"Tai Yai language" redirects here. Not to be confused with Tai Ya language or Tayal language.
Shan
Tai Yai
ၵႂၢမ်းတႆး (kwáam tái), လိၵ်ႈတႆး (līk tái)
Pronunciation
[kwáːmtáj]ⓘ [liktáj]ⓘ
Native to
Myanmar
Region
Shan State
Ethnicity
Shan, Dai, Kula
Native speakers
4.7 million (2017)[1]
Language family
Kra–Dai
Tai
Southwestern
Northwestern (Shan)
Shan
Dialects
Standard (Eastern)
Khün
Tai Nuea
Khamti
Tai Laing
Aiton
Phake
Khamyang
Turung
Writing system
Mon–Burmese (Shan alphabet)
Official status
Recognised minority language in
Myanmar
Language codes
ISO 639-2
shn
ISO 639-3
shn
Glottolog
shan1277
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
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Shan paper manuscript bound with a patterned cotton cloth cover and a felt binding ribbon, Shan State, first half of the 20th century. British Library
The Shan language is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken in pockets in other parts of Myanmar, in Northern Thailand, in Yunnan, in Laos, in Cambodia, in Vietnam and decreasingly in Assam and Meghalaya. Shan is a member of the Tai–Kadai language family and is related to Thai. It has five tones, which do not correspond exactly to Thai tones, plus a sixth tone used for emphasis. The term Shan is also used for related Northwestern Tai languages, and it is called Tai Yai or Tai Long in other Tai languages. Standard Shan, which is also known as Tachileik Shan, is based on the dialect of the city of Tachileik.[citation needed]
The number of Shan speakers is not known in part because the Shan population is unknown. Estimates of Shan people range from four million to 30 million,[citation needed] with about half speaking the Shan language.[citation needed]Ethnologue estimates that there are 4.6 million Shan speakers in Myanmar; the Mahidol University Institute for Language and Culture gave the number of Shan speakers in Thailand as 95,000 in 2006,[1] though including refugees from Burma they now total about one million.[2] Many Shan speak local dialects as well as the language of their trading partners.
^ abShan at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^"Refugee Conundrum: Little movement in Myanmar's repatriation schemes".
symbols instead of Burmese script. The Shanlanguage is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken...
main source of early Shan Buddhism and Shan scripts. Most Shan speak the Shanlanguage and are bilingual in Burmese. The Shanlanguage, spoken by about 5...
Shan State (Shan: မိူင်းတႆး, Möng Tai; Burmese: ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, pronounced [ʃáɰ̃ pjìnɛ̀]) is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the...
The Shan alphabet is a Brahmic abugida, used for writing the Shanlanguage, which was derived from the Burmese alphabet. Due to its recent reforms, the...
form of Shannen/Shannon Shan people, Southeast Asian ethnic group inhabiting Myanmar Shanlanguage Dai people, also known as Shan, ethnic group in China...
the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Myanmar's Shanlanguage; and Zhuang, a major language in the Southwestern...
times more tokens per word for some languages, for example for Shanlanguage from Myanmar. Even more widespread languages such as Portuguese and German have...
Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include...
are similar to the Shanlanguage of Shan State, Myanmar; the Dai language of Yunnan, China; the Lao language of Laos; the Thai language of Thailand; and...
The holiday is known as Sangkran (listen) in Mon and as Sangkyan in Shan (Shan: သၢင်းၵျၢၼ်ႇ). The story about Thingyan is a Buddhist version of Hindu...
Laing (Shan: တႆးလႅင်, lit. 'red Tai'; variously spelt Tai Lai or Tai Nai), also known as Shan-ni (Burmese: ရှမ်းနီ, lit. 'red Shan'), is a Tai language of...
Central Thai (historically Siamese; Thai: ภาษาไทย), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai, Mon people in Central Thailand...
first languages to have split off from the Southwestern Tai branch. Northern: Tai Nua = Shan-Tayok (Chinese Shan), Khamti Southern: Burman Shan ("Shan proper")...
following Southwestern Tai languages. Tai Lü language (傣仂语; Dǎilè Yǔ) Tai Nüa language (德宏傣语; Déhóng Dǎiyǔ; Shanlanguage) Tai Dam language (傣哪语 / 傣担语; Dǎinǎ Yǔ...
recognises the northern part of Wa State as the Wa Self-Administered Division of Shan State. As a one-party socialist state ruled by the United Wa State Party...
kri: mrui. [tàʊɰ̃dʑí mjo̰]; Shan: ဝဵင်းတူၼ်ႈတီး Shan pronunciation: [weŋ˥ ton˧˧˨ ti˥]) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and...
Ascension and Tristan da Cunha shn, the ISO 639-3 code for the Shanlanguage spoken in Shan State, Myanmar SHN, the National Rail code for Shanklin railway...
(บ้าน) and Shan wan (ဝၢၼ်ႈ), which mean 'village'. (Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see Proto-Tai language#Tones.) Tai...
Wa who were literate used Chinese characters, while others used the Shanlanguage and its script. Christian missionary work among the Wa began at the...
including the Mong Dun, Mong Shan, Mong Mao, and Khamti fiefdoms. The title literally means "lord of the heavens" in Tai languages, including chaopha (𑜋𑜧𑜨...
for Shan women. Sai (စိုင်း): Used for Shan men (e.g., Sai Htee Saing) (from Shan ၸၢႆး). Salai (ဆလိုင်း): Used for Chin men. Sao (စဝ်): Used for Shan royalty...
The Tian Shan (Chinese: 天山), also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in...
The Saga of Darren Shan (known as Cirque Du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan in the United States) is a young adult 12-part book series written by Darren...
Shan. Khamti has been variously rendered Hkamti, Khampti, Kam Ti, Kamti, Tai Kam Ti, Tai-Khamti, Khamti Shan, Khampti Shan, Khandi Shan, Hkampti Shan...
is the capital of Kokang Self-Administered Zone in the northern part of Shan State, Myanmar. It is located east of the Salween River, which forms part...
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