Isan language

A map showing the Isan Region in red. The region is a stronghold of the language. Thailland is shown in yellow.

Palm-leaf manuscripts, such as these from the Dai people of Yunnan, were used throughout South and South-East Asia to record literature. Many examples in Isan can be found in Buddhist libraries in the region.

Isan is the name for a number of closely related dialects which are spoken in the Northeast of Thailand and neighbouring countries. Isan is mostly used for informal communication. Isan consists of a number of dialects, there is no official language. People who speak one dialect usually understand the others. When Isan is written down, the Thai alphabet is used most of the time. Very rarely, the Lao alphabet, which is also used to write the Laotian language is used. About 20 million people speak the Isan language as their first language. About a third of the population of Thailand, and 80% of the speakers of Laotian understand it.

Isan Language Media

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  Portions of an ancient legal text written in the Tai Noi script on a palm-leaf manuscript. The script was banned in the 1930s but survived in Laos as the modern Lao alphabet.

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  Geographic distribution of Lao dialects within Northeastern Thailand.

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  The consonants of the old Tai Noi alphabet. Letter shapes have been preserved, with few changes, in the modern Lao alphabet.

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  An example of the Tai Tham alphabet formerly used in Laos and Isan for religious literature.

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  A sutra in the Khom script. This Khmer script was used to write Buddhist, Brahmanic and ritual texts.