Central Tai languages

…three linguistic groups—the Southwestern, the Central, and the Northern. Thai and Lao, the official languages of Thailand and Laos, respectively, are the best known of the languages.

…Chinese, is used by the Central and the Northern dialects; the other comes from Indic sources and is used in many languages of the Southwestern group. The Chinese-based system, which is employed chiefly to write songs, consists of Chinese characters, some modified since the 18th century, but it may have…