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Why is the term Tai used for the whole language family instead of Thai?
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Tai languages
Major divisions of the Tai languages and related languages.
The term "Tai" is used to refer to the entire language family to avoid confusion with the Thai language. Because "Thai" has been officially designated as the specific name for the language spoken in Thailand, using it to describe the broader group of related languages would be ambiguous. Consequently, linguists use "Tai" as the umbrella term for the family, which includes other languages such as Shan.12