Isan is a group of Lao dialects spoken in the northern two-thirds of northeastern Thailand, also known as the Isan region, as well as in adjacent portions of northern and eastern Thailand. It is the native language of the Lao people, known as "Isan" in Thailand, spoken by 20 million or so people in Thailand, a third of the population of Thailand and 80% of all Lao speakers.
The language remains the primary language in 88% of households in Isan. It is commonly used as a second, third, or even fourth language by the region's other linguistic minorities, such as Northern Khmer, Khorat Thai, Kuy, Nyah Kur and other Tai or Austronesian-speaking peoples. The Isan language has unofficial status in Thailand and can be differentiated as a whole from the Lao language of Laos by the increasing use of Thai grammar, vocabulary and neologisms. Code-switching is common, depending on the context or situation. Adoption of Thai neologisms has also further differentiated Isan from standard Lao.
