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 open syllables).
The initials t͡s- and s- are palatalized before front vowels (which in the language are i, e, and ɛ) and become t͡ɕ- and ɕ-, respectively. For example, /t͡síŋ/ "hard" and /si᷄p/ "ten" are pronounced as [t͡ɕiŋ˥] and [ɕip˧˥] respectively. (Some textbooks denote t͡s as c).
Generally, vowels in open syllables (without codas) occur as long whereas ones in closed syllables are short (except /aː/ and /uː/).
Dipthongs
Additionally, Tai Lue uses several dipthongs:
New Tai Lue
IPA
ᦺ◌
[aj]
◌ᦻ
[aːj]
◌ᦼ
[uj]
◌ᦽ
[oj]
◌ᦾ
[ɔj]
◌ᦿ
[ɯj]
ᦵ◌ᧀ
[ɤj]
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).
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].
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.
Some words differ in a single sound and associated tone. In many words, the initial ร (/r/) in Thai is ฮ (/h/) in Tai Lue, as is also the case in Lao and Tai Yuan:
(Note that the vowels also differ greatly between Tai Lue 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:
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.
The Tham script is called 老傣文lao dai wen (Old Dai script) in Chinese. Readable by the most people in Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
New Tai Lue
China Post logo with the New Tai Lue script in Mohan, Yunnan
New Tai Lue is a modernization of the Lanna alphabet (also known as the 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 (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 Lue.[citation needed] There are 225 Bajia people living in Jingbo Township 景播乡, Menghai County (You 2013:270).[4] The Bajia are also known as the Chinese Dai 汉傣.
^You, Weiqiong 尤伟琼 (2013). Yúnnán mínzú shìbié yánjiū 云南民族识别研究 [Classifying Ethnic Groups of Yunnan] (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe. ISBN978-7-105-12703-0.
Further reading
Xishuangbanna Daizu Zizhizhou (2002). Dǎi Hàn cídiǎn 傣汉词典 [Dai–Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese). Kunming shi: Yunnan minzu chubanshe. – This is a dictionary of Tai Lue in unreformed spelling.
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