Tai Aitons are one among the six Indigenous Tai communities of Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

. They are Buddhist by religion. The Assamese people

Assamese people

The Assamese people are a well-defined subgroup of People of Assam. Though sometimes they are defined as the Assamese-speaking Indo-Aryans of the Brahmaputra valley,, this definition is not legally binding...

 commonly term them as Shyams or the people from Siam i.e. Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

.

The speak their own Aitonia dialect which is similar to other Tai languages

Tai languages

The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages are a branch of the Tai–Kadai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including standard Thai or Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos; Burma's Shan language;...

 spoken in Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

. They came to Assam far back in the 16th-17th century from the east crossing the Patkai

Patkai

The Pat-kai meaning to Cut Chicken in Tai Ahom language are the hills on India's North Eastern border with Burma. They were created by the same tectonic processes that resulted in the formation of the Himalayain the Mesozoic . They are not as rugged as the Himalayas and its peaks are much lower...

 hills. Presently they live in small pockets in Upper Assam

Upper Assam

River Bramhaputra is a major river and lifeline of the state of Assam. Assam is divided into two broad categories based on the flow of the mighty Bramhaputra, namely Upper Assam and Lower Assam. The logic behind this categorisation is that a river flows from high land to low land...

 along with the Turung and Khamyang

Khamyang

Khamyang, also known as Shyam, is a tribal group found primarily in Tinsukia, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts of Assam as well as adjacent parts of Arunachal Pradesh. They have a population of 35,000, of which only a small minority speak the native Tai-based language...

 people. Their population is unknown but is expected to be less than 8,000. Their language has almost become extinct with only around 1,500 people still using it. They live in certain villages of Jorhat

Jorhat

Jorhat is a city of Assam in India. Jorhat was established as a new capital in the closing years of the 18th century by the declining Tunkhungia Ahom Dynasty. Jorhat, as the name signifies, was just a couple of markets . Two parallel markets namely, Chowkihat and Macharhat, lay on the eastern...

, Golaghat

Golaghat

Golaghat , which was one of the largest subdivisions of Assam later, elevated to the position of a full-fledged district of Assam on 15 August 1987, is the headquarters of Golaghat district and is a sister town to Jorhat which is about 55 km away....

 and Karbi Anglong districts. They are not recognised as Scheduled tribes but are listed as Man-Tai speaking people by the Government of Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

.