| Language name: | LUE |
| UPSID number: | 2427 |
| Alternate name(s): | LI |
| Classification: | Austro-Tai, Li-Kam-Tai |
| This language has | 31 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.437450826 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | p k kW ? ph th kh kWh b d tS tSh f h v s m n N l j i e E a O o o( u uu t |
| Comment: | Lue is spoken in southern Yunnan, China, near the common border of Myanmar (Burma) and Laos. The language has six tones; high, mid and low level, mid-high and low-mid rising, high falling. Vowels in syllables closed by /p t k ?/ are short and these syllables may only have H or M tone. Final [w] (found after unrounded vowels only) is treated as an allophone of /v/. Final /j/ occurs after non-front vowels only. Morev (1978) lists one affricate (apparently [ts] at least before non-front vowels); Li (1964) lists aspirated and unaspirated "pre-palatal" affricates. Morev considers /kw, khw/ units, Li (1964) treats them as initial clusters. |
| Source(s): | Li, F-K. 1964. The phonemic system of the Tai Lu language. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, vol. 35, Taipei. Morev, L.N. 1978. Jazyk Li. Nauka, Moscow. |