Tày is a member of the Central Tai group of Tai-Kadai / Kra-Dai languages. It is spoken by about 1.63 million people, mainly in the Northeast Region of Vietnam, particularly in the provinces of Cao Bằng and Quảng Ninh, and in northern Laos. There are also some speakers of Tày in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, particularly in Lâm Đồng Province.
Tày is also known as Tày-Nùng, and was formerly known as Thổ. Dialects include Tày Bảo Lạc, which is spoken in the Bảo Lạc District in the west of Cao Bằng Province, and Tày Trùng Khánh, which is spoken in the Trùng Khánh District in the northeast of Cao Bằng province. Tày is closely related to Nùng and southern varieties of Zhuang.
Tày was originally written with a script known as chữ Nôm Tày, which was created during the Mạc dynasty (1527-1677), and like the Vietnamese Chữ Nôm script, it combines Chinese characters with locally created characters modelled on Chinese. It was used to write ritual texts and songs.
A way to write Tày with the Latin script was created in 1961, and is the current official script for Tày. It is based on the Vietnamese alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ).
Download an alphabet chart for Tày (Excel)
Information about Tày
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tày_language
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/tayy1238
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/tyz
http://www.language-archives.org/language/tyz
https://worldmission.media/languages-of-the-world/tay
Ahom, Aiton, Bouyei, Isan, Kam, Khamti, (Tai) Khün, Lao, Lue, Northern Thai (Kam Mueang), Nùng, Shan, Sui, Tai Dam, Tai Dón, Tai Hongjin, Tai Laing, Tai Nuea, Tai Phake, Tai Ya, Tai Yo, Tày, Thai, Thai Song, Yang Zhuang, Zhuang
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 14.12.25
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