Lao alphabet

Lao
Type	Abugida
Languages	Lao, Thai and others
Time period	c. 1350–present
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic alphabet Phoenician alphabet Aramaic alphabet Brāhmī Pallava Khmer Lao
Sister systems	Thai
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924	Laoo, 356
Unicode alias	Lao
Unicode range	U+0E80–U+0EFF

Brahmic scripts
The Brahmic script and its descendants
Northern Brahmic Gupta script Bhaiksuki alphabet Tocharian alphabet Khotanese Śāradā script Laṇḍā scripts Gurmukhī alphabet Khojki Khudabadi script Multani alphabet Mahajani Devāśeṣa Takri alphabet Dogra Siddhaṃ script Tibetan alphabet 'Phags-pa script Pungs-chen Pungs-chung Marchen Marchung Zanabazar square script Soyombo alphabet Lepcha alphabet Limbu alphabet Nāgarī script Devanagari Modi alphabet Nandinagari Gujarati alphabet Kaithi Sylheti Nagari Kalinga alphabet Odia alphabet Gaudi Assamese-Bengali Tirhuta Bhujinmol Newar Ranjana alphabet Meithei script
Southern Brahmic Tamil-Brahmi Vatteluttu alphabet Kolezhuthu Tamil script Grantha alphabet Malayalam script Tigalari alphabet Sinhala alphabet Dhives Akuru Saurashtra alphabet Khmer alphabet Lao alphabet Thai alphabet Cham alphabet Ahom alphabet Kawi script Balinese alphabet Javanese script Baybayin Batak alphabet Buhid alphabet Hanunó'o alphabet Tagbanwa alphabet Sundanese alphabet Lontara alphabet Makasar Rejang alphabet Mon alphabet Burmese alphabet Chakma alphabet Tai Tham alphabet Bhattiprolu alphabet Kadamba alphabet Kannada alphabet Telugu script Tai Le alphabet New Tai Lue alphabet

The Lao alphabet, Akson Lao (Lao: ອັກສອນລາວ [ʔáksɔ̌ːn láːw]), is the main script used to write the Lao language and other minority languages in Laos. Ultimately of Indic origin, the alphabet includes 27 consonants (ພະຍັນຊະນະ [pʰāɲánsānā]), 7 consonantal ligatures (ພະຍັນຊະນະປະສົມ [pʰāɲánsānā pá sǒm]), 33 vowels (ສະຫລະ [sálā]) (some based on combinations of symbols), and 4 tone marks (ວັນນະຍຸດ [ván nā ɲūt]). According to Article 89 of Amended Constitution of 2003 of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Lao alphabet is the official script to the official language, but is also used to transcribe minority languages in the country, but some minority language speakers continue to use their traditional writing systems while the Hmong have adopted the Roman Alphabet. An older version of the script was also used by the ethnic Lao of Thailand's Isan region, who make up a third of Thailand's population, before Isan was incorporated into Siam, until its use was banned and supplemented with the very similar Thai alphabet in 1871, although the region remained distant culturally and politically until further government campaigns and integration into the Thai state (Thaification) were imposed in the 20th century. The letters of the Lao Alphabet are very similar to the Thai alphabet, which has the same roots. They differ in the fact, that in Thai there are still more letters to write one sound and the more circular style of writing in Lao.

Lao, like most indic scripts, is traditionally written from left to right. Traditionally considered an abugida script, where certain 'implied' vowels are unwritten, recent spelling reforms make this definition somewhat problematic, as all vowel sounds today are marked with diacritics when written according to the Lao PDR's propagated and promoted spelling standard. However most Lao outside of Laos, and many inside Laos, continue to write according to former spelling standards, which continues the use of the implied vowel maintaining the Lao script's status as an abugida. 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 punctuations were traditionally not used, but a space is used and functions in place of a comma or period. The letters have no majuscule or minuscule (upper and lower case) differentiations.

History

The Lao script was slowly standardised in the Mekong River valley after the various Tai principalities of the region were merged under the rule of the Kingdom of Lan Xang in the 14th century. This script, sometimes known as Tai Noi, has changed little since its inception and continued in use in the Lao-speaking regions of modern-day Laos and Isan, while the Thai alphabet continued to evolve, but similarity of the scripts can still be seen. This script was ultimately influenced by earlier writing systems in use by the Mon and the Khmer.

Traditionally, only secular literature was written with the Lao alphabet. Religious literature was often written in Tua Tham, a Mon-based script that is still used for the Tai Khün, Tai Lue, and formerly for Kham Mueang. Mystical, magical, and some religious literature was written in a modified version of the Khmer alphabet.

Consonants

The 27 consonants of the Lao alphabet are divided into three tone classes—high (ສູງ [sǔːŋ]), middle (ກາງ [kaːŋ]), 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, but aside from tone, there are 21 distinct consonant sounds that occur in the Lao language. Each letter has an acrophonical name that either begins with or features the word 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 an anchor for vowels, which cannot stand alone, as well as serves as a vowel in its own right.

Consonant chart

The table below shows the Lao consonant, its name, its pronunciation according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as well as various romanisation 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.

Letter	Name		Initial position				Final position				Unicode	Tone Class
			IPA	BGN/PCGN	LC	RTSG	IPA	BGN/PCGN	LC	RTSG
ກ	ກ ໄກ່	kāi, chicken	/k/	k			/k/	k			KO	Middle
ຂ	ຂ ໄຂ່	kʰāi, egg	/kʰ/	kh			/k/	k			KHO SUNG	High
ຄ	ຄ ຄວາຍ	kʷʰáːj, water buffalo	/kʰ/	kh			/k/	k			KHO TAM	Low
ງ	ງ ງົວ or ງູ	ŋúə, ox or ŋúː, snake	/ŋ/	ng			/ŋ/	ng			NGO	Low
ຈ	ຈ ຈອກ	tɕɔ̏ːk, glass	/tɕ/	ch			/t/	t			CO	Middle
ສ	ສ ເສືອ	sɯ̌ːə, tiger	/s/	s			/t/	t			SO SUNG	High
ຊ	ຊ ຊ້າງ	sâːŋ, elephant	/s/	x	s		/t/	t			SO TAM	Low
ຍ	ຍ ຍຸງ	ɲúŋ, mosquito	/ɲ/	gn	ny	y	–	–			NYO	Low
ດ	ດ ເດັກ	dék, child	/d/	d			/t/	t			DO	Middle
ຕ	ຕ ຕາ	tàː, eye	/t/	t			/t/	t			TO	Middle
ຖ	ຖ ຖົງ	tʰǒŋ, stocking	/tʰ/	th			/t/	t			THO SUNG	High
ທ	ທ ທຸງ	tʰúŋ, flag	/tʰ/	th			/t/	t			THO TAM	Low
ນ	ນ ນົກ	nōk, bird	/n/	n			/n/	ne	n		NO	Low
ບ	ບ ແບ້	bɛ̑ː, goat	/b/	b			/p/	p			BO	Middle
ປ	ປ ປາ	paː, fish	/p/	p			/p/	p			PO	Middle
ຜ	ຜ ເຜິ້ງ	pʰɤ̏ŋ, bee	/pʰ/	ph			–	–			PHO SUNG	High
ຝ	ຝ ຝົນ	fǒn, rain	/f/	f			/p/	p			FO TAM	High
ພ	ພ ພູ	pʰúː, mountain	/pʰ/	ph			/p/	p			PHO TAM	Low
ຟ	ຟ ໄຟ	fáj, fire	/f/	f			/p/	p			FO SUNG	Low
ມ	ມ ແມວ	mɛ́ːw, cat	/m/	m			/m/	m			MO	Low
ຢ	ຢ ຢາ	jaː, medicine	/j/	y			–	–			YO	Middle
ຣ	ຣ ຣົຖ or ຣະຄັງ	rōt, car or rākʰáŋ, bell	/r/,/l/	r			/n/	ne	n		LO LING	Low
ລ	ລ ລີງ	líːŋ, monkey	/l/	l			/n/	ne	n		LO LOOT	Low
ວ	ວ ວີ	víː, fan	/ʋ/,/w/	v	v,w		–	–			WO	Low
ຫ	ຫ ຫ່ານ	hāːn, goose	/h/	h			–	–			HO SUNG	High
ອ	ອ ໂອ	ʔòː, bowl	/ʔ/	–			–	–			O	Middle
ຮ	ຮ ເຮືອນ	hɯ́ːən, house	/h/	h			–	–			HO TAM	Low

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 silent ຫ ຫ່ານ with certain other consonants, some of which also have special ligature forms that are optionally used. Because of the first silent component is of the 'high' tone class, all the digraphs and ligatures are also of the high tone class. 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. Since these were not pronounced in Lao, they were removed during various spelling reforms and this symbol only appears in the ligature ຫຼ.

Letter	Initial position				Unicode	Tone Class
	IPA	BGN/PCGN	LC	RTSG
ຫງ	/ŋ/	ng			ng	High
ຫຍ	/ɲ/	gn	j	ny	ny	High
ໜ or ຫນ	/n/	n			n	High
ໝ or ຫມ	/m/	m			m	High
ຫຼ or ຫຣ	/r/,/l/	r			r	High
ຫຼ or ຫລ	/l/	l			l	High
ຫວ	/ʋ/,/w/	v	v,w		w	High

Phonetic

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

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		[m] ມ		[n] ນ		[ɲ] ຍ	[ŋ] ງ
Plosive	voiced	[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				[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.

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

Vowels

There are only a handful of basic symbols, but they can be combined with other vowel forms and semi-vowels like to create the full repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs used in the language. Vowels cannot stand alone or begin a syllable, so the null consonant, ອ, which can function as a vowel in its own right, is used as a base. 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 muân, 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).

Short vowels							Long vowels
Letter	IPA	BGN/PCGN	LC	RTSG	Unicode		Letter	IPA	BGN/PCGN	LC	RTSG	Unicode
-ະ, -ັ	/a/	a			a		-າ	/aː/	a	ā	a	aa
-ິ	/i/	i			i		-ີ	/iː/	i	ī	i	ii
-ຶ	/ɯ/	u	ư	ue	y		-ື	/ɯː/	u	ư̄	ue	yy
-ຸ	/u/	ou	u	u	u		-ູ	/uː/	ou	ū	u	uu
ເ-ະ, ເ-ັ	/e/	é	e	e			ເ-	/eː/	é	ē	e	e
ແ-ະ, ແ-ັ	/ɛ/	è	æ	ae			ແ-	/ɛː/	è	ǣ	ae	ei
ໂ-ະ, -ົ	/o/	ô	o	o			ໂ-	/oː/	ô	ō	o	o
ເ-າະ, -ັອ-	/ɔ/	o	ǫ	o			-ໍ, -ອ-	/ɔː/	o	ǭ	o
ເ-ິ	/ɤ/	eu	œ	oe			ເ-ີ	/ɤː/	eu	œ̄	oe
ເ-ັຍ, -ັຽ-	/iə/	ia					ເ-ຍ, -ຽ-	/iːə/	ia	īa	ia
ເ-ຶອ	/ɯə/	ua	ưa	uea			ເ-ືອ	/ɯːə/	ua	ư̄a	uea
-ົວະ, -ັວ-	/uə/	oua	ua	ua			-ົວ, -ວ-	/uːə/	oua	ūa	ua
ໄ-, ໃ-*, -ັຍ	/aj/	ai			ai or ay		-າຍ	/aːj/	ay	āi	ai
ເ-ົາ	/aw/	ao
-ຳ	/am/	am

• In the Luang Prabang dialect of Lao, ໃ- is pronounced as [aɰ] rather than [aj].

Numerals

Hindu-Arabic numerals	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	20
Lao numerals	໐	໑	໒	໓	໔	໕	໖	໗	໘	໙	໑໐	໒໐
Lao names	ສູນ	ນຶ່ງ	ສອງ	ສາມ	ສີ່	ຫ້າ	ຫົກ	ເຈັດ	ແປດ	ເກົ້າ	ສິບ	ຊາວ
thai number	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	soun	nung	song	sam	si	ha	hok	chet	pèt	kao	sip	xao

Note that Sao, twenty, is not a Thai word and is only used here to show the RTGS transcription of the Lao Xao (ຊາວ). The Thai word for twenty would instead be Yi-Sip (ยี่สิบ).

Lao compatible software

Lao has been available for Linux for many years.

Lao was not officially supported by Windows until Windows Vista. User-generated fonts are freely available online.

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

The Phetsarath OT font was already adopted by the government in 2009 but Lao users were unable to use it, as international software manufactures did not embed the font into 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 the Phetsarath OT on mobile phones as well as tablet PCs using the mobile device operating system Android.

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 10 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 codepoint as the Thai letter ส.

Lao Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+0E8x

ກ

ຂ

ຄ

ງ

ຈ

ຊ

ຍ

U+0E9x

ດ

ຕ

ຖ

ທ

ນ

ບ

ປ

ຜ

ຝ

ພ

ຟ

U+0EAx

ມ

ຢ

ຣ

ລ

ວ

ສ

ຫ

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 8.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

• Romanization of Lao
• Lao Braille
• Literature of Laos

References

• Simmala, Buasawan and Benjawan Poomsan Becker (2003), Lao for Beginners. Paiboon Publishing. ISBN 1-887521-28-3

External links

• Omniglot - Lao alphabet
• Google Translate
• http://www.stars21.com/translator/english_to_lao.html
• http://www.laosoftware.com/index.php
• The Lao Alphabet at SEAsite
• Laos - language situation by N. J. Enfield
• Numerals in many different writing systems, which includes Lao numerals; retrieved 2008-11-12
• http://unicode-table.com/en/sections/lao/
• The Unicode Standard 5.0 Code Charts PDF (90.4 KB) Lao Range: 0E80 - 0EFF, from the Unicode Consortium
• Free Lao script for Windows and Mac OS X
• Phetasarth OT Information page
• New font drives IT development in Laos
• The Phetasarth OT font on mobile devices
• Vientiane Times article: Laos unveils first Tablet
• http://asiansouls.com/laofonts/
• http://www.luangprabang-laos.com/Downloading-of-Lao-fonts
• http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/lao3.htm
• http://www.clear-vu.com.hk/resources/lao_fonts.asp

Further reading

• Lew, Sigrid. "A linguistic analysis of the Lao writing system and its suitability for minority language orthographies." Writing Systems Research ahead-of-print (2013): 1-16. Authors’s accepted manuscript