The Tai Turungs are a numerically small Buddhist community in the North East Indian state of Assam.
They originally migrated from Upper Burma and settled in Assam in the latter part of 18th century.
On the way of their migration, they were captured and made slaves by the Singpho people and hence they have had a lot of Singpho influences on their culture, language and lifestyle.

They presently reside in certain pockets in Upper Assam in the districts of 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....

, 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...

 and Karbi Anglong.

The origin of the word Turung is although not known but many believe that it had derived from the name of a river in 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...

 region named Turungpani. While another section of the people believe that the word Turung derived from the word Tai Long meaning Great Tai, since these people were of Shan

Shan

The Shan are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma , but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Division, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China and Thailand...

 origin.

Their language is basically a dialect of Tai language spoken throughout South East Asia, but it has a large influence of Singpho

Singpho

The Singpho people of Arunachal Pradesh inhabit in the district of Lohit and Changlang and the Kachin State of Burma. Some are also found in the Tinsukia district of Assam. Comprising a population of at least 7,200 in India, they live in 13 villages, namely Bordumsa, Dibang, Ketetong, Pangna, Ulup,...

language. The language has become almost extinct. Only a handful of elderly people use the language.

The present population of the community is unknown but is believed to be around 10,000.