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Tai Nuea or Tai Nüa (Tai Nüa: ; also called Tai Le, Dehong Dai or Chinese Shan; own name: ''Tai2 Lə6'', which means "Upper Tai" or "Northern Tai" or , ; Chinese: ''Dǎinàyǔ'', 傣那语 or ''Déhóng Dǎiyǔ'', 德宏傣语; th, ภาษาไทเหนือ, or , ) is one of the languages spoken by the
Dai people The Dai people ( Burmese: ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; khb, ᨴᩱ/ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿ; lo, ໄຕ; th, ไท; shn, တႆး, ; , ; ) refers to several Tai-speaking ethnic groups living in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and t ...
in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, especially in the
Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture The Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture is located in western Yunnan province, People's Republic of China, and is one of the eight autonomous prefectures of the province, bordering Baoshan to the east and Burma's Kachin State to the west. ...
in the southwest of
Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
. It is closely related to the other
Tai languages The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages ( th, ภาษาไท or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Sia ...
. Speakers of this language across the border in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
are known as Shan. It should not be confused with Tai Lü (
Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna, Sibsongbanna or Sipsong Panna ( Tham: , New Tai Lü script: ; ; th, สิบสองปันนา; lo, ສິບສອງພັນນາ; shn, သိပ်းသွင်ပၼ်းၼႃး; my, စစ်ဆောင် ...
Dai).


Names

The language is also known as Tai Mau, Tai Kong and Tai Na. Most Tai Nuea people call themselves ', which means 'Upper Tai' or 'Northern Tai'. Note that this is different from Tai Lue, which is pronounced ' in Tai Nuea. Dehong is a transliteration of the term ', where ' means 'bottom, under, the lower part (of)' and ' means 'the Hong River' (more widely known as the
Salween River , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...
or Nujiang 怒江 in Chinese) (Luo 1998).


Dialects

Zhou (2001:13) classifies Tai Nuea into the Dehong (德宏) and Menggeng (孟耿) dialects. Together, they add up to a total of 541,000 speakers. *Dehong dialect 德宏土语: 332,000 speakers ** Dehong Prefecture 德宏州:
Mangshi Mangshi (; tdd, ᥝᥥᥒᥰ ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥑᥩᥢᥴ; Jingpho language, Jingpho: Mangshi Myu), former name Luxi (), is a county-level city and the seat of Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, western Yunnan province, China. Mangshi has ...
芒市, Yingjiang 盈江, Lianghe 梁河, Longchuan 陇川,
Ruili Ruili (; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ; shn, မိူင်းမၢဝ်း; th, เมืองมาว; my, ရွှေလီ) is a county-level city of Dehong Prefecture, in the west of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. It ...
瑞丽, Wanding 畹町 ** Baoshan District 保山地区: Baoshan 保山,
Tengchong Tengchong () is a county-level city of Baoshan City, western Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. It is well known for its volcanic activity. The city is named after the town of Tengchong which serves as its political center, previously kn ...
腾冲,
Longling Longling County () is a county in Baoshan City, in the west of Yunnan Province, China, bordering Burma's Shan State to the south. Its capital is the large community Longshan (). The site of the Songshan Battlefield () (1944 during the Second S ...
龙陵,
Shidian Shidian County () is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Baoshan, in the west of Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The ...
施甸 *Menggeng dialect 孟耿土语: 209,000 speakers **
Pu'er City Pu'er is a prefecture-level city in southern Yunnan Province, China. The urban administrative center of Pu'er is Simao District, which is also the former name of the prefecture-level city itself. A major downturn in the price of tea in 2007 caus ...
普洱市 /
Simao District Simao District (; formerly known as Cuiyun District) is a district under the jurisdiction of Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, China. It is the seat of Pu'er Prefecture. Formerly both Simao and the surrounding region of Pu'er prefecture played a major ...
思茅地区:
Menglian Menglian Dai, Lahu and Va Autonomous County () is an autonomous county in the southwest of Yunnan, Yunnan Province, China, bordering Ximeng County to the north, Lancang County to the north, northeast, and east, and Burma's Shan State to the south ...
孟连, Jinggu 景谷, Lancang 澜沧, Zhenyuan 镇沅, Ximeng 西盟, Jingdong 景东, Simao 思茅, Pu'er 普洱, Mojiang 墨江 ** Baoshan District 保山地区: Changning 昌宁 ** Lincang District 临沧地区:
Gengma Gengma Dai and Va Autonomous County () is located in Lincang City, in the west of Yunnan province, China. History In 1988, the county was affected by two strong earthquakes. It killed a total of 939 people and caused major destruction. Administ ...
耿马,
Lincang Lincang () is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. History Lincang was previously called Baihuai during the Shang dynasty. On December 26, 2003, the state council approved the cancell ...
临沧, Shuangjiang 双江, Cangyuan 沧源, Yongde 永德,
Zhenkang Zhenkang County () is located in the west of Yunnan province, China, bordering Burma's Shan State to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lincang. Ethnic groups Ethnic Blang people, Bulang are found in the foll ...
镇康, Yunxian 云县,
Fengqing Fengqing County () is located in Lincang City, Yunnan province, China. During the Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 follow ...
风庆. A separate traditional script has been developed in Mengding Township 勐定镇, Lincang 临沧, and is different from the one used in the Dehong area — see Zhou (2001:371). ''Ethnologue'' also recognizes Tai Long of Laos as a separate language. It is spoken by 4,800 people (as of 2004) in Luang Prabang Province,
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
.


Phonology

Tai Nuea is a tonal language with a very limited inventory of syllables with no consonant clusters. 16 syllable-initial consonants can be combined with 84 syllable finals and six tones.


Consonants


Initials

* occur in loanwords


Finals



Vowels and diphthongs

Tai Nuea has ten vowels and 13 diphthongs: :Tai Nuea's diphthongs are


Tones

Tai Nuea has six tones: # rising (24) # high falling (53) or high level (55) # low level (11) # low falling (31) # mid falling (43) or high falling (53) # mid level (33) Syllables with p, t, k as final consonants can have only one of three tones (1., 3., or 5.).


Writing system

The
Tai Le script Tai or TAI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain *Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless'' *Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon'' Businesses and organisations ...
is closely related to other Southeast-Asian writing systems such as the
Thai script The Thai script ( th, อักษรไทย, ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( th, พยัญชนะ ...
and is thought to date back to the 14th century. The original Tai Nuea spelling did not generally mark tones and failed to distinguish several vowels. It was reformed to make these distinctions, and diacritics were introduced to mark tones. The resulting writing system was officially introduced in 1956. In 1988, the spelling of tones was reformed; special tone letters were introduced instead of the earlier Latin diacritics. The modern script has a total of 35 letters, including the five tone letters. The transcription below is given according to the Unicode tables.


Consonants


Vowels and diphthongs

Consonants that are not followed by a vowel letter are pronounced with the inherent vowel Other vowels are indicated with the following letters: Diphthongs are formed by combining some vowel letters with the consonant and some vowel letters with ᥭ i


Tones

In the Thai and Tai Lü writing systems, the tone value in the pronunciation of a written syllable depends on the tone class of the initial consonant, vowel length and syllable structure. In contrast, the Tai Nuea writing system has a very straightforward spelling of tones, with one letter (or diacritic) for each tone. A tone mark is put at the end of syllable whatever it is consonant or vowel. Examples in the table show the syllable ain different tones, in old (1956) and new (1988) spellings. The sixth tone (mid level) is not marked. And if a checked syllable having the fifth tone, it is also not marked.


Grammar


Pronouns


Syntax

Tai Nuea uses an SVO word order.


Adverb


Text sample


Language use

Tai Nuea has official status in some parts of Yunnan (China), where it is used on signs and in education. Yunnan People's Radio Station (''Yúnnán rénmín guǎngbō diàntái'' 云南人民广播电台) broadcasts in Tai Nuea. On the other hand, however, very little printed material is published in Tai Nuea in China. However, many signs of roads and stores in
Mangshi Mangshi (; tdd, ᥝᥥᥒᥰ ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥑᥩᥢᥴ; Jingpho language, Jingpho: Mangshi Myu), former name Luxi (), is a county-level city and the seat of Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, western Yunnan province, China. Mangshi has ...
are in Tai Nuea. In Thailand, a collection of 108 proverbs was published with translations into Thai and English.Thawi Swangpanyangkoon and Edward Robinson. 1994. (2537 Thai). Dehong Tai proverbs. Sathaban Thai Suksa, Chulalankorn Mahawitayalai.


References

* * * * * * *


External links


Tai Dehong


(''Introduction to Dehong Dai with examples''; in Chinese)
Daiyu, Daiwen 傣语、傣文
(in Chinese)
Yunnan sheng yuyan wenzi wang 云南省语言文字网
(''Yunnan province language and writing web''; in Chinese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tai Nua Language Tai languages Brahmic scripts Languages of China Languages of Myanmar Languages of Thailand