SE Asian studies
APPLICATIONS have started, and I’m very excited…
There are some sites on SE Asian literature, and I’ll be heading up to the library to check out books on the region. In the meantime there’s learning Vietnamese and Indonesian.
From here:
I. Language Families of Southeast Asia (map)
Major Indigenous spoken languages:
* Sino-Tibetan: e.g. Burmese (Myanmar); Tai languages: Thai, Lao
* Austro-Asiatic: Mon, Khmer (Cambodian); Vietnamese
* Austronesian: Malay(sian), Indonesian; Philippine languages: Tagalog, Ilocano; Cham
* Papuan: Timor
Major Foreign languages:
Chinese dialects (spoken in Singapore and major cities of SEA)
English
II. Language Origins and Death
Originally Mon-Khmer languages dominated mainland SEA. The region was slowly inundated by Burmese and Thai migration from points in China. Vietnamese likewise pushed the Chams down and out (to Malaysia and Indonesia). Thai is just one of many languages of the greater Tai language family, which has its origins in southern China. Details, including a map of the 3 branches of the Tai language family, can be found at: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Thai/LLF/profile.htm
Many languages spoken by small groups of indigenous peoples (e.g. Negritos) were obliterated. Death of languages continues due to war, cultural and economic domination, small population size. Colonial powers promoted European languages (French, Dutch, English, Russian) and neo-colonialist states later extended their power through “central/standard” language programs, e.g. Bangkok Thai and Bahasa Indonesia. Tagalog has not succeeded as the national “Filipino” language to the degree that Bahasa Indonesia or Malay have.
III. Typological Features
* Tonal languages: e.g. Burmese (Myanmar) Tai, Lao, Vietnamese
* Non-tonal languages: e.g. Khmer, Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, Papuan
Definition: By tone we mean the relative pitch of a syllable/word. Differences in tone results in differences in meaning. There are two major kinds of tones:
1) register (high, mid, low pitch);
2) contour (rising, falling)