Lahu (Ladhof)

Lahu is a Lolo-Burmese language spoken by about 540,850 people mainly in southwestern China and northeastern Myanmar, and also in northern Thailand, northwestern Laos and northwestern Vietnam. In China it is spoken by about 280,000 people in Yunan Province. It is used as a lingua franca by Lahu and other people, and is the official language in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County. The Lancang dialect is considered the standard version of the language.

There are about 200,000 speakers of Lahu in Kentung district of Shan state in northeastern Myanmar. There are about 32,000 Lahu speakers, mainly in northern Thailand in the provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Kamphaeng Phet and Mae Hong Son. In Laos there are aabout 19,200 speakers of Lahu in the provinces of Bokeo and Luang Namtha. There are also about 9,650 Lahu speakers in Lai Châu province of Vietnam.

Lahu is also known as Muhso, Museu, Musso, Mussur, Lahuna or Launa.

Lahu alphabet and pronunciation

Lahu alphabet and pronunciation

Download an alphabet chart for Lahu (Excel)

Notes

z, zh, dz, s, r sounds are allophones of c, ch, j, sh, y respectively, they are pronounced only if they are followed by [ɨ], which this vowel is written as i.

Sample Text in Lahu (Lord's Prayer)

Qhe te lie, nawl hui bon chi qhe lawl-ot. Mvid naw ma qhot chied ve ngal hui ve Awl pa-ol, nawl ve awl mie that yawt yan te pid lawl-ot. Nawl ve mvid mil gal la pil-ot. Mvid naw ma qhot lo nawl ve a lof bid qhe, mil guil qhot that thawd bid la pil-ot. Yat nyi lof ve cad tul dawl tul ted phaf, yat nyi ngal hui that pet lal-ot. Shu ngal hui that te yat lad ve vend bat thar ngal hui phied qha peul ve qha shuf shuf ngal hui ve vend bat that thawd phied qha lal-ot. Vend bat bel ve awl qhad si ngal hui that tad qai pid. Yat qhal, hail ve awl qhaw lo ngal hui that ponl lal-ot. Awl lawn qo, mvid mil, kand pat lie awl met awl phond qha peu-el, co co taif taif nawl ve yol. A menl.

Information about Lahu compiled by Michael Peter Füstumum

Videos in Lahu

Information about Lahu | Numbers

Links

Information about the Lahu language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahu_language
http://www.ethnologue.com/language/lhu

Lolo-Burmese languages

Burmese/Myanmar, Lahu, Lipo, Marma, Nuosu, Sani

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 28.09.23

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