Taman is an extinct Sino-Tibetan language that was spoken in Htamanthi village in Homalin Township, Sagaing Region, northern Myanmar. It was documented in a list of 75 words in Brown (1911). Keisuke Huziwara (2016) discovered an elderly rememberer of Taman in Htamanthi who could remember some Taman phrases as well as a short song, but was not fluent in the Taman language. However, no fluent speakers of Taman remained in the area.
Language shift Taman speakers have since shifted to Burmese and Tai Naing (Red Shan), a Tai language spoken in northern Myanmar. Matisoff (2013:25) surmises that pressure from the formerly widespread Kadu language had caused Taman to become marginalized. The descendants of Taman speakers have since been assimilated into Shan society.
Classification Benedict (1972) and Shafer (1974) classified Taman as part of the Luish branch of languages.
Words and affixes shared exclusively between Luish and Taman are (Huziwara 2016): negative prefix (Proto-Luish *a-, Taman ʔə-) 'put' (Proto-Luish *péy, Taman pe) 'go, walk' (Proto-Luish *ha, Taman hɔ) 'sun' as a compound word that includes 'eye'
However, Huziwara (2016) notes that despite Taman sharing some similarities with Luish, Taman cannot be securely classified within the Luish branch itself, and its place in Tibeto-Burman remains uncertain. Taman also shares various similarities with many nearby non-Luish languages, including various Sal languages. Huziwara (2016) concludes that Taman is part of a linkage of Tibeto-Burman languages spanning across northeast India and northern Myanmar (i.e., comparable to Scott DeLancey's Central Tibeto-Burman languages), but does not recognizably fit into any known Tibeto-Burman branch.
Phonology Taman has the following phonemes. Vowels: a, e, ɛ, i, ɨ, ɐ, o [ɔ, ɑ], u, ə Consonants: p, ph, t, th, c [ts, tʃ], k, m, n, ŋ, r, l, s (sʰ), ʃ, x, h, w (v), y
Sound changes Below are five innovations from Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB) to Taman identified by Huziwara (2016). raising of low vowels (PTB *-a > Taman -ɔ) fricativization of velar stops in word-initial positions (PTB *k- > Taman x-) loss of velar stops in word-final positions (PTB *-ak > Taman -a) addition of velar stops after high vowels (PTB *-i/-u > Taman -ek/-ouk) affrication of *gry- (PTB *gry- > Taman c-)
Lexicon Below is Brown's (1911) Taman word list as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara (2016:19–29), and Brown's (1911) Taman list re-transcribed by Luce (1985), as cited and re-transcribed in Huziwara (2016).
The Taman word for 'river' is the same as the word for 'water'.
Gloss Taman (Brown 1911) Taman (Luce 1985) one tɔ tə two nek nek three sùm sum four pəli pəli five məŋɔ məŋə six kwa kwɑ seven sənè səne eight pəsè pəse nine təxɐ tə̈xəː ten ʃi ʃi ape jùn – arm, hand la la arrow pʰəlɔ pʰəlɔ axe wɔtùm wɔtum bag tʰùmbɔ tʰumbə bamboo wɔ wɔ bat sɔŋpʰula sɔŋ-pulɑ bear sʰap sʰap bee ùìŋ uiŋ big lwaŋ lwɑŋ bird kətʃeksɔ kətʃeksɔ (sparrow) bitter xɔ xɔ blood sʰe sʰe boat li li body tu tu bone raŋ raŋ buffalo mɔk mɔk (cattle) call lu – cat mətʃeksɔ mətʃeksɔ cold xɑm xɑːm dog vi vi ear nəpʰɑ nəpʰɑː earth (soil) pəkɔ pəkɔ eat sɔ – elephant məki məki eye pekkwe pəkkwe father vɔ ~ wɔ vɔ ~ wɔ female nëm nëm fire vè ve fish ətsɔ ətsɔ flesh hè he give nëm nëm go hɔ hɔ gold xɑm xɑːm good kəmë kəmë grass sʰèìŋ sʰeɪŋ head kəkɐ kəkəː hill kɔùŋrwe kɔʊŋrwe hog va ~ wa va ~ wa (pig) horse tʃipòùk tʃipɔʊk house ʃìp ʃɪp I në në iron ʃa ʃa kill səsʰèùk – know tʃùp – man (human being) mek mek male laktʃaŋ lɑk tʃaŋ moon səlɔ səlɔ mother nëm nëm name təmeŋ təmeŋ night nɑtaŋ nɑːtaŋ road lam lam rock taŋpɔ taŋpɔ (stone) salt tsùm tsum snake pɐ pəː silk nè – speak tʰè – star taŋpɐ taŋpəː steal xɐlɔ xəːlɔ sun pupek pupek tooth vɑkòùn ~ wɑkòùn vɑkɔʊn ~ wɑkɔʊn water tʰi tʰi write rek – year kèìŋ –
Samples On March 2, 2015, Keisuke Huziwara discovered an 83-year-old woman in Htamanthi who remembered some words and phrases of the Taman language, as well as a short song. The woman was born in a village just outside Htamanthi. The elicited words and phrases are (Huziwara 2016:14–16):
hɔ əna, hɔ təyauŋ '(I) went over there.' (hɔ 'to go') kʰam sɔ-nə-kɔ 'Did (you) eat?' (kʰam 'food, cooked rice'; sɔ 'to eat') sɔ-kɛʔ 'already ate' ʔə-sɔ-wɛʔ 'did not eat (yet)' (ʔə- 'negative prefix') sɔ-nə-kɔ-ya 'ate; finished eating' (-nə 'desiderative suffix') tʰitum ŋɔ lɔ 'Where is the water?' (tʰi 'water'; tum 'container'; ŋɔ 'where'; lɔ 'interrogative') ʔəyɔ pe 'Where did I put it?' (pe 'to place'; ʔəyɔ 'where?') wa dɔ 'Come!' (wa 'to come') pi 'firewood' (cf. Meithei upi 'firewood') məla 'tea' məla sɔ nɔ 'Please drink tea.' (məla 'tea'; sɔ 'to eat')
Sample text The song is transcribed as follows. ʔi ʔələyaŋ ʔi ʔələyaŋ nənum təhɔ ʔinahɔ məceiʔ cɔ he lɔcɔ ci məceiʔ cɔ ʔi na nam ha mina hɔ pi cɔ
Huziwara (2016:15–16) analyzes the song as follows. ʔi ʔələyaŋ ʔi ʔələyaŋ: exclamation introducing the song nənum təhɔ ʔina hɔ: 'The child went.' məceiʔcɔ he: 'Where is the child?' (Taman məceiʔcɔ 'child' < PTB *tsa-n) lɔcɔ ci: [meaning unclear] məceiʔcɔ, ʔina: 'I told the child' nam ha mina: 'Where did you go?' hɔ pi cɔ: 'I went outside.'
Altogether, the nouns, verbs, and prefixes elicited from Huziwara's (2016) Taman informant are: kʰam 'food, cooked rice' tʰi 'water' məla 'tea' pi 'firewood' tum 'container' məceiʔcɔ 'child' ʔə- 'negative prefix' sɔ 'to eat' hɔ 'to go' wa 'to come' pe 'to place, put'
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