Lao alphabet: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

Lao alphabet

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	Topics Lao alphabet Topic Home The Lao script is used mainly to write the Lao language Lao language Lao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language.... . The minority languages of Laos Laos Laos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west.... are also written in the Lao script, and officially it is the only script to write them in Laos, but many speakers of Hmong Hmong language Hmong or Mong is the common name for a group of dialects of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmong-Mien languages spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.... prefer the Latin alphabet Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumae alphabet, and was initially developed by the Ancient Romes to write the Latin.... . The Lao script is very similar to the Thai alphabet Thai alphabet The Thai alphabet is used to write the Thai language and other :Category:Languages of Thailands in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks .... , but Lao's spelling system is simpler and more phonetic, partially due to a spelling reform carried out in the 1960s. >	Character	IPA	BGN/PCGN	ALA/LC	Unicode
?	k	k	k/k	k
?		kh	kh/k	kh
?		kh	kh/k	kh
?	?	ng	ng/ng	ng
?		ch	ch/t	c
?	s	s	s/t	s
?	s	x	s/t	s
?		gn/y	ny/—	ny
?	d	d/t	d/t	d
?	t	t	t/t	t
?		th	th/t	th
?		th	th/t	th
?	n	n	n/n	n
?	b	b/p	b/p	b
?	p	p	p/p	p
?		ph	ph/p	ph
?		f	f/p	f
?		ph	ph/p	ph
?	f	f	f/p	f
?	m	m	m/m	m
?	j	y	y	y
?	r	r	r	r
?	l	l	l	l
?	w	v/o	v	w
?	h	h	h	h
?*	—	—		o
?	h	h	h	h

* A zero consonant

Zero consonant

A zero consonant, silent initial, or null-onset letter is a consonant-like letter that is not pronounced, but indicates that a word or syllable starts with a vowel ....
, but also used for vowels.

provisional version)

* indicates variations no longer used in the reformed spelling

Lao in Unicode
The Unicode

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
range for Lao is U+0E80–U+0EFF.

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Encyclopedia

The Lao script is used mainly to write the Lao language

Lao language

Lao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language....
.

The minority languages of Laos

Laos

Laos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west....
are also written in the Lao script, and officially it is the only script to write them in Laos, but many speakers of Hmong

Hmong language

Hmong or Mong is the common name for a group of dialects of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmong-Mien languages spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos....
prefer the Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumae alphabet, and was initially developed by the Ancient Romes to write the Latin....
.

The Lao script is very similar to the Thai alphabet

Thai alphabet

The Thai alphabet is used to write the Thai language and other :Category:Languages of Thailands in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks ....
, but Lao's spelling system is simpler and more phonetic, partially due to a spelling reform carried out in the 1960s.

Consonants

The table below shows the Lao consonant letters with their phonetic value in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and transcriptions according to the US Board on Geographic Names and the British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (BGN/PCGN), the US Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
(ALA/LC) and the transcriptions used in the Unicode

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
names of the letters.

Character	IPA	BGN/PCGN	ALA/LC	Unicode
?	k	k	k/k	k
?		kh	kh/k	kh
?		kh	kh/k	kh
?	?	ng	ng/ng	ng
?		ch	ch/t	c
?	s	s	s/t	s
?	s	x	s/t	s
?		gn/y	ny/—	ny
?	d	d/t	d/t	d
?	t	t	t/t	t
?		th	th/t	th
?		th	th/t	th
?	n	n	n/n	n
?	b	b/p	b/p	b
?	p	p	p/p	p
?		ph	ph/p	ph
?		f	f/p	f
?		ph	ph/p	ph
?	f	f	f/p	f
?	m	m	m/m	m
?	j	y	y	y
?	r	r	r	r
?	l	l	l	l
?	w	v/o	v	w
?	h	h	h	h
?*	—	—		o
?	h	h	h	h

* A zero consonant

Zero consonant

Vowel nuclei

The table below shows the Lao vowel nuclei, combined with the consonant ?. (provisional version)

	IPA	BGN	LC	Unicode		IPA	BGN	LC	Unicode		IPA	BGN	LC	Unicode		BGN	LC
??/???	a	a	a	a	??	a?	a	a	aa
??	i	i	i	i	??	i?	i	i	ii	?????/?????*/????	i?	ia	ia		????/????*/???	ia	ia
??		u	u	y	??		u		yy	?????/?????		ua	ua		????	ua
??	u	ou	u	u	??	u?	ou	u	uu	????/????	u?	oua	ua		???/ ???	oua	ua
???/????	e	é	e		??	e?	é	e	e
???/????		è	æ		??		è		ei
???/???	o	ô	o		??	o?	ô	o	o
????/????		o			??/???		o
????/????		eu	œ		????/ ????		eu
										??/??/???*	ai	ai	ai	ai/ay	???/???*	ai	ai
????	au	ao	ao
???	am	am	am	am

* indicates variations no longer used in the reformed spelling

Lao in Unicode

The Unicode

Unicode

External links

by N. J. Enfield
, which includes Lao numerals; retrieved 2008-11-12

Lao alphabet

Consonants

Vowel nuclei

Lao in Unicode

External links

See also