Тай-Кадай тілдерінің Тай тобы

Branch of the Kra–Dai language family

The Tai, Zhuang–Tai, or Daic languages (ภาษาไท or ภาษาไต, transliteration: ISO or ISO, or phasa tai; , Phasa Tai) 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 Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Myanmar's Shan language; and Zhuang, a major language in the Southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, spoken by the Zhuang people (壯), the largest minority ethnic group in China, with a population of 15.55 million, living mainly in Guangxi, the rest scattered across Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Hunan provinces.

Cognates with the name Tai (Thai, Dai, etc.) are used by speakers of many Tai languages. The term Tai is now well established as the generic name in English. In his book The Tai Kadai Languages, Anthony Diller claims that Lao scholars he has met are not pleased with Lao being regarded as a Tai language. For some, Thai should instead be considered a member of the Lao language family. This in turn changed to di:/daj (presyllabic truncation and probable diphthongization i: > aj). And then to *dajA (Proto Southwestern Tai) > tʰajA2 (in Siamese and Lao) or > tajA2 (in the other Southwestern and Central Tai languages by Li Fangkuei). Michel Ferlus' work is based on some simple rules of phonetic change observable in the Sinosphere and studied for the most part by William H. Baxter (1992). Based on layers of Chinese loanwords in Proto Southwestern Tai and other historical evidence, Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2014) suggests that the dispersal of Southwestern Tai must have begun sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries AD.

The Tai languages descend from proto Tai Kadai, which has been hypothesized to originate in the Lower Yangtze valleys. Ancient Chinese texts refer to non Sinitic languages spoken across this substantial region and their speakers as "Yue". Although those languages are extinct, traces of their existence could be found in unearthed inscriptional materials, ancient Chinese historical texts and non Han substrata in various Southern Chinese dialects. Thai, as the most spoken language in the Tai Kadai language family, has been used extensively in historical comparative linguistics to identify the origins of language(s) spoken in the ancient region of South China. One of the very few direct records of non Sinitic speech in pre Qin and Han times having been preserved so far is the "Song of the Yue Boatman" (Yueren Ge 越人歌), which was transcribed phonetically in Chinese characters in 528 BC, and found in the 善说 Shanshuo chapter of the Shuoyuan 说苑 or 'Garden of Persuasions'. In the early 1980s the Zhuang linguist Wei Qingwen using reconstructed Old Chinese for the characters discovered that the resulting vocabulary showed strong resemblance to modern Zhuang. Later, Zhengzhang Shangfang (1991) followed Wei's insight but used Thai orthography for comparison, since this orthography dates from the 13th century and preserves archaisms vis à vis the modern pronunciation.

Proto Tai has been reconstructed in 1977 by Li Fang Kuei and by Pittayawat Pittayaporn in 2009. Proto Southwestern Tai has also been reconstructed in 1977 by Li Fang Kuei and by Nanna L. Jonsson in 1991. Others have taken up specific area reconstructions, such as David Strecker's 1984 work regarding "Proto Tai Personal Pronouns." Strecker's proposed system of personal pronouns in Proto Tai involves "three numbers, three persons, an inclusive/exclusive distinction and an animate/non animate distinction in the third person non singular." + Proto Tai Pronouns Proto Tai Thai alphabet1st singular *ku กูdual (exclusive) *pʰɯa เผือplural (exclusive) *tu ตูIncl. dual (inclusive) *ra ราplural (inclusive) *rau เรา2nd singular*mɯŋ มึงdual *kʰɯa เขือplural *su สู3rd singular *man มันdual *kʰa ขาplural *kʰau เขา

Below is comparative table of Tai languages. EnglishProto TaiThaiLaoNorthern ThaiShanTai LüStandard ZhuangAhomwind*dluom   /lōm//lóm//lōm//lóm//lôm//ɣum˧˩/lumtown*mɯəŋA /mɯ̄aŋ//mɯ́aŋ//mɯ̄aŋ//mɤ́ŋ//mɤ̂ŋ//mɯŋ˧/mvngearth*ɗin /dīn//dìn//dīn//lǐn//dín//dei˧/ninfire*wɤjA /fāj//fáj//fāj//pʰáj/ or /fáj//fâj//fei˧˩/phaiheart*cɤɰA /hǔa tɕāj//hǔa tɕàj//hǔa tɕǎj//hǒ tsǎɰ//hó tɕáj//sim/chauwater*C. namC /náːm//nâm//nám//nâm//nà̄m//ɣaem˦˨/nam