Lao script

Lao script or Akson Lao (Lao: ອັກສອນລາວ [ʔáksɔ̌ːn láːw]) is the primary script used to write the Lao language and other minority languages in Laos. It was also used to write the Isan language, but was replaced by the Thai script. It has 27 consonants (ພະຍັນຊະນະ [pʰāɲánsānā]), 7 consonantal ligatures (ພະຍັນຊະນະປະສົມ [pʰāɲánsānā pá sǒm]), 33 vowels (ສະຫລະ/ສະຫຼະ [sálá]), and 4 tone marks (ວັນນະຍຸດ [ván nā ɲūt]).

Lao
Type
LanguagesLao, Isan, Thai and others
Time period
c. 1350–present
Parent systems
Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
Sister systems
Thai
DirectionLeft-to-right
ISO 15924Laoo, 356
Unicode alias
Lao
Unicode range
U+0E80–U+0EFF
Brahmic scripts
The Brahmic script and its descendants

The Lao alphabet was adapted from the Khmer script, which itself was derived from the Pallava script, a variant of the Grantha script descended from the Brāhmī script, which was used in southern India and South East Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Akson Lao is a sister system to the Thai script, with which it shares many similarities and roots. However, Lao has fewer characters and is formed in a more curvilinear fashion than Thai.

Lao is written from left to right. Vowels can be written above, below, in front of, or behind consonants, with some vowel combinations written before, over, and after. Spaces for separating words and punctuation were traditionally not used, but space is used and functions in place of a comma or period. The letters have no majuscule or minuscule (upper- and lowercase) differentiation.

History

The Lao script derived locally from the Khmer script of Angkor[1] with additional influence from the Mon script. Both Khmer and Mon were ultimately derived from the Brahmi script of India. The Lao script was slowly standardized in the Mekong River valley after the various Tai principalities of the region was merged under Lan Xang in the 14th century. It has changed little since its inception and continued use in the Lao-speaking regions of modern-day Laos and Isan. Although the Thai script continued to evolve, both scripts still bear a resemblance.[2] However, this is less apparent today due to the communist party simplifying the spelling to be phonemic and omitting extra letters used to write words of Pali-Sanskrit origin.

In its earlier form, Lao would be considered an abugida, in which the inherent vowel is embedded in the consonant letters. With the spelling reforms by the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party, all vowels are now written explicitly.[3] However, many Lao outside of Laos, and some inside Laos, continue to write according to former spelling standards. For example, the old spelling of ສເຫຼີມ[4] 'to hold a ceremony, celebrate' contrasts with the new ສະເຫລີມ.[5]

Variant systems

Lao language in other scripts
  1. Traditionally, only secular literature was written with the Lao alphabet. Religious literature was often written in Tai Tham, a Mon-based script that is still used for the Tai Khün, Tai Lü, and formerly for Kham Mueang.[6] The Lao style of this script is known as Lao Tham.[7]
  2. Mystical, magical, and some religious literature was written in Khom script (Aksar Khom), a modified version of the Khmer script.[8]

Other languages in Lao script

According to Article 89 of the 2003 Amended Constitution of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Lao alphabet, though originally used solely for transcribing the Lao language, is also used to write several minority languages.[9]

  1. Additional Lao characters used to write Pali/Sanskrit, the liturgical language of Theravāda Buddhism, are now available with the publication of Unicode 12.0.[10] The font Lao Pali (Alpha) can be downloaded from Aksharamukha.[11]
  2. Additional Lao characters used to write Khmu’ were also encoded.[12][13]
  3. An older version of Lao, Thai Noi, was also used by the ethnic Lao of Thailand's Isan region before Isan was incorporated into Siam.[14] Its use was banned and supplemented with the very similar Thai alphabet in 1871; however, the region remained culturally and politically distant until further government campaigns and integration into the Thai state (Thaification) were imposed in the 20th century.[15]
  4. Attempts to encode Thai Noi has been made.[16]
  5. The applicability of Lao script for other minority languages require further evaluations.[17]

Some minority languages use other writing systems. For example, the Hmong adopted the Romanized Popular Alphabet to spell the Hmong languages.

Consonants

The twenty-seven consonants of the Lao alphabet are divided into three tone classes—high (ສູງ [sǔːŋ]), middle (ກາງ [kaːŋ]), and low (ຕ່ຳ [tām])—which determine the tonal pronunciation of the word in conjunction with the four tone marks and distinctions between short and long vowels. Aside from tone, there are twenty-one distinct consonant sounds that occur in the Lao language. Each letter has an acrophonical name that either begins with or features the letter prominently, and is used to teach the letter and serves to distinguish them from other, homophonous consonants. The letter ອ is a special null consonant used as a mandatory anchor for vowels, which cannot stand alone, and also to serve as a vowel in its own right.

The letter ຣ (r) is a relatively new re-addition to the Lao alphabet. It was dropped as part of a language reform because most speakers pronounced it as "l", and had an ambiguous status for several decades. A 1999 dictionary does not include it when listing the full alphabet but does use it to spell many country names.[18] A comprehensive dictionary published by a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Information and Culture did not include it.[19] However, as the Lao vocabulary began to incorporate more foreign names (such as Europe, Australia, and America) it filled a need and is now taught in schools.[20] The letter ຣ can also be found in Unit 14 (ບົດທີ 14 ຮ ຫ ຣ) of a textbook published by the government.[21] It is generally used as the first consonant of a syllable, or to follow a leading consonant, rarely as a final consonant.

Consonant chart

The table below shows the Lao consonant, its name, its pronunciation according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as well as various romanization schemes, such as the French-based systems in use by both the US Board of Geographic Names and the British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (BGN/PCGN), the English-based system in use by the US Library of Congress (LC), Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) used in Thailand, and finally its Unicode name. A slash indicates the pronunciation at the beginning juxtaposed with its pronunciation at the end of a syllable.

LetterNameInitial positionFinal position UnicodeTone Class
IPABGN/PCGNLCRTGS IPABGN/PCGNLCRTGS
ກ ໄກ່kāi, chicken /k/k /k/k KOMiddle
ຂ ໄຂ່kʰāi, egg /kʰ, x/kh –– KHO SUNGHigh
ຄ ຄວາຍkʷʰáːj, water buffalo /kʰ, x/kh –– KHO TAMLow
ງ ງົວ or ງູ ŋúə, ox or ŋúː, snake /ŋ/ng /ŋ/ng NGOLow
ຈ ຈອກ or ຈົວ tɕɔ̏ːk, glass or cuaː Buddhist novice /tɕ/ch –– COMiddle
ສ ເສືອsɯ̌ːə, tiger /s/s –– SO SUNGHigh
ຊ ຊ້າງsâːŋ, elephant /s/xs –– SO TAMLow
ຍ ຍຸງɲúŋ, mosquito /ɲ/gnnyy /j/j NYOLow
ດ ເດັກdék, child /d/d /t/t DOMiddle
ຕ ຕາtàː, eye /t/t –– TOMiddle
ຖ ຖົງtʰǒŋ, stocking, bag /tʰ/th –– THO SUNGHigh
ທ ທຸງtʰúŋ, flag /tʰ/th –– THO TAMLow
ນ ນົກnōk, bird /n/n /n/nen NOLow
ບ ແບ້bɛ̑ː, goat /b/b /p/p BOMiddle
ປ ປາpaː, fish /p/p –– POMiddle
ຜ ເຜິ້ງpʰɤ̏ŋ, bee /pʰ/ph –– PHO SUNGHigh
ຝ ຝົນfǒn, rain /f/f –– FO SUNGHigh
ພ ພູpʰúː, mountain /pʰ/ph –– PHO TAMLow
ຟ ໄຟfáj, fire /f/f –– FO TAMLow
ມ ແມວmɛ́ːw, cat /m/m /m/m MOLow
ຢ ຢາjaː, medicine /j/y –– YOMiddle
ຣ ຣົຖ (ລົດ) or ຣະຄັງ (ລະຄັງ)rōt (lōt), car or rākʰáŋ, bell /r/,/l/r /n/nen LO LOOTLow
ລ ລີງlíːŋ, monkey /l/l –– LO LINGLow
ວ ວີvíː, fan /ʋ/,/w/vv,w wvw WOLow
ຫ ຫ່ານhāːn, goose /h/h –– HO SUNGHigh
ອ ໂອ or ອື່ງʔòː, bowl or ɨːŋ frog /ʔ/– –– OMiddle
ຮ ເຮືອນ or ເຮືອhɯ́ːən house, or hɨ́aː, boat /h/h –– HO TAMLow

Note that the Unicode names for the characters ຝ (FO TAM) and ຟ (FO SUNG) are reversed. The same is true for ຣ (LO LING) and ລ (LO LOOT). This error was introduced into the Unicode standard and cannot be fixed, as character names are immutable.

Consonantal digraphs and ligatures

Lao also uses digraphs based on combinations of the silent (unpronounced) ຫ ຫ່ານ with certain other consonants, some of which also have special ligature forms that are optionally used.

In the Thai script, certain consonants are preceded by tone modifiers. This is because high consonants or low consonants cannot produce the full 5 tones of Thai. For instance, tone modifier ห can turn low consonants into high ones. This also explains why the Lao script reserved consonants with the same sounds (e.g. ຂ and ຄ /kʰ/, ສ and ຊ /s/). Both high and low consonants are needed to produce full five (or six) tones of Lao.

Such design also exists in Lao. Sonorants ງ, ຍ, ນ, ມ, ລ, ວ are originally low consonants, but when they're preceded by ຫ, they become high consonants.

The older versions of the script also included special forms for combinations of ພ (pʰ) + ຍ (ɲ), ສ (s) + ນ (n), and ມ (m) + ລ (l). In addition, consonant clusters that had the second component of ຣ (r) or ລ (l) were written with a special form ຼ underneath the consonant.[22][23] Since these were not pronounced in Lao, they were removed during various spelling reforms, and this symbol only appears in the ligature ຫຼ.[24]

LetterInitial position UnicodeSample Word Tone Class
IPABGN/PCGNLCRTGS
ຫງ /ŋ/ng ngເຫງົາ lonelyHigh
ຫຍ /ɲ/gnjny nyຫຍ້າ grassHigh
ໜ or ຫນ /n/n nໜູ ratHigh
ໝ or ຫມ /m/m mໝາ dogHigh
ຫຼ or ຫລ /l/l lຫຼັງ backHigh
ຫວ /ʋ/,/w/vv,w wແຫວນ ringHigh

Phonetic

Lao characters in initial position (several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation).

BilabialLabio-
dental		 AlveolarAlveolo-
palatal		 PalatalVelarGlottal
Nasal [m]
ມ		[n]
ນ		[ɲ]
ຍ		[ŋ]
ງ
Plosivevoiced [b]
ບ		[d]
ດ
voiceless [p]
ປ		[t]
ຕ		[k]
ກ		[ʔ]
ອ
aspirated [pʰ]
ຜ, ພ		[tʰ]
ຖ,ທ		[kʰ]
ຂ, ຄ
Fricative [f]
ຝ, ຟ		[s]
ສ, ຊ		[x]
ຂ, ຄ		[h]
ຫ, ຮ
Affricate [tɕ]
ຈ
Approximant [ʋ]
ວ*		[j]
ຢ		[w]
ວ*
Trill [r]
ຣ
Lateral
approximant		 [l]
ຣ, ລ

* Depends on the dialects.

Lao characters in final position. In the old documents, the letter ຽ could be found in place of ຍ or ຢ.

Bilabial Alveolar PalatalVelarGlottal
Nasal [m]
ມ		[n]
ນ, ຣ, ລ		[ŋ]
ງ
Plosive [p]
ບ, ປ, ພ, ຟ		[t]
ຈ, ສ, ຊ, ດ, ຕ, ຖ, ທ		[k]
ກ, ຂ, ຄ
Approximant [j]
ຍ, ຢ		[w]
ວ

Vowels

Vowels are constructed from only a handful of basic symbols, but they can be combined with other vowel forms and semi-vowels to represent the full repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs used in the language. Vowels cannot stand alone or begin a syllable, so the silent consonant, ອ, which can function as a vowel in its own right, is used as a base when spelling a word that begins with a vowel sound.

The names of the vowels are just as easy as saying sala (ສະຫລະ, [sáʔlāʔ]) before the vowel sign. Some vowels have unique names, and these are ໃ◌ (ໄມ້ມ້ວນ, mâj mûːən, rolled stem), ໄ◌ (ໄມ້ມາຽ, mâj máːj, unwound stem), ◌ົ (ໄມ້ກົງ, . mâj kòŋ, straight stem), ◌ັ (ໄມ້ກັນ, . mâj kàn, ear stem), ◌ຽ (ວິຣາມ, vī ráːm), and ◌ໍ (ນິກຄະຫິດ, nīk kʰā hǐt).[25]

Although a dotted circle ◌ is used on this page to represent the consonant, in standard Lao orthography a small x symbol is used for this purpose.[20] Traditionally this was a simple, stylized, sans-serif x and it was included in Lao fonts before Unicode became widespread. Unicode does not make it available as part of the Lao alphabet set, and a lower-case sans-serif x is often used instead.

Some vowels change their forms depending on whether they appear in the final or medial position.

Short and long vowels
Short vowelsLong vowels
LetterIPABGN/PCGNLCRTGSUnicode LetterIPABGN/PCGNLCRTGSUnicode
FinalMedial FinalMedial
◌ະ◌ັ◌/aʔ/, /a/aa ◌າ/aː /aāaaa
◌ິ/i/ii ◌ີ/iː /iīiii
◌ຶ/ɯ/uưuey ◌ື/ɯː /uư̄ueyy
◌ຸ/u/ouuuu ◌ູ/uː /ouūuuu
ເ◌ະເ◌ັ◌/eʔ/, /e/éee ເ◌/eː/éēee
ແ◌ະແ◌ັ◌/ɛʔ/, /ɛ/èæae ແ◌/ɛː/èǣaeei
ໂ◌ະ◌ົ◌/oʔ/, /o/ôoo ໂ◌/oː/ôōoo
ເ◌າະ◌ັອ◌/ɔʔ/, /ɔ/oǫo ◌ໍ◌ອ◌/ɔː/oǭo
ເ◌ິ/ɤ/euœoe ເ◌ີ/ɤː/euœ̄oe
ເ◌ັຍ◌ັຽ◌/iə/ia ເ◌ຍ◌ຽ◌/iːə/iaīaia
ເ◌ຶອ/ɯə/uaưauea ເ◌ືອ/ɯːə/uaư̄auea
◌ົວະ◌ັວ◌/uə/ouauaua ◌ົວ◌ວ◌ /uːə/ouaūaua

Special vowels
LetterIPABGN/PCGNLCRTGSUnicodeOld Alternative
ໄ◌, ໃ◌*/aj/aiai or ay◌ັຍ
ເ◌ົາ/aw/ao
◌ໍາ/am/am◌ັມ
  • In the Northern (Luang Prabang) dialect of Lao, ໃ◌ is pronounced as [aɰ] rather than [aj]; similarly, in the Northeastern (Houaphanh) dialect, ໃ◌ is pronounced as /ɯ/.

As in the neighboring Thai script, ◌ະ is used to represent a glottal stop after a vowel.

Numerals
012345 67891020
Lao Numerals ໐ ໑ ໒ ໓ ໔ ໕ ໖ ໗ ໘ ໙ ໑໐ ໒໐
Lao Names ສູນ ໜຶ່ງ ສອງ ສາມ ສີ່ ຫ້າ ຫົກ ເຈັດ ແປດ ເກົ້າ ສິບ ຊາວ
Thai Numerals ๐ ๑ ๒ ๓ ๔ ๕ ๖ ๗ ๘ ๙ ๑๐ ๒๐
RTGS sun nueng song sam si ha hok chet paet kao sip sao
Transliteration sounnungsongsamsihahokchetpètkaosipxao

Lao compatible software

Linux has been available in Lao since 2005.[26]

Windows did not officially support Lao until Windows Vista.[27] User-generated fonts are freely available online.[28]

In December 2011, the Lao Ministry of Science and Technology, in cooperation with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, officially[29] authorized the use of Phetsarath OT[30] as the standard national font.

The Phetsarath OT font was already adopted by the government in 2009; however, Lao users were unable to use it, as international software manufacturers did not include the font in their software systems. Mobile devices were not able to use or show Lao language. Instead, mobile phone users had to rely on Thai or English as language.

The Laos Ministry of Post and Telecommunications asked local technicians to develop a software system of international standard that would enable the Phetsarath OT font to be like other font systems that local users could access.

In March 2011, the Lao company XY Mobile presented[31] the Phetsarath OT on mobile phones as well as tablet PCs using the mobile device operating system Android.

iOS supports Lao script on iPhones and iPads.

Unicode
Main article: Lao (Unicode block)

The Unicode block for the Lao script is U+0E80–U+0EFF, added in Unicode version 1.0. The first ten characters of the row U+0EDx are the Lao numerals 0 through 9. Throughout the chart, grey (unassigned) code points are shown because the assigned Lao characters intentionally match the relative positions of the corresponding Thai characters. This has created the anomaly that the Lao letter ສ is not in alphabetical order, since it occupies the same code-point as the Thai letter ส.

Lao[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+0E8x ກ ຂ ຄ ຆ ງ ຈ ຉ ຊ ຌ ຍ ຎ ຏ
U+0E9x ຐ ຑ ຒ ຓ ດ ຕ ຖ ທ ຘ ນ ບ ປ ຜ ຝ ພ ຟ
U+0EAx ຠ ມ ຢ ຣ ລ ວ ຨ ຩ ສ ຫ ຬ ອ ຮ ຯ
U+0EBx ະ ັ າ ຳ ິ ີ ຶ ື ຸ ູ ຺ ົ ຼ ຽ
U+0ECx ເ ແ ໂ ໃ ໄ ໆ ່ ້ ໊ ໋ ໌ ໍ
U+0EDx ໐ ໑ ໒ ໓ ໔ ໕ ໖ ໗ ໘ ໙ ໜ ໝ ໞ ໟ
U+0EEx
U+0EFx
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
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gollark: It is actually used (legally) as an antidepressant now.

See also

References
  1. Benedict, Paul K. "Languages and literatures of Indochina." The Far Eastern Quarterly (1947): 379–389.
  2. For comparison of the two, please see Daniels, Peter T. & Bright, William. (Eds.). (1996). The World's Writing Systems (pp. 460–461). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  3. Unicode Consortium. (2019). Lao. In The Unicode Standard Version 12.0 (p. 635). Mountain View, CA: Unicode Consortium.
  4. Allen Kerr, with the assistance of Sing Bourommavong, Houmpheng Phetmongkhonh, Samreung Singhavara, and Somsangouane Loungsisomkham, "Lao-English Dictionary" (1972, Catholic University Press, reprinted 1992 by White Lotus Co., Ltd., Bangkok)
  5. William L. Patterson and Mario E. Severino, "Lao-English Dictionary" (1995, Dunwoody Press)
  6. Everson, Michael, Hosken, Martin, & Constable, Peter. (2007). Revised proposal for encoding the Lanna script in the BMP of the UCS.
  7. Kourilsky, Grégory & Berment, Vincent. (2005). Towards a Computerization of the Lao Tham System of Writing. In First International Conference on Lao Studies.
  8. Igunma, Jana. (2013). Aksoon Khoom: Khmer Heritage in Thai and Lao Manuscript Cultures. Tai Culture, 23: Route of the Roots: Tai-Asiatic Cultural Interaction.
  9. National Assembly No. 25/NA, 6 May 2003. Constitution of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Translation Endorsed by the Law Committee of the National Assembly of the Lao PDR. Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=180175 WIPO Lex.
  10. Rajan, V., Mitchell, B., Jansche, M., & Brawer, S. (2017). Revised Proposal to Encode Lao Characters for Pali.
  11. Lao (Pali). Aksharamukha. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  12. Hosken, Martin. (2010). Proposal to add minority characters to Lao script.
  13. Miller, Michelle. (2013). A Description of Kmhmu’ Lao Script-Based Orthography. Mon-Khmer Studies, 42, 12–25.
  14. Tsumura, Fumihiko. (2009). Magical Use of Traditional Scripts in Northeastern Thai Villages. Senri Ethnological Studies, 74, 63–77.
  15. Ronnakiat, Nantana (1992). Evidence of the Thai Noi alphabet found in inscriptions. The Third International Symposium on Language and Linguistics, 1326 – 1334.
  16. Mitchell, Ben. (2018). Towards a comprehensive proposal for Thai Noi/Lao Buhan script.
  17. Lew, Sigrid. (2014). A linguistic analysis of the Lao writing system and its suitability for minority language orthographies. Writing Systems Research, 6(1), 25–40. doi:10.1080/17586801.2013.846843
  18. Kangpajanpeng, Kiao; Vilaipan, Vilaisat; Vongnaty, Kunlapan (1999). English-Lao, Lao-English Dictionary [ວັດຈະນານຸກົມ ອັງກິດລາວ ລາວອັງກິດ] (in Lao). Vientiane.
  19. Konnyvong, Syviengkhek (2005). Dictionary of the Lao Language [ວັດຈະນານຸກົມພາສາລາວ] (in Lao). Vientiane..
  20. Lao Language, level 1 [ພາສາລາວ] (in Lao). Vientiane: Ministry of Education and Sports. 2007.
  21. ກະຊວງສຶກສາທິການ ແລະ ກິລາ (Ministry of Education and Sports), & ສະຖາບັນຄົ້ນຄວ້າວິທະຍາສາດການສຶກສາ (Research Institute for Educational Sciences). (2019). ແບບຮຽນ ພາສາລາວ ຊັ້ນປະຖົມສຶກສາ ປີທິ1 ເຫຼັ້ມ1. Retrieved 12 May 2020 from http://www.moes.edu.la/dge/primary-textbooks-grade-1.php
  22. Ronnakieat, N.
  23. Davis, Garry W. (2015). The story of Lao r: Filling in the gaps. Journal of Lao Studies 2, 97–109. Retrieved from http://www.laostudies.org/system/files/subscription/Davis.pdf
  24. Ivarsson, Søren. (2008). Creating laos: the making of a lao space between indochina and siam, 1860–1945. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Inst of Asian Studies.
  25. Southeast asian language resource lao dictionary. (2005). Retrieved from http://sealang.net/lao/dictionary.htm
  26. "Survey of Language Computing in Asia" (PDF).
  27. "Microsoft Windows help page". Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  28. "AMERILAO.org site How to "Setup Internet Explorer to read Lao font"". Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  29. "New font drives IT development in Laos" (PDF). Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  30. Phetsarath OT Information page"
  31. "Vientiane Times Laos unveils first Tablet". Retrieved 27 July 2018.

Further reading
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