Yong (Nyong) is a Southwestern Tai language of

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. It is used by Tai Yong people, who are descended from Tai Lue people from

Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna, sometimes shortened to Banna, is one of the eight autonomous prefectures of Yunnan Province. The autonomous prefecture for Dai people is in the extreme south of Yunnan province, China, bordering both Myanmar and Laos. Xishuangbanna ...

, China and

Kengtung Kengtung ( , ), also spelt Kyaingtong (; ), classical name Tungapuri, is a city in Shan State, Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is the principal town of Kengtung Township and the former seat of Kengtung State, a minor principality. Kengtung is locat ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. ''Ethnologue'' reports that Yong is phonologically similar to the

Tai Lue language Tai Lue ( New Tai Lü: , Tai Tham: , ''kam tai lue'', ) or Xishuangbanna Dai is a Tai language of the Lu people, spoken by about 700,000 people in Southeast Asia. This includes 280,000 people in China (Yunnan), 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in ...

. Most Yong speakers are multilingual and speak

Northern Thai Northern Thai (), also called Kam Mueang (, กำเมือง) or Lanna, is the language spoken by the Northern Thai people of Thailand. It is a Southwestern Tai language. The language has approximately six million speakers, most of whom ...

and Standard Thai. There were 12,600 speakers as of 2000.

Distribution

Yong is spoken in

San Kamphaeng District San Kamphaeng (, ; , ) is a district (''amphoe'') of Chiang Mai province in northern Thailand. Geography San Kamphaeng borders the districts (from west clockwise) Saraphi, Mueang Chiang Mai, San Sai, Doi Saket, Mae On of Chiang Mai Province ...

Chiang Mai Province Chiang Mai is the largest Provinces of Thailand, province (''changwat'') of Thailand by area. It lies in Northern Thailand#Regional classification of northern Thailand, upper northern Thailand and has a population of 1.78 million people. It ...

, and

Pa Sang District Pa Sang (, ) is a district (''amphoe'') of Lamphun province, northern Thailand. Geography Neighboring districts are (from the east clockwise) Mueang Lamphun, Mae Tha, Ban Hong and Wiang Nong Long of Lamphun Province, Doi Lo and San Pa Tong ...

, Mae Tha District, and

Mueang Lamphun District Mueang Lamphun (; ) is the capital district ('' amphoe mueang'') of Lamphun province, northern Thailand. Geography Neighboring districts are (from the south clockwise) Mae Tha and Pa Sang of Lamphun Province, San Pa Tong, Hang Dong, Sarap ...

, Lamphun Province (''Ethnologue'').

Phonology

Yong has six tones: mid-rising, mid, low, high, mid-falling and high-falling. As of 2019, there appears to be a generational change occurring where the high tone is merged with the high- and mid-falling tones due to language contact with

and Standard Thai.

References

Southwestern Tai languages {{tk-lang-stub

Distribution

Phonology

Further reading

References