Information from the abstract
Approximately 5,000 Tai Yuan people live among Central Thai speakers in Don Rae Sub-district, Mueang Ratchaburi District, Ratchaburi Province, Central Thailand. Their ancestors were displaced from Chiang Saen (in present-day northern Thailand), following the Burmese Siamese War in 1804. After more than two centuries living alongside the Central Thai-speaking majority, the Tai Yuan language has inevitably been influenced by the dominant language. This study examines the time frame and process of language decline in the Tai Yuan community of Don Rae Sub-district following migration, using evidence from linguistic changes and cultural changes in traditional scribal conventions. It draws on data from colophons of 56 Tai Yuan palm-leaf manuscripts preserved in Don Rae Sub-district. Linguistic and palaeographic approaches are employed to analyze changes in phonology, lexicon, orthography, letterforms, and dating conventions. The results show that, in the first 50 years after migration, no clear evidence of language decline is observed. Around 50-60 years after migration, Central Thai influence emerged through loanwords and a shared month-counting system, followed by gradual changes in orthography, letterforms, and phonology under the influence of Thai and Dhamma Lao scripts. The Lan Na-based month system later faded and was replaced by the official Siamese calendar. By approximately 150 years after migration, the Tai Yuan script had completely disappeared from written evidence, reflecting a gradual, multi-dimensional language decline affecting both linguistic features and the writing system. This study proposes a manuscript-based chronological model for analyzing language decline in displaced communities, offering insights into language maintenance and revitalization.
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Related topics: Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography
Thai researcher and institutional participation
Yuttaporn Naksuk · Mahidol University
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