The
Zhuang languages (
autonym: (pre-1982: ,
Sawndip: 話僮), from
vah 'language' and
Cuengh 'Zhuang'; ) are any of more than a dozen
Tai languages spoken by the
Zhuang people of southern
China in the province of
Guangxi and adjacent parts of
Yunnan and
Guangdong. The Zhuang languages do not form a monophyletic linguistic unit, as northern and southern Zhuang languages are more closely related to other Tai languages than to each other. Northern Zhuang languages form a
dialect continuum with Tai varieties across the provincial border in
Guizhou, which are designated as
Bouyei, whereas Southern Zhuang languages form another dialect continuum with
Nung,
Tay and
Caolan in
Vietnam.
Standard Zhuang is based on the northern Zhuang dialect of
Wuming.