Its pronouns distinguish the singular and plural numbers along with the basic and possessive cases.
[5] Tujia (土家) literally means 'native people', which is the appellation that the Han Chinese had given to them due to their aboriginal status in the area.
The variety studied by Tian (1986) is that of Dianfang Township 靛房乡, Longshan County.
Ye focuses on the Northern variety of Xinghuo Village 星火村, Miao'ertan Township 苗儿滩镇 (formerly Miaoshi 苗市), Longshan County 龙山县.
[13] Dai focuses on the variety of Xianren Township 仙仁乡, Baojing County.
One system of writing Tujia in Latin script is based on Hanyu Pinyin and uses letters as tone markers, namely, x, r, v, f. It was used in some schools in the area as an experiment, but withdrawn from them in the mid-1990s when the funding ceased.
The Tujia language scholar Chu Yongming (储永明) works with children at the Baifusi Ethnic Minorities School (百福司民族小学) in Baifusi Town, Laifeng County, Hubei to promote the language use.