Rice in a grammar of T'in

Abstract

1. The T'in are a small tribe located in Nan Province in the north of Thailand and in adjacent areas of Sayaboury Province of Laos. They are mountain dwellers engaged chiefly in slash and burn farming, planting rice on steep mountain sides; however, a few villages are located in low areas where it is possible to grow wet rice. Each T'in village is an autonomous and endogamous unit having few strains of relationships extending out to other villages. There is no tribal consciousness among the T'in, nor are there any clans or lineages that call for supra-village loyalties. For this reason the tribe is fragmented into several dialects, customs and religious traditions. A few villages are in the process of discarding their language and religious traditions and becoming assimilated with the lowland Thai. The government of each T'in village in Thailand is structured along the same lines as any Thai village of the same area; indeed the lack of any tribal unity among the T'in has made it easy for the Thai Government to administer these villages directly from the District level.