Northern Thai Language

Northern Thai Language

Northern Thai (Thai: ภาษาถิ่นพายัพ; RTGS: Phasa Thin Phayap), Lanna (Thai: ล้านนา), or Kham Mueang (Northern Thai: ᨣᩴᩤᨾᩮᩥᩬᨦ, Thai: คำเมือง ) is the language of the Khon Mueang people of Lannathai, Thailand. It is a Tai language, closely related to Thai and Lao. Northern Thai has approximately six million speakers, most of whom live in Thailand, with a few thousand in northwestern Laos.

Speakers of this language generally consider the name "Thai Yuan" to be pejorative. They generally call themselves khon mueang (ฅนเมือง, ), Lannathai, or Northern Thai. The language is generally known by one of these terms, or as Phayap. The term Yuan is still sometimes used for Northern Thai's distinctive Tai Tham script, which is closely related to the old Tai Lue Script and the Lao religious alphabets. The use of the tua mueang, as the traditional alphabet is known, is now largely limited to Buddhist temples, where many old sermon manuscripts are still in active use. There is no active production of literature in the traditional alphabet.

Most linguists consider Northern Thai to be more closely related to Thai and the other Chiang Saeng languages than to Lao and the Lao–Phutai languages, but the distinction is never easy to make, as the languages form a continuum with few sharp dividing lines.