Tai Pao, known in Vietnamese sources as Tai Hang Tong (''Hàng Tổng''), is a
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 ...
of
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 i ...
and
Laos. In Laos, it is spoken in
Khamkeut District,
Pakkading District, and
Viengthong District of
Bolikhamxai Province. Two
dialects
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
of Tai Hang Tong are distinguished: Tai Pao and
Tai Yo
Tai Yo ( th, ไทญ้อ), also known as Tai Mène and Nyaw, is a Tai language of Southeast Asia. It is closely related to Tai Pao of Vietnam, where it may have originated. It was once written in a unique script, the Tai Yo script, but that ...
.
Lai Pao script
The Tai Hang Tong in
Mường Khương,
Nghệ An Province preserve a unique script called
Lai Pao or Lai Paw. Since 2006, the preservation of Lai Pao script was made possible by conservation works of
Michel Ferlus
Michel Ferlus (born 1935) is a French linguist whose special study is in the historical phonology of languages of Southeast Asia. In addition to phonological systems, he also studies writing systems, in particular the evolution of Indic scripts in ...
.
References
Tai languages
Languages of Vietnam
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