As a result of slave raids and forced population transfers, there are small, scattered villages of Phuan in Sakon and Udon Thani provinces and another area around Bueng Kan, Nong Khai and Loei provinces in Thailand.

Despite the small numbers and isolation, the Siamese kept the Phuan apart from the Lao, and in from other Thai people in Northern and Central Thailand were small communities of Phuan also exist, forcing them to live apart and dress in black clothing.

The Phuan in turn practised endogamous marriage habits and steadfastness to their language and culture.

Similar to the Phuthai (ผู้ไท, ຜູ້ໄທ Phou Tai, /pʰȕː tʰáj/), final /k/ has been replaced by the glottal stop /ʔ/.

However all Phuan dialects share distinct tonal split, with syllables beginning with low-clas consonants and marked with the mai ek (may ék) tone mark pronounced differently than similar situations with other class consonants.