Thổ people

The ThÃ¡Â»Â ethnic group (also Keo, Mon, Cuoi, Ho, Tay Poong) inhabits the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam, mainly NghÃ¡Â»Â An Province southwest of Hanoi. Many ThÃ¡Â»Â speak the Tho language, which is closely related to Vietnamese. The ThÃ¡Â»Â population numbered 91,430 in 2019.

The ThÃ¡Â»Â are one of the 4 main groups of Vietic speakers in Vietnam, the others being the ViÃ¡Â»Ât, MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng, and ChÃ¡Â»Â©t. The name ThÃ¡Â»Â, which means "autochthonous", was originally applied to the TÃÂ y ethnic group, however this usage is obsolete.

History

The ThÃ¡Â»Â people are a heterogeneous mix of different Vietic peoples. Around the end of the 17th century, Vietnam experienced multiple social upheavals that caused multiple migrations of Viet and Muong peoples into territory of other Vietic speaking ethnic minorities such as the CuÃ¡Â»Âi and intermixed with the local populations. After a period of evolution, were given the name ThÃ¡Â»Â. Their culture combines elements of Viet and Muong culture, with elements of ThÃÂ¡i culture. Their clothing is a mix of Vietnamese, Muong, and Tai traditions from the early modern period. Some women wear clothing similar to the ÃÂo bÃÂ ba or the ÃÂo tÃ¡Â»Â© thÃÂ¢n, but with a Sarong and a Kerchief. Men wear simple tunics and pants. Just like with the Muong, many clothing items are purchased from the ThÃÂ¡i. They mainly grow rice and ramie, and use hemp to make bags, hammocks and nets. In the northern communes of NghÃ¡Â»Â An, the stilt houses are identical to that of the Muong. In the South, however, they are in the ThÃÂ¡i style.

Subdivisions

ThÃ¡Â»Â consists of various different ethnolinguistic groups. QuÃÂ¡n Vi MiÃÂªn (2013:12) lists the following branches.

HÃ¡Â»Â (Lao/Thai exonym for the Han Chinese)
KÃ¡ÂºÂ¹o (Keo) (Lao/Thai exonym for ethnic Kinh or Vietnamese)
MÃ¡Â»Ân (Mol) (MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng autonym)
CuÃ¡Â»Âi
ÃÂan Lai
Ly HÃÂ
TÃÂ y PoÃ¡Â»Âng (PhoÃ¡Â»Âng, PoÃ¡Â»Âng, PhÃ¡Â»Âng) (Lao exonym for the "KhÃ¡ÂºÂ¡", or Mon-Khmer hill tribes)

Languages

ThÃ¡Â»Â is a heterogeneous group; thus, local groups have distinct languages. However, all of ThÃ¡Â»Â languages belong to Vietic branch . NguyÃ¡Â»Ân HÃ¡Â»Â¯u HoÃÂ nh (2009) classify ThÃ¡Â»Â languages into 5 groups base on their position in Vietic branch.

TÃÂ y PoÃ¡Â»Âng (Poong or Phong) and ÃÂan Lai (Liha) - Lexicostatistical studies have found that ÃÂan Lai and PoÃ¡Â»Âng sharing 85% basic lexicon. Thus, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân (2009) identify them as dialects of a language. The speakers of this language reside mainly in Con CuÃÂ´ng and TÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng districts. It may also have close relation with Hung language (Toum) in Laos.
CuÃ¡Â»Âi, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân (2009) pointed out that CuÃ¡Â»Âi is a distinct language with Vietnamese, Muong and PoÃ¡Â»Âng-ÃÂan Lai. This language have two dialects CuÃ¡Â»Âi ChÃÂm in TÃÂ¢n HÃ¡Â»Â£p commune (TÃÂ¢n KÃ¡Â»Â³ district) and CuÃ¡Â»Âi NÃ¡ÂºÂ¿p (or CuÃ¡Â»Âi LÃÂ ng LÃ¡Â»Â¡) in ThÃÂ¡i HÃÂ²a town. Because of sharing 66% basic lexicon with PoÃ¡Â»Âng, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân (2009) proposed to group CuÃ¡Â»Âi with TÃÂ y PoÃ¡Â»Âng-ÃÂan Lai to form a subbranch in Vietic, parallel to ViÃ¡Â»Ât-MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng branch and ChÃ¡Â»Â©t branch.

MÃ¡Â»Ân and HÃ¡Â»Â, The two dialects share 98% basic lexicon and have a closer relation with MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng languages than CuÃ¡Â»Âi and PoÃ¡Â»Âng. They share 77%, 79% and 71% core lexicon with MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng Bi language, MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng Ã¡Â»Âng language and NghÃ¡Â»Â An dialect of Vietnamese, respectively. Especially, MÃ¡Â»Ân and HÃ¡Â»Â are lexical closest with a MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng language in NhÃÂ° XuÃÂ¢n district (84%). Therefore, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân (2009) group them into a single language in ViÃ¡Â»Ât-MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng branch which have a closer relation with MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng languages. MaspÃÂ©ro (1912) named this language as Southern MÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng language
KÃ¡ÂºÂ¹o share 99% lexicon with NghÃ¡Â»Â An dialect of Vietnamese. Thus, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân(2009) classified KÃ¡ÂºÂ¹o as a dialect of Vietnamese or even a sub-dialect of NghÃ¡Â»Â An dialect
ThÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ¢m La and ThÃ¡Â»Â NhÃÂ° XuÃÂ¢n share respectively 94% and 95% basic lexicon with NghÃ¡Â»Â An dialect. However, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân (2009) argued that two ThÃ¡Â»Â languages experienced a different phonological innovation with Vietnamese. Thus, he placed it into a grey area between being dialects of Vietnamese or being member languages of Viet-Muong branch (NguÃ¡Â»Ân has a similar status).

Distribution

As of 2009, 80% (59,579 persons) of all ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â live in NghÃ¡Â»Â An Province, while 13% (9,652 persons) are found in Thanh HÃÂ³a Province QuÃÂ¡n Vi MiÃÂªn (2013:11).

QuÃÂ¡n Vi MiÃÂªn (2013:12-13) lists ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â populations and branches (ethnic subdivisions) for the following districts of NghÃ¡Â»Â An Province.

QuÃ¡Â»Â³ HÃ¡Â»Â£p District: 18,394 people; HÃ¡Â»Â, KÃ¡ÂºÂ¹o, MÃ¡Â»Ân branches, in the following communes:
Tam HÃ¡Â»Â£p (5,515 ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â)
Minh HÃ¡Â»Â£p (1,983 ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â)
HÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ SÃÂ¡n (2,652 ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â)
VÃÂn LÃ¡Â»Â£i (2,403 ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â)
ThÃ¡Â»Â HÃ¡Â»Â£p (1,730 ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â)
QuÃ¡Â»Â³ HÃ¡Â»Â£p city (265 ethnic ThÃ¡Â»Â)
TÃÂ¢n KÃ¡Â»Â³ District: 15,695 people; HÃ¡Â»Â, KÃ¡ÂºÂ¹o, MÃ¡Â»Ân, CuÃ¡Â»Âi ChÃÂm branches
Con CuÃÂ´ng District: 3,220 people; ÃÂan Lai, Ly HÃÂ branches
TÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng District: 436 people; TÃÂ y PoÃ¡Â»Âng branch

References