This includes 280,000 people in China (Yunnan), 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in Laos, 83,000 in Thailand and 4,960 in Vietnam.

The initials t͡s- and s- are palatalized before front vowels (which in the language are i, e, and ɛ) and become t͡ɕ- and ɕ-, respectively.

[3] As in Thai and Lao, Tai Lue has borrowed many Sanskrit and Pali words and affixes.

In many words, the initial ร (/r/) in Thai is ฮ (/h/) in Tai Lue, as is also the case in Lao and Tai Yuan: Aspirated consonants in the low-class consonant group(อักษรต่ำ /ʔàk sɔ̌n tàm/) become unaspirated: (Note that the vowels also differ greatly between Tai Lue and Thai in many words, even though they are etymologically related and share the same root.)

New Tai Lue is a modernization of the Lanna alphabet (also known as the Tai Tham script), which is similar to the Thai alphabet, and consists of 42 initial consonant signs (21 high-tone class, 21 low-tone class), seven final consonant signs, 16 vowel signs, two tone letters and one vowel shortening letter (or syllable-final glottal stop).

The Bajia people (八甲人), who number 1,106 individuals in Mengkang Village (勐康村), Meng'a Town (勐阿镇), Menghai County, Yunnan, speak a language closely related to Tai Lue.

[citation needed] There are 225 Bajia people living in Jingbo Township 景播乡, Menghai County (You 2013:270).