ท่วงทำนองชาวไท | TAI-KADAI SPEAKERS VIBE

All members of the Tai-Kadai (also known as Kadai or Kam-Tai) language family evolved from an ancestral language called Proto-Tai which is thought to have originated in the area between northern Vietnam and southeastern China. Some 2,000 years ago, speakers of the Tai languages moved southward into Southeast Asia. Today, languages belonging to the Tai-Kadai language family are spoken by an estimated 85 million people in Southeast Asia in an area extending from Thailand into Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, and India. The two national languages of the group, Thai and Lao, account for well over half the total of Tai-Kadai speakers. The spelling “Thai” is used for the national language of Thailand and for some regional varieties in that country. “Tai” is used for the wider Tai subfamily of Tai-Kadai and also in the names of some specific varieties.

According to Ethnologue, the Tai-Kadai family includes 76 languages. The distribution of the languages is very complex with much overlapping and interpenetration of the languages. The total number of first-language speakers of Tai-Kadai languages is estimated to be around 85 million people. The largest number of speakers live in Thailand (around 45 million), followed by China with around 15 million. Smaller numbers live in other countries such as Vietnam, Assam (India), Myanmar, Laos, France, Europe, UK, U.S., and Canada.

Reference: MustGo
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