Tai lü, or simply lü, is the language spoken and written by the Tai people of Sipsong Panna in Yunnan, China. Lü is also used in Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, and belongs to the Zhuang-Dai branch of the larger Dong-Tai family. Similar to Lao, Siamese and White Tai, Lü nevertheless has a number of phonetic, tonal, grammatical and lexical peculiarities that distinguish it from all other Tai idioms. In China, its spelling has been reformed to simplify the traditional alphabet, which is of Indian origin.
Inalco is offering an introduction to Tai Lü writing within the Southeast Asia and Pacific Department that will be of particular interest to students in the lao and siamois sections.
