Sak language

This article is about the Sino-Tibetan language of Myanmar and Bangladesh. For the Algonquian language of the US and Mexico sometimes called Sac or Sauk, see Fox language.
Sak
Cak
Native toMyanmar, Bangladesh
RegionNorthwestern Rakhine State
EthnicityChak
Native speakers
4,000 (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ckh
Glottologsakk1239

Sak (also known as Cak, Chak, or Tsak) is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Sal branch spoken in Bangladesh and Myanmar by the Chak people.

Geographical distribution

Cak is spoken in Bangladesh by about 3,000 people and in Rakhine State, Burma by about 1,000 people according to Ethnologue. In Bangladesh, Cak is spoken in Baishari, Naikhyongchari, and Dochari (Huziwara 2018). In Rakhine State, Burma, Sak is spoken in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, and Mrauk U townships (Huziwara 2018). The Baishari dialect is the most conservative one (Huziwara 2018).[2]

According to Ethnologue, in Bangladesh, Chak is spoken in 14 villages in:

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
aspirated pʰ tʰ (kʰ)
voiced b d ɡ
implosive ɓ ɗ
Affricate voiceless ts
aspirated (tsʰ)
voiced dz
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced v
Tap ɾ
Nasal m n (ɲ) ŋ
Approximant (w) l j
  • Sounds /tsʰ, kʰ, w/ mainly occur from loanwords.
  • /ts, tsʰ, dz/ is also heard as [tʃ, tʃʰ, dʒ] among other dialects.
  • [ɲ] occurs as a realization of the consonant sequence /ŋj/.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i ɨ ɯ u
Mid e (ə) o
Open a
  • [ə] only occurs in minor syllables or as a result of vowel reduction of /a/.[3][4]

Numerals

Sak uses a decimal-based numeral system.[5] Sak uses two sets of numerals: an indigenous system, and another system borrowed from Arakanese, often used for numbers beyond ten.[5]

Further reading

  • Benedict, Paul K. (1939). "Semantic Differentiation in Indo-Chinese". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 4 (3/4): 213–229. doi:10.2307/2717775. JSTOR 2717775.
  • Van Driem, George (1993). "The Proto-Tibeto-Burman verbal agreement system". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 56 (2): 292–334. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00005528. S2CID 162552967.
  • Glottolog 2.7 - Sak. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2016 [1]
  • Grierson, George (1921). "Kadu and its Relatives". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 2: 39–42. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00101818. S2CID 143921185.
  • Huziwara, Keisuke. 2002. “Chakku-go no onsei ni kansuru koosatu” [A phonetic analysis of Cak]. Kyoto University Linguistic Research [Kyooto Daigaku Gengogaku Kenkyuu] 21:217–73.
  • Huziwara, Keisuke. 2008. Chakku-go no kizyutu gengogakuteki kenkyuu [A descriptive linguistic study of the Cak language]. Doctoral dissertation, Kyoto University. lix + 942 pp.
  • Keisuke, Huziwara (1970). "Cak numerals". Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics. 1 (2): 1–10. doi:10.3329/dujl.v1i2.3714.
  • Huziwara, Keisuke. 2010. “Cak prefixes.” In Dai Zhongming and James A. Matisoff, eds., Zang-Mian-yu yanjiu sishi nian [Forty Years of Sino-Tibetan Studies], pp. 130–45. Harbin: Heilongjiang University Press.
  • Shafer, Robert (1940). "The Vocalism of Sino-Tibetan". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 60 (3): 302–337. doi:10.2307/594419. JSTOR 594419.
  • Thurgood, G., & LaPolla, R. J. (2003). The Sino-Tibetan languages.
  • Voegelin, C. F., & Voegelin, F. M. (1965). Languages of the world: Sino-Tibetan fascicle five. Anthropological Linguistics, 7(6), 1-58. Retrieved February 12, 2016 JSTOR 30022507

References

  1. ^ Sak at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Huziwara, Keisuke (2018). Varieties of Cak dialects. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, held May 17-19, 2018 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
  3. ^ Huziwara, Keisuke (2019). A sketch of Cak grammar. Kyoto: The Hakubi Project of Kyoto University.
  4. ^ Huziwara, Keisuke (2002). チャック語の音声に関する考察 [A phonetic analysis of Cak]. 京都大学言語学研究 [Kyoto University Linguistic Research] 21: Kyoto University. pp. 217–273.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ^ a b "Chak". lingweb.eva.mpg.de. Retrieved 2024-01-07.