Tai Le script
Tai Le Dehong Dai | ||
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Script type | ||
Time period | c. 1200 CE – present | |
Direction | Left-to-right Unicode range | U+1950–U+197F |
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon. | ||
Brahmic scripts |
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The Brahmi script and its descendants |
The Tai Le script (ᥖᥭᥰ ᥘᥫᥴ, [tai˦.lə˧˥]), or Dehong Dai script, is a
The Tai Le script is approximately 700–800 years old and has used several different orthographic conventions.[2]
Traditional script
The traditional Tai Le script is a
The script is known by a variety of names. It is known as Lik Tho Ngok (Tai Nuea: lik4 tho2 ŋɔk4, "bean sprout script") by the Tai Nua,[4] the Old Tay or Old Dai script,[3] Lik Tay La/Na (Tai Nuea: lik6 Tay2 lä1/nä1, "Northern Tay script") and Lik To Yao (Tai Nuea: lik6 to4 yaaw2, "long script").[5]
History
The Lik Tho Ngok script used by the Tai Nuea people is one of a number of "Lik Tai" scripts or "Lik" scripts used by various Tai peoples in northeastern India, northern Myanmar, southwestern Yunnan, and northwestern Laos. Evidence suggests that the Lik scripts have a common origin from an
It is unknown when, where and how the Lik Tho Ngok script first emerged,[8] and it has only been attested after the 18th century.[5] Broadly speaking, only Lik Tho Ngok and Lik To Mon ('round' or 'circular' script), used in Shan State, are still in use today.[8] Government-led reforms of the main Tai Nuea traditional scripts began in Dehong the 1950s. Between 1952 and 1988 the Dehong script went through four reforms, initially adding a consonant, vowel symbols and tone markers, then in 1956 changing many graphemes and tone markers. A third reform was proposed in 1964, again adding and changing graphemes and making further changes to tone markers, and a fourth reform took place in 1988.[9]
Characteristics
In common with other Lik orthographies, Lik Tho Ngok is an alphasyllabary, but not fully an abugida, since occurrence of an inherent vowel is restricted to medial position, where it may take either /-a-/ or /-aa-/.[10]
In Mueng Sing today, the smaller glyphs are not used and two main styles of Lik Tho Ngok are recognised by local scribes: To Lem (Tai Nuea: to1 lem3 ‘edged letters,’) which have straighter edges and more pointed angles, and To Mon (Tai Nuea: to1 mon4 ‘rounded letters’) without sharp angles. There are 21 initial consonant graphemes in the Lik Tho Ngok script used in Mueang Sing, representing 15 phonemes in the spoken dialect plus two rarer phonemes (/d/ and /b/).[11]
Variants and usage
The script used by the Tai Dehong and Tai Mao has consonant and vowel glyphs similar to the reformed Tai Le script, while the script used by the Tai Nuea differs somewhat from the other scripts.[12] However, the scripts used by the Tai Nuea, Tai Dehong and Tai Mao are all considered Lik Tho Ngok.[13]
In
The manuscript culture of the Tai Nuea people is maintained by small numbers of specialised scribes who are literate in the Lik Tho Ngok script, used for secular purposes and only in manuscripts. The script is not taught in temples, in favor of the Tai Tham script.[14] The local government’s "Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center" is working to obtain and protect manuscripts written in the Dai traditional scripts, as of 2013.[4]
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Buddhist texts written in Tai Le script.
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Dai scripture on mulberry-bark paper. Yunnan Nationalities Museum, Kunming, Yunnan, China
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Dai scripture in Dai Le script
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Dai people's medical book
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De'ang scripture, written in the Dai script
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De'ang scripture, written in the Dai script
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Dai Buddhist text
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Dai fortune-telling manuscript
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Buddhist scriptures in Dehong Dai script
Reformed script
Between 1952 and 1988, the script went through four reforms.
Today the reformed Tai Le script, which removes ambiguity in reading and adds tone markers, is widely used by the Tai Dehong and Tai Mao in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, but not in Tai Nuea communities in the Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County, the Menglian Dai, Lahu and Va Autonomous County, and the Gengma Dai and Va Autonomous County, where only the traditional scripts are used. Because of differing letters and orthographic rules, the traditional Tai Nuea and reformed Tai Le scripts are mutually unintelligible without considerable effort.[9]
Letters
In modern Tai Le orthographies, initial consonants precede vowels, vowels precede final consonants and tone marks, if present, follow the entire syllable.[2] Consonants have an inherent vowel /a/, unless followed by a dependent vowel sign. When vowels occur initially in a word or syllable, they are preceded by the vowel carrier ᥟ.
Initials (IPA in brackets) | ||||||||||
ᥐ [k] |
ᥑ [x] |
ᥒ [ŋ] |
ᥓ [ts] |
ᥔ [s] |
ᥕ [j] |
ᥖ [t] |
ᥗ [tʰ] |
ᥘ [l] | ||
ᥙ [p] |
ᥚ [pʰ] |
ᥛ [m] |
ᥜ [f] |
ᥝ [w] |
ᥞ [h] |
ᥟ [ʔ] |
ᥠ [kʰ] |
ᥡ [tsʰ] |
ᥢ [n] | |
Finals (IPA in brackets) | ||||||||||
ᥣ [a] |
ᥤ [i] |
ᥥ [e] |
ᥦ [ɛ], [ia] |
ᥧ [u] |
ᥨ [o] |
ᥩ [ɔ], [ua] |
ᥪ [ɯ] |
ᥫ [ə] |
ᥬ [aɯ] | |
ᥭ [ai] |
ᥣᥭ [aːi] |
ᥥᥭ [ei] |
ᥧᥭ [ui] |
ᥨᥭ [oi] |
ᥩᥭ [ɔi] |
ᥪᥭ [ɯi] |
ᥫᥭ [əi] | |||
-ᥝ [au] |
ᥣᥝ [aːu] |
ᥤᥝ [iu] |
ᥥᥝ [eu] |
ᥦᥝ [ɛu] |
ᥨᥝ [ou] |
ᥪᥝ [ɯu] |
ᥫᥝ [əu] | |||
-ᥛ [am] |
ᥣᥛ [aːm] |
ᥤᥛ [im] |
ᥥᥛ [em] |
ᥦᥛ [ɛm] |
ᥧᥛ [um] |
ᥨᥛ [om] |
ᥩᥛ [ɔm] |
ᥪᥛ [ɯm] |
ᥫᥛ [əm] | |
-ᥢ [an] |
ᥣᥢ [aːn] |
ᥤᥢ [in] |
ᥥᥢ [en] |
ᥦᥢ [ɛn] |
ᥧᥢ [un] |
ᥨᥢ [on] |
ᥩᥢ [ɔn] |
ᥪᥢ [ɯn] |
ᥫᥢ [ən] | |
-ᥒ [aŋ] |
ᥣᥒ [aːŋ] |
ᥤᥒ [iŋ] |
ᥥᥒ [eŋ] |
ᥦᥒ [ɛŋ] |
ᥧᥒ [uŋ] |
ᥨᥒ [oŋ] |
ᥩᥒ [ɔŋ] |
ᥪᥒ [ɯŋ] |
ᥫᥒ [əŋ] | |
-ᥙ [ap] |
ᥣᥙ [aːp] |
ᥤᥙ [ip] |
ᥥᥙ [ep] |
ᥦᥙ [ɛp] |
ᥧᥙ [up] |
ᥨᥙ [op] |
ᥩᥙ [ɔp] |
ᥪᥙ [ɯp] |
ᥫᥙ [əp] | |
-ᥖ [at] |
ᥣᥖ [aːt] |
ᥤᥖ [it] |
ᥥᥖ [et] |
ᥦᥖ [ɛt] |
ᥧᥖ [ut] |
ᥨᥖ [ot] |
ᥩᥖ [ɔt] |
ᥪᥖ [ɯt] |
ᥫᥖ [ət] | |
-ᥐ [ak] |
ᥣᥐ [aːk] |
ᥤᥐ [ik] |
ᥥᥐ [ek] |
ᥦᥐ [ɛk] |
ᥧᥐ [uk] |
ᥨᥐ [ok] |
ᥩᥐ [ɔk] |
ᥪᥐ [ɯk] |
ᥫᥐ [ək] | |
Tone letters (current usage) | ||||||||||
(unmarked) mid-level |
ᥰ high-level |
ᥱ low-level |
ᥲ mid-fall |
ᥳ high-fall |
ᥴ mid-rise | |||||
Tone diacritics (1963 orthography) | ||||||||||
(unmarked) mid-level |
◌̈ high-level |
◌̌ low-level |
◌̀ mid-fall |
◌̇ high-fall |
◌́ mid-rise |
Note that old orthography tone diacritics combine with short letters (as in /ka²/ ᥐ̈) but appear to the right of tall letters (as in /ki²/ ᥐᥤ̈).[2]
Numbers
There are differences between the numbers employed by the Tai Le script in China and Myanmar. The Chinese Tai Le numbers are similar to Chinese Shan and Burmese numbers. Burmese Tai Le numbers are similar to Burmese Shan numbers.
Arabic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Tham Hora | ᪀ | ᪁ | ᪂ | ᪃ | ᪄ | ᪅ | ᪆ | ᪇ | ᪈ | ᪉ |
Chinese Shan | ᧐ | ᧑ | ᥨ | ၃ | ၄ | ၅ | ᧖ | ၇ | ᧘ | ᧙ |
Chinese Tai Le | ᧐ | ᧑ | ᥨ | ၃ | ၄ | ၅ | ᧖ | ၇ | ᧘ | ᧙ |
Burmese | ၀ | ၁ | ၂ | ၃ | ၄ | ၅ | ၆ | ၇ | ၈ | ၉ |
Burmese Shan | ႐ | ႑ | ႒ | ႓ | ႔ | ႕ | ႖ | ႗ | ႘ | ႙ |
Burmese Tai Le | ႐ | ႑ | ႔ | ႕ | ႖ | ႗ | ႘ | ႙ |
Unicode
The Tai Le script was added to the Unicode Standard in April 2003 with the release of version 4.0.
The Unicode block for Tai Le is U+1950–U+197F:
Tai Le[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
U+195x | ᥐ | ᥑ | ᥒ | ᥓ | ᥔ | ᥕ | ᥖ | ᥗ | ᥘ | ᥙ | ᥚ | ᥛ | ᥜ | ᥝ | ᥞ | ᥟ |
U+196x | ᥠ | ᥡ | ᥢ | ᥣ | ᥤ | ᥥ | ᥦ | ᥧ | ᥨ | ᥩ | ᥪ | ᥫ | ᥬ | ᥭ | ||
U+197x | ᥰ | ᥱ | ᥲ | ᥳ | ᥴ | |||||||||||
Notes |
The tone diacritics used in the old orthography (specifically the third reform) are located in the Combining Diacritical Marks Unicode block:
- U+0300 ◌̀ COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT
- U+0301 ◌́ COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT
- U+0307 ◌̇ COMBINING DOT ABOVE
- U+0308 ◌̈ COMBINING DIAERESIS
- U+030C ◌̌ COMBINING CARON
See also
- The Tai Lü language, derived from the Old Tai Lue script "Dai Tam"; which is an abugida
References
- ^ a b Daniels 2012, p. 170-171.
- ^ a b c d Everson, Michael (2001-10-05). "L2/01-369: Revised Proposal for Encoding the Tai Le Script in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF) – via unicode.org.
- ^ a b Daniels, Christian (2005). "Surveying and Preserving Documents in Dehong, Yunnan, China" (PDF). The Literary Heritage of Laos: Preservation, Dissemination and Research Perspectives. The National Library of Laos. pp. 335–340.
- ^ hdl:10355/65287.
- ^ a b Daniels 2012, p. 155.
- ^ Wharton 2017, p. 518.
- S2CID 161899246.
- ^ a b Daniels 2012, p. 149.
- ^ a b c Wharton 2017, p. 185.
- ^ Wharton 2017, p. 1901-193.
- ^ Wharton 2017, p. 190-193.
- ^ a b Wharton 2017, p. 175.
- ^ Wharton 2017, p. 191.
- ^ Wharton 2017, p. 98.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-11-017896-8.
Sources
- Wharton, David (2017). Language, Orthography and Buddhist Manuscript Culture of the Tai Nuea: An Apocryphal Jātaka Text in Mueang Sing, Laos (PhD thesis). Universität Passau. .
- Daniels, Christian (2012). "Script without Buddhism: Burmese Influence on the Tay (Shan) Script of Mäng2 Maaw2 as Seen in a Chinese Scroll Painting of 1407". International Journal of Asian Studies. 9 (2): 147–176. S2CID 143348310.
External links
- "Request to update Code Chart and UCD for Tai Le script" at the website of Unicode
- Omniglot, Dehong Dai script