Ta'Oi (Ta'Oih, Ta Oi) is a

Katuic The fifteen Katuic languages form a branch of the Austroasiatic languages spoken by about 1.3 million people in Southeast Asia. People who speak Katuic languages are called the Katuic peoples. Paul Sidwell is the leading specialist on the Katuic ...

dialect chain A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...

of Salavan and

Sekong Sekong (or ''Xekong''; Lao ເຊກອງ) is the capital city of Sekong Province, Sekong District, Laos. It was created in 1984 after it was ascertained that Ban Phon's unexploded ordnance made it uninhabitable. References Populated ...

provinces in Laos, and in Thừa Thiên-Huế province in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

(Sidwell 2005:12).

Varieties

Sidwell (2005) lists the following varieties of Ta'Oi, which is a name applied to speakers of various related dialects. *Ta'Oi proper *Ong/Ir/Talan *Chatong is spoken about 50 to 100 km northeast of Sekong. It has been recorded only by Theraphan L-Thongkum. *Kriang (Ngkriang, Ngeq) is spoken by up to 4,000 people living in villages between Tatheng and Sekong, such as Ban Chakamngai. *Kataang (Katang) is a dialect that has been documented by

Michel Ferlus Michel Ferlus (born 1935) is a French linguist whose special study is in the historical phonology of languages of Southeast Asia. In addition to phonological systems, he also studies writing systems, in particular the evolution of Indic scripts in ...

Gerard Diffloth Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

, and other linguists. It is not to be confused with the Bru dialect of Katang.

Phonology

Consonants

* There are also creaky syllable-final segments /mʔ, nʔ, ŋʔ, wʔ, lʔ, jʔ/, however; they are not noted as a distinct series. * /ɟ/ may also be heard as a preglottal sound �jSidwell, Paul (2005). pp. 12-15

Varieties

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References

Further reading