Tai Lue language
Tai Lue, or Xishuangbanna Dai, is a Tai language of the Lu people, spoken by about 700,000 people in Southeast Asia. This includes 280,000 people in China, 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, nine syllable-finals and six tones.Consonants
Initials
The initials - and - are palatalized before front vowels and become and, respectively. For example, "hard" and "ten" are pronounced as and respectively..Vowels
Each vowel quality occurs in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes forming distinct words in Tai Lue.Generally, vowels in open syllables occur as long whereas ones in closed syllables are short.
Diphthongs
Additionally, Tai Lue uses several diphthongs:| New Tai Lue | IPA |
| ᦺ◌ | |
| ◌ᦻ | |
| ◌ᦼ | |
| ◌ᦽ | |
| ◌ᦾ | |
| ◌ᦿ | |
| ᦵ◌ᧀ |
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.
| Description | Contour | Transcription | Number | Example | Old Tai Lue | New Tai Lue script | Meaning |
| high | 55 | 1 | ᩣ | ᦂ | crow | ||
| low rising | 13 | 3 | ᦂᧉ | rice shoots | |||
| high rising | 35 | 5 | ᦂᧈ | to go | |||
| falling | 51 | 2 | ᦅ | to be stuck | |||
| low | 11 | 4 | ᦅᧉ | to do business | |||
| mid | 33 | a | 6 | ᦅᧈ | price |
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.| Tone | Contour | Number | Example | New Tai Lue | Phonemic | Meaning |
| high | 55 | 7 | ᦜᧅ | post | ||
| high-risinɡ | 35 | 9 | ᦜᦱᧅᧈ | differ from others | ||
| mid | 33 | 8 | ᦟᧅ | steal |
Grammar
Syntax
Word order is usually subject–verb–object ; modifiers follow nouns.Interrogatives
| Word | Meaning |
| ᦉᧂ | What |
| ᦌᦹ | Why |
| ᦂᦲᧈ | How many |
| ᦺᦕ | Who |
| ᦺᦐ | Where |
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, 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 Tai Tham script, are shown on the right.
Different words
Many words differ from Thai greatly:- ยี่สิบ → ᨪᩣ᩠ᩅ
- พูด → ᩋᩪᩢ
- พี่ชาย → ᩋᩢᩣ᩠ᨿ
Similar words
Some words differ in tone only:- หนึ่ง → ᨶ᩠ᨦᩧ᩵
- หก → ᩉᩫ᩠ᨠ
- เจ็ด → ᨧᩮ᩠ᨯ
- สิบ → ᩈᩥ᩠ᨷ
- กิน → ᨠᩥ᩠ᨶ
- ร้อน → ᩁᩢᩬᩁ
- รัก → ᩁᩢ᩠ᨠ
- รู้ → ᩁᩪᩢ
- เชียงราย → ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦᩁᩣ᩠ᨿ
- คิด → ᨣᩧ᩠ᨯ
- พ่อ → ᨻᩳ᩵
- ทาง → ᨴᩤ᩠ᨦ
- ประเทศ → ᨷᩕᨴᩮ᩠ᩆ
- ให้ → ᩉᩨᩢ
Numbers
| 0 | ᧐ | ᦉᦳᧃ | 1 | |
| 1 | ᧚ | ᦓᦹᧂᧈ | 6 | |
| 2 | ᧒ | ᦉᦸᧂ | ᩈᩬᨦ | 1 |
| 3 | ᧓ | ᦉᦱᧄ | ᩈᩣ᩠ᨾ | 1 |
| 4 | ᧔ | ᦉᦲᧈ | ᩈᩦ᩵ | 5 |
| 5 | ᧕ | ᦠᦱᧉ | ᩉᩢᩣ | 3 |
| 6 | ᧖ | ᦷᦠᧅ | ᩉᩫ᩠ᨠ | 7 |
| 7 | ᧗ | ᦵᦈᧆ | ᨧᩮ᩠ᨯ | 7 |
| 8 | ᧘ | ᦶᦔᧆᧈ | ᨸᩯ᩠ᨯ | 9 |
| 9 | ᧙ | ᦂᧁᧉ | ᨠᩮᩢᩢᩣ | 3 |
| 10 | ᧚᧐ | ᦉᦲᧇ | ᩈᩥ᩠ᨷ | 7 |
| 20 | ᧒᧐ | ᦌᦱᧁ | ᨪᩣ᩠ᩅ | 2 |
| 100 | ᧚᧐᧐ | ᦣᦾᧉ | ᩁᩢᩭ | 4 |
| 1,000 | ᧚᧐᧐᧐ | ᦗᧃ | ᨻᩢ᩠ᨶ | 2 |
| 10,000 | ᧚᧐᧐᧐᧐ | ᦖᦹᧃᧈ | ᩉ᩠ᨾᩨ᩵ᩁ | 5 |
| 100,000 | ᧚᧐᧐᧐᧐᧐ | ᦶᦉᧃ | ᩈᩯ᩠ᨶ | 1 |
| 1,000,000 | ᧚᧐᧐᧐᧐᧐᧐ | ᦟᦱᧃᧉ | ᩃᩢᩣ᩠ᨶ | 4 |
Writing systems
Tai Lue is written in three different scripts. One is the Fak Kham script, a variety of the Thai script of Sukhothai. The second is the Tham script, which was reformed in the 1950s, but is still in use and has recently regained government support. The new script 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
The Tham script is called 老傣文 lao dai wen in Chinese. Readable by the most people in Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.New Tai Lue
New Tai Lue is a modernization of the Lanna alphabet, which is similar to the Thai alphabet, and consists of 42 initial consonant signs, seven final consonant signs, 16 vowel signs, two tone letters and one vowel shortening letter. 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.