Laos et du nord-est de la Thaïlande : le cas des étudiants phu thaï de l’Université de Savannakhet
Résumé : Partant de la description du contexte multilingue des Phu Thaï, une ethnie taï du centre du Laos et du nord-est de la Thaïlande vivant au contact des Lao d’une part et des ethnies môn-khmères d’autre part, les auteurs ont étudié le cas de locuteurs phu thaï étudiant à l’université de Savannakhet pour tenter de répondre aux questions suivantes : quelles attitudes langagières correspondent à ce multilinguisme ? de quelle nature est le plurilinguisme des Phu Thaï ? et comment est-il possible d’appréhender la compétence linguistique de ces derniers ?
Mots-clés : langue phu thaï, attitudes langagières, compétence linguistique, ethnies et ethnolinguistique au Laos, public d’apprenants universitaires au Laos
Keywords: Phu Tai, Northeastern Thailand, dialectology
Key Words: local languages of Thailand; Phu Thai; diglossia; code-switching; teaching a foreign language at the university level
Jean Pacquement Historical linguistics and history of language Eighty years after Jules Block's La formation de la langue marathe
On the occasion of the centenary of the EFEO, this paper deals with La formation de la langue marathe by Jules Bloch, the first historical grammar of the Marathi language, published in 1919, whose approach to the history of the Indo-Aryan languages takes its inspiration from the comparativist school of Antoine Meillet and which has been a landmark in the field of Indo-Aryan linguistics generally, much as the Linguistic Survey of India of the same period authored by George Grierson, and particularly in the field of Marathi philological studies. This contribution presents the origin of Marathi and the main stages of its "formation", includes a history of the Marathi language from 1012 to the present day and finally mentions, by way of conclusion, the influence of La formation de la langue marathe on Indo-Aryan linguistics.
(in French)
Jean Pacquement Linguistique historique et histoire de la langue 80 ans après La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch
À l'occasion du centenaire de l'EFEO, cet article revient sur La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch, première grammaire historique du marathi publiée en 1919, qui se caractérise par une approche de l'histoire de l'indo-aryen inspirée de l'école comparatiste d'Antoine Meillet et qui a marqué, au même titre que le Linguistic Survey of India contemporain de George Grierson, le champ de la linguistique indo-aryenne et en l'occurrence le domaine des études philologiques marathi. La présente contribution présente l'origine du marathi et les principales étapes de sa « formation », inclut une histoire de la langue marathe entre 1012 et aujourd'hui, avant d'évoquer en conclusion l'influence de La formation de la langue marathe sur la linguistique indo-aryenne.
The meteorological aphorisms, which can be considered as a class by themselves, contain two kinds of elements dealing respectively with the observation and the forecasting of weather and crops. This literature can be presented as didactic and predictive and is connected with folk astrology, especially as far as expressing date and time is concerned. Moreover, in North India, such corpus have been ascribed to legendary astrologers, whose names, as can be seen in the bhanitas, are linked with one another.
Many meteorological aphorisms can be traced as identical, with small formulary or dialectic differences, in many regions of North India. Hence we have a "continuum" of both aphorisms and formulae, the variations of which indicate their diffusion and their circulation. Thus, on the basis of this continuum, it is possible to create a thesaurus of meteorological aphorisms, which could be the beginning of a critical study.
The reference of the present account and the 10 recordings by the speaker (the former and the latter having been uploaded to Zenodo) is: Pacquement, Jean. (2023). Tai Muong numerals. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7576485
The reference for this paper is: Pacquement, Jean. (2023). An introduction to a Tai Muong variety spoken in Châu Phong Commune (Quỳ Châu District, Nghệ An Province, Vietnam). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7472112
Un des paradoxes de la langue lao est qu'elle est à peine majoritaire (54,6 % de la population en 2005, soit un peu plus de 3 millions de locuteurs, chiffres incluant une langue taï plus ou moins distincte du lao, le phouan de Xieng Khouang) quand il s'agit du pourcentage des locuteurs se déclarant lao-et utilisant le lao en tant que langue parlée à la maison-, et qu'elle apparaît minoritaire géographiquement dans le pays dont elle est la langue officielle.
(En français) Ces 18 pages sont une introduction à l'écriture devanagari, telle qu'elle est utilisée pour écrire le marathi. Elles figurent dans l'ouvrage intitulé "Parlons marathi : Langue, histoire et vie quotidienne du pays marathe", publié chez L'Harmattan en 1999.
My main purpose in putting online this account on academia.edu is to acknowledge the help I got from Ginette Terral-Martini and Solange Bernard-Thierry when I prepared it. I am downloading a personal letter which I received from Ginette Terral-Martini.
It is also an opportunity to add the reference of an article by François Martini "Romanisation des parlers 'tay' du Nord Vièt-Nam" (http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/befeo_0336-1519_1954_num_46_2_5608).
More details: https://seals31.sched.com/event/11Uuq/the-laotian-of-theodore-guignard-and-the-thay-of-paul-doquet
This proposal is based on data elicited from Tai Meuay speakers in three districts of Bolikhamxay, viz. Khamkeuth, Pakkading, and Viengthong. In the area of Lak Xao, speakers identify two main groups of Tai Meuay, the ‘Tai Meuay Katip Nyeu’ and the ‘Tai Meuay Katip Noi’, those designations referring to the size of a basket called /kaɁ ti:pDL2/, which the Tai Meuay as well as the Tai Daeng carry on their backs. Although Tai Meuay varieties appear to have had contacts with Tai dialects spoken in Western part of Nghệ An Province (Vietnam) – all the varieties of Tai Meuay which will be referred to consistently display a few lexical items specific to Tai dialects spoken in Nghệ An (verbs for the most part, e.g. /ki:A4/ ‘eat’, /pa:A4/ ‘go’, /Ɂe:A4/ ‘do’, etc.) –, features of both their tone systems and initial consonants confirm that Tai Meuay is to be related to Tai Daeng.
- Tone systems of Tai Meuay varieties exhibit a tonal coalescence in the DS column, a feature which can also be observed in Tai Daeng.
- While Tai Yo lexical items such as /ha:wA1/ ‘white’, /hawC1/ ‘enter’, or /hɛ:nA1/ ‘arm’ display the initial consonant h-, their cognates in Tai Meuay varieties are /kha:wA1/, /khawC1/, /khɛ:nA1/, etc., with the same initial as in Tai Daeng. As a matter of fact, words whose initials were reconstructed by Li Fang-kuei (1977) as *x- or *kh- – and later by Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2009) as *x-, *χ-, or *q- – are never found to have in Tai Meuay the initial h-, a reflex specific to Tai Yo and other Tai dialects of Nghệ An and Bolikhamxay related to Tai Yo.
- As for words reconstructed with the initial *ɣ-, Tai Meuay and Tai Daeng share the reflex kh-, e.g. /kʰɛːŋB4/ ‘lower leg, shin’, as against /kɛːŋB4/ in Tai Yo and Tai Dam.
References
Chamberlain, James R. 1984. The Tai Dialects of Khammouan Province: Their Diversity and Origins. Science of Language Papers 4: 62–95. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University (Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts).
Li, Fang-kuei. 1977. Handbook of Comparative Tai. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawai’i Press.
Pittayawat Pittayaporn. 2009. The Phonology of Proto-Tai. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Linguistics, Cornell University.
Pranee Kullavanijaya and Theraphan L-Thongkum. 1998, Linguistic criteria for determining Tai ethnic groups: Case studies on central and south-western Tais. In S. Burusphat (ed.), The International Conference on Tai Studies, 273–298. Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University.
Robert, R. 1941. Notes sur les Tay Dèng de Lang Chánh (Thanh-hoá – Annam). Institut Indochinois pour l’Étude de L’Homme (Mémoire N°1). Hanoi: Imprimerie d’Extrême-Orient.
Keywords: Phu Thai dialects; Language documentation; Southwestern Tai subgrouping
Authors:
Jean Pacquement, [email protected]
Agrégé de grammaire, Éducation nationale, France
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Science, Roi-Et Rajabhat University, Thailand
&
Vanh Thongmany, [email protected]
Language Consultant, Laos
This proposal deals with three dialects of Phu Thai, the Phu Thai varieties related to what has been called the “Phu Thai myth” of Mueang Vang, the Phu Thai Kapong, and the Phu Thai varieties related to the dialect of Phine (Savannakhet, Laos). A first objective is to contribute to the documentation of the Phine dialect. One of its features is a distinctive voice quality feature in the A234 syllables of William J. Gedney’s tone diagram. However, the focus of this presentation will be on the initial consonants in the three dialects.
- In James R. Chamberlain’s classification of Southwestern Tai, which divides Southwestern Tai dialects “into two groups, P and PH” (Chamberlain 1975: 49) according to the reflexes of voiced initial stops reconstructed for Proto-Tai, Phu Thai is a PH dialect.
- Michel Ferlus (2008: 306) relates Phu Thai to Tai Yo and Tai Muong, P dialects of Nghê An (Vietnam), on the basis of the tonal coalescence in the DL column it shares with them. Only Mueang Vang varieties actually have that tonal merger, but Ferlus’ claim is corroborated by the fact that some of those varieties share with Tai Yo and Tai Muong the inital consonant h- in a few words reconstructed by Li Fang-kuei (1977) with an initial *x- ([hɛ:wA1] 'green’, [hawC1] ‘to enter’, etc) or an initial *kh- ([hɛ:nA1] 'arm', etc.).
- The previously mentioned lexical items are actually examples selected by Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2009: 70-75), who deals with their “Kapong forms”. Focusing on Proto-Tai phonology, he notes that “the velar series alone cannot account for the range of correspondences that involve dorsal onsets” and proposes “a distinct series of uvular consonants”. While keeping “PT *x-” for [khe:wA1] 'green’ (the cognate of [hɛ:wA1] in Kapong), he posits “a uvular *χ- for etyma having the correspondence pattern” of [hawC1] ‘to enter’ and “an unaspirated uvular *q-” for the set of etyma represented by [hɛ:nA1] 'arm'.
The analysis in this presentation takes into account data collected for the Phine dialect, in which the examples studied by Pittayawat Pittayaporn have the initial consonant h-, but it will also mention some Mueang Vang varieties, in which such a uniformity cannot be found.
References
Chamberlain, James R. 1975. A new look at the history and classification of the Tai languages. In Jimmy G. Harris and James Chamberlain (Ed.), Studies in Tai Linguistics in Honor of William J. Gedney, 49-66. Bangkok: Central Institute of English Language.
Ferlus, Michel (2008). The Tai Dialects of Nghệ An, Vietnam (Tay Daeng, Tay Yo, Tay Muong). In Anthony V.N. Diller, Jerold A. Edmondson and Yongxian Luo (Ed.), The Tai-Kadai Languages, 298-316. London and New York: Routledge.
Li, Fang-kuei. 1977. Handbook of Comparative Tai. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawai’i Press.
Pittayawat Pittayaporn. 2009. The Phonology of Proto-Tai. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Linguistics, Cornell University.
James R. Chamberlain (1998: 32) is the first who mentioned the existence of a distinct Saek dialect in Ban Na Kadôk. It was documented by Sarinya Jitbanjong (2010) in a PhD dissertation where she studied it along with two Saek varieties belonging to the dialect described by William J. Gedney (Hudak 1993). Sarinya Jitbanjong (2010: 125-126) has proposed for the Ban Na Kadôk dialect a tone system with a 1-234 split in the C column.
The data obtained from more than 10 speakers of the Saek of Ban Na Kadôk however support a uniform 123-4 split in all the 5 columns of its tone system, representing a two-way split between ancient voiceless initials and ancient voiced initials, as in Vietnamese and in the Southwestern Tai languages in the environment of which that dialect evolved. Borrowings from Vietnamese having been integrated in its phonological system, a more complete picture of its tone system can be given by discussing the tones of Vietnamese loanwords in the speech of present-day speakers.
References
Chamberlain, James R. 1998. The origin of Sek: implications for Tai and Vietnamese history. Journal of the Siam Society. 86.1&2: 27-48.
Hudak, Thomas John, 1993. William J. Gedney's The Saek Language: Glossary, Texts, and Translations. Ann Arbor: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, The University of Michigan (Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia No. 41).
Kosaka, Ryuichi. 1997. On the Loans of Vietnamese Origin in the Saek Language. Southeast Asian Linguistics Studies In Honor of Vichin Panupong. Edited by A.S. Abramson: 127-146. Chulalongkorn University Press.
Sarinya Jitbanjong. 2010. A Comparison Study of Saek Phonology and Morphology in Lao and Thailand. PhD Thesis. Naresuan University. (in Thai)
The proposed presentation will first mention two lexicons of Saek compiled by Paul Macey and Antonin Baudenne, at the time of that language’s discovery by French administrators in the early years of the 20th century. These lexicons, both included in a collection belonging to the École française d'Extrême-Orient (henceforward EFEO)'s library, the “manuscrits européens” (ME), have never been mentioned in the literature concerning Saek. Could André-Georges Haudricourt, who made an extensive use of EFEO’s linguistic questionnaires and various word lists in his research about the languages of Mainland Southeast Asia, have possibly missed Baudenne’s corpus in the ME collection (ME 406 in EFEO 's library)? And, if Haudricourt (1960: 168) refers to Macey’s 1905 and 1907 articles, he never mentions his lexicon and notes in the ME collection (ME 398-399, ME 402, ME 405, ME 405A-405B), which are undoubtedly their preparatory documents.
On the basis of their lexical features, the Saek varieties represented in Macey and Baudenne’s lexicons can be ascribed to the Saek dialect documented by William J. Gedney (Hudak 1993, and 2010), as it is the case for all Saek corpuses made available so far by linguists as well as non-linguists. When it comes to other Saek dialects, the only distinct Saek dialect identified so far is “the dialect of Khamkeut”, which “emanates from the village of Na Kadok in the Subdistrict of Nam Veo” (Chamberlain 1998: 32). James R. Chamberlain is the first who mentioned the existence of that dialect, but has not provided “any phonological descriptions” for it (Hudak 2010: 252).
This presentation, based upon the researcher’s interactions with speakers of the Saek spoken in Ban Na Kadok, will propose a tone system of that dialect and discuss, among various phonological, lexical and syntactic particularities, initial consonants in cognates shared by the two main dialects.
References
Chamberlain, James R. (1998). The origin of Sek: implications for Tai and Vietnamese history. Journal of the Siam Society. 86.1&2: 27-48.
Haudricourt, André-G. (1960). V. Note sur les dialectes de la région de Moncay. Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 50. 1: 161-177.
Hudak, Thomas John. (2010). William J. Gedney's Concise Saek-English, English-Saek Lexicon. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press (Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications No. 37).
Agreeing with the assessment formulated by Wilaiwan Khanittanan, according to whom "it appears that Saek is not going to be extinct in the near future” (Wilaiwan Khanittanan 2008), the presenter will refer to both data collected from informants speaking the Saek of Ban Buek (Nakai district, Khammouane province) - in 1993 (by Michel Ferlus), then in 2015 (by the presenter) - and to two corpuses of Saek which are included in a collection belonging to the École française d'Extrême-Orient's library (Maison de l'Asie, Paris) called "manuscrits européens" (henceforward ME) - and which have so far never been mentioned in the literature concerning Saek. Both documents (ME 398-399 and ME 406) give a significant amount of Saek language items, which were collected in the early years of the 20th century (the precise date of ME 398-399 is 1903) and contain a presentation of the Saek language which was already enhancing Siamese and Lao influences on Saek and even predicting its rapid extinction!
The more comprehensive of these two compilations is the corpus collected by Antonin Baudenne (ME 406), who is better known as one of the two authors of a French novel about colonial Laos Sao Tiampa, épouse laotienne (1912). A civil servant of the colonial regime based in Laos from 1901 (he was a "commis des services civils de l’Indochine"), he is also the author of a detailed travel guide about the country, À travers le Laos: Guide à l'usage des voyageurs.
Keywords: Saek language; Contact-induced language changes; Linguistic questionnaires; Language documentation
Whereas Phu Thai dialects referred to in the literature on Southwestern Tai languages follow a tone pattern ABCD 123-4 with no tonal splits in the rows 123, the Phu Thai dialect of the previously mentioned area displays a distinctive 1-234 split in the A column. Can it possibly be related to other “Neua‐Phuan languages” of Southwestern Tai (Chamberlain 1975, 1984) with the same feature, such as the Lao of Samnuea (Northeast Laos)?
References
Chamberlain, James R. 1975, A New Look at the History and Classification of the Tai Languages. Studies in Tai Linguistics in Honor of William J. Gedney. Edited by Jimmy G. Harris and James R. Chamberlain: 49-66. Central Institute of English Language, Office of State Universities.
Chamberlain, James R. 1984. The Tai Dialects of Khammouan Province: Their Diversity and Origins. Science of Language Papers 4: 62-95. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University (Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts).
Phinnarat Akharawatthanakun. 2002. Tonal Variations and Changes in a Language Mixture Area: A Case Study of Northeastern Thailand (ISAN). MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities 5.2: 30-51.
Theraphan L-Thongkum. 2003. The Tai of Muong Vat do not Speak the Black Tai Language. MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities, Special Issue 6, 74-86.
Keywords
Phu Thai; Nyo; Lao of Samnuea; Tonal patterns; Microlinguistic areas
This presentation will deal with a small-scale language documentation research conducted with Nyo speakers from Kut Kho Kan village (Khok Samran subdistrict, Loeng Nok Tha district, Yasothon province). It has involved the participation of two students of the university still aware of the use of a distinct dialect in their native place as well as members of their communities.
Keywords: Local communities, Language documentation, Nyo language.
Among the particularities of Phu Thai in Northeastern Thailand, one can find lexical items claimed by Phu Thai speakers as belonging specifically to their language. Most of these terms actually have cognates in other PH languages (in Lao, not in Thai) and in P languages of the Southwestern Tai group. This presentation will refer to a few cognates and other features shared by Phu Thai and Tai languages labeled as Tai Daeng or Tai Moei by their speakers (who occasionally call themselves Phu Tai), keeping in mind Michel Ferlus’ linguistic argument (the coalescence in the DL column) pointing to an origin of Phu Thai in “Tai Muong and Tai Yo regions of Nghệ An” (Ferlus 2008), if not from a broader area of language contacts (between PH languages and P languages as well as between Southwestern Tai languages and languages showing a Northern Tai substratum such as Tai Yo and Saek) in upper Central Vietnam.
In the case of present-day Phu Thai, contacts with other languages (prima facie Lao in its varieties spoken in Central Laos as well as Isan and Central Thai in Northeastern Thailand) remain a relevant feature. Whether in the Phu Thai “original” area of Central Laos or in its more recent locations of Northeastern Thailand, one can find, along with Phu Thai, a few Northern Katuic dialects known locally as Bru, So or Katang. Some aspects of the nonreciprocal linguistic relationship between Phu Thai and these Katuic languages, such as the absence of Austroasiatic substratum words in Phu Thai, will be introduced. Even though mainland Southeast Asia as a “linguistic area” has witnessed a good deal of syntactic convergence, a possible case of syntactic convergence between Phu Thai and Northern Katuic dialects will be discussed.
References
- Ferlus, Michel. 2008. The Tai Dialects of Nghê An, Vietnam (Tay Daeng, Tay Yo, Tay Muong). The Tai-Kadai Languages, edited by Anthony V.N. Diller, Jerold A. Edmondson and Yongxian Luo, 298-316. London and New York, Routledge. (in French)
- Smalley, William A. 1994. Language Diversity and National Unity : Language Ecology in Thailand. Chicago & London, The University of Chicago Press.
Gabaude Louis. Journées de Chiang Mai (28-31 janvier 1993) . In: Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 80,
1993. pp. 244-274.
(p. 252)
Au Deccan College de Pune, en effet, l'EFEO bénéficie d'un local occupé actuellement par Jean Pacquement, titulaire d'une bourse Curien du ministère de la Recherche et travaillant en liaison aussi bien avec François Grimai qu'avec Françoise Mallison. Son travail est orienté sur deux pôles : la finition d'un dictionnaire des dialectes du marathi et des études de folklore.
Le dictionnaire des dialectes du marathi est un projet de l'Université de Pune lancé dans les années 60 par le professeur S.G. Tulpule, sur la suggestion du linguiste S.M. Katre. Il est complémentaire des monographies linguistiques entreprises par ailleurs sur les dialectes de région ou de caste. En partant d'une sélection de 2 500 notions sémantiques augmentées de 200 verbes et grâce à des informateurs dûment choisis puis répartis sur 30 points d'enquête, l'objectif était de trouver le terme réfèrent usuel. En fait, en raison d'une rupture de crédits, les données déjà collectées avaient été laissées à l'abandon jusqu'à ce que François Grimai, informé et désireux d'ouvrir son département à l'indo-aryen moderne, décidât de participer au programme en confiant à Jean Pacquement la mission d'assister le Dr. Kale, directeur actuel du projet, pour le mener jusqu'à la publication. Il s'agit donc, pour lui, d'examiner les matériaux déjà recueillis, de les vérifier, de les restaurer ou reconstituer lorsqu'ils ont été mal conservés ou perdus, et de les compléter enfin par de nouvelles collectes.
Un tel projet s'articule sur l'orientation du département d'indologie de Pondichéry par plusieurs aspects : il s'agit d'abord d'une étude des realia centrée sur leurs désignations par leurs utilisateurs eux-mêmes, l'étude de la technologie se faisant à partir de sa représentation dans la langue ; il s'agit ensuite d'une étude de géographie linguistique, puisque les regroupements et comparaisons de formes voisines permettront de formuler des hypothèses sur des ensembles et sous-ensembles culturels mieux que ne le font les monographies fermées, facilement totalisantes ; il s'agit enfin d'une histoire de la langue, puisque les premières données ont été recueillies à un moment où le jeune État du Maharashtra n'avait pas encore établi sa politique linguistique de standardisation des dialectes, tandis que les dernières informations expriment le fruit d'une politique de la langue imposée par les centres urbains.
Jean Pacquement pratique aussi la philologie à partir du folklore, plus précisément de la littérature orale folklorique, avec une attention spéciale aux variantes de versions et de formules, ces dernières constituant un fonds dans lequel puisent le chanteur ou le poète pour générer des variations infinies.
Notre collègue se fit lui aussi l'avocat de la philologie des langues indiennes modernes, qui ne sont pas simplement « vernaculaires » mais, comme le sanskrit et l'anglais, également « véhiculaires », autrement dit instruments d'expansion d'une culture sur de vastes périodes et régions. Il convient de les laisser parler pour elles-mêmes et non pas accessoirement comme des formes corrompues d'une tradition qui serait plus haute ou plus grande. L'intérêt du marathi est d'être une langue moyenne : moyenne d'abord par son « poids » puisqu'elle n'est ni une petite vernaculaire - elle est parlée sur 300 000 kilomètres carrés - ni une grande véhiculaire, si on la compare à l'anglais ou au hindi ; moyenne également par sa position intermédiaire entre le domaine majoritairement indo-aryen du Nord et le domaine majoritairement dravidien du Sud ; moyenne encore par sa position intermédiaire entre deux cultures, celle du Nord (Khichri) et celle du Sud (Sambhar).
En Thaïlande, où l’on compte plus de cinquante langues et dialectes appartenant à cinq familles linguistiques distinctes, les Thaï des grands centres urbains pensent - et veulent que l’on pense - que le multilinguisme du pays n’est pas leur affaire. Le système scolaire, d’autre part, a fait le choix, aussi ambitieux qu’idéaliste, de l’anglais et de quelques autres grandes langues internationales, langues à la fois géographiquement lointaines et typologiquement très différentes, aux dépens des langues des pays voisins, qui contribueraient pourtant au développement des capacités linguistiques des écoliers !
บทคัดย่อ
บทความนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อจัดเก็บข้อมูลภาษาญ้อที่พูดในบ้านกุดคอก่าน ตำบลโคกสำราญ อำเภอเลิงนกทา จังหวัดยโสธร ซึ่งเป็นวิธภาษา (variety) ของภาษาญ้อที่ยังไม่ได้รับการกล่าวถึงมาก่อนในบททบทวนวรรณกรรมเกี่ยวกับภาษาญ้อในพื้นที่ภาคตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือของประเทศไทย
ในจำนวนผู้บอกภาษาญ้อในพื้นที่หมู่บ้านกุดคอก่าน ซึ่งให้ข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับภาษาญ้อในการศึกษาครั้งนี้ มีนักศึกษาของมหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏร้อยเอ็ดสองคน นักศึกษาสองคนนี้ตระหนักดีว่าการใช้ภาษาถิ่นของตนเองที่บ้านเกิดนั้นมีลักษณะเฉพาะและแตกต่างจากพื้นที่อื่น ทั้งคู่ได้ช่วยเหลือนักวิจัยให้เข้าถึงผู้พูดภาษาญ้อ และผู้พูดภาษาถิ่นกลุ่มไทภาษาอื่นๆในพื้นที่ภาษาจุลภาค (micro-linguistic area) ซึ่งปรากฏให้เห็นอย่างเด่นชัด ใน 3-4 อำเภอที่ขึ้นกับสามจังหวัดของภาคตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือแห่งประเทศไทย คือจังหวัดมุกดาหาร จังหวัดยโสธร และจังหวัดอำนาจเจริญ พื้นที่ภาษาจุลภาคดังกล่าวนี้ เป็นพื้นที่ที่มีความหลากหลายของภาษากลุ่มไท (กลุ่มภาษาไทตะวันตกเฉียงใต้) เป็นพิเศษ ภาษาผู้ไทก็เป็นภาษากลุ่มไทอีกภาษาหนึ่งที่ใช้ในบริเวณนี้ด้วย การศึกษาต่อไปควรจะเป็นการศึกษาการจัดเก็บข้อมูลภาษาของวิธภาษาเหล่านี้ รวมถึงวิธภาษาต่าง ๆ ของภาษาผู้ไทด้วย
ญ้อและผู้ไทเป็นชื่อภาษาและเป็นชื่อเรียกกลุ่มชาติพันธุ์ที่ไม่ได้มีแค่ในประเทศไทย แต่ยังพบได้ในประเทศเพื่อนบ้านอื่นๆ เช่น ประเทศลาวและประเทศเวียดนาม เป็นต้น
คำสำคัญ: การจัดเก็บข้อมูลภาษา, ภาษาญ้อ, ภาษาผู้ไท, ลักษณะการแยกเสียงรวมเสียงในระบบวรรณยุกต์, พื้นที่ภาษาจุลภาค