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Interesting that you say the Montagnard dha swords are not associated with the Hmong. The seller mentioned that he lacked expertise on this region but that he had made the determination based on what he read on these forums. I think the Hmong association was specifically based on #3 in this post by Ian (and possibly corroborated by this post by Jim).
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I have to agree that there are few Hmong in southern Laos, as noted by Iain. They are concentrated in the northern half of the country. The Hmong attribution for the sword in question was given to me by an English dealer who professed considerable knowledge of dha/daab. This was before I established some reliable contacts among the Hmong who had immigrated to the U.S. and live in Minnesota. I don't know the tribal attribution for that sword.
"Montagnard" is a French colonial word, simply meaning "mountain people." The Hmong are "mountain people" who live mainly along the western border of what is now Vietnam. Their range abuts Laos and Cambodia, and may extends into Yunnan. As Iain notes, there are many different hill tribes in this area.