Kra–Dai-speaking peoples: Difference between revisions
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*[[Tai Maen]]<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
*[[Tai Maen]]<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
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*[[Northern Thai (ethnic group)|Northern Thai]]<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
*[[Northern Thai (ethnic group)|Northern Thai]]<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
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*[[Lao people|Lao]]<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
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*[[Lao people|Lao]] |
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*[[Tai Long]]<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
*[[Tai Long]]<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
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*[[Dai people|Dai]] (including the [[Lu people|Lu]] people)<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
*[[Dai people|Dai]] (including the [[Lu people|Lu]] people)<ref name="Joshua Project">[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php Joshua Project]</ref> |
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Revision as of 14:52, 31 October 2007
 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| China, Thailand, India, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma | |
| Languages | |
| Tai-Kadai languages |
The Tai or Tai-Kadai ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Thailand, that speak the Tai-Kadai languages and share similar traditions and festivals, including Songkran.[1] Despite never having a unified nation-state of their own, the peoples also share or historically shared a vague idea of a "Siam" nation, corrupted to Shan or Assam in some places, and most self-identify as "Tai".
Origin of the Tai
Comparative linguistic research seems to indicate that the Tai people were a proto Tai-Kadai speaking culture of southern China, and that they may have originally been of Austronesian descent.[2] Prior to inhabiting mainland China, the Tai are suspected to have migrated from a homeland on the island of Taiwan where they spoke a dialect of Proto-Austronesian or one of its descendant languages.[2] After the arrival of Sino-Tibetan speaking ethnic groups from mainland China to the island of Taiwan, the Tai would have then migrated into mainland China, perhaps along the Pearl River, where their language greatly changed in character from the other Austonesian languages under influence of Sino-Tibetan and Hmong-Mien language infusion. The coming of the Han Chinese to this region of southern China may have prompted the Tai to migrate in mass once again, this time southward over the mountains into Southeast Asia.[3] While this theory of the origin of the Tai is currently the leading theory, there is insufficient archaeological evidence to prove or disprove the proposition at this time, and the linguistic evidence alone is not conclusive. However, in further support of the theory, it is believed that the O1 Y-DNA haplogroup is associated with both the Austronesian people and the Tai.
Subdivisions of the Tai Ethnic Group
The following is a list of clades of the Tai Ethnicity, as proposed by the Faculty of Arts at Chulalongkhorn Univsersity:
 | This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
- The Phake
- The Khamti, Tai Nuea, Tai Mao and Tai Hao
- The Shan, Tai Ya, Tai Chung, Tai Sai, Tai Payee and Tai Chang
- The Tai Eolai
- The Lanna and Tai Khun
- The Thai Lue, Tai Yong, Tai Dam, Tai Kao, Tai Daeng, Tai Phiang, Tai Mueay
- The Thai
- The Lao
- The Ahom
Many of the known ethnic groups, however, are missing from the list.
Present Geographical Distribution and Demographics
The various Tai ethnic groups are prevalent in the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia, as well as China, India, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the United Arab Emirates and North America. Greatest ethnic diversity within the Tai people occurs in China. The following list demonstrates the distribution of significant populations of individual Tai ethnic groups throughout Asia:
| This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
Tai of Thailand
- Tai Bueng[4]
- Tai Dam[4]
- Tai Gapong[4]
- Khorat Thai[4]
- Tai Khun[4]
- Lao[5]
- Lao Ngaew[4]
- Lao Song[4]
- Lu[4]
- Northeastern Thai (including the Tai Kaleun and Isan people)[4]
- Nyaw[4]
- Nyong[4]
- Thai (Central Thai)[4][5]
- Northern Thai (including the Tai Wang, Lanna and Thai Yuan people)[4]
- Tai Nuea (including the Tai Mao people)[4]
- Phutai[5][4]
- Phuan[5][4]
- Saek[5]
- Shan[5]
- Southern Thai (including the Tak Bai Thai people)[4][5]
- Yoy[4]
Tai of China
- Thai (Central Thai)[4]
- Tai Dam[4]
- Shan[4]
- Dai (including the Lu, Han Tai, Huayao Tai and Paxi people)[4]
- Tai Payee
- Tai Yoi
- Tay[4] (including the Tho people)
- Thula
- Tai Nuea (including the Tai Mao and Tai Pong people)[4]
- Tai Lai
- Cun[4]
- Tai Ya[4]
- Tai Kaihua
- Kang[4]
- Tai Kian
- Dong (including the Northern and Southern Dong people)[4]
- Shui
- Maonan[4]
- Tai Eolai
- Oo'ay
- E[4]
- En[4]
- Fuma[4]
- Gelao (including the Gelao, Gao, A'ou, Cai, Hagei and Duoluo people)[4]
- Hongjin Tai[4]
- Tai Kao[4]
- Lachi[4]
- Li (also known as the Sai people)
- Ming-giai
- Mo[4]
- Mulao[4]
- Northeastern Thai[4]
- Pachen
- Pulachee
- Pemiayaw
- Pulungchee
- Puyai
- Qabiao (including the Pubiao people)[4]
- San Chay (also referred to as the Cao Lan people)[4]
- Tho
- Thuchen
- Zhuang (including the Buyang, Dianbao, Pusha, Tulao, Yongchun and Nung people)[4]
Thai of Vietnam
- Buyei
- Tay Tac[4]
- Tai Chong
- Tai Daeng[4]
- Tai Dam[6][7]
- Giay
- Tai La
- Tai Lakka
- Tsun-Lao[4]
- Tai Kao[4]
- Lao
- Dai[4]
- Tai Man Thanh[4][6]
- Nang
- Zhuang (including the Nung people)[4]
- Phutai[4]
- Tai Taosao
- Tay[6][4] (including the Tho people)
- Tai Do (including the Tay Muoi[6] and Tay Jo people)[4]
- Tai Yung
- Ka Lao
- Thu Lao
- Tai So
- Tai Chiang
- Tai Lai
- Pu Thay[6]
- Tai Hang Thong[6]
- San Chay (also referred to as the Cao Lan people)[4]
- En[4]
- Gelao (including the White Gelao people)[4]
- Lachi[4]
- Laha[4]
- Qabiao (including the Pubiao people)[4]
- Lu[4]
- Yoy[4]
Tai of Burma
- Shan (including the Khamti people)[4]
- Dai (including the Lu people)[4]
- Tai Khun[4]
- Tai Yong
- Tai Nuea (including the Tai Mao people)[4]
- Tai Laeng
- Phake
- Thai Yodiai
- Thai (Central Thai)[4]
- Tai Piw
- Nara
- Thai Thanawasri
Tai of Laos
- Thai (Central Thai)[4]
- Tai Daeng[4]
- Tai Dam[4]
- Tai Gapong[4]
- Tai He[4]
- Kang[4]
- Tay Khang[4]
- Tai Kao[4]
- Kongsat[4]
- Tai Laan[4]
- Tai Maen[4]
- Northern Thai[4]
- Lao[4]
- Tai Long[4]
- Dai (including the Lu people)[4]
- Northeastern Thai (including the Tai Kaleun and Isan people)[4]
- Tai Nuea[4]
- Nyaw[4]
- Tai Pao[4]
- Tai Peung[4]
- Phuan[4]
- Phutai[4]
- Rien[4]
- Saek[4]
- Tai Sam[4]
- Tai Yo
- Tayten[4]
- Yoy[4]
- Zhuang (including the Nung people)[4]
- Shan[4]
Tai of Cambodia
Tai of India
- Ahom
- Phake
- Shan (including the Aiton and Khamti people)[4]
- Khamyang
- Tai Thurung
- Mara (disputed as to Tai ethnicity)
- Tai Chanhari[4]
Tai of Sri Lanka
Tai of Malaysia
- Isan[4]
- Thai (Central Thai)[4]
- Tai Yaklanthan
- Thai Palit
- Thai Tainburi
- Thai Thrangganu
- Southern Thai[4]
Tai of Singapore
Tai of Japan
Tai of Taiwan
Tai of North America
United States of America
- Thai (Central Thai)[4]
- Tai Kao[4]
- Isan[4]
- Lu[4]
- Phutai[4]
- Tai Dam[4]
- Northern Thai[4]
- Southern Thai[4]
- Tay[4] (including the Tho people)
- Shan[4]
Canada
Tai of Europe
United Kingdom
Iceland
Finland
Norway
France
Tai of Australia
Tai of New Zealand
Tai of the United Arab Emirates
Common Culture
Language
The languages spoken by the Tai people, or Tai languages, are a subgroup of the Tai-Kadai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai-Kadai languages, including Thai, the national language of Thailand, Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos, Myanmar's Shan language, and Zhuang, a group of languages of southern China. Thes languages are tonal languages, meaning variations in tone of a word can change that word's meaning.
Festivals
The Tai throughout Asia celebrate a number of common festivals, including a holiday known as Songkran, which originally marked the vernal equinox, but is now celebrated on the 14th of January every year.
References
- ^ Strictly speaking, the Tai ethnicity is actually a clade of the Tai-Kadai ethnicity, although there is currently not a consensus as to the exact arrangement of the component ethnic groups into clades
- ^ a b Sagart, L. 2004. The higher phylogeny of Austronesian and the position of Tai-Kadai. Oceanic Linguistics 43.411-440.
- ^ Stratification in the peopling of China: how far does the linguistic evidence match genetics and archaeology?
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq dr ds dt du dv dw Joshua Project
- ^ a b c d e f g The Thai and Other Tai-Speaking Peoples
- ^ a b c d e f Thai Ethnic Group in Vietnam
- ^ Vets With a Mission