They include the northern Zhuang languages and Bouyei of China, Tai Mène of Laos and Yoy of Thailand.

Longsang Zhuang, a recently described Northern Tai language, is spoken Longsang Township, Debao County, Guangxi, China.

Hezhang Buyi is a moribund Northern Tai language of northwestern Guizhou that is notable for having a Kra substratum.

Pittayaporn (2009:300) distinguishes a similar group of Zhuang varieties as group "N", defined by the phonological shifts *ɯj, *ɯw → *aj, *aw.

The various languages and localities Pittayaporn includes in group N, along with their Ethnologue equivalents, are: Some examples of lexical and phonological differences between Northern Tai and Central-Southwestern Tai:[4]