Htanaw and its background ထနော့စကားနောက်ခံ 

Htanaw (ISO 639-3 dnu, Glottocode dana1252), also known as Danau, Danaw, Kanaw, is an Austroasiatic language spoken by some 3000 people in southern Shan State, Myanmar. As a primary branch of the Palaungic group it has no close relatives in the group and there is no mutual comprehensibility with any of the other Palaungic languages. There is no self-identification among the Htanaw as “Palaung”; most speakers are unaware of the presence of a related language in their vicinity, namely Ruching near Kalaw town. 

Having no recognized standard form and until very recently no writing system, Htanaw appears in different varieties, some of which are hardly mutually comprehensible. The main differences among the dialects, which are largely based on the respective geographical location, lie mostly in pronunciation and vocabulary, less in the grammatical structure. Especially the eastern varieties spoken in a few villages in the Ayetharyar area east of the Inlay Lake, show stronger influence from Burmese, as the villages in this area are more mixed with larger Burmese populations. The western dialects, spoken south of Heho and Aungban, are considered more authentic, though admixture from Pa’O and Burmese is evident there as well.

The Htanaw are mostly plains farmers, cultivating turmeric, ginger, potatoes, tomatoes,  and other vegetables. Their villages are not far from the central markets at Aungban, Heho, and Ayetharyar, and the major towns of Kalaw and Taunggyi are within easy reach, as is the Inlay Lake area. Commercial exchanges at the marketplaces are mostly done in Burmese, in which all Htanaw are fluent to some degree, or Pa’O, in which many Htanaw have good communication skills. Like their neighbors, the Htanaw practice Buddhism, and the monasteries are a central part of any village. Lacking a traditional written form, Buddhist texts are transmitted in Pa’O and Burmese, with less formal sermons occasionally given in Htanaw. Administration beyond the village level is conducted in Burmese, as is education in most places. Teachers originating from Htanaw villages may informally teach in Htanaw, especially in the lower grades, but all textbooks are in Burmese only.

It is evident from the geographical and commercial setting that all Htanaw speakers are necessarily proficient in at least two languages, Htanaw and Burmese, many in three or more, including Pa’O, Taungyoe, and Intha. The former language of administration and commerce in the area, Shan, has been gradually replaced by Burmese after independence, and especially after the 1962 military take-over, but traces of Shan are still abundant in the local languages, including Htanaw. This setting, together with the lack of a standard written form, makes the language vulnerable and the threat of extinction seems inevitable. Already in 1965, Luce titled a paper on comparative Htanaw lexicon “Danaw, a dying Austroasiatic language” (Luce 1965). In spite of the apparently imminent extinction of Htanaw 60 years ago, three generations later children still grow up speaking Htanaw as their first language, at least in a handful of Htanaw-majority villages and in Htanaw families. Intermarriage with Burmese and Pa’O puts a further challenge to the survival of Htanaw, but not in all cases do families turn to using only the more useful and dominant languages Burmese and Pa’O, but original non-Htanaw speakers may acquire Htanaw as a second language in these mixed households (and villages).