Tai-Kadai · ISO 639-3 blt
Tai Dam Language ꪼꪕꪒꪾ
Tai Dam is a Tai-Kadai language spoken by about 1.4 million people in 2 countries. It is written in the Lao, Tai Viet and Latin scripts.
Where Tai Dam is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Language family
- Tai-Kadai
- Kam-Tai
- Daic-Beic
- Daic
- Central-Southwestern Tai
- Wenma-Southwestern Tai
- Sapa-Southwestern Tai
- Southwestern Tai
- Southwestern Tai P
- Chiang Saeng
- Black Tai
- Tai Dam
Writing system
Lao, Tai Viet and Latin scripts
Related languages
About the Tai Dam language
Tai Dam (ꪼꪕꪒꪾ) is spoken by about 1.4 million people, which makes it the 387th most spoken language in the world — just behind Gujari (1.5 million) and ahead of Anaang (1.4 million). It belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family and, more precisely, to the Black Tai group within the Daic-Beic branch.
Where is Tai Dam spoken?
Tai Dam is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in Laos (760,000) and Vietnam (729,737).
Share of the population that speaks Tai Dam: Laos 9.6% (760,000) and Vietnam 0.7% (729,737).
Tai Dam is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Tai Dam is written in the Lao, Tai Viet and Latin scripts. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Northern Thai, Shan, Thai, Northeastern Thai, Southern Thai, Lao and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 blt.
Frequently asked questions about Tai Dam
How many people speak Tai Dam?
Where is Tai Dam spoken?
What language family does Tai Dam belong to?
What is Tai Dam called in Tai Dam?
Is Tai Dam an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.