Isan language
Isan or Northeastern Thai refers to the local development of the Lao language in Thailand, after the political split of the Lao-speaking world at the Mekong River at the conclusion of the Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893. The language is still referred to as Lao by native speakers.
As a variety of the Lao language, Isan belongs to the Southwestern branch of Tai languages in the Kra-Dai language family. It is most closely related to "tribal" Tai languages such as Phu Thai and Tai Yo. Isan is officially classified as a dialect of the Thai language by the Thai government. Although Thai is a closely related Southwestern Tai language, it falls within a different subbranch. Central Thai and Isan are mutually intelligible only with difficulty; even though they share over 80% cognate vocabulary, they have very different tonal patterns and vowel qualities, and many commonly used words in Isan differ from Thai, thus hampering comprehension.
The Lao language has had a long presence in Isan, arriving with migrants who followed the river valleys into Southeast Asia from southern China some time in the 8th to 10th centuries. The region of what is now Isan was nominally under the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang from 1354 to 1707. After the fall of Lan Xang, the Lao splinter kingdoms became tributary states of Siam. During the late 18th and much of the 19th century, Siamese soldiers carried out forced migrations of Lao people from the western bank of the Mekong River to the eastern bank, now Isan. As a result of these massive movements, Isan speakers comprise almost one-third of the population of Thailand and represent more than 80% of the population of Lao speakers overall. Isan is natively spoken by roughly 13-16 million people of the Isan region, although the total population of speakers, including Isan people in other regions of Thailand and those that speak it as a second language, likely exceeds 22 million.
The Lao language in Thailand was preserved due to the Isan region's large population, mountains that separated the region from the rest of the country, a conservative culture and ethnic appreciation of local traditions. The language was officially banned from being referred to as the Lao language in official Thai documents at the turn of the 20th century. Assimilatory laws of the 1930s that promoted Thai nationalism, Central Thai culture and mandatory use of Standard Thai led to a diglossic situation with the region's inhabitants largely being bilingual and viewing themselves as Thai citizens. Isan is reserved as the language of the home, agrarian economy and provincial life. The Tai Noi script was also banned, thus making Isan a spoken language, although an ad hoc system of using Thai script and spelling of cognate words is used in informal communication.
Isan is also one of the poorest, least developed regions of Thailand, with many Isan people having little education, often employed as laborers, domestic workers, cooks, taxi drivers, and in other service jobs. Combined with historic open prejudice toward Isan people, this has fueled a negative perception of the language. Despite its vigorous usage, since the mid-20th century, the language has been undergoing a slow relexification by Thai or language shift to Thai altogether, threatening the vitality of the language. However, with attitudes toward regional cultures becoming more relaxed in the late 20th century onwards, increased research into the language by Thai academics at Isan universities and an ethno-political stance often at odds with Bangkok, some efforts to help stem the slow disappearance of the language are beginning to take root, fostered by a growing awareness and appreciation of local culture, literature and history.
Classification
As an umbrella term for the Lao varieties as spoken in Northeastern Thailand, Isan remains essentially the same as the Lao language of Laos, albeit nonetheless differentiated in orthography and some minor lexical elements. Both right and left bank varieties are most closely related to the other Lao-Phuthai languages such as Phuthai and Tai Yo, all which are mutually intelligible to each other. The Lao-Phuthai languages are closely related and somewhat mutually intelligible with the other Southwestern branch Tai languages such as the Chiang Saen languages, which includes Standard Thai, and the Northwestern languages, comprising the speech of the Dai/Shan peoples. Lao and Thai, despite separate development, were pushed closer together due to proximity and adoption of the same Khmer, Sanskrit and Pali loan words. Lao is distantly related to the various Zhuang languages that comprise the Northern and Central branches of Tai languages, and even more distantly to the other Kra-Dai languages.Within Thailand, Isan is officially classified as a 'Northeastern' dialect of the Thai language and is referred to as such in most official and academic works concerning the language produced in Thailand. The use of 'Northeastern Thai' to refer to the language is re-enforced internationally with the descriptors in the ISO 639-3 and Glottolog language codes. Outside of official and academic Thai contexts, Isan is usually classified as a particular sub-grouping of the Lao language such as by native speakers, Laotian Lao and many linguists, it is also classified as a separate language in light of its unique history and Thai-language influence, such as its classification in Glottolog and Ethnologue.
Names
Endonyms
Isan people have traditionally referred to their speech as the Lao language. This is sometimes modified with the word tai or the related form Thai, which refers to Thailand or the Thai people, thus yielding Phasa Tai Lao and Phasa Thai Lao.Lao derives from an ancient Austroasiatic loan into Kra-Dai, *k.ra:w, which signified a ' person' and is also ultimately the source of the Isan words lao, and hao. Tai and Thai both derive from another Austroasiatic loan into Kra-Dai, *k.riː, which signifies a ' person'. The various Kra–Dai peoples have traditionally used variants of either *k.riː or *k.ra:w as ethnic and linguistic self-appellations, sometimes even interchangeably.
Isan people tend to refer to themselves and their language as Lao only when in settings with other Isan people, where the language can be used freely, typically away from other Thai-speaking people. Isan speakers typically find the term Lao offensive when used by outsiders, due to its usage as a discriminatory slur, often insinuating their rural upbringings, superstitious beliefs, links with the Lao people of Laos and traditional, agrarian lifestyles. In dealings with Lao people from Laos, Isan people may sometimes use Phasa Lao Isan or 'Isan Lao language' or simply Isan when clarification is needed as to their origins or why their accents differ. The use of Lao or Lao Isan identity, although eschewed by younger generations, is making a comeback, but use of these terms outside of private settings or with other Lao people has strong political associations, especially with the far-left political movements advocating greater autonomy for the region.
As a result, younger people have adopted the neologism Isan to describe themselves and their language, as it conveniently avoids ambiguity with the Laotian Lao as well as association with movements, historical and current, that tend to be leftist and at odds with the central government in Bangkok. The language is also called affectionately Phasa Ban Hao, which can be translated as either 'our home language' or 'our village language'.
Exonyms
Isan is known in Thai by the following two names, officially and academically: Phasa Thai Tawan Ok Chiang Nuea, and Phasa Thai Thin Isan. These names emphasise the official position of Isan speech as a dialect of the Thai language. In more relaxed contexts, Thai people generally refer to the language as Phasa Thai Isan or simply Phasa Isan.The term Isan derives from an older form, which in turn is a derivative of Sanskrit Īśāna, which signifies the 'northeast' or 'northeastern direction' as well as the name of an aspect of Lord Shiva as guardian of that direction. It was also the name of the Khmer capital of Chenla whose rule extended over the southern part of the region. After the integration of the Monthon Lao into Siam in 1893, the Siamese also abolished the use of the terms of Lao in place names as well as self-references in the census to encourage assimilation of the Lao people within its new borders. However, due to the distinct culture and language and the need to disassociate the people and region from Laos, the term Isan came into being for the region of Isan as well as its ethnic Lao people and their Lao speech, although it originally only referred to districts which now comprise the southern portion of Northeastern Thailand.
Use of Lao by native Thai speakers was originally for all Tai peoples that were not Siamese, and was once for Northern Thai people as well, but the term gradually came to be thought of only referring to the ethnic Lao people of Isan and contemporary Laos. When used by Thai people, it is often offensive, given the history of prejudice against Isan people for their distinct culture and language, as well as perceived links with the communist Lao in Laos. Nevertheless, within Northeastern Thailand, Lao is the general term used by the various ethnic minorities that speak it as a first, second or third language. Thai speakers may also use Phasa Ban Nok, which can translate as 'rural', 'upcountry' or 'provincial language'. Although it is often used by Thai speakers to refer to the Isan language, since the region is synonymous in Thai minds to rural agriculture, it is also used for any rural, unsophisticated accent, even of Central Thai.
In Laos, the Lao people also refer to the language as Phasa Lao, but when necessary to distinguish it from the dialects spoken in Laos, the terms Phasa Tai Lao and Phasa Lao Isan can also be used. In most other languages of the world, 'Isan' or translations of 'Northeastern Thai language' are used.