Tai Nuea language

Tai Nuea
Tai Nuea
ᥖᥭᥰ ᥘᥫᥴ; Tai Le
Pronunciation	[tai˥.lə˧]
Native to	China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos
Region	Southwest China
Ethnicity	Tai Nua, Dai
Native speakers	(720,000 cited 1983–2007)
Language family	Kra–Dai Tai Southwestern (Thai) Northwestern Tai Nuea; ; ; ;
Writing system	Tai Le script
Official status
Official language in	China (Dehong, co-official)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tdd
Glottolog	tain1252 Tai Nua
ELP	Tai Neua
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Tai Nuea or Tai Nüa (Chinese: 傣那语; pinyin: Dǎinàyǔ; Burmese: တိုင်းလေ; Thai: ภาษาไทเหนือ, pronounced [pʰāːsǎː tʰāj nɯ̌a]), also called Dehong Tai (Chinese: 德宏傣语; pinyin: Déhóng Dǎiyǔ; Thai: ภาษาไทใต้คง, pronounced [pʰāːsǎː tʰāj tâːj.kʰōŋ]) and Chinese Shan, is one of the languages spoken by the Dai people in China, especially in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in the southwest of Yunnan Province. It is closely related to the other Tai languages and could be considered a dialect of Shan. It should not be confused with Tai Lü (Xishuangbanna Dai).

Names

Most Tai Nuea people call themselves Tai Le (ᥖᥭᥰ ᥘᥫᥴ, Tai Nüa pronunciation: [tai˥.lə˧]), which means 'Upper Tai' or 'Northern Tai'. Note that this is different from Tai Lue, which is pronounced [tai˥.lɪ˦˧] in Tai Nuea.

Another autonym is [tai˥ taɯ˧˩ xoŋ˥] (ᥖᥭᥰ ᥖᥬᥲ ᥑᥨᥒᥰ), where [taɯ˧˩] means 'bottom, under, the lower part (of)' and [xoŋ˥] means 'the Hong River' (Luo 1998). Dehong is a transliteration of the term [taɯ˧˩ xoŋ˥].

The language is also known as Tai Mau, Tai Kong and Tai Na.^[2]

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 芒市, Yingjiang 盈江, Lianghe 梁河, Longchuan 陇川, Ruili 瑞丽, Wanding 畹町
- Baoshan District 保山地区: Baoshan 保山, Tengchong 腾冲, Longling 龙陵, Shidian 施甸
Menggeng dialect 孟耿土语: 209,000 speakers
- Pu'er City 普洱市 / Simao District 思茅地区: Menglian 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 耿马, Lincang 临沧, Shuangjiang 双江, Cangyuan 沧源, Yongde 永德, Zhenkang 镇康, Yunxian 云县, Fengqing 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).

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

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
		Labial	plain	sibilant	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		[m] ᥛ	[n] ᥢ			[ŋ] ᥒ
Plosive	tenuis	[p] ᥙ	[t] ᥖ	[t͡s] ᥓ		[k] ᥐ	[ʔ] ᥟ
Plosive	aspirated	[pʰ] ᥚ	[tʰ] ᥗ	([t͡sʰ])* ᥡ		([kʰ])* ᥠ
Fricative		[f] ᥜ		[s] ᥔ		[x] ᥑ	[h] ᥞ
Approximant			[l] ᥘ		[j] ᥕ	[w] ᥝ

Notes:

1. *(kʰ) and (tsʰ) occur in loanwords.

2. The consonant [l] and [n] merged to [l] in the initial position in Mangshi (芒市) dialect but not in Menglian (孟连) dialect.

3. The consonant [pʰ] and [f] merged to [pʰ] in Menglian (孟连) dialect but not in Mangshi (芒市) dialect.

Finals

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	[m] ᥛ	[n] ᥢ		[ŋ] ᥒ
Plosive	[p] ᥙ	[t] ᥖ		[k] ᥐ
Approximant	[w] ᥝ		[j] ᥭ

Vowels

Tai Nuea has ten vowels and 13 diphthongs:

	Front	Central-Back	Back
High	◌ᥤ IPA: [i]	◌ᥪ IPA: [ɯ]	◌ᥧ IPA: [u]
Mid	◌ᥥ IPA: [e]	◌ᥫ IPA: [ə]	◌ᥨ IPA: [o]
Low	◌ᥦ IPA: [ɛ]	◌◌ᥣ IPA: [a] ~ [aː] (Mangshi) [ɑ] ~ [a] (Menglian)	◌ᥩ IPA: [ɔ]

Diphthong

◌ IPA: [a]	ᥣ IPA: [aː]	ᥤ IPA: [i]	ᥥ IPA: [e]	ᥦ IPA: [ɛ]	ᥧ IPA: [u]	ᥨ IPA: [o]	ᥩ IPA: [ɔ]	ᥪ IPA: [ɯ]	ᥫ IPA: [ə]
◌ᥭ IPA: [ai]	ᥣᥭ IPA: [aːi]				ᥧᥭ IPA: [ui]	ᥨᥭ IPA: [oi]	ᥩᥭ IPA: [ɔi]	ᥪᥭ IPA: [ɯi]	ᥫᥭ IPA: [əi]
ᥝ IPA: [au]	ᥣᥝ IPA: [aːu]	ᥤᥝ IPA: [iu]	ᥥᥝ IPA: [eu]	ᥦᥝ IPA: [ɛu]				ᥪᥝ IPA: [ɯu]*	ᥫᥝ IPA: [əu]
ᥬ IPA: [aɯ]*

* Only in Mangshi dialect.

Tones

Unchecked syllables

Tai Nuea has six tones:

Classification	Mangshi	Menglian	Tai Le	Tai Le (1963)	Number
阴平	35 [˧˥]	55 [˥]	◌ᥴ	◌́	1
阳平	55 [˥]	53 [˥˧]	◌ᥰ	◌̈	2
阴上	31 [˧˩]	11 [˩]	◌ᥲ	◌̀	3
阳上	53 [˥˧]	31 [˧˩]	◌ᥳ	◌̇	4
阴去	11 [˩]	35 [˧˥]	◌ᥱ	◌̌	5
阳去	33 [˧]		◌	◌	6

Checked syllables

Syllables with [p], [t], and [k] final can have only one of three tones in Mangshi (芒市) Dialect or four tones in Menglian (孟连) Dialect.

Mangshi (芒市) Dialect
Description	Contour	Tai Le	Tai Le (1963)	Number
rising	35 [˧˥]	◌ᥴ	◌́	7
high falling	53 [˥˧]	◌ᥳ	◌̇	8
high falling	53 [˥˧]	◌	◌	8
low	11 [˩] or 21 [˨˩]	◌ᥱ	◌̌	9

In Mangshi (芒市) Dialect, the high falling tone mark (◌ᥳ) is usually left unmarked.

Menglian (孟连) Dialect
Description	Contour	Tai Le	Tai Le (1963)	Number
high	55 [˥]	◌ᥴ	◌́	7
low falling	31 [˧˩]	◌ᥳ	◌̇	8
rising	35 [˧˥]	◌ᥱ	◌̌	9
mid	33 [˧]	◌	◌	10

Comparison

Unchecked syllable comparison
Tai Le	Mangshi (芒市)	Menglian (孟连)	English
ᥜᥣᥳ	fa⁴	pʰa⁴	sky
ᥘᥣᥝ	laːu⁶	lau⁶	star
ᥢᥛᥳ	lam⁴	nɑm⁴	water
ᥑᥭᥱ	xai⁵	xɑi⁵	egg
ᥢᥣᥰ	la²	na²	field
ᥜᥨᥢᥴ	fon¹	pʰon¹	rain
ᥛᥨᥭᥴ	moi¹	məi¹	frost
ᥙᥣᥲ ᥖᥬᥲ	pa³ taɯ³	pɑ³ tɑ³	under

Checked syllable

Due to the irregular checked tones correspondence, the Tai Le used will be written in Mangshi dialect.

Checked syllable comparison
Tai Le	Mangshi (芒市)	Menglian (孟连)	English
ᥖᥙᥴ	tap⁷	tɑp⁷	liver
ᥘᥨᥐ	lok⁸	lok⁸	bird
ᥞᥐ	hak⁸	hɑk⁸	love
ᥛᥩᥐᥱ	mɔk⁹	mɔk⁹	flower
ᥔᥨᥙᥱ	sop⁹	sop⁹	mouth
ᥚᥐᥴ	pʰak⁷	pʰɑk¹⁰	vegetable
ᥒᥫᥐ	ŋək⁸	ŋək¹⁰	dragon
ᥓᥫᥐ	tsək⁸	tsək¹⁰	rope
ᥓᥥᥙᥱ	tsep⁹	tsep¹⁰	pain
ᥚᥥᥖᥱ	pʰet⁹	pʰet¹⁰	spicy
ᥙᥥᥖᥱ	pet⁹	pet¹⁰	duck
ᥘᥧᥐᥴ	luk⁷	luk⁹	bone
ᥞᥧᥖᥴ	hut⁷	hut⁹	inhale
ᥐᥣᥙ	kaːp⁸	kap⁹	bite

Writing system

The Tai Le script is part of the Mon-Burmese family of writing systems and is closely related to the Ahom script. The script 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

ᥐ k IPA: [k]	ᥑ x IPA: [x]	ᥒ ng IPA: [ŋ]
ᥓ ts IPA: [ts]	ᥔ s IPA: [s]	ᥕ y IPA: [j]
ᥖ t IPA: [t]	ᥗ th IPA: [tʰ]	ᥘ l IPA: [l]
ᥙ p IPA: [p]	ᥚ ph IPA: [pʰ]	ᥛ m IPA: [m]
ᥜ f IPA: [f]	ᥝ v IPA: [w]
ᥞ h IPA: [h]	ᥟ q IPA: [ʔ]
ᥠ kh IPA: [kʰ]	ᥡ tsh IPA: [tsʰ]	ᥢ n IPA: [n]

Vowels and diphthongs

Consonants that are not followed by a vowel letter are pronounced with the inherent vowel [a]. Other vowels are indicated with the following letters:

ᥣ a IPA: [aː]	ᥦ eh IPA: [ɛ]	ᥥ ee IPA: [e]	ᥤ i IPA: [i]	ᥧ u IPA: [u]	ᥨ oo IPA: [o]	ᥩ o IPA: [ɔ]	ᥪ ue IPA: [ɯ]	ᥫ e IPA: [ə]	ᥬ aue IPA: [aɯ]	ᥭ ai IPA: [ai]

Diphthongs are formed by combining some vowel letters with the consonant ᥝ [w] and some vowel letters with ᥭ [ai]/[j].

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.

Tone marks were presented via the third reform (1963) as diacritics. Then the fourth reform (1988) changed them into tone letters. A tone mark is put at the end of syllable whatever it is consonant or vowel. Examples in the table show the syllable [ta] in different tones.

Number	New (1988)	Old (1963)	Pitch
1.	ᥖᥴ	ᥖ́	35
2.	ᥖᥰ	ᥖ̈	55
3.	ᥖᥱ	ᥖ̌	11
4.	ᥖᥲ	ᥖ̀	42
5.	ᥖᥳ	ᥖ̇	54
6.	ᥖ	ᥖ	33

The sixth tone (mid level) is not marked. And if a syllable with -p, -t, -k finals have the fifth tone, the tone mark is not written.

Grammar

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns
		Singular			Dual	Plural
		Mangshi	Menglian	Menglian (formal)	Mangshi	Mangshi	Menglian
1st person	exclusive	ᥐᥝ (kau⁶)	ᥐᥬ (kɑ⁶)	ᥖᥧ ᥑᥬᥲ (tu⁶ xɑ³)	ᥞᥣᥒᥰ ᥞᥫᥴ (haːŋ² xə¹)	ᥖᥧ (tu⁶)	ᥖᥧ (tu⁶)
1st person	inclusive	ᥐᥝ (kau⁶)	ᥐᥬ (kɑ⁶)	ᥖᥧ ᥑᥬᥲ (tu⁶ xɑ³)	ᥞᥣᥒᥰ ᥞᥣᥰ (haːŋ² ha²)	ᥞᥝᥰ (hau²)	ᥞᥝᥰ (hɑu²)
2nd person		ᥛᥬᥰ (maɯ²)	ᥛᥬᥰ (mɑ²)	ᥔᥧᥴ ᥓᥝᥲ (su¹ tsɑu³)	ᥔᥩᥒᥴ ᥞᥫᥴ (sɔŋ¹ xə¹)	ᥔᥧᥴ (su¹)	ᥔᥧᥴ (su¹)
3rd person		ᥛᥢᥰ (man²)	ᥛᥢᥰ (mɑn²)		ᥔᥩᥒᥴ ᥞᥣᥴ (sɔŋ¹ xa¹)	ᥑᥝᥴ (xau¹)	ᥑᥬᥴ (xɑ¹)

Other Pronouns
	Mangshi	Menglian
Reflexive	ᥙᥪᥴ ᥓᥝᥲ (pɯ¹ tsau³)	ᥐᥩᥭᥰ ᥘᥥᥝ (kɔi² leu⁶)
Interrogative	ᥚᥬᥴ (pʰaɯ¹)	ᥙᥧᥱ ᥘᥬ (pu⁵ lɑ⁶)
Everyone	ᥙᥫᥝ (pən⁶)	ᥙᥫᥝ (pən⁶)
Other people	ᥖᥒᥰ ᥘᥣᥭᥴ (taŋ² laːi¹)	ᥖᥒᥰ ᥘᥣᥭᥴ (tɑŋ² lai¹)

Syntax

Tai Nuea word order is usually subject–verb–object (SVO); modifiers (e.g. adjectives) follow nouns.

Demonstrative

	Mangshi	Menglian
This	ᥘᥭᥳ (lai⁴)	ᥢᥭᥳ (nɑi⁴)
That	ᥘᥢᥳ (lan⁴)	ᥢᥢᥳ (nɑn⁴)
Here	ᥖᥤ ᥘᥭᥳ (ti⁶ lai⁴)	ᥖᥤ ᥢᥭᥳ (ti⁶ nɑi⁴)
There	ᥖᥤ ᥘᥢᥳ (ti⁶ lan⁴)	ᥖᥤ ᥢᥢᥳ (ti⁶ nɑn⁴)

Adverb

Other Pronouns
	Mangshi	Menglian
What	ᥔᥒᥴ (saŋ¹)	ᥖᥤ ᥔᥒᥴ (ti⁶ sɑŋ¹)
Why	ᥐᥩᥙ ᥖᥤ ᥔᥒᥴ (kɔp⁶ ti⁶ saŋ¹)
Who	ᥚᥬᥴ (pʰaɯ¹)	ᥙᥧᥱ ᥘᥬ (pu⁵ lɑ⁶)
Where	(ᥖᥤ) ᥗᥬᥴ (ti⁶ thaɯ¹)	ᥖᥤᥴ ᥘᥬ (ti¹ lɑ⁶)
Which	ᥘᥬ (laɯ⁶)	ᥘᥬ (lɑ⁶)
How much	ᥑᥬ (xaɯ⁶)	ᥑᥬ ᥘᥬ (xɑ⁶ lɑ⁶)
How many	ᥐᥤᥱ (ki⁵)	ᥐᥤᥱ (ki⁵)

Numeral

Numerals
	Mangshi	Menglian
0	ᥘᥤᥢᥳ (lin⁴)	ᥘᥤᥢᥳ (lin⁴)
1	ᥘᥫᥒ (ləŋ⁶)	ᥢᥫᥒ (nəŋ⁶)
1	ᥟᥥᥖᥱ (et⁹)	ᥟᥥᥖ (et¹⁰)
2	ᥔᥩᥒᥴ (sɔŋ¹)	ᥔᥩᥒᥴ (sɔŋ¹)
3	ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (saːm¹)	ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (sam¹)
4	ᥔᥤᥱ (si⁵)	ᥔᥤᥱ (si⁵)
5	ᥞᥣᥲ (ha³)	ᥞᥣᥲ (ha³)
6	ᥞᥨᥐᥱ (hok⁹)	ᥞᥨᥐ (hok¹⁰)
7	ᥓᥥᥖᥱ (tset⁹)	ᥓᥥᥖ (tset¹⁰)
8	ᥙᥦᥖᥱ (pɛt⁹)	ᥙᥦᥖᥱ (pɛt⁹)
9	ᥐᥝᥲ (kau³)	ᥐᥝᥲ (kɑu³)
10	ᥔᥤᥙᥴ (sip⁷)	ᥔᥤᥙ (sip¹⁰)
11	ᥔᥤᥙᥴ ᥟᥥᥖᥱ (sip⁷ et⁹)	ᥔᥤᥙ ᥟᥥᥖ (sip¹⁰ et¹⁰)
20	ᥔᥣᥝᥰ ᥘᥫᥒ (saːu² ləŋ⁶)	ᥔᥣᥝᥰ ᥢᥫᥒ (sau² nəŋ⁶)
21	ᥔᥣᥝᥰ ᥟᥥᥖᥱ (saːu² et⁹)	ᥔᥣᥝᥰ ᥟᥥᥖ (sau² et¹⁰)
25	ᥔᥣᥝᥰ ᥞᥣᥲ (saːu² ha³)	ᥔᥣᥝᥰ ᥞᥣᥲ (sau² ha³)
30	ᥔᥤᥙᥴ ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (saːm¹ sip⁷)	ᥔᥤᥙ ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (sam¹ sip¹⁰)
100	ᥙᥣᥐᥱ (paːk⁹)	ᥙᥣᥐᥱ (pak⁹)
205	ᥔᥩᥒᥴ ᥙᥣᥐᥱ ᥙᥣᥭ ᥞᥣᥲ (sɔŋ¹ paːk⁹ pai⁶ ha³)	ᥔᥩᥒᥴ ᥙᥣᥐᥱ ᥙᥣᥭ ᥞᥣᥲ (sɔŋ¹ pak⁹ pai⁶ ha³)
1000	ᥞᥥᥒᥴ (heŋ¹)	ᥞᥥᥒᥴ (heŋ¹)
10000	ᥛᥧᥢᥱ (mun⁵)	ᥛᥧᥢᥱ (mun⁵)
70006	ᥓᥥᥖᥱ ᥛᥧᥢᥱ ᥙᥣᥭ ᥞᥨᥐᥱ (tset⁹ mun⁵ paːi⁶ hok⁹)	ᥓᥥᥖ ᥛᥧᥢᥱ ᥙᥣᥭ ᥞᥨᥐ (tset¹⁰ mun⁵ paːi⁶ hok¹⁰)
1st	ᥐᥨᥳ ᥞᥨᥴ (ko⁴ ho¹)	ᥗᥨᥢᥲ ᥢᥫᥒ (tʰon³ nəŋ⁶)
2nd	ᥐᥨᥳ ᥖᥛᥰ (ko⁴ tam²)	ᥗᥨᥢᥲ ᥔᥨᥒᥴ (tʰon³ soŋ¹)
3rd	ᥐᥨᥳ ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (ko⁴ saːm¹)	ᥗᥨᥢᥲ ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (tʰon³ sam¹)
last	ᥐᥨᥳ ᥔᥧᥖᥴ (ko⁴ sut⁷)	ᥗᥨᥢᥲ ᥔᥧᥖ (tʰon³ sut¹⁰)

Text sample

ᥛᥬᥰ

maɯ⁵⁵

you

ᥐᥤᥢ

kin³³

eat

ᥑᥝᥲ

xau⁴²

rice

ᥕᥝᥳ

jau⁵⁴

PERF.PTC

ᥞᥪᥴ?

hi³⁵

INTERR.PTC

Have you eaten? (a common greeting)

ᥐᥝ

kau³³

I

ᥛᥨᥝᥴ

mou³⁵

can

ᥖᥣᥢᥲ

taan⁴²

speak

ᥑᥣᥛᥰ

xaam⁵⁵

language

ᥖᥭᥰ

tai⁵⁵

Tai

ᥖᥬᥲ

taɯ⁴²

De

ᥑᥨᥒᥰ

xong⁵⁵

hong

I can speak Dehong Tai/ Tai Nuea.

Language use

A textbook printed in the Tai Nuea Language

A board written in Chinese, Tai Nuea, and Jingpo

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 are in Tai Nuea.

In Thailand, a collection of 108 proverbs was published with translations into Thai and English.^[3]

References

^ Tai Nuea at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ "Revised Proposal for Encoding the Tai Le script in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). 2001-10-06 – via unicode.org.
^ Thawi Swangpanyangkoon and Edward Robinson. 1994. (2537 Thai). Dehong Tai proverbs. Sathaban Thai Suksa, Chulalankorn Mahawitayalai.

Bibliography

Chantanaroj, Apiradee (2007). A Preliminary Sociolinguistic Survey of Selected Tai Nua Speech Varieties (PDF) (Master's thesis). Payap University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-05-02.
Luo, Yongxian (1998). A Dictionary of Dehong, Southwest China. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-C145. hdl:1885/146619. ISBN 9780858834965.
Teekhachunhatean, Roong-a-roon รุ่งอรุณ ทีฆชุณหเถียร (2000). "Reflections on Tai Dehong Society from Language Point of View". Phaasaa Lae Phaasaasart / Journal of Language and Linguistics. 18 (2): 71–82.
Zhou, Yaowen 周耀文; Fang, Bolong 方伯龙; Meng, Zunxian 孟尊贤 (1981). "Déhóng Dǎiwén" 德宏傣文 [Dehong Dai]. Mínzú yǔwén 民族语文 (in Chinese). 1981 (3).
Zhou, Yaowen 周耀文; Luo, Meizhen 罗美珍 (2001). Dǎiyǔ fāngyán yánjiū: Yǔyīn, cíhuì, wénzì 傣语方言硏究 : 语音, 词汇, 文字 (in Chinese). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
Zhang, Gongjin 张公瑾 (1981). "Dǎiwén jí qí wénxiàn" 傣文及其文献 [The Dai language and Dai Documents]. Zhōngguóshǐ yánjiū dòngtài 中国史研究动态 (in Chinese). 1981 (6).
Berlie, Jean A. (1993). Neua (Na) in Yunnan (PRC) and the LPDR: A Minority and a "Non-Minority" in the Chinese and Lao Political Systems. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

External links

Tai Dehong
Dehong Daiwen jianjie ji zifuji 德宏傣文简介及字符集 (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)

[e18-1] Tai Nuea at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] "Revised Proposal for Encoding the Tai Le script in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF). 2001-10-06 – via unicode.org.

[3] Thawi Swangpanyangkoon and Edward Robinson. 1994. (2537 Thai). Dehong Tai proverbs. Sathaban Thai Suksa, Chulalankorn Mahawitayalai.

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