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32-605: Non-state opponents The Shan State Army ( Shan : တပ်ႉသိုၵ်းၸိုင်ႈတႆး – ပွတ်းၸၢၼ်း ; abbreviated SSA or RCSS/SSA ), also known as the Shan State Army - South (SSA-S), is the armed wing of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and one of the largest insurgent groups in Myanmar (Burma). The RCSS/SSA was led by Lieutenant General Yawd Serk until his resignation on 3 February 2014. Yawd Serk

64-659: A glottal stop [ʔ] and obstruent sounds such as [p], [t], and [k]. The syllable structure of Shan is C(G)V((V)/(C)), which is to say the onset consists of a consonant optionally followed by a glide , and the rhyme consists of a monophthong alone, a monophthong with a consonant, or a diphthong alone. (Only in some dialects, a diphthong may also be followed by a consonant.) The glides are: -w-, -y- and -r-. There are seven possible final consonants: /ŋ/ , /n/ , /m/ , /k/ , /t/ , /p/ , and /ʔ/ . Some representative words are: Typical Shan words are monosyllabic. Multisyllabic words are mostly Pali loanwords, or Burmese words with

96-526: A monophyletic group. Gedney (1989) considers Central and Southwestern Tai to form a subgroup, of which Northern Tai is a sister. The top-level branching is in agreement with Haudricourt (1956). Luo Yongxian (1997) classifies the Tai languages as follows, introducing a fourth branch called Northwestern Tai that includes Ahom , Shan , Dehong Dai, and Khamti . All branches are considered to be coordinate to each other. Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2009) classifies

128-682: A word-initial unaspirated voiceless sound for Tai , which in any event might sound artificial or arcane to outsiders. According to Michel Ferlus , the ethnonyms Tai/Thai (or Tay/Thay) would have evolved from the etymon *k(ə)ri: 'human being' through the following chain: kəri: > kəli: > kədi:/kədaj ( -l- > -d- shift in tense sesquisyllables and probable diphthongization of -i: > -aj ). This in turn changed to di:/daj (presyllabic truncation and probable diphthongization -i: > -aj ). And then to *daj (Proto-Southwestern Tai) > tʰaj (in Siamese and Lao) or > taj (in

160-486: A Shan-English dictionary. Aside from this, the language is almost completely undescribed in English. Tai languages The Tai , Zhuang–Tai , or Daic languages ( Ahom :𑜁𑜪𑜨 𑜄𑜩 or 𑜁𑜨𑜉𑜫 𑜄𑜩 kwáam tái  ; Shan : ၵႂၢမ်းတႆး ; Thai : ภาษาไท or ภาษาไต , transliteration : p̣hās̛̄āthay or p̣hās̛̄ātay , RTGS :  phasa thai or phasa tai; Lao : ພາສາໄຕ , Phasa Tai ) are

192-632: A Tai language. For some, Thai should instead be considered a member of the Lao language family. One or more Ancient Chinese characters for 'Lao' may be cited in support of this alternative appellation. Some scholars, including Benedict (1975), have used Thai to refer to a wider ( Tai ) grouping and one sees designations like proto-Thai and Austro-Thai in earlier works. In the institutional context in Thailand, and occasionally elsewhere, sometimes Tai (and its corresponding Thai-script spelling, without

224-629: A branch of the Kra–Dai language family . The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand ; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos ; Myanmar 's Shan language ; and Zhuang , a major language in the Southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region , spoken by the Zhuang people ( 壯 ),

256-467: A final -y symbol) is used to indicate varieties in the language family not spoken in Thailand or spoken there only as the result of recent immigration. In this usage, Thai would not then be considered a Tai language. On the other hand, Gedney , Li and others have preferred to call the standard language of Thailand Siamese rather than Thai , perhaps to reduce potential Thai/Tai confusion, especially among English speakers not comfortable with making

288-512: A number of names in different Tai languages and Burmese . The Shan dialects spoken in Shan State can be divided into three groups, roughly coinciding with geographical and modern administrative boundaries, namely the northern, southern, and eastern dialects. Dialects differ to a certain extent in vocabulary and pronunciation, but are generally mutually intelligible. While the southern dialect has borrowed more Burmese words, eastern Shan

320-563: Is often pronounced as /w/ . Initial /f/ only appears in the east, while in the other two dialects it merges with /pʰ/ . J. Marvin Brown divides the three dialects of Shan State as follows: Prominent divergent dialects are considered separate languages, such as Khün (called Kon Shan by the Burmese), which is spoken in Kengtung valley. Chinese Shan is also called Tai Mao, referring to

352-563: Is somewhat closer to Northern Thai language and Lao in vocabulary and pronunciation, and the northern so-called " Chinese Shan " is much influenced by the Yunnan-Chinese dialect. A number of words differ in initial consonants. In the north, initial /k/, /kʰ/ and /m/ , when combined with certain vowels and final consonants, are pronounced /tʃ/ (written ky ), /tʃʰ/ (written khy ) and /mj/ (written my ). In Chinese Shan, initial /n/ becomes /l/ . In southwestern regions /m/

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384-1008: The Wa National Organisation (WNO). Before the establishment of the SSC, the RCSS/SSA maintained a six-member alliance with the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the Chin National Front (CNF), the Kachin National Organisation (KNO), the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP). Yawd Serk expressed his desire to revive the alliance ahead of the 2010 general election . On 16 January 2012,

416-413: The Zhuang linguist Wei Qingwen using reconstructed Old Chinese for the characters discovered that the resulting vocabulary showed strong resemblance to modern Zhuang . Later, Zhengzhang Shangfang (1991) followed Wei's insight but used Thai orthography for comparison, since this orthography dates from the 13th century and preserves archaisms vis-à-vis the modern pronunciation. Haudricourt emphasizes

448-625: The tones of syllables. There are five to six tonemes in Shan, depending on the dialect. The sixth tone is only spoken in the north; in other parts it is only used for emphasis. The table below presents six phonemic tones in unchecked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in sonorant sounds such as [m], [n], [ŋ], [w], and [j] and open syllables. The following table shows an example of the phonemic tones: The Shan tones correspond to Thai tones as follows: The table below presents four phonemic tones in checked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in

480-625: The Lower Yangtze valleys. Ancient Chinese texts refer to non-Sinitic languages spoken across this substantial region and their speakers as " Yue " . Although those languages are extinct, traces of their existence could be found in unearthed inscriptional materials, ancient Chinese historical texts and non-Han substrata in various Southern Chinese dialects. Thai, as the most-spoken language in the Tai-Kadai language family , has been used extensively in historical-comparative linguistics to identify

512-1027: The Q (Southwestern), N (Northern), B (Ningming), and C (Chongzuo) subgroups (Pittayaporn 2009:300–301). Furthermore, the following shifts occurred at various nodes leading up to node Q. Jerold A. Edmondson 's (2013) computational phylogenetic analysis of the Tai languages is shown below. Tay and Nung are both shown to be coherent branches under Central Tai . Northern Tai and Southwestern Tai are also shown to be coherent branches. Proto-Tai has been reconstructed in 1977 by Li Fang-Kuei and by Pittayawat Pittayaporn in 2009. Proto-Southwestern Tai has also been reconstructed in 1977 by Li Fang-Kuei and by Nanna L. Jonsson in 1991. Others have taken up specific area reconstructions, such as David Strecker's 1984 work regarding "Proto-Tai Personal Pronouns." Strecker's proposed system of personal pronouns in Proto-Tai involves "three numbers, three persons, an inclusive/exclusive distinction and an animate/non-animate distinction in

544-578: The SSA, and threatened to seize land and property for those who avoid it. On 20 September 2024, Tatmadaw forces purportedly backed by Lahu militias attacked an RCSS base in Mongping . The SSA has main 5 bases established across the Myanmar - Thailand border: Shan language The number of Shan speakers is not known in part because the Shan population is unknown. Estimates of Shan people range from four million to 30 million, with about half speaking

576-537: The Shan language. Ethnologue estimates that there are 4.6 million Shan speakers in Myanmar; the Mahidol University Institute for Language and Culture gave the number of Shan speakers in Thailand as 95,000 in 2006, though including refugees from Burma they now total about one million. Many Shan speak local dialects as well as the language of their trading partners. The Shan language has

608-475: The Tai languages based on clusters of shared innovations (which, individually, may be associated with more than one branch) (Pittayaporn 2009:298). In Pittayaporn's preliminary classification system of the Tai languages, Central Tai is considered to be paraphyletic and is split up into multiple branches, with the Zhuang varieties of Chongzuo in southwestern Guangxi (especially in the Zuo River valley at

640-799: The Vietnamese, kɛɛu , derived from the name of Jiaozhi in Vietnam, and that the indigenous Bai Yue were given family names by their northern rulers during the Northern and Southern dynasties , while the Thai didn't have family names into the 19th century, Jerold A. Edmondson of the University of Texas at Arlington posited that the split between Zhuang (a Central Tai language ) and the Southwestern Tai languages happened no earlier than

672-567: The border to Vietnam) having the most internal diversity. The Southwestern Tai and Northern Tai branches remain intact as in Li Fang-Kuei 's 1977 classification system, and several of the Southern Zhuang languages allocated ISO codes are considered to be paraphyletic . The classification is as follows. Standard Zhuang is based on the dialect of Shuangqiao (双桥), Wuming District . The following phonological shifts occurred in

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704-485: The founding of Jiaozhi in 112 BCE but no later than the 5th–6th century AD. Based on layers of Chinese loanwords in Proto-Southwestern Tai and other historical evidence, Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2014) suggests that the dispersal of Southwestern Tai must have begun sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. The Tai languages descend from proto-Tai-Kadai , which has been hypothesized to originate in

736-733: The government and the RCSS/SSA signed a mutual agreement with the following 11 points: In February 2021, the Tatmadaw attacked RCSS’s camps in Hsipaw Township, breaking the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement according to the RCSS. On 30 November 2023, the RCSS/SSA declared a truce with Shan State Army (SSPP) . On 19 February 2024, the RCSS stated that it is enforcing a draft order for citizens aged 18–45 who are living in its territory to serve at least six years in

768-563: The group's headquarters in Loi Tai Leng . In 2000, the SSA formed the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) as its political wing, and elected eleven Central Executive Committee members to lead the political front. Yawd Serk was elected chairman of the RCSS, and would remain in office until his resignation on 3 February 2014. In 2005, the RCSS/SSA pledged to work with the Shan State National Army (SSNA) against

800-464: The initial weak syllable /ə/ . Given the present instabilities in Burma, one choice for scholars is to study the Shan people and their language in Thailand, where estimates of Shan refugees run as high as two million, and Mae Hong Son Province is home to a Shan majority. The major source for information about the Shan language in English is Dunwoody Press's Shan for English Speakers . They also publish

832-595: The largest minority ethnic group in China, with a population of 15.55 million, living mainly in Guangxi , the rest scattered across Yunnan , Guangdong , Guizhou and Hunan provinces. Cognates with the name Tai ( Thai, Dai , etc.) are used by speakers of many Tai languages. The term Tai is now well-established as the generic name in English. In his book The Tai-Kadai Languages , Anthony Diller claims that Lao scholars he has met are not pleased with Lao being regarded as

864-1218: The old Shan State of Mong Mao . Tai Long is used to refer to the Southern Shan State dialect spoken in southern and central regions west of the Salween River , the Northern Shan State dialect, and the dialect spoken in Laos . There are also dialects still spoken by a small number of people in Kachin State , such as Tai Laing , and Khamti spoken in northern Sagaing Region . Shan has 19 consonants. Unlike Thai and Lao ( Isan ) there are no voiced plosives /d/ and /b/. Shan has ten vowels and 13 diphthongs: [iw], [ew], [ɛw]; [uj], [oj], [ɯj], [ɔj], [ɤj]; [aj], [aɯ], [aw]; [aːj], [aːw] Shan has less vowel complexity than Thai, and Shan people learning Thai have difficulties with sounds such as "ia," "ua," and "uea" [ɯa] . Triphthongs are absent. Shan has no systematic distinction between long and short vowels characteristic of Thai. Shan has phonemic contrasts among

896-578: The origins of language(s) spoken in the ancient region of South China. One of the very few direct records of non-Sinitic speech in pre-Qin and Han times having been preserved so far is the " Song of the Yue Boatman " (Yueren Ge 越人歌), which was transcribed phonetically in Chinese characters in 528 BC, and found in the 善说 Shanshuo chapter of the Shuoyuan 说苑 or 'Garden of Persuasions'. In the early 1980s

928-512: The other Southwestern and Central Tai languages by Li Fangkuei). Michel Ferlus ' work is based on some simple rules of phonetic change observable in the Sinosphere and studied for the most part by William H. Baxter (1992). The Central Tai languages are called Zhuang in China and Tay and Nung in Vietnam. Citing the fact that both the Zhuang and Thai peoples have the same exonym for

960-900: The specificity of Dioi (Zhuang) and proposes to make a two-way distinction between the following two sets. The original language names used in Haudricourt's (1956) are provided first; alternative names are given in parentheses. Characteristics of the Dioi group pointed out by Haudricourt are Li Fang-Kuei divided Tai into three sister branches. Li's Northern group corresponds to Haudricourt's Dioi group, while his Central and Southwestern groups correspond to Haudricourt's Tai proper. The three last languages in Haudricourt's list of 'Tai proper' languages are Tho (Tày) , Longzhou , and Nung , which Li classifies as 'Central Tai'. This classification scheme has long been accepted as standard in comparative Tai linguistics. However, Central Tai does not appear to be

992-814: The then ruling military junta to achieve independence for Shan State . Later that year, the SSNA agreed to merge with the RCSS/SSA. In 2008, the Shan State Congress (SSC) was formed in Loi Tai Leng under the aegis of Yawd Serk, which would exist until 2010. Its members included groups such as the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation (PNLO), the Restoration Council of Shan State , Tai Coordination Committee (TCC) and

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1024-619: Was reelected chairman of the RCSS shortly after his resignation and has remained chairman since. In 1996, Lieutenant General Yawd Serk of the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA) led 800 soldiers under his command to central Shan State and established the Shan State Army, after he refused to surrender to government forces with fellow commander Khun Sa . He then recruited roughly a thousand more soldiers before returning to southern Shan State to establish

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