Dai Lue has had its own alphabet and its own literature for the past seven hundred years. Dai is an officially recognized nationality in China and its development is supported by government policy. In the 1950s the old Dai Lue alphabet was reformed and simplified with the support of Chinese linguists. This New Dai Lue script has been taught to children in the schools since then, and is the script that is used in this dictionary. This script is seen in newspapers and road signs in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.
The New Dai Lue script is used only in China. Dai Lue people in Myanmar and Laos are often aware of the "new letters" but have had little exposure to them. About a quarter of the Dai Lue people in China can read Dai Lue (many more can read Chinese). In other countries ability to read Dai Lue is usually limited those who learned it as monks or novices in the monasteries.
The Dai Lue orthography emerged in the 1300s at the same time as the similar orthographies of Thai, Lao, Khmer and Burmese. Although these scripts look different from each other today, all can trace their roots to the Devanagari script that was used in India, and was brought to Southeast Asia with the spread of Buddhism.
The alphabetical order in Dai Lue is complex. The order is determined first by the initial consonant, then by the final consonant, then by the vowel, and finally by the tone mark.
Initial consonants
There are 44 initial consonants in Dai Lue. Using an ingenious method for writing tone, there are two letters for each sound: a high class letter and a low class letter. The initial consonants are listed below in alphabetical order, with their pronunciation and their class. The pronunciation of the letters is shown in the International Phonetic Alphabet. In the middle of the alphabet there are two special letters, ᧞ and ᧟, which represent syllables rather than individual sounds. For each letter below there is a sample word. Click on it to see the dictionary entry.
Consonant | Pronunciation | Class | Sample word | meaning |
ᦀ | ʔ | high | ᦶᦀᧁᧈ | travel |
ᦁ | ʔ | low | ᦁᦳᧇ | decorative box |
ᦂ | k | high | ᦂᦱᧉ | seedling |
ᦃ | x | high | ᦃᦙᦱ | forgive |
ᦄ | ŋ | high | ᦷᦄᧈ | hold with thumb on top |
ᦅ | k | low | ᦅᦱᧉ | sell, trade |
ᦆ | x | low | ᦆᦴ | teacher |
ᦇ | ŋ | low | ᦇᦱ | tusk, sesame |
ᦈ | c | high | ᦺᦈ | heart |
ᦉ | s | high | ᦉᦗ | all kinds |
ᦊ | j | high | ᦊᦱ | medicine |
ᦋ | c | low | ᦋᦴᧈ | every |
ᦌ | s | low | ᦌᦰᦌᦱᧁᧉ | small sounds |
ᦍ | j | low | ᦷᦍᧅ | raise |
ᦎ | t | high | ᦷᦎᧅ | fall |
ᦏ | tʰ | high | ᦏᦲᧈ | closely spaced |
ᦐ | n | high | ᦐᦽᧈ | classifier for round things |
ᦑ | t | low | ᦵᦑᦞᦡᦱ | god |
ᦒ | tʰ | low | ᦒᧄ | dharma |
ᦓ | n | low | ᦓᦱ | rice paddy |
ᦔ | p | high | ᦔᦴᧈ | grandfather |
ᦕ | pʰ | high | ᦕᦲ | spirit, ghost |
ᦖ | m | high | ᦖᦱᧅ | fruit |
ᦗ | p | low | ᦗᦲᧈᦓᦸᧂᧉ | siblings |
ᦘ | pʰ | low | ᦘᦱᧉ | knife |
ᦙ | m | low | ᦵᦙᦲᧂ | inhabited place |
ᦚ | f | high | ᦚᧁᧉ | guard |
ᦛ | w | high | ᦛᦲ | comb |
ᦜ | l | high | ᦶᦜᧂᧉ | pretend |
ᦝ | f | low | ᦺᦝ | fire |
ᦞ | w | low | ᦞᧆᦉᦱ | Buddhist Lent |
ᦟ | l | low | ᦟᦱᧉ | tea |
᧞ | læʔ | ᧞ᦋᧄ | surely | |
᧟ | læw | ᧟ | then | |
ᦠ | h | high | ᦶᦠᧁ | finial |
ᦡ | d | high | ᦵᦡᦲᧃ | moon, month |
ᦢ | b | high | ᦢᦱᧈ | shoulder |
ᦣ | h | low | ᦣᦳ | I don't know |
ᦤ | d | low | ᦶᦤᧃᦵᦑᧂᧈ | definitely |
ᦥ | b | low | ᦥᦱᦟᦂᦱ | deputy |
ᦦ | kw | high | ᦦᦱᧃᧉ | court of law |
ᦧ | xw | high | ᦧᦻᦣᦴᧉ | realise |
ᦨ | kw | low | ᦶᦨ | trumpet |
ᦩ | xw | low | ᦶᦩᧃᧉ | even more |