Northern Tai languages

Ethnologue

Ethnologue distinguishes the following languages:^[1]

• Saek (Laos and northeast Thailand; listed outside Tai proper in the Ethnologue classification, though said to be similar to Tai Maen, which is listed as Northern Tai)
• Tai Maen (Laos)
• Yoy (Thailand) [?]^[2]
• Bouyei (Buyi) (China) (including the language of the Giáy people of Vietnam)
• Central Hongshuihe Zhuang
• Eastern Hongshuihe Zhuang
• Guibei Zhuang
• Yei Zhuang
• Lianshan Zhuang
• Liujiang Zhuang
• Liuqian Zhuang
• Yongbei Zhuang
• Youjiang Zhuang

(See varieties of Zhuang.)

Yoy is elsewhere classified as Southwestern Tai, and E, which is a mixed language Northern Tai-Chinese language.

Longsang Zhuang, a recently described Northern Tai language, is spoken Longsang Township, Debao County, Guangxi, China. Hezhang Buyi is a moribund Northern Tai language of northwestern Guizhou that is notable for having a Kra substratum.

Pittayaporn (2009)

Pittayaporn (2009:300) distinguishes a similar group of Zhuang varieties as group "N", defined by the phonological shifts *ɯj, *ɯw → *aj, *aw.^[3] He moves the prestige dialect of Zhuang, the Wuming dialect, from the Northern Tai Yongbei Zhuang to Yongnan Zhuang – purportedly Central Tai – as it lacks these shifts. The various languages and localities Pittayaporn includes in group N, along with their Ethnologue equivalents, are:

• Saek
• Bouyei 布依 (including the language of the Giáy people of Vietnam)
• Yei Zhuang 剥隘
• (Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan)
  • Guangnan Sha 广南沙族 = Guibian Zhuang (north Guangnan; south Guangnan is Nong Zhuang)
  • Qiubei 丘北县 = Qiubei Zhuang
• (Baise, Guangxi)
  • Lingyun 凌乐/凌云县 = Guibian Zhuang
  • Pingguo 平果县 = Yongbei Zhuang
  • Tiandong 田东县 = Youjiang Zhuang
  • Tianlin 田林县 = Guibian Zhuang
• (Nanning Prefecture, Guangxi)
  • Hengxian 横县 = Yongbei Zhuang
  • Shanglin 上林县 = Hongshuihe Zhuang
  • Yongbei 邕北 = Yongbei Zhuang
• (Guigang Prefecture, Guangxi)
  • Guigang 贵港 City = Hongshuihe Zhuang ?
  • Dulan 独兰 Village, Pingnan 平南县
• Laibin 来宾 Prefecture, Guangxi = Hongshuihe Zhuang (south Laibin), Liujiang Zhuang (north Laibin)
• (Hechi Prefecture, Guangxi)
  • Hechi City 河池 = Guibei Zhuang
  • Huanjiang 环江 = Guibei Zhuang
  • Nandan 南丹县 = Guibei Zhuang
  • Yishan 宜州 = Liujiang Zhuang
• (Liuzhou Prefecture, Guangxi)
  • Liujiang 柳江县 = Liujiang Zhuang
  • Rong'an 融安县 = Guibei Zhuang
• Longsheng 龙胜县, Guilin 桂林, Guangxi = Guibei Zhuang
• Dong'an 东安县, Yongzhou 永州, Hunan
• Lianshan 连山县, Qingyuan 清远, Guangdong = Lianshan Zhuang

Some examples of lexical and phonological differences between Northern Tai and Central-Southwestern Tai:^[4]