Tai Languages - Name

Name

Cognates with the name Tai (Thai, Dai, etc.) are used by speakers of many Tai languages. The term Tai is now well-established as the generic name in English. Several Lao linguists have objected to this, opining that Siamese Thai should be considered a Lao language, but that hasn't made much headway in English usage. Because Tai and Thai, the national language of Thailand, are homonyms, some linguists continue to use Siamese for the latter. Similarly, the terms Dai and Daic have fallen somewhat out of favor as the name for the entire family, with forms based on Kadai now more common.

Many of the languages are called Zhuang in China and Nung in Vietnam.

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