The Bo are an
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
of
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
. The Bo population primarily spread throughout
Bolikhamxai and
Khammouane provinces, Central Laos.
Synopsis and status
"Bo" simply means "mine." This implies that the Bo were originally a miner tribe of Kha (Mon-Khmer) origins. It is unclear whether the Bo are qualified to be an recognized ethnic group due to their overlapping identity.
There are two branches of the Bo: The Tai Bo of the
Hinboun River speak
Lao while the Kha Bo of
Nakai Plateau speak
Nyo. Both were used to be
Vietic
The Vietic languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic language family, spoken by the Vietic peoples in Laos and Vietnam. The branch was once referred to by the terms ''Việt–Mường'', ''Annamese–Muong'', and ''Vietnamuong''; the term '' ...
speakers but had recently switched to speak
Tai languages
The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages ( th, ภาษาไท or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Sia ...
during the
First Indochina War.
Tai Bo and Kha Bo elderly still could speak a language variant that are believed to be related or close to either
Kri or
Maleng language
Maleng, also known as Pakatan and Bo, is a Vietic language of Laos and Vietnam.
Maleng has the four-way register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or rang ...
.
Footnotes
{{Ethnic groups in Laos
Vietic peoples
Ethnic groups in Laos