The language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman sub-branch of Sino-Tibetan language family and is considered an agglutinative tone language. It is written in the Roman script.

Tangkhul is a language spoken by the Tangkhul ethnic tribe who mainly inhabit Ukhrul and Kamjong districts in the Indian state of Manipur. The Tangkhul people are also found scattered in the neighbouring areas of Manipur, Nagaland, and Myanmar. Ukhrul and Kamjong districts, situated in the north-eastern part of Manipur, cover a total area of 4,544 sq. km. and are bordered by Senapati and Kangpokpi districts of Manipur in the West, Imphal Valley and Chandel district of Manipur in the South, Nagaland state in the North, and Myanmar in the East. As per the 2011 Census report, Ukhrul District had a total population of 183,998, a sex ratio of 948 females for every 1000 males and a total literacy rate of 81.4 per cent (85.5 per cent for males and 76.9 per cent for females).The 2011 Census also reported that there were 213 inhabited villages in Ukhrul district (of which 123 villages may now be under the newly formed Kamjong district). Ahum (1997) estimates the total number of Tangkhul villages to be over 200. These villages have a village dialect of their own (named after the villages) which differ from Standard Tangkhul and are often mutually unintelligible depending on the regional or geographical location of the villages. The Tangkhuls use Tangkhul Tui as a common language for inter-village communication. The Standard Tangkhul or Tangkhul Tui as used by the ethnic community in India today, has its basis in the Ukhrul dialect and came into being as a result of linguistic and administrative work undertaken by British missionaries and administrators in the region during the late 19th century.