[Tlc] Indigenous Tai lexicography

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Dear Jon,

Renoo Wichasin, John Hartmann, Wasan Panyagaeo, Balee Buddharaksa all are very informed about Tai (especially Tai Leu and Tai Yai) language learning. Thomas Borchert is an expert on Tai Khoen and Tai Leu monastic learning. 

I wrote my dissertation (2003) on Northern Thai and Lao nissaya, namasab, and vohara manuscripts. These are very different from the nissaya manuscripts Okell and Pruitt describe in Burma. I provide a good amount of information on these "indigenous" lexicographies and glosses there. I spent a lot of time in the manuscript libraries in Laos and Thailand and read a bunch of Tai Yuan, Tai Leu, Lao, and Tai Khoen manuscripts which are used in monastic education. I think I covered most things that could be considered lexicographies. If you do not want to trudge through that poorly written behemoth, then I have a book, thanks to editors and peer reviewers, which is much more readable. Although, it only draws two chapters from the dissertation, it may be a useful introduction. It is coming out this summer from U.Washington Press. One chapter deals with these pedagogical manuscripts and "traditional" ways of learning writing and homiletics in Pali and vernacular languages in monasterie!
!
s in the region. Another chapter looks at the ways these pedagogical methods are used today throughout Thailand and Laos. The rest of the book provides an overview of the histories of monastic education in Laos and Thailand from the sixteenth century to the present. 

Best,
justin


______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu


---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 13:19:39 +0700
>From: "Fernquest Jon" <fernquestj at Bangkokpost.co.th>  
>Subject: [Tlc]  Indigenous Tai lexicography  
>To: <tlc at lists.ucr.edu>
>
>   To: tlc at lists.ucr.edu
>   Re: [Tlc] Indigenous Tai lexicography
>    
>   Dear List Members;
>    
>   I'm doing research on indigenous Southeast Asian
>   lexicography (and also any meta-discourse like text
>   reflecting on the usage of words in texts).
>    
>   Looking for any scholarly work that has been done on
>   indigenous Thai or Tai lexicography published in
>   either a western language or Thai.
>    
>   I wonder whether there were pre-western indigenous
>   Tai language word lists with dictionary-like
>   features, whether there are any manuscripts that
>   contain such texts in central or northern Thai, and
>   whether they have made their way into published book
>   form.
>    
>   In Burmese there is the "that-bon kyan" or spelling
>   book genre, that simply lists all possible words in
>   a particular sort order (see Okell, 1968). (The
>   emergence of this genre led eventually to increased
>   uniformity of spelling in indigenous texts, and also
>   probably to a decrease in ambiguity.) 
>    
>   And in Pali there are pre-western indigenous
>   dictionaries, essentially word lists with
>   dictionary-like features like: 1. grouping words by
>   synonym, and 2. by meaning in a thesaurus-like way.
>   For example, all words for "river" grouped together,
>   and all words for natural phenomena like "river,"
>   "mountain," etc grouped together. Cone (1996)
>   discusses these dictionaries and (Elizarenkova and
>   Toporov, 1976) has a couple of pages organising
>   words in this fashion.
>   Pali Nissaya
>    
>   Another indigenous textual genre performs a function
>   similar to a dictionary, namely Pali nissaya
>   translations, pali interleaved with translation to
>   indigenous language. (See Okell, 1967, and Pruitt,
>   1994)
>    
>   I believe that some of the people on this list have
>   done research in this area for Tai languages.
>    
>   Also interested if any nissaya translations exist in
>   published book form in Thai, perhaps in cremation
>   volumes? Nissaya translations were published several
>   times in book form in Burma during the colonial era.
>   (See bibliography in Stewart and Dunn, 1940)
>    
>   In Skilling's two bibliographies of Pali literature
>   in Thailand, there are two sections devoted to
>   "Nama-sapda" manuscripts which seem to be nissaya
>   translations (see Skilling and Santi Pakdeekham,
>   2004).
>   Also interested in work on Tai etymology done by
>   Thai scholars. I noticed that mention was made of
>   works on Thai etymology recently by Thai language
>   scholar Dr Anan Laoloetworakun at Chulalongkorn.
>    
>   Sorry, for perhaps providing too much detail in this
>   posting.
>    
>   Part of the purpose of this post is to stimulate
>   discussion if anyone is interested. The early
>   history and origins of the written Burmese language
>   and texts, is a research interest, and comparison
>   with neighboring textual traditions seems like one
>   way to gain insight.
>    
>   Sincerely,
>   Jon Fernquest
>   Bangkok Post, Educational Services
>   http://readbangkokpost.com/
>    
>   References
>    
>   Cone, Margaret (1996) "The I.B. Horner Memorial
>   Lecture 1995: Lexicography, Pali and Pali
>   Lexicography," Journal of the Pali Text Society,
>   Vol. XXII, Journal 1996.
>    
>   Elizarenkova, T.Y. and V.N. Toporov  (1976) The Pali
>   language, Nauka Pub. House, Moscow.
>    
>   Okell, John (1967) "Nissaya Burmese," Journal of the
>   Burma Research Society, vol. 50.
>    
>   Okell, John (1968) "Alphabetical order in Burmese,"
>   Journal of the Burma Research Society, vol. 51.
>    
>   Pruitt, William  (1994) Etude linguistique de
>   nissaya birmans : traduction commentee de textes
>   bouddhiques, Paris : Presses de l'Ecole francaise
>   d'Extreme-Orient.
>    
>   Skilling, Peter and Santi Pakdeekham (2004) Pali and
>   vernacular literature transmitted in Central and
>   Northern Siam, Bangkok : Fragile Palm Leaves
>   Foundation.
>    
>   Stewart, J.A. and C. W. Dunn (1940-) A
>   Burmese-English dictionary, published under the
>   auspices of the University of Rangoon, School of
>   Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
>    
>    
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