# Tai Lü leid

| Tai Lue |
| --- |
| ᨣᩴᩣᩱᨴᩭ *kam tai* |
| Native tae | Mainly: Cheenae. Ithers: Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam |
| Region | Yunnan, Cheenae |
| Ethnicity | Lu |
| Native speakers | (550,000 citit 2000–2013) |
| Leid faimily | Tai–Kadai
* Tai
	+ Soothwastren (Thai)
		- Chiang Saen
			* **Tai Lue**
 |
| Writin seestem | Tai Tham alphabet, Thai alphabet, New Tai Lue alphabet |
| Offeecial status |
| Recognised minority leid in |  Cheenae native tae Xishuangbanna  Laos  Thailand  Myanmar |
| Leid codes |
| ISO 639-3 | `khb` |
| Glottolog | `luuu1242` |

**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.

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

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

### Initials

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| p | pʰ | b | m |  | f | v |
| t | tʰ | d | n | l |  |  |
| ts |  |  |  |  | s | j |
| k |  |  | ŋ |  | x |  |
| kʷ |  |  |  |  | xʷ |  |
| ʔ |  |  |  |  | h |  |

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

### Finals

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | aː | iː | eː | ɛː | uː | oː | 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 |
| aŋ | aːŋ | iŋ | eŋ | ɛŋ | uŋ | oŋ | 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 |
| aʔ |  | iʔ | eʔ | ɛʔ | uʔ | oʔ | ɔʔ | ɯʔ | əʔ |

### Tones

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

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

## Vocabulary

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

### Numbers

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 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

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

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

### New Tai Lü

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

* Tai Nüa leid
* Tai Pong leid
* Tai Dam leid

* 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

* Lü, a leid o Cheenae Archived 2012-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
* SeaSite: Tai Lue, unner construction Archived 2018-03-15 at the Wayback Machine
* SIL Dai Banna Fonts
* Omniglot - Tai Lue script