Mythologies of the Tais People

Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, and Northern Thai peoples. The Tai are scattered through much of South China and Mainland Southeast Asia, with some (e.g. Tai Ahom, Tai Khamti, Tai Phake, Tai Aiton) inhabiting parts of Northeast India. Tai peoples are both culturally and genetically very similar and therefore primarily identified through their language. According to Michel Ferlus, the ethnonyms Tai/Thai (or Tay/Thay) would have evolved from the etymon *k(ə)ri: 'human being' through the following chain: kəri: > kəli: > kədi:/kədaj (-l- > -d- shift in tense sesquisyllables and probable diphthongization of -i: > -aj). This in turn changed to di:/daj (presyllabic truncation and probable diphthongization -i: > -aj). And then to *daj^A (Proto-Southwestern Tai) > tʰaj^A2 (in Siamese and Lao) or > taj^A2 (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.

The Tai people, also called Tai-Lao or Tai-Shan group, refer to the populations that descended from a common ancestor speaking the Proto-Tai languages. With a large population size (∼60 million), this group is now living in Indo-China peninsula, including Dai people in China, Thai and Phuthai people in Thailand, Lao people in Laos, Shan people in Myanmar and Ahom people in northeast India (NEI). All of the contemporary Tai populations can be assigned to the southwestern branch of the Tai language language similarities with the other Tai-Kadai populations, it is now widely accepted that the Tai people could trace their origin back to the ancient Bai-Yue tribe inhabiting in south and southeast China at ∼2000–3000 years ago.3, 4 At the end of Tang and Song Dynasty, some Tai people migrated southward into Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA), probably compelled by political and cultural compression from northern China During their formation history, the Tai people assimilated cultures from the other civilizations in MSEA and NEI, and evolved into different Tai populations with diverse cultural and linguistic characters. For example, Tais from different regions could be assigned to different language subbranches, including Tai Lü, Tai Nüa, Tai Hongjin, Tai Ya, Tai Dam, Tai Dón and Ahom languages.2 Meanwhile, the cultures of these Tai populations, including the custom and the dressing characteristics, are quite different, even for Dai populations residing in Xishuangbanna and Dehong Therefore, it would be an interesting issue to explore whether the current Tai people maintained any common genetic basis, or whether their genetic compositions had been affected by the neighboring populations during their cultural and linguistic differentiation.

Tribal Lao Tai live in the higher valleys and on the middle slopes of the mountains in northern Laos (and in adjacent areas of south-west China, north Thailand and north-west Vietnam). Largely self-sufficient, they cultivate rice on irrigated terraces as well as corn, wheat and beans, and also engage in swidden agriculture. They are mainly animist and speak a number of interrelated Tai-Kadai languages, which means they can communicate with lowland Lao and Thai peoples. Some Tai have an alphabet based on the same Sanskrit alphabet as the Lao and Thai, but their literacy rates are low. Tai tribes are usually categorized according to their traditional costumes: Tai Dam (Black Tai), Tai Khao (White Tai), Tai Deng (Red Tai). Other Tai tribes such as Tai Neua, Tai Phong, Phu Tai/Phouthay, Lue Tai, Yuan and Phuan, have been characterized by location or other characteristics, such as speaking distinct languages which are nevertheless closely related. Tai are regarded as inferior by lowland Lao, and Tai, in turn, look down on lowland Lao for having failed to maintain Tai tradition and culture. The Tai Dam is the largest of these minorities and traditionally had a caste system involving a nobility, commoners and priests.

Thái, Thai or Tai people (Vietnamese: Người Thái) is officially recognized by the Vietnamese government as one of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups. They are Tai ethnic groups that speak various Tai languages and use the Tai Viet script. They mostly live in the Northwest Region of Vietnam and are culturally and linguistically distinguished from other Tai peoples of Vietnam such as the Nùng and Tày people, who are natives in the Northeast Region. In Vietnam, the Thái nomenclature is composed of several Tai groups, of which the main groups are the Black Thai (Tai Dam, Thái Đen), White Thai (Tai Don, Thái Trắng) and the Red Thai (Tai Daeng, Thái Đỏ). The Tai Lue people are officially classified as a separated group, called Lự. They mostly speak languages in the Chiang Saen branch of the Southwestern Tai languages. Thái people in Vietnam were all originate from Yunnan. However, they (Thái minorities in Vietnam) are also different from the Thai people of Thailand although they are both related and speak Tai-Kadai languages.

Tai, peoples of mainland Southeast Asia, including the Thai, or Siamese (in central and southern Thailand), the Lao (in Laos and northern Thailand), the Shan (in northeast Myanmar [Burma]), the Lü (primarily in Yunnan province, China, but also in Myanmar, Laos, northern Thailand, and Vietnam), the Yunnan Tai (the major Tai group in Yunnan), and the tribal Tai (in northern Vietnam). All of these groups speak Tai languages. Estimates placed the total number of Tai in the late 20th century at 75,760,000, including 45,060,000 in Thailand (including both Thai and Lao), 3,020,000 in Laos, 3,710,000 in Myanmar, 21,180,000 in China, and about 2,790,000 in Vietnam.