"Thai peoples" redirects here. For the subgroup of the Tai, see Thai people

Tai

Tai women in Yunnan.
Regions with significant populations
China (Dai), Myanmar/Burma (Shan), Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and India (Ahom)
Languages
Tai–Kadai languages, languages of resident countries
Religion
Theravada Buddhism, animism, Hinduism

Tai peoples are anybody predominantly descended from the original proto-Tai speakers. This includes those who have Tai blood but no longer speak Tai languages, some 8-10 million people in Northeastern India (not limited to Assam) claim descent from Ahomese, but may have intermarried with others and now speak Assamese, another tens of thousands in India still use Tai languages (mostly in Arunachal Pradesh). Aside from India, where language has eroded, Tai groups can be traced through their language.

Different Names[link]

Today, Tai peoples are split among nations, leading to different names for them. In China, Tai peoples (excluding Rauz peoples) are lumped together as Dai people, despite not self-identifying as "Dai", and in Burma they're similarly lumped together as Shan people (again, a bureaucratic designation not ethnic self-identity), in Vietnam Tay, and Laos Lao, and Thailand Thai people.

Origin of the Tai[link]

In a paper published in 2004, Linguist Laurent Sagart hypothesized that the proto-Tai–Kadai language originated as an Austronesian languages that migrants carried from Taiwan to mainland China. Afterwards, the language was then heavily influenced by local languages from Sino-Tibetan, Hmong–Mien, or other families, borrowing much vocabulary and converging typologically.^[1][2] Much closer to the present, some peoples speaking Tai languages migrated southward over the mountains into Southeast Asia, perhaps prompted by the coming of the Han Chinese to south China.

Linguistic heritage is not synonymous with genetic heritage, because of language shift where populations learn new languages. Tai people tend to have very high frequencies of Y-DNA haplogroup O2a with moderate frequencies of Y-DNA haplogroups O2a1 and O1. However, it is believed that the O1 Y-DNA haplogroup is associated with both the Austronesian people and the Tai. The prevalence of Y-DNA haplogroup O1 among Austronesian and Tai peoples also suggests a common ancestry with the Sino-Tibetan, Austro-Asiatic, and Hmong–Mien peoples some 35,000 years ago in China.^[3] Y-DNA haplogroup O2a is found at high frequency among most Tai peoples, which is a trait that they share with the neighboring ethnic Austro-Asiatic peoples of Yunnan in southern China. Y-DNA haplogroups O1 and O2a are subclades of O Y-DNA haplogroup, which itself is a subclade of Y-DNA haplogroup K, a genetic mutation that is believed to have originated 40,000 years ago, somewhere between Iran and Central China.^[4]

Tai groups and names in China[link]

Other Tai populations[link]

Throughout Asia[link]

There is a large Shan community within Sri Lanka which settled in Sri Lanka from mainland India.^{[citation needed]} In other parts of Asia, substantial Thai communities can be found in Japan, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

Tai of North America[link]

The United States is home to a significant population of Thai, Lao, Tai Kao, Isan, Lu, Phutai, Tai Dam, Tay and Shan people. There are a significant number of Thai and Lao people living in Canada as well.

Tai of Europe[link]

The most significant communities of Tai peoples in Europe are in the Lao communities of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Switzerland, the Isan communities of the United Kingdom and Iceland, the Thai communities of Finland, Iceland and Norway, the Tai Dam and Tay communities of France, and the Southern Thai community of the United Kingdom.

Thai of Oceania[link]

There is a sizable Thai community in Australia, as well as a Northeastern Thai community in New Zealand.

Lao of Argentina[link]

In recent times, large numbers of Lao have migrated to Argentina.

References[link]

The Lao Song (Thai: ลาวโซ่ง [laːsoːŋ]^{[missing tone]}) are an ethnic group of Thailand. The Lao Song are also known as the Tai Song (ไทโซ่ง), Lao Song Dam (ลาวโซ่งดำ) or simply as the Song or Song Dam.

History[link]

The Lao Song are descendants of Lao peoples from the areas of Tonkin and areas east of Luang Prabang when they were forcibly removed to the areas of Central Thailand today as slaves and corvée labourers during Siamese annexation during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most were members of the Tai Dam ethnic group (counted by the Chinese government as members of the Dai ethnic group) and the traditional dress, language, and culture is remarkable as a preservation of Tai Dam culture in the heart of Central Thailand and Thaification policies. The Lao Song were used as guards for the royal courts and to help control the powerful Chinese minority, which explains their widespread distribution.

Geographic Distribution[link]

There are approximately 34,000 Lao Song spread out over Central Thailand, including Phetchabun, Phitsanulok, Nakhon Sawan, Ratchaburi, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi, Chumphon and Nakhon Pathom Provinces.

Religion[link]

Although originally they believed in animism, most Lao Song are now Theravada Buddhists, but this often co-exists with the older religion.

Economy[link]

• Crop farming
• Handirafts

References[link]

• Lao Song Crafts
• Hattaway, Paul. (2004). Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Guide. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
• Zhu, Liangwen (1992). The Dai: Or the Tai and Their Architecture & Customs in South China. Bangkok, Thailand, and Kunming, Yunnan, China: D D Books and The Science and Technology Press of Yunnan.