Morphology in Tai Lue involves compounding, derivation, reduplication, and elaborate expressions. There are no inflectional affixes on words, such as the plural or tense endings of English.
Compound words
Compounding is the most important morphological process in Tai Lue. Over 60 per cent of the words in this dictionary are compound words. Compound words occur in all parts of speech.
In English, verb-verb compounds are rare (sleepwalk, stir-fry). In Tai Lue they are very common. See for example:
ᦶᦂᧉ ᦺᦃ kææ³xaj¹ undo:open = ‘to explain’
ᦉᦱᧂᧉ ᦶᦔᧂ saaŋ³pæŋ¹ build:make = ‘to manufacture’
Derivation
These are some of the common derivational prefixes in Tai Lue.
Nominalisers (turn verbs and adjectives into nouns)
ᦂᦱᧃ | kaan¹ | ᦂᦱᧃ ᦅᦹᧆ ᦔᦸᧂ | kaan¹kɯt⁵pɔŋ¹ | kaan:plan = planning |
ᦃᦸᧂ | xɔŋ¹ | ᦃᦸᧂ ᦂᦲᧃ | xɔŋ¹kin¹ | thing:eat = food |
ᦅᧄ | kam⁴ | ᦅᧄ ᦅᦹᧆ | kam⁴kɯt⁵ | word:think = idea |
ᦑᦲᧈ | tii⁵ | ᦑᦲᧈ ᦉᧂ ᦂᦱ | tii⁵saŋ¹kaa¹ | place:suspect = a suspect |
ᦑᦱᧂ | taaŋ⁴ | ᦑᦱᧂ ᦎᦻ | taaŋ⁴taaj¹ | path:die = death |
ᦓᧄᧉ | nam⁶ | ᦓᧄᧉ ᦉᦳᧂ | nam⁶suŋ¹ | water:high = height |
ᦩᦱᧄ | xwaam⁴ | ᦩᦱᧄ ᦅᦹᧆ | xwaam⁴kɯt⁵ | xwaam:think = thought |
Agentives (with nouns or verbs)
ᦅᦳᧃ | kun⁴ | ᦅᦳᧃ ᦅᦱᧉ | kun⁴kaa⁶ | person:sell = merchant |
ᦋᦱᧁ | caaw⁴ | ᦋᦱᧁ ᦓᦱ | caaw⁴naa⁴ | person:field = farmer |
ᦋᦱᧂᧈ | caaŋ⁵ | ᦋᦱᧂᧈ ᦆᧄ | caaŋ⁵xam⁴ | craftsperson:gold = goldsmith |
ᦷᦎ | too¹ | ᦷᦎ ᦎᦱᧂ | too¹taaŋ¹ | body:instead = representative |
ᦕᦴᧉ | pʰuu³ | ᦕᦴᧉ ᦂᦸᧃᧈ ᦀᦸᧃ | pʰuu³kɔn²ʔɔn¹ | person:before = boss |
Reduplication
Uses of reduplication include:
1) onomatopoetic sounds ᦷᦁᧂᧈᦷᦁᧂᧈ ʔoŋ⁵ʔoŋ⁵ ‘growling sound’
2) repeated adjectives ᦌᦹᧈᦌᦹᧈ sɯɯ⁵sɯɯ⁵ ‘straight’, ᦶᦂᧃᧈᦶᦂᧃᧈ kæn²kæn² ‘tightly’ (from ᦶᦂᧃᧈ kæn² ‘hard, firm’)
3) adverbs ᦺᦈᧉᦺᦈᧉ caj³caj³ ‘repeatedly, insistently’
4) repetition with some sound changes ᦈᦸᧂᧉᦶᦈᧂᧉ cɔŋ³cæŋ³ ‘irregularly, randomly’.
The typical meaning of a reduplicated word is 'fairly', 'sort of'. ᦶᦡᧂ dæŋ¹ ‘red’ ᦶᦡᧂᦶᦡᧂ dæŋ¹dæŋ¹ ‘reddish, sort of red’. Such reduplication is not listed exhaustively in the dictionary, but exceptions to this pattern are listed.
Elaborate Expressions
Southeast Asian languages are known for their ‘elaborate expressions’: four-syllable compounds that often have idiomatic and colourful meanings. This is an area of creativity in the language in which people enjoy playing with sounds and creating enjoyable and interesting speech. Elaborate expressions range from ones that are very flexible and open to creative manipulation, to those that are relatively fixed.
More than 1600 elaborate expressions are listed as entries in this dictionary. Here are some examples.
ᦗᦸᧈ ᦺᦣᧈ ᦶᦙᧈ ᦓᦱ | pɔɔ⁵haj⁵mææ⁵naa⁴ | father:field:mother:paddy | farmer |
ᦃᦸᧉ ᦊᦴᧈ ᦣᦱᧁ ᦂᦲᧃ | xɔɔ³juu²haaw⁴kin¹ | point:stay:railing:be | lifestyle |
ᦢᦱᧃᧉ ᦵᦂᦲᧆᧈ ᦵᦙᦲᧂ ᦔᦲᧃ | baan³kɤɤt²mɤŋ⁴pin¹ | village:born:city:be | hometown |
ᦣᧂᧈ ᦙᦲ ᦔᦲᧃ ᦡᦲ | haŋ⁵mii⁴pin¹dii¹ | rich:have:be:good | rich |
ᦎᦸᧇᧈ ᦢᦳᧃ ᦎᦸᧇᧈ ᦅᦳᧃ | tɔɔp²bun¹tɔɔp²kun⁴ | respond:goodness:respond:goodness | repay a kindness |