Tai Lue language

Tai Lue (Tai Lü: , "kam tai lue", , Tai Tham spelling: ) or Tai Lɯ, Tai Lü, Thai Lue, Tai Le, Xishuangbanna Dai (; ; ; , "phasa thai lue", ; or ), is a Tai language of the Lu people, spoken by about 700,000 people in Southeast Asia. This includes 280,000 people in China (Yunnan), 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in Laos, 83,000 in Thailand and 4,960 in Vietnam. The language is similar to other Tai languages and is closely related to Kham Mueang or Tai Yuan, which is also known as Northern Thai language. In Yunnan, it is spoken in all of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, as well as Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County in Pu'er City.
In Vietnam, Tai Lue speakers are officially recognised as the Lự ethnic minority, although in China they are classified as part of the Dai people, along with speakers of the other Tai languages apart from Zhuang.
Phonology.
Tai Lue has 21 syllable-initial consonants, 9 syllable finals and six tones (three different tones in checked syllables, six in syllables).
Consonants.
Initials.
The initials - and - are palatalized before front vowels (which in the language are , , and ) and become and , respectively. For example, "hard" and "ten" are pronounced as and respectively. (Some textbooks denote as ).
Vowels.
Generally, vowels in open syllables (without final) become long whereas ones in closed syllables become short (except and ).
Tones.
Contrastive tones in unchecked syllables.
The table below presents six phonemic tones in unchecked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in sonorant sounds such as , and and open syllables.
There are six tones for unchecked syllables, although only three are allowed in checked syllables (those ending with -p, -t or -k).
Contrastive tones in checked syllables.
The table below presents two phonemic tones in checked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in a glottal stop and obstruent sounds which are , and .
Grammar.
Word order is usually subject–verb–object; modifiers (e.g. adjectives) follow nouns.
Vocabulary.
As in Thai and Lao, Tai Lue has borrowed many Sanskrit and Pali words and affixes. Among the Tai languages in general, Tai Lue has limited intelligibility with Shan and Tai Nua and shares much vocabulary with, the other Southwestern Tai languages. Tai Lue has 95% lexical similarity with Northern Thai (Lanna), 86% with Central Thai, 93% with Shan, and 95% with Khun.
Below, some Thai Lue words are given with standard Central Thai equivalents for comparison. Thai words are shown on the left and Tai Lue words, written in New Tai Lue script, are shown on the right.
Different words.
Many words differ from Thai greatly:
Similar words.
Some words differ in tone only:
Some words differ in a single sound and associated tone. In many words, the initial ร () in Thai is ฮ () in Tai Lue, as is also the case in Lao and Tai Yuan:
Aspirated consonants in the low-class consonant group(อักษรต่ำ ) become unaspirated:
Though many aspirated consonants often become unaspirated, when an unaspirated consonant is followed by ร () the unaspirated consonant becomes aspirated:
Other differences:
Writing systems.
Tai Lue is written in three different alphabets. One is Fak Kham script, a variety of Thai script of Sukhothai. The second is Tham script and was reformed in the 1950s, but is still in use and has recently regained government support. The new alphabet is a simplified version of the old script.
Fak Kham.
An ancient script, also used in Kengtung, Northern Thailand and Northern Laos centuries ago.
Tham.
Tham script is called "lao dai wen" (Old Tai script) in China. Readable by the most people and used in Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
New Tai Lue.
New Tai Lue is a modernization of the Lanna alphabet (also known as Tai Tham script), which is similar to the Thai alphabet, and consists of 42 initial consonant signs (21 high-tone class, 21 low-tone class), seven final consonant signs, 16 vowel signs, two tone letters and one vowel shortening letter (or syllable-final glottal stop). Vowels signs can be placed before or after the syllable initial consonant.
Similar to the Thai alphabet, the pronunciation of the tone of a syllable depends on the class the initial consonant belongs to, syllable structure and vowel length, and the tone mark.
Related varieties.
The Bajia people (), who number 1,106 individuals in Mengkang Village (), Meng'a Town (), Menghai County, Yunnan, speak a language closely related to Tai Lue. There are 225 Bajia people living in Jingbo Township 景播乡, Menghai County (You 2013:270). The Bajia are also known as the Chinese Dai .