Tai peoples
Tai/Dai women in Yunnan, China.
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| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| China (mainly Dai people), Burma (Shan people), Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and India (Ahom people) | |
| Languages | |
| Tai–Kadai languages, languages of resident countries | |
| Religion | |
| Theravada Buddhism, animism, or Hinduism |
Tai peoples refers to the population of descendants of speakers of a common proto-Tai language, including sub-populations which no longer speak a Tai language. Some 8-10 million people in Northeast India (not limited to Assam) descend from Ahom people but may have intermarried with others and now speak Assamese. Additional tens of thousands in India speak Tai languages (mostly in Arunachal Pradesh). Aside from India, Tai peoples can generally be identified through their language.
Speakers of the many languages in the Tai branch of the Tai–Kadai language family are spread over many countries in Southern China, Indochina and Northeast India. Unsurprisingly, there are many terms used to describe the distinct Tai peoples of these regions.
In China, Southwestern Tai peoples are called by the very large umbrella term "Dai people", distinguishing them from the other speakers from the Tai branch of Tai–Kadai, who are known as the Rau.
Endonyms outside of China vary greatly; most common are variants of Tai, which may be taken to mean human; the more restricted term Lao is of unknown origin.
The name "Lao" is used almost exclusively by the majority population of Laos, the Lao people, and two of the three other members of the Lao-Phutai subfamily of Southwestern Tai: Isan speakers (occasionally), the Nyaw or Yaw and the Phu Thai.
In contrast, the term T(h)ai predominates among Southwestern Thai speakers: Northern branch:
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