Tai Lü (or Tai Lue, Tai Le [tâi lɯ̀]; Xishuangbanna Dai; Cheenese: 傣仂语 Dǎilèyǔ; Thai: ภาษาไทลื้อ (phaasǎa thailéu); Vietnamese: Lự or Lữ) is a leid spoken bi aboot 670,000 fowk in Sootheast Asie. This includes 250,000 fowk in Cheenae, 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in Thailand, an 5,000 in Vietnam. The leid is similar tae ither Tai leids.

Tai Lue
ᨣᩴᩣᩱᨴᩭ
kam tai
Native taeMainly: Cheenae. Ithers: Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
RegionYunnan, Cheenae
EthnicityLu
Native speakers
550,000 (2000–2013)[1]
Tai–Kadai
Tai Tham alphabet, Thai alphabet, New Tai Lue alphabet
Offeecial status
Recognised minority
leid in
Leid codes
ISO 639-3khb
Glottologluuu1242[2]

In Vietnam, Tai Lü speakers are offeecially recognised as the Lự ethnic minority, although in Cheenae they are classified as pairt o the Dai fowk, alang wi speakers o the ither Tai leids (except Zhuang).

Phonology

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Tai Lü haes 21 seellable-initial consonants, 91 seellable finals an sax tones (three different tones in checked seellables, sax in ither seellables).

Initials

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p b m f v
t d n l
ts s j
k ŋ x
ʔ h

The initials ts- an s- are palatalised afore i, e an ɛ an become - an ɕ-, respectively.

Finals

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ɛː ɔː ɯː əː
ai aːi ui oi ɔi ɯi əi
au aːu iu eu ɛu əu
am aːm im em ɛm um om ɔm ɯm əm
an aːn in en ɛn un on ɔn ɯn ən
aːŋ ɛŋ ɔŋ ɯŋ əŋ
ap aːp ip ep ɛp up op ɔp ɯp əp
at aːt it et ɛt ut ot ɔt ɯt ət
ak aːk ik ek ɛk uk ok ɔk ɯk ək
ɛʔ ɔʔ ɯʔ əʔ

Tones

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There are sax tones for unchecked seellables, although ae three are alloued in checked seellables (those endin wi -p, -t or -k).

Description Contour Transcription
high 55 á
mid 33 a (not marked)
low 11 à
falling 51 â
high rising 35 á̄
low rising 13 à̄

Grammar

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Wird order is uisually Subject - Verb - Object; Modifiers (e.g. adjectives) follae nouns.

Vocabulary

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Tai Lü haes mony loanwirds frae Pali, as well as frae the local Cheenese dialect an modren Staundart Cheenese.

Numbers

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
nɯŋ sɔ́ŋ sám sī́ː hā̀ː hók tɕet pɛ̄́t kā̀u síp hɔ̀i mɯ̄́n sɛ́n làn

Writin seestems

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Tai Lü is written in twa different alphabets. The auld writin seestem wis reformed in the 1950s, but is still in uise an haes recently regained government support. The new alphabet is a simplified version o the auld script.

Old Tai Lü

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Readable bi the maist fowk an uised in Burma, Laos, Thailand an Vietnam.

New Tai Lü

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New Tai Lü is a modrenisation o the Lanna alphabet, similar tae the Thai alphabet, an consists o 42 initial consonant signs (21 hie-tone class, 21 law-tone class), seiven final consonant signs, 16 vowel signs, twa tone letters an ane vouel shortenin letter (or seellable-final glottal stop). Vouels signs can be placed afore or efter the seellable initial consonant.

Similar tae the Thai alphabet, the pronunciation o the tone o a seellable depends on the class the initial consonant belangs ta, seellable structure an vouel length, an the tone mark.

Unicode range ("New Tai Lue"): U+1980 – U+19DF

See an aa

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References

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  • Dāo Shìxūn 刀世勋: Dǎi-Hàn cídiǎn 傣汉词典 (Dai-Chinese Dictionary; Kūnmíng 昆明, Yúnnán mínzú chūbǎnshè 云南民族出版社 2002). This is a dictionary of Tai Lü in unreformed spelling.
  • Yu Cuirong 喻翠荣, Luo Meizhen 罗美珍: Daile-Han cidian 傣仂汉词典 (Tai Lü - Chinese Dictionary; Beijing, Minzu chubanshe 2004).

Freemit airtins

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  1. Tai Lue at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Lu". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.