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Pacoh language

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Pacoh
Native toLaos, Vietnam
EthnicityPacoh
Native speakers
32,000 (2002–2005)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3pac
Glottologpaco1243

The Pacoh language is a member of the Katuic language group, a part of the Eastern [1] Mon–Khmer linguistic branch. Most Pacoh speakers live in central Laos and central Vietnam.[2] Pacoh is undergoing substantial change, influenced by the Vietnamese.[3]

Alternative names are Paco, Pokoh, Bo River Van Kieu. Its dialects are Pahi (Ba-Hi). They are officially classified by the Vietnamese government as Ta'Oi (Tà Ôi) people.

Phonology

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Vowels (Sidwell 2003):

Pacoh has six vowel qualities, all of which occur long and short, in modal and creaky voice. Creaky vowels are lowered compared to modally voiced vowels. There are three diphthongs which also occur modal and creaky. Unlike other languages in the area, vowel phonation does not seem to have originated in the phonation of preceding consonants.

Monophthongs
front central back
High modal i iː ɨ ɨː u uː
Low modal e eː ə əː o oː
High creaky ḛ ḛː ə̰ ə̰ː o̰ o̰ː
Low creaky ɛ̰ ɛ̰ː a̰ a̰ː ɔ̰ ɔ̰ː
Diphthongs
front central back
Modal ɨə
Creaky ḛa ə̰a o̰a

Grammar

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Pacoh Pronouns
1st person 2nd person 3rd person
singular dual plural singular dual plural singular dual plural
General kɨ: ɲaŋ dɔ: ʔmmaj ʔiɲa: ʔaɲa: hɛ: ʔipɛ: ʔapɛ:
Genitive ʔɳkɨ: ʔɲɲaŋ ʔndɔ: ʔmmaj ʔndɔ:-ʔiɲa: ʔndɔ:-ʔaɲa: ʔŋhɛ: ʔndɔ:-ʔipɛ: ʔndɔ:-ʔapɛ:
Dative ʔakɨ: ʔaɲaŋ ʔadɔ: ʔamaj ʔadɔ:-ʔiɲa: ʔadɔ:-ʔaɲa: ʔahɛ: ʔadɔ:-ʔipɛ: ʔadɔ:-ʔapɛ:

Pacoh is an analytic SVO language with six parts of speech—including verbs, nouns, prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, and sentence particles, all variably depend on each other in syntactic relationship, and five important grammatical cases—nominative, accusative, dative, locative, predicative. There are no markers for the nominative and accusative cases, and word order is relied on to distinguish them instead.

Jǫ:n

give

ʔakɨ:

DAT-1SG

ʃac

book

maj

2SG

Jǫ:n ʔakɨ: ʃac maj

give DAT-1SG book 2SG

"Give me your book."

dɔ:

NOM-1PL

pe:ŋ

shoot

ʔa-ceʔ

ACC-bird

daŋ

means

tumiəŋ

crossbow

dɔ: pe:ŋ ʔa-ceʔ daŋ tumiəŋ

NOM-1PL shoot ACC-bird means crossbow

"I shot the bird with crossbow."

The predicative case marks a noun dependent on noun, usually common nouns, extension relator nouns, and demonstrative nouns.

ʔnkǫ:ŋ

man

ʔən

that

ʔiəw

old

ʔnkoh

that-PRED

ʔnkǫ:ŋ ʔən ʔiəw ʔnkoh

man that old that-PRED

"That old man."

References

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  1. ^ Pacoh at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Table 41: Austroasiatic languages. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  3. ^ Mark J. Alves. "A grammar of Pacoh: A Mon–Khmer language of the central highlands of Vietnam". Pacific Linguistics Publishers. Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2007-09-11.

Further reading

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  • Alves, M. J. (2006). "A grammar of Pacoh: a Mon–Khmer language of the central highlands of Vietnam". Pacific linguistics, 580. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Australian National University. ISBN 0-85883-568-1
  • Watson, Richard L. (1964). "Pacoh Phonemes". Mon-Khmer Studies.
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