Tai Lü language

"Lue language" redirects here. For Bantu Lue of Cameroon, see Oroko language.
Tai Lü
ᦅᧄᦑᦺᦟᦹᧉ
Kam Tai Lue
Native to China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
Region Yunnan
Native speakers
 550,000  (2000–2013)[1]
Tai–Kadai
Tai Tham script, Thai script, New Tai Lü script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 khb
Glottolog luuu1242[2]

Tai Lü (Tai Lü: ᦅᧄᦑᦺᦟᦹᧉ, kam tai lue, [kâm.tâj.lɯ̀]) or Tai Lɯ, Tai Lue, Thai Lue, Tai Le; Xishuangbanna Dai (Chinese: 傣仂语 Dǎilèyǔ; Thai: ภาษาไทลื้อ, phasa tai lue, pronounced [pʰāː.sǎː.tʰāj.lɯ́ː]; Vietnamese: Lự or Lữ) is a Tai language of the Lu people, spoken by about 700,000 people in South East 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.[3] 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 Lü 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.

The Bajia people (八甲人), who number 1,106 individuals in Mengkang Village (勐康村), Meng'a Town (勐阿镇), Menghai County, Yunnan, speak a language closely related to Tai Lü.[4]

Phonology

Tai Lü has 21 syllable-initial consonants, 91 syllable finals and six tones (three different tones in checked syllables, six in syllables).

Consonants

Initials

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal [m] [n] [ŋ]
Plosive tenuis [p] [t] [k] [ʔ]
aspirated [pʰ] [tʰ]
voiced [b] [d]
labialized [kʷ]
Affricate [ts]
Fricative voiceless [f] [s] [x] [h]
voiced [v]
labialized [xʷ]
Approximant [l] [j]

The initials ts- and s- are palatalised before front vowels which in the language are i, e, and ɛ and become tɕ- and ɕ-, respectively. For example, /tsíŋ/ "hard" and /si᷄p/ "ten" are pronounced as [tɕiŋ˥] and [ɕip˧˥] respectively.

Finals

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal [m] [n] [ŋ]
Plosive [p] [t] [k] [ʔ]
Approximant [w] [j]

Vowels

Front Central-Back Back
/i/ /ɨ/~/ɯ/ /u/
/e/ /ə/~/ɤ/ /o/
/ɛ/ /a/
/aː/ 		/ɔ/

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 [m], [n], [ŋ], [w], and [j] 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).

Description Contour Transcription Example New Tai Lue script Meaning
high 55 á /ká/ ᦂᦱ crow
high rising 35 a᷄ /ka᷄/ ᦂᦱᧈ to go
high rising 13 a᷅ /ka᷅/ ᦂᦱᧉ rice shoots
falling 51 â /kâ/ ᦅᦱ to be stuck
mid 33 a (not marked) /ka/ ᦅᦱᧈ price
low 11 à /kà/ ᦅᦱᧉ to do business

Contrastive tones in checked syllables

The table below presents two phonemic tones in checked syllables, i.e. closed syllables ending in a glottal stop [ʔ] and obstruent sounds which are [p], [t], and [k].

ToneExamplePhonemic gloss
high-risinɡ ᦜᧅ /la᷄k/post
mid ᦟᧅ /lāk/steal
high-risinɡ ᦜᦱᧅ /la᷄ːk/differ from others
mid ᦟᦱᧅ /lāːk/draɡ, pull

Grammar

Word order is usually Subject - Verb - Object; Modifiers (e.g. adjectives) follow nouns.

Vocabulary

As in Thai and Lao, Tai Lü has borrowed many Sanskrit and Pali words and affixes. Among the Tai languages in general, Tai Lü has limited intelligibility with Shan and Tai Nua and shares much vocabulary with, the other Southwestern Tai languages. Tai Lü has 95% lexical similarity with Northern Thai (Lanna), 86% with Central Thai, 93% with Shan, and 95% with Khun.[1]

Below, Thai words are shown on the left and Tai Lü language words, written in Thai 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 (/r/) in Thai is ฮ (/h/) in Tai Lü, as is also the case in Lao and Tai Yuan:

Aspirated consonants in the low-class consonant group(อักษรต่ำ /ʔàk sɔ̌n tàm/) become unaspirated:

(Note that the vowels also differ greatly between Tai Lü and Thai in many words, even though they are etymologically related and share the same root.)

Though many aspirated consonants often become unaspirated, when an unaspirated consonant is followed by ร (/r/) the unaspirated consonant becomes aspirated:

Other differences:

Numbers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
nɯŋ sɔ́ŋ sám si᷄ː ha᷅ː hók tɕét pɛ᷄t ka᷅w síp hɔ̀i mɯ᷄n sɛ́n làn

Writing systems

Tai Lü is written in two different alphabets. The old writing system 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.

Old Tai Lü

Readable by the most people and used in Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

New Tai Lü

China Post logo with New Tai Lü script in Mohan, Yunnan.

New Tai Lü is a modernisation of the Lanna alphabet (also known as Tai Tham script), 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.

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tai Lü 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.
  3. ↑ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=khb
  4. ↑ http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E5%85%AB%E7%94%B2%E8%AF%AD

External links