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Tai Phake or Phakial Documentation
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The people
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Tai Phake or Phakial is one of the six Tai groups found in Upper & Upper Middle
Assam. The Tai Phake or Phakial population is about 2000 (17th edition, Ethnologue,
2013) and mostly found in Dibrugarh & Tinsukia districts of Assam, India. Presently
they live in these nine villages - Namphake and Tipamphake in Dibrugarh district,
and Mounglang, Man Mou, Bor Phake, Man Long or Long Phake, Ningam Phake or Ningam,
Nonglai and Phaneng in Tinsukia. The Tai Phake or Phakials are a very small Tai
speaking Mongoloid ethnic group of Upper Assam.
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The Language
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The Tai Phake is a tonal and monosyllabic language and spoken by around 2000 speakers.
Tai Phake or Phakial language is considered to be one of the endangered languages
in India. Linguistically they belong to Tai-Chin group of Sino-Tibetan family. They
have own script (Burmese and Tai) and volumes of written literature in manuscript
form in Tai & Pali language. They have 4000 handwritten manuscripts at monastery
and their homes. The manuscripts are a rich compendium of abundant themes such as-
history, religion, fables, narratives, folktales, Tripitakas, proverbs, riddles,
dream interpretations, charm and magic, the Jataka Tales, Principles of Buddhism,
codes for monks, customary laws, astrology, herbal medicine, instruction of house
building etc. They have lama mang (the Ramayana), dhamma puktram (the Mahabharata),
phung jain (Description of universe), pun son laan (grandfather’s wisdom
and teaching to grandson), woo paim cham loo, fyakongma (love story), loka samuk
thi (death related texts) etc. No documentation has done yet on this
language or the valuable manuscripts.
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Religion and Occupation
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Theravada Buddhism is a common belief practice of the community. Cultivation is
the main occupation of Tai Phake people in which paddy is a major cropping. Poi-chang-ken,
a new year which occurs in mid April, is the main festival of the Tai Phakes.
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The present work
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Presently, an attempt to document Tai Phake grammar and to produce a Tai Phake-English-Hindi
dictionary and Tai Phake ethno linguistic profile is undergoing.
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