The Northern Tai languages are an established branch of the Tai languagesofSoutheast Asia. They include the northern Zhuang languages and Bouyei of China, Tai Mène of Laos and Yoy of Thailand.
| Northern Tai | |
|---|---|
| Northern Zhuang | |
| Geographic distribution | Southern China |
| Linguistic classification | Kra–Dai |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Glottolog | nort3180 |
 Distribution of Northern Tai and Central Tai languages (Zhuang, Tay-Nung and Bouyei included) | |
Ethnologue distinguishes the following languages:[1]
(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 (2009:300) 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 ZhuangtoYongnan 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:
Some examples of lexical and phonological differences between Northern Tai and Central-Southwestern Tai:[4]
| Gloss | p-North Tai | p-Central Tai | p-Southwest Tai |
|---|---|---|---|
| ‘tiger’ | *kuːk | *sɯə | *sɯə |
| ‘thorn’ | *ʔon | *n̥aːm | *n̥aːm |
| ‘crow’ | *ʔaː | *kaː | *kaː |
| ‘steam, vapor’ | *soːj | *ʔjaːj | *ʔaːj |
| ‘to tear’ | *siːk | *cʰiːk | *cʰiːk |
| ‘knife’ | *mit | *miːt | *miːt |