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Dr Stephen Morey
A postdoctoral fellow at RCLT since 2003, and recently appointed RCLT Associate Director, Stephen Morey has held fellowships from La Trobe University, the Endangered Languages Documentation Program (www.hrelp.org) and from the Volkswagen Foundation through the DoBeS Program (www.mpi.nl/DoBeS). His research is undertaken in Assam State, India.
His research covers three language groups, Tai, Singpho and Tangsa.
Tai language belongs to the Tai Kadai family and is represented in Assam by four groups who still speak Tai, the Aiton, Khamti, Khamyang and Phake. In addition the Tai Ahom formerly spoke the language but now use Assamese for everyday communication, though maintaining Tai Language for ritual purposes.
The Tai languages have their own unique scripts, as illustrated in the following picture of a Tai Ahom manuscript:
Together with a number of scholars from Thailand and India, Stephen Morey has produced a Tai Ahom dictionary, based on the manuscripts. This dictionary is available on line at http://sealang.net/archives/ahom
Both Singpho and Tangsa belong to the Tibeto-Burman language family. Singpho as spoken in Assam consists of four varieties, Turung, Numhpuk, Diyun and Tieng. Turung people are of mixed Tai and Singpho ancestry, and their language contains many Tai words and other influences of Tai, but it is at heart a Singpho variety. In Upper Assam, among the Numhpuk, Diyun and Tieng Singphos, traditional Singpho songs are still sung by the older people, as in the following example, a rice pounding song sung by N-hpang Gumgai, pictured below:
This song is written out using the Kachin script devised by Ola Hanson, but using the words as sung by the N-hpang Gumgai. Final glottal stop is shown by –q. Rice pounding songs were very popular in former times, as women in particular spent a large part of the day husking rice so that it could be cooked. While doing this boring task, they would sing.
RICE POUNDING SONG (Mam Htu Soi Wa)
Yoi sa yoi sa .
Jaq hkawn săwi n-hpawng dam hkau kawng htu na re law yoi sa yoi sa .
Yaq pru mănam pru nang dai law yoi sa yoi sa .
Ngai htu mam gaw n-prang rai naw yoi sa yoi sa .
Sa na mănam mawng yang rai nu yoi sa yoi sa .
Yoi sa săla dam htumchin ma tawt di gaw yoi sa n-hpawng dam hkau kawng sărawt di gaw yoi sa yoi sa .
Yoi si .
E la param jan ni kun e yoi sa mărau htu i gaw yoi sa yoi sa .
N-hpawng dam mam e rau htu i gaw yoi sa n-hpawng i gaw n sa mu yoi sa n ngut di gaw n da mu yoi sa .
Yoi sa yoilu lu e yoi sa .
E law măram numnang ni e yoi sa yoi sa .
Maihting dam htangmun sărawt di gaw yoi sa .
Yoi sa soi wa dam numpot sărawt di gaw yoi sa yoi si
TRANSLATION
Pound, oh pound!
We females pound the n-hpawng rice of its husks,
Now guests have come.
I am pounding the n-prang rice.
Our guest Mong Yang has eaten.
The mortar, where we pound the rice, is made of săla wood, and there we pound the rice of its husks.
Yoi Si.
E la, we female friends pound together.
We pound the n-hpawng rice together and until we have completed it we cannot eat and put it away,
While pounding we sing the yoi lu.
Eh, friends, let us pound.
Ah, the pestle is made from the Nahor tree.
And this is the basis for the rice pounding song. |
N-hpang Gumgai
Linguistically, Tangsa belongs to the same sub-family of Tibeto-Burman as Singpho, the Bodo-Konyak-Jinghpaw family. Tangsa is a group of varieties within Konyak, and there is considerable linguistic diversity among the Tangsas. Stephen Morey’s work has been mostly among the Cholim, particularly assisted by Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim in his own language), and elder of the Tangsas.
Some Tangsas still practice their traditional religion, which includes an annual harvest festival in which the earth mother is praised. This festival is called Wihu Kuq and is held on 5th January every year at the Tangsa village of Kharang Kong.
The Tangsa and other Konyak speaking people are regarded as part of the Naga communities; and one of the features of Nagas is the use of traditional helmets, with attachments such as pig tusks and hornbill feathers, which we see in the following photo:
Ngong Ko wearing the king's helmet
Ko Xoem wearing the minister's helmet and
Jina wearing the queen's helmet
Stephen Morey has transcribed and analysed a large corpus of text in these various languages, a corpus that can be found at http://purl.oclc.org/assam-tai.
He has also worked on the languages of Victoria, Australia, particularly Yorta Yorta (formerly spoken on the Murray River), Woiwurrung (the Aboriginal language of Melbourne) and Mathi-Mathi / Wati-Wati (Murray River from Swan Hill to Mildura and lower Murrumbidgee.
Publications:
Refereed Books:
Bowe, H., and S.D. Morey, 1999, Yorta Yorta (Bangerang) language of the Murray-Goulburn including Yabula Yabula. Pacific Linguistics. xiii, 286 p. : ill., tables.
Morey, S.D., 2005, The Tai languages of Assam – a grammar and texts, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. 413p. : ill., tables. Accompanying CD containing text collection and audio files
Morey, S.D. forthcoming. Turung – a variety of Singpho language spoken in Assam,accepted for publication by Pacific Linguistics.
Refereed Book Chapters:
Morey, S.D., 2002, ‘Tai languages of Assam, a progress report – Does anything remain of the Tai Ahom language?’ in David and Maya Bradley, (eds). Language Maintenance for Endangered Languages: An Active Approach. London: Curzon Press. 98-113.
Morey, S.D., 2008, ‘The Tai Languages of Assam’, in Anthony Diller and Jerrold A. Edmondson (eds.) The Tai Kadai Languages. London: Routledge. 207-253.
Morey, S.D., 2008. ‘Working with Tones in Northeast India - the tonal system of Numhpuk Singpho, Assam’ in S. Morey and M. Post (eds) North East Indian Linguistics. Delhi: Cambridge University Press, India. 26-44
Hercus Luise and S.D. Morey, 2008. Some remarks on Negatives in Southeastern Australia. published in Bowern, C, B. Evans and L,. Miceli, Morphology and Language History in honour of Harold Koch. Amsterdam: John Benjamins; 139-154
Morey, S.D. 2009 ‘The realisation of tones in traditional Tai Phake songs’, in S. Morey and M. Post (eds) North East Indian Linguistics II. Delhi: Cambridge University Press, India. 54-69
Tabassum, Zeenat and S.D. Morey. 2009. ‘Linguistic features of the Ahom Bar Amra,’ , in S. Morey and M. Post (eds) North East Indian Linguistics II. Delhi: Cambridge University Press, India. 70-89
Morey, S.D. accepted. ‘Nominalisation in Numhpuk Singpho’, to appear in Yap, Foong Ha and Janick Wrona, Nominalization in Asian languages: Diachronic and Typological perspectives. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Refereed Journal Articles
Morey, S.D., 1999., ‘Previously unexamined texts in Victorian Languages - The manuscripts of Rev. William Thomas (1793-1867)’ in Monash University Linguistic Publications Volume 2 No.1:45-60
Morey, S.D., 2001., ‘The literature of the Tai of Assam’ in Melbourne Papers in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. Volume 1, Issue 1:37-46
Morey, S.D. 2005. ‘Tonal change in the Tai languages of Northeast India’ Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 28 (2) 139-202.
Morey, Stephen. 2005. 'The tone and syllable structure of Turung', in Paul Sidwell (ed.) SEALS XV - Papers from the 15th annual meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics (Electronic Publication E1) p149-168.
Morey, Stephen 2005. 'The Place Names and Words Collected by Philip Chauncey: a linguistic examination' in Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 76 (2) pp 180-198
Morey, S.D. 2006. ‘Constituent order change in the Tai languages of Assam’ Linguistic Typology, Vol 10 pp 327-367
Morey, S.D. 2006 ‘Small languages in a polylingual situation – the case of Turung’ in R. Elangaiyan, R. McKenna Brown, Nicholas D.M. Ostler and Mahendra K. Verma eds. FEL X: Vital Voices - Endangered Languages and Multilingualism: Mysore. pp87-94
Morey, S.D. 2008. ‘Tones in the Tai languages of Northeast India’ Bangkok: Khanittanan, Wilaiwan and Paul Sidwell (eds) SEALS XIII: Volume I. Papers from the 14th annual meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. 239-250 (electronic publication, available at http://pacling.anu.edu.au/catalogue/SEALSXIV_Vol1.pdf).
Morey, S.D. in print. ‘Syntactic variation in different styles of Tai Phake songs’ to appear in Turpin, Myfany, Tonya Stebbins and Stephen Morey (edds). Special Issue on Language in Song in Australian Journal of Linguistics.
Non-refereed books:
Morey, S.D., 1993. Mandolins of the 18th Century. Cremona: Turris Press
Editions of Tai texts (non refereed)
Morey, S.D., 1999., Tai Aiton history. Dibrugarh: Triograph Press. 32p.
(the first book ever published containing a complete text in one of the Tai languages of Assam, this is an edition and translation of three Tai Aiton historical texts)
Morey, S.D., 2001., Book of calling the Khon. Dibrugarh: Triograph Press. 32p.
(an edition and translation of an important Tai Khamyang ritual text)
Morey, S.D., 2001., Grandfather teaches grandchildren. Dibrugarh: Triograph Press. 44p. (an edition and translation of an important Tai Phake text, containing proverbs and cultural mores)
Morey, S.D. 2006. Turung Khong na Pung (Turung area stories), printed by Screenotec Printing, Titabar, Jorhat Assam. 54pp
Khamdaengyodtai, Chaichuen, Stephen Morey, Nabin Shyam Phalung and Zeenat Tabassum. 2008. Ma Likha Lit . Dibrugarh: published by the authors, printed at Designer Graphics.
Tai primers (non refereed)
Morey, S.D., 1999, Tai Aiton Primer. Dibrugarh: Triograph Press. 32p.
Morey, S.D., 2000, Tai Phake Primer. Dibrugarh: Triograph Press. 32p.
Non-refereed Journal Articles:
Morey S.D., 2002. ‘The Study and Revival of the Ahom Language’ in Indian Journal of Tai Studies. Vol II: 89-103
Morey, S.D., 2004. ‘The Practice of Buddhism in Northeast India’ in Ven. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh (ed) Yasodhara (Newsletter on International Buddhist Women’s Activities) p2-4.
Morey, S.D., 2004 ‘Tones in the Tai Languages of Assam’ in Indian Journal of Tai Studies. Vol IV:53-68
Morey, S.D., 2007. ‘Preservation and study of Tai manuscripts – some ideas’ in Indian Journal of Tai Studies. Vol VII
Morey.S.D. and Chaichuen Khamdaengyodtai. 2008. ‘Ahom Poetics – some preliminary observations’ in Indian Journal of Tai Studies. Vol VIII 17-34
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