Jump to content

Tai Lue language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Stevey7788 (talk | contribs) at 07:34, 4 January 2013 (Bajia). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"Lue language" redirects here. For Bantu Lue of Cameroon, see Oroko language.
Tai Lü
Kwaam Tai Lue
Native toChina, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
RegionYunnan province
Native speakers
(700,000 cited 1981-2001)[1]
Kra–Dai
Tai Tham script, Thai script, New Tai Lü script
Language codes
ISO 639-3khb

Tai Lü ᦑᦺᦟᦹᧉ (or Tai Lɯ, Tai Lue, Tai Le [tâi lɯ̀]; Xishuangbanna Dai; Chinese: 傣仂语 Dǎilèyǔ; Template:Lang-th, pronounced [pʰāːsǎː tʰāj lɯ́ː]; Vietnamese: Lự or Lữ) is a language spoken by about 700,000 people in South East 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.[1] The language is similar to other Tai languages and is closely related to Tai Yuan, which is also known as Northern Thai language. In China, it is spoken in all of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture 西双版纳傣族自治州 (including Jinghong City 景洪市, Menghai County 勐海县, and Mengla County 勐腊县), as well as Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County 江城哈尼族彝族自治县 in Pu'er City 普洱市.

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 Township 勐阿镇, Menghai County, Yunnan, speak a language closely related to Tai Lü.[2]

Phonology

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

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- and s- are palatalised before i, e and ɛ and become tɕ- and 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 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 /káa/ ᦂᦱ crow
high rising 35 a᷄ /ka᷄a/ ᦂᦱᧈ to go
high rising 13 a᷅ /ka᷅a/ ᦂᦱᧉ rice shoots
falling 51 â /kâa/ ᦅᦱ to be stuck
mid 33 a (not marked) /kaa/ ᦅᦱᧈ price
low 11 à /kàa/ ᦅᦱᧉ to do business

Grammar

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

Vocabulary

Tai Lü language shares much vocabulary with Lao, with both having drawn many prefixes and suffixes from Sanskrit and Pali. Tai Lü is also somewhat similar to Thai, but it is still much closer to Lao and Tai Yuan, also known by some misleadingly as Northern Thai language, in most aspects, especially native vocabulary, which contains many words sharded between Lao, Tai Yuan, and Tai Lü, but are nonexistent in Thai. As in Thai and Lao, Tai Lü has borrowed many Sanskrit and Pali words.

Below, Thai words are shown on the left and Tai Lü language words, writen in Thai script, are shown on the right.

Different words

Many words differ from Thai greatly:

  • ยี่สิบ → ซ่าว (/jîː sìp/ → /sâːw/, twenty)
  • พูด → อู๋ (/pʰûːt/ → /ʔu᷅ː/, to speak)
  • พี่ชาย → อ๋าย (/pʰîː tɕʰaːj/> /ʔa᷅ːj/, older brother)

Similar words

Some words differ in tone only:

  • หนึ่ง → นึง (/nɯŋ/, one)
  • หก → ฮก (/hók/, six)
  • เจ็ด → เจ๊ด (/tɕét/, seven)
  • สิบ → ซิบ (/síp/, ten)
  • กิน → กิ๊น (/kín/, to eat)

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:

  • ร้อน → ห่อน (/rɔ́n/ → /hɔ̀n/, hot)
  • รัก → หัก (/rák/ → /hak/, to love)
  • รู้ → หู่ (/rúː/ → /hùː/, to know)

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

  • เชียงราย → เจ้งฮ่าย (/tɕʰiaŋ raːj/ → /tɕêŋ hâːj/, Chiang Rai city and province)
  • คิด → กึด (/kʰít/ → /kɯt/, to think)
  • พ่อ → ปอ (/pʰɔ̂/ → /pɔ/, father)
  • ทาง → ต้าง (/tʰaːŋ/ → /tâːŋ/, way)

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

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

  • ประเทศ> ผะเตด (/praʔtʰêːt/ → /pʰaʔtêːt/, country)

Other differences:

  • ให้ → หือ (/hâj/ → /hɯ᷅/, to give, let)

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

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. ^ a b http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=khb
  2. ^ http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E5%85%AB%E7%94%B2%E8%AF%AD
  • 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).
  • Hanna, William J: Dai Lue-English Dictinary ; Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. 2012. ISBN-13: 978-6162150319
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tai_Lue_language&oldid=531230016"