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Cao Lan, sometimes Caolan or Man Cao-Lan, is a Tai language of northern Vietnam. It is spoken by the Cao Lan subgroup of the San Chay people. According to Pittayaporn (2009), it is closest to the Chongzuo and Shangsi Zhuang across the border in China, both of which are lumped under the apparently polyphyletic Yongnan Zhuang by Ethnologue. Together, Cao Lan, Chongzuo, and Shangsi form a primary branch of the Tai languages (Pittayaporn 2009).
Cao Lan is spoken by the Cao Lan subgroup of the San Chay people of Tuyên Quang Province. According to the people, the Cao Lan and Sán Chay peoples had arrived from southern China 400 years ago together as one group, even though they spoke two different languages. Notably, they both use Chinese characters to record their languages. Smaller numbers are also found in Xichou County, Yunnan, China and in the following provinces.
The Sán Chay speak a form of Chinese, while the Cao Lan speak a Tai language. Gregerson & Edmondson (1998) considers Caolan to have a combination of both Northern Tai and Central Tai features. Like the E language of northern Guangxi, Cao Lan also displays influences form Pinghua, a Chinese vernacular spoken in Guangxi, China. Haudricourt (1973) believes that the Cao Lan may have adopted a form of Tai when they had stopped in Guangxi during their historical southward migration. The Chinese-speaking Sán Chay, on the other hand, might have been a Yao (or Mienic-speaking) group, as the Yao of Fangcheng, Guangxi call themselves san˧ tɕai˧. Today, the Chinese-speaking Sán Chay live mostly in Quảng Ninh, whereas the Cao Lan are mostly concentrated in Tuyên Quang, Thái Nguyên, and Bắc Giang.
Gregerson, Kenneth J.; Edmondson, Jerold A. (1998). "Some Puzzles in Cao Lan" (PDF). In Somsonge, Burusphat (ed.). The International Conference on Tai Studies. Bangkok: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University. pp. 151–164.
Nguyễn, Nam Tiến (1975). "Lại bàn về mối quan hệ giữa hai nhóm Cao Lan – Sán Chỉ". In Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam: Viện dân tộc học (ed.). Về vấn đề xác định thánh phần các dân tộc thiểu số ở miền bắc Việt Nam (in Vietnamese). Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội. pp. 274–286.
Further reading
Strecker, David (1985). "The Classification of the Caolan Languages" (PDF). In Suriyā Rattanakun; David D. Thomas; Suwilai Prēmsīrat (eds.). Southeast Asian Linguistic Studies: Presented to André-G. Haudricourt. Bangkok: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University. pp. 479–492.
