Tày or Thổ (a name shared with the unrelated Thổ and Cuoi languages) is the major

Tai language 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 S ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

, spoken by more than a million Tày people in Northeastern Vietnam.

Varieties

Tày linguistic varieties include the following: *Tày Bảo Lạc – spoken in Bảo Lạc District, western Cao Bang province. *Tày Trùng Khánh – spoken in Trùng Khánh District, northeastern Cao Bang province. *Thu Lao or Dai Zhuang varieties are considered to be a different language.

Phonology

Consonants

* The Cao Bẳng Tày dialect is the only variety to have the sounds .

Vowels

* There are also three semivowels that mainly occur in syllable-coda position in combination with other vowel sounds. are typically realized as consonant sounds . follows front vowels and central vowels . follows back vowels as well as central vowels . However, only follows .

Varieties

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Tones

Vocabulary

References