title: Kaleun people
text: # Kaleun people
  
  The Kaleun people (also called Laoeng) are an ethnic group of Thailand and Laos.
  
  ## Other names
  
  ### Prefixes
  
  * Tai Kaleun
  * Lao Kaleun
  
  ### Variations
  
  * Kaleung
  * Kalung
  * Kalerng
  * Kelung
  * Khalong
  
  ## Ethnicity
  
  The Kaleun are a Tai ethnic group. However, they may have been descended from Bru people who shifted to a Southwestern Tai language resembling Phuthai and Yoy, as the Vietnamese also refer to the Bru as Ka Leung. Chamberlain (2016) conjectures that the Kaleun may have originally been Vietic speakers.
  
  ## Geographic distribution
  
  * Mukdahan Province of Thailand
  * Nakhon Phanom Province of Thailand
  * Sakhon Nakhon Province of Thailand
  * Borikhamxai Province of Laos
  
  ## Religions
  
  * Theravada Buddhism
  
  ## Language
  
  The Kaleun typically speak Northeastern Thai as their primary language.
  
  