Ethnicity Kadu | Native speakers 40,000 (2007) | |
Native to Myanmar, Bangladesh, China Region Northwestern Rakhine State Language family Sino-Tibetan
Sal ?
Kachin–Luic
Sak Dialects Sak
Kadu
Andro†
Sengmai†
Chak
Pyu? | ||
Sak, also known as Gadu, Gamaan, Kado, Kantu, Kadu-Ganaan, Kato, Kudo, Maw, Mawteik, Puteik, Asak, Thet, Andro, Sengmai, Chakpa, Phayeng, Katu, Gado, Woni, That, and Kadu is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Sal branch spoken in Myanmar and China. The various varieties are generally considered separate Sak or Luish languages: Kado (Settaw, Mawkhwin, and Mawteik [extinct] dialects; 30,000 speakers), and Kanan (Nanza; 9,000 speakers). Andro and Sengmai are extinct and known only from a glossary recorded in 1859, their speakers having switched to Meithei. The Kado/Kanan speak Burmese and Chakma Bengali. There are also various unattested varieties of Lui or Loi mentioned in nineteenth-century accounts that appear to have been the same language.
Contents
- Geographical distribution
- Phonology
- Syllabic Structure
- Writing System
- Grammar
- Nouns
- Verbs
- Adverbs
- Numerals
- Quantifiers
- Particles
- Yesno interrogatives
- Alternative qustions
- Tag questions
- Wh questions
- Negation
- References
The ancient Pyu language may belong here.
Geographical distribution
Statistics for Kadu-speaking villages are as follows (Ethnologue).
There is low mutual intelligibility among the Kadu dialects.
Phonology
Kadu has twenty consonants: /p, t, k, ʔ, pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, tɕ, tɕʰ, sʰ, s, ɕ, h, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, l, y, w/. The final consonants need to be nasals /m, n, ŋ/ or voiceless stops /p, t, k, ʔ/.
Kadu vowels consist of eight monophthongs /a, e, i, o, u, ɔ, ɛ, ɘ/ and a diphthong /ai/.
Kadu is a tonal language, which means it make use of pitch in one form or another to distinguish between words that would otherwise be homophonous. In this language, there are three tones; high, mid, and low.
Syllabic Structure
C1C2V1V2C3
C: Consonant
V: Vowel
C1: necessary, this can be any Kadu consonant except unvoiced nasals.
C2: optional, this can be only /l, w, y/.
V1: necessary, this can be any Kadu vowel, however, /ɘ/ appears only in the form of CɘC.
V2: optional.
C3: optional, this can be only /p, t, m, n, ʔ, ŋ/.
Writing System
The Kadu have never had a writing system of their own.
Grammar
Kadu is an SOV language.
Nouns
Abstract nouns such as freedom, love, experience, and anger are not attested in the Kadu noun class. They are usually expressed by verbs or adjectival verbs.
The language has two categories of nouns:
1, So called "simple nouns" are treated as monomorphemic by the native speakers.
2, Nouns known as "complex nouns" are polymorphemic, and most of the complex nouns come from the process of compounding.
Verbs
Adjectives that expresses dimensions and qualities such as "tong" (=big) and "lom" (=warm) function as verbs, and are categorized as verbs.
The verbs are structurally categorized as:
1, Simple verbs, which are treated as monomorphemic words by the native speakers.
and
2, Polymorphemic complex verbs.
Kadu verbs may be reduplicated using the same morpheme or may take attendant words to express the repeated or frequent actions.
V-V constructions function as resultative, directional, evaluative, explanatory, or manner.
Adverbs
The adverbs are also "simple" or "complex" like nouns and verbs.
One thing to point up is that the complex adverbs are derived from verbs or nominals by the processes of reduplication or semi-reduplication.
Numerals
Most of the native numerals in Kadu are lost.
Numerals are always attached to classifiers, although classifiers do not occur with multiples of ten.
As for ordinal numbers, Burmese ordinal numbers are used because the original ordinal numbers are already lost.
Quantifiers
Quantifiers follow the head noun they quantify.
Particles
There are nominal relational markers, verbal particles, clausal particles, utterance final particles, and speaker attitude particles.
Yes/no interrogatives
Yes/no questions are formed by simply adding either of the two interrogative particles "la" and "ka" at the end of the phrase.
Alternative qustions
Yes/no questions can also be expressed by an alternative interrogative expression like "is it A or not A", which can be found in Mandarin Chinese as well.
Tag questions
Interrogative sentences can be made by adding "chi" (=true) at the end of sentences, like "right?" in English language.
Wh- questions
Wh- questions are formed by attaching the Wh-word forming morphemes, "ma" or "ha", to specific nomials or nominal postpositions.
Wh- question words also may function as indefinite pronouns such as "whatever", "anyone" and so on.
Negation
Verbs can be negated by negative proclitics, "a-" and "in-".