Kam-Tai Oral Literatures

The present volume of “Kam-Tai Oral Literatures” is the second publication of the collaborative project between the Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development(ILCRD),Mahidol University and the Kam-Tai Institute, Central University for Nationalities(CUN),Beijing,China.The purpose of this collaborative work is to collect some representative oral literatures of Tai-Kadai speaking people residing in China, namely, Bouyei(Tai Yoi),Dai(lu),Kam(Dong),Sui(shui),Hlai(Li),and Zhuang which are highlighted in the diagram of linguistic classguistic classification of Kandai language family.

Most of the oral literatures are creation myths and folktales. They are compiled, transcribed into phonetic symblols, and translated into English by the following researchers:

• Bouyei – Zhou Guoyan
• Dai – Zhang Gongjin
• Kam – Somsonge Burusphat
• Sui – Sumittra Suraratdecha, Liu Rirong, Yao Fuxiang
• Hlai – Wen Mingying, Zhou Guoyan
• Zhuang – Liu Jianxuan

The eleven oral literatures are finally edited by Somsonge Burusphat and Megan Sinnott.

The present collaborative work has been made possible with the support of various people and organizations. We should like to thank Mahidol University for the financial support of the project. Our appreciation is extended to the Chinese staff whose names are listed above and in particular, Prof. Yang Quan, who gave us the date on Kam. My heartfelt thanks go to Megan Sinnott and Kanda Yagi for their unfailing assistance.

Somsonge Burusphat
September 8,1998