The Saek Language: the first dialect and the second dialect Jean Pacquement,
[email protected] Agrégé de grammaire, Éducation nationale, France Faculty of Liberal Arts and Science, Roi-Et Rajabhat University, Thailand
SEALS XXVII 11-13 May 2017 Padang (West Sumatra, Indonesia)
Shortened abstract • This 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 (EFEO)'s library in Paris, the “manuscrits européens” (ME), have never been mentioned in the literature concerning Saek. • When it comes to Saek dialects, the only Saek dialect different from the Saek dialect documented by William J. Gedney (Hudak 1993, 2010) 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).
Outline • In this presentation, after mentioning Macey and Baudenne’s lexicons, - we will propose a tone system of the Saek spoken at Ban Na Kadôk and compare it with the tone system of the other dialect, illustrated by William J. Gedney’s tone box (Ban Atsamat dialect) and the presenter’s tone box for the Ban Beuk dialect; - we will discuss loanwords of Vietnamese origin in the Ban Na Kadôk dialect; - we will refer to some specific treatments of Proto-Tai initial consonants in cognates shared by the two dialects.
The two Saek lexicons and their introductory notes • Starting with the two Saek lexicons compiled by Paul Macey and Antonin Baudenne and their introductory notes, they give an opportunity to review various statements concerning Saek before André-Georges Haudricourt “concluded that Saek was a Tai language belonging to the Northern branch of the Tai family” (Hudak 1993: xxi). • Top right: the first page of Macey’s “Étude sur les Sèks”. • Bottom right: the first page of Baudenne’s “Notice”.
A limited interest for linguists • These lexicons are of a limited interest for linguists, especially for phoneticians. • Gedney’s remarks concerning the Saek wordlists before Haudricourt’s articles of the fifties and the sixties apply to Macey and Baudenne’s lexicons. Those who noted down the words “did not analyze tones and made many other mistakes both in the pronunciation and in the meanings of the words they recorded” (Gedney 1989: 377).
Saek data elicited from “the most important and oldest locations” • However it should be noted that, as against the “French scholars” referred to by Gedney, whose lexicons were collected in Saek villages of “the Lao side of the Mekhong river, inland from the town of Tha Khek”(Gedney 1989: 374), Macey and Baudenne appear to have elicited their data from the Saek villages situated along the tributaries of the Nam Theun, especially the Nam Noi, in the present-day Nakai district, which are among “the most important and oldest locations” identified by Chamberlain (1998: 32).
Never mentioned in the literature concerning Saek! • Although the EFEO’s bulletin mentions Baudenne’s lexicon (1903: 362), his work about the Saek and their language has never been mentioned anywhere else.
• Macey’s documents in the EFEO’s “manuscrits européens” are not a real discovery. - Their content was published in two articles by Macey himself (1905, 1907). - However, as these articles contain only a short version of Macey’s lexicon, at least we know where their preparatory notes and the entire lexicon are available.
EFEO’s “manuscrits européens” and linguistic questionnaires • A collection of leaflets and various documents pertaining to the French Indochina, the “manuscrits européens” contain various linguistic questionnaires. - A first group belongs to the years 1900 and is based upon a wordlist consisting of 384 lexical items. - A second group, and the most important one, is based upon an expanded version of that wordlist (462 lexical items as well as 40 noun phrases and sentences), which was printed as a leaflet. It contains an introduction, 54 pages (for lexical items, noun phrases and sentences) and a few blank pages left to note down a version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Haudricourt and the EFEO’s linguistic questionnaires • The EFEO’s linguistic questionnaires were exploited – and regularly quoted – by Haudricourt in his comparative linguistic research. • Haudricourt (1960: 168) refers to Macey’s 1905 and 1907 articles, but does not mention Macey’s Saek lexicon and “étude sur les Sèks” of the “manuscrits européens”.
• Haudricourt never mentions Baudenne’s notebook concerning the Saek in the same collection.
How could Haudricourt have possibly missed Baudenne’s corpus? • According to Michel Ferlus (personal communication), Saek was then intriguing for scholars, and Haudricourt would not have missed such lexicons. There could have been some mismanagement in the “manuscrits européens” at his time. • As a matter of fact, Haudricourt mostly refers to the EFEO’s linguistic questionnaires based upon the 1938 wordlist, all grouped under the call number 207 in the present-day classification of the collection. 207 here is the call number in the “manuscrits européens” collection and has nothing to do with the Dewey classification, where 207 stands for education!
Ferlus and the EFEO’s linguistic questionnaires • Ferlus, who had himself gone through the leaflets and other documents of the “manuscrits européens” in the seventies, generously helped me by sending me the references of the linguistic questionnaires he was thinking I might be interested in. n° 207: I,1 muong (=thai) n° 207: VII, 7 muong, Tho (?) n° 300: dialecte thai de Keng Trap (Cua Rao) n° 398-399 sur les Sèk n° 406 Lexique Sek
• Ferlus specified that he did not get interested in the Saek documents, because he had his own lexicon. “Je ne me suis pas intéressé au Sèk car j'avais mon propre lexique.”
A tentative list of Saek documents in the collection “manuscrits européens” • On the basis of Ferlus’ indications, and thanks to the librarians’ help and efforts at the EFEO’s library, Paris, a tentative list of Saek documents in the “manuscrits européens” (ME in the references hereafter) can be given in this presentation. • ME 398-399, ME 402, ME 405 and ME 405A-405B contain the “étude sur les Sèks” by Macey and his lexicon, in whole or in part, along with other “études”. • ME 406 is Baudenne’s leaflet, a handwritten notebook.
Paul Macey’s Saek documents • The “étude sur les Sèks” by Macey and his lexicon bear his signature and a precise date: 26th August 1903. • Macey was an “Administrateur Commissaire du Gouvernement”. • Posted in Muong Son, and then Pak Hin Boun (he had been previously a member of the “Mission Pavie”), he had many opportunities to collect lexicons from various ethnic groups, which he sent to EFEO.
Macey’s Saek lexicon • When it comes to Macey’s Saek lexicon, we have both a complete version with 384 lexical items and a shortened version with only 92 lexical items. • Macey’s lexicon – whether shortened or complete – can be found either written by hand or typed (images below).
The Saek and their status according to Macey • Macey studied the Saek among other ethnic groups which were Môn-Khmers (Katuic or Vietic) and had the low status of Khâs. • Macey does not bring any evidence supporting his assertion that the Saek had been in the same situation as the Khâs in the past, but thinks very likely (“plausible”) that the Saek were Lao-ized, thus enjoying a higher status.
Saek migrations according to Macey and … Chamberlain • An interesting point in Macey’s “étude sur les Sèks” is that his account about Saek migrations in the region, from the Mekong river’s left side to the right side, prefigures Chamberlain’s (1998: 32). • There had been a forced migration of the Saek from their original location along the tributaries of the Nam Theun to the right side of the Mekong in the aftermaths of Vientiane’s fall. • In the same way as Chamberlain, Macey mentions that some of these displaced Saek returned to the left bank of the Mekong. • According to Macey, as the Saek who returned had been living in lowlands for 70 years, they were not willing to go back to live in the highlands of their original location and instead settled in the plains of the present-day Khammouane province.
Baudenne’s leaflet • ME 406, Baudenne’s leaflet, is basically a notebook consisting of 33 pages filled with his handwriting. • Baudenne’s rank in the administration at that time was “commis des services civils de l’Indo Chine”.
Language features • His introduction (“Notice”) is more detailed than Macey’s as far as language features are concerned. • A former student at the School of Oriental Languages in Paris, Baudenne compares Saek with either Siamese or Lao! • However, although Siamese appears to have been taught as a tonal language at his time, Baudenne does not analyse the tones of Saek.
A lexicon with a thematic classification • Baudenne’s lexicon follows more or less the EFEO’s wordlist, but displays an explicit thematic classification.
Baudenne: an origin of the Saek in the Sip Song Chu Tai or the Hua Phan • Baudenne’s view concerning the origin of the Saek is entirely different from Macey’s. • According to Baudenne, the Saek have a “common origin” with the Tai of the Sip Song Chu Tai or those of the Hua Phan.
Baudenne and Rivière • Baudenne’s view is consistent with Rivière’s. • Armand Rivière had met the Saek a decade before Baudenne, as a member of the “Mission Pavie” between 1889 and 1892. • According to Rivière (1902: 273), the Saek were one of the two groups of “Thai” people in the area he investigated, not to mention some Phu Thai!
Three French scholars in Gedney’s account of the Saek language’s discovery • In one of his accounts of the Saek language’s discovery, Gedney (199: 377) mentions “three French scholars”, who, before Haudricourt, “have recorded and published wordlists of one hundred or two hundred Saek words”, that is less than Macey (whose lexicon in its complete version has 384 words) or Baudenne. • These three scholars are most likely those referred to by Haudricourt in a previously mentioned account: Rivière, Macey, and André Fraisse (Haudricourt 1960: 168).
Another account by Gedney about the discovery of Saek: more French names… • In another account about the discovery of Saek – published by Hudak with a few typing mistakes (Macy for Macey, Creder for Credner, etc.) –, Gedney mentions more French names (Hudak 2008 :54). “In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Saek was noted by French travelers and researchers in Indochina. Some of their largely impressionistic word lists and brief grammars can be found in Aymonier (1895), Riviere (1902), Macy (1905), Maspero (1912), and Bonifacy (1919)”. • Gedney actually refers to publications mentioning Saek, whether they documented Saek or not. For example, Henri Maspéro (1912: 3-4) does not provide any list of words for Saek. He just refers to a few accounts by Cadière (1905: 349-350 and 360367), Chéon (1907: 87-99) and Macey (1907: 869-871), which actually concern Sách, a Vietic language.
Decades before Seidenfaden versus Fraisse, Macey versus Rivière & Baudenne! • In his various accounts, apart from “Haudricourt’s placement”, Gedney refers only to Seidenfaden’s and Fraisse’s views. • Gedney appears not to have been aware of Rivière’s account, Rivière – not to mention Baudenne whom he did not know – having already referred to the Saek as Tai more than half a century before Fraisse. • When reviewing the various statements concerning Saek before Haudricourt’s, the same opposition between Seidenfaden and Fraisse’s views could already be found between Macey on one side and Rivière and Baudenne on the other side.
Before Seidenfaden, Macey • Starting with Macey and Seidenfaden, both relate the Saek to Môn-Khmer groups and note that the Saek were Lao-ized. • For Macey, the Saek were Lao-ized both in their way of life and in their language. • On the contrary, Seidenfaden (1967: 111) says that “they speak a MônKhmer tongue”. • Did Seidenfaden really intend to make a linguistic statement? - The context shows that Seidenfaden was speaking as an ethnographer and was making another point: “They are being assimilated by the surrounding Lāos Wieng and will soon have disappeared as a special ethnic group”. - He mentions the Saek among other groups such as the “Khalöng”. “All of them [the “Khalöng”] had completely forgotten their mother tongue”. “They now speak Lāo and live in all respects like these”.
Rivière and Baudenne before Fraisse, and then Haudricourt • Rivière, Baudenne and Fraisse’s views – the Saek are Tai – have already been discussed. • The main contribution by Haudricourt is to have added that Saek belongs “to the Northern branch of the Tai family”.
Haudricourt before Haudricourt: following Maspéro • It is worth noting that, before coming to that conclusion, Haudricourt had had a slightly different point of view, which can be still found in his contribution to Robert Shafer’s Introduction to Sino-Tibetan (Shafer 1974: 453-525). • At first, Haudricourt was apparently not yet fully aware of the difference between Saek, a Tai language, and Sách, a Vietic language. • Haudricourt was actually following Maspéro (1912: 3-4), whose contribution was discussed above. Saek was then considered as an Austro-Asiatic language close to Vietnamese!
Haudricourt before Haudricourt: his first placement concerning Saek • But Haudricourt had examined the available wordlists and had observed that an important part of Saek lexicon had been borrowed from a Northern Tai dialect! • Hence Haudricourt’s first placement, in which he says that Saek is an Austro-Asiatic language with a large part of its lexicon borrowed from Norther Tai: “(…) une langue austro-asiatique voisine du vietnamien, le Sek ou Sach, ou Hang-tchek a emprunté un important vocabulaire à un dialecte de ce groupe, le nom sek du fer ma, éclaire le nom dioi fa, va, qui n’a pas de correspondant en thai.” (Shafer 1974: 456).
Two major breakthroughs in Saek studies: the first breakthrough • Although this presentation does not intend to make an history of Saek studies, two major breakthroughs are worth mentioning before developing the second point of this talk. • The first breakthrough came when extensive corpuses, to which are associated the names of Gedney (Hudak 1993, 2010) and Wilaiwan Khanittanan (1976), were made available.
The second breakthrough: the discovery of a distinct Saek dialect by Chamberlain • The second breakthrough, the discovery of a distinct Saek dialect by Chamberlain (1998: 32), directly concerns this presentation.
• We also know from Chamberlain’s account where the Saek of Ban Na Kadôk “trace their origins” from.
The track to Ban Na Kadôk • From Chamberlain’s map “Location of Sek Villages in Nakai and Khamkeut” (Chamberlain 1998: 30)
Around Lak Xao • The presenter happens to have visited for a few years the Tai Thaeng villages and the Tai Moei villages located in the same area. • From a map of the Ministry of Education of the Lao PDR (published for 2004-2005, which cannot be retrieved any longer) http://www.moe.gov.la/index.php/langen/school-map
An old geographical map of the area • The Tai Thaeng area (around Ban Na Pe) and the Tai Moei area (around Ban Thong Khe) – without Lak Sao! • From Jim Henthorn’s maps https://911gfx.nexus.net/seaao.html (http://911gfx.nexus.net/vietna m/maps/ne4807/ne48_07e.html)
The track to Ban No Kadôk: Tai Moei villages • The track to Ban No Kadôk passes Tai Moei villages. • These villages are not on the main road, but at least they are reachable in all seasons. • On the left of the map, Ban Vang Ko is located just before the Nam Kata river • Vehicles can cross easily the Nam Kata to Ban Thông Khe (here misspelled Theng Khe). • From google maps (https://www.google.com/maps) @2017 Google
Going further to Ban Na Kadôk • Going further to Ban Na Kadôk can be difficult during the rainy season. • The Nam Veo, a tributary of the Nam Kata, although not very large, is often flooded.
Crossing the Nam Veo • When the Nam Veo is flooded, one has to board small boats to reach the other bank. • Some local drivers make money waiting for the people whose vehicles could not cross the Nam Veo and taking them to Ban Na Kadôk!
Saek interviewees from Ban Na Kadôk • At Ban Na Kadôk itself, four Saek speakers were interviewed : a couple (in their fifties), their daughter (in her twenties) and a young boy aged 16. • Later, I could meet two other Saek speakers who are from Ban Na Kadôk: one lives in Vientiane and the other one in Northeast Thailand. • I could also interact with a student of Savannakhet University: her mother, a Saek from Ban Na Kadôk, married with a non-Saek and still visits Ban Na Kadôk on a regular basis. Although that student does not know many words, she can pronounce her mother’s dialect: her tones are consistent with the tones of the speech recorded in situ, but she cannot pronounce the initial [r-], hence the Saek word [rɔkDS1] ‘six’ pronounced [dɔk].
Back to Lak Xao: Ban Som Sanuk and Ban Nong Pong • On another visit, I searched for Ban Som Sanuk. Ban Som Sanuk is actually a part of the growing Lak Xao agglomeration. It should be noted that Lak Xao will be soon the headquarters of a new province of Laos. • I met two speakers: • A male speaker, aged 50, who had grown up in Ban Na Kadôk and had come to live in Ban Som Sanuk 27 years before. (He was the headman of Ban Som Sanuk, till he died in a road accident at the end of 2016.) • The other speaker, a woman in her thirties, had just come to settle down on the other side of the road, which actually belongs to another village of the Lak Xao agglomeration, Ban Nong Pong. • According to both speakers, the Saek families settled in Ban Som Sanuk (or in other parts of the Lak Xao agglomeration) have all come from Ban Na Kadôk and speak the Saek of Ban Na Kadôk.
A distinct dialect: specific features • When visiting Ban Na Kadôk and listening to the Saek spoken in Ban Na Kadôk, the main question is: what are the specific features of that dialect as compared to the other dialect, the Saek documented by William J. Gedney? • In order to begin answering this question, we have selected the following points: - the tone system, - the (higher) proportion of Vietnamese loanwords, - and specific treatments of Proto-Tai initial consonants.
The remaining part of this presentation • The remaining part of this presentation is available on request.
