Language Pt1 - Lao Script

One the most wonderful things about travelling through Malaysia, Indonesia and the Phillipines was the presence of familiar alphabets. Being a visual learner it was great to be able to read maps and signs of places you had never been and it would really enhanced my recollection. It also made it easier to learn words through internet resources. In this regard, Lao was more challenging. I became intent on learning this foreign script to start to unlock the learning benefits within.

The Lao script is aesthetically pleasing with rounded characters distinctly different from much of the romanized fonts that exist for Thai. Even Khmer is distinctly different with substantial use of vertical strokes. The alphabet as it is used as an index in dictionaries is a set of 27 consonants. The full picture however involves an roughly 28 vowels and an additional 7 sung consonants that are a combination character using ຫ.  The language is predominantly monosyllabic without conjugated verb forms; this allows the language to be read with the need for spaces separating words. Spaces are used instead to separate sentences. There are also characters that repeat words ໆ and sentences ຯ.

The list below introduces the Lao alphabet ອັກສອນລາວ as it is traditionally taught to students, epitomized through the use of common words below. English equivalent is a rough approximation only and can be better appreciated through the many youtube videos (search 'lao alphabet' in youtube):

Letter   Example     English 

              Word        Equivalent

1. ກ     ໄກ່            g
2. ຊ      ໄຂ່            kh
3. ຄ     ຄວາຍ        kh
4. ງ      ງົວ             ng
5. ຈ     ຈອກ          j/ch
6. ສ      ເສືອ           s
7. ຊ      ຊ້າງ           s / x
8. ຍ      ຍຸງ            ny
9. ດ      ເດັກ          d
10. ຕ      ຕາ            dt
11. ຖ      ຖົງ            t
12. ທ      ທຸງ            t
13. ນ      ນົກ            n
14. ບ      ເເບ້            b
15. ປ      ປາ             bp
16. ຜ      ເຜິ້ງ            ph
17. ຝ      ຝົນ            f
18. ພ      ພູ              p
19. ຟ      ໄຟ             f
20. ມ      ເເມວ          m
21. ຢ      ຢາ             y
22. ວ      ວີ              w
23. ຣ      ຣົຖ            r
24. ລ      ລິງ             l
25. ຫ      ຫ່ານ          h
26. ອ      ໂອ            oh
27. ຮ      ເຮືອນ         h

ອ is a neutral consonant. When expressed in the alphabet it takes on a vowel sound and is the only consonant in the alphabet to do so. It is also used as to write the vowel sound 'oh' as in flaw in some instances. Vowels can be written in several forms. Basic vowels are introduced below with both short and long forms. Where two forms are provided below the differentiation is generally where the syllable possesses a final consonants. 

Sound	Example	Short Written	Long Written
ah	back	-ະ , -ັ	-າ
I	easy	-ິ	-ີ
eu	few	-ຶ	-ື
oo	school	-ຸ	-ູ
e	less	ເ-ະ , ເ-ັ	ເ-
ae	bake	ເເ-ະ , ເເ-ັ	ເເ-
o	flow	ໂ-ະ , -ົ	ໂ-
oh	flaw	ເ-າະ , -ັອ-	-ໍ , -ອ-
ur	her	ເ-ິ	ເ-ີ
ia	asia	ເ-ັຍ , -ັຽ-	ເ-ຍ , -ຽ-
oowa	fuel	ເ-ຶອ	ເ9ືອ
eua	fewer	-ົວະ , -ັວ-	-ົວ , -ວ-
ai	life	ໄ- , ໃ- , -ັຍ	-າຽ
ao	out	ເ-ົາ	-າວ
ahm	hum	-ຳ	-າມ

ໄ and ໃ  may be transliterated the same above however there is a subtle difference. The ใ has a slight y-sound towards the end (as the y in yellow). When a syllable starts with the vowel the null syllable ອ is used.

Semi-vowel		ao	ew	aew	iw	iaw
-w	Long Form	-າວ	ເ-ວ	ເເ-ວ	-ີວ	-ຽວ
	Short Form	ເ-ົາ			-ິວ

Semi-vowel		ai	oy	ohy	iy	uy	ery	uay	euay
-y	Long Form	-າຍ	ໂ-ຍ	-ອຍ	-ືຍ	-ູຍ	ເ-ີຍ	-ວຍ	ເ-ຶອຍ
	Short Form	ໃ- , ໄ-	ໂ -ັຍ		-ຶຍ	-ຸຍ

Sung consonants were mentioned earlier. Sung is one of the consonant classes, the others being Tam and Kang Consonant classes. Theses classes become more important for the implications to the tones. English-speaking learners may discern corollary characters between Tam and Sung consonants and perceived the consonant sounds replicated within both of these classes. In describing the differences between these two classes they will be described as differences in tones. Naturally, ethnic Lao speakers don't necessarily learn these differences as one of tone.  Tam, Kang and Sung consonants are organised as below.

Akson Kang	Akson Tam	Akson Sung
ອ	ງ ນ ມ	ຝ ສ ຜ ຖ ຂ ຫ
ບ ດ ຢ	ຍ ວ ຟ ຊ ຮ	ຫລ or ຫຼ ຫຽ or ຫຍ
ປ ຕ ກ ຈ	ຣ ລ	ຫວ ຫງ ຫຣ
	ພ ທ ຄ	ໜ or ຫນ ໝ or ຫມ

Note:
ຫລ or ຫຼ - the latter is the contemporary spelling

ຫຽ or ຫຍ - the latter is the contemporary spelling

The accents Mai To(  ້) and Mai ek ( ່ ) are also popularly used. They are tone markers. Consonants are ascribed with these marks that effectively override the tone pronunciation of the syllable. I'll introduce the tones in future blog entries.

Finally, Lao also has a base 10 numeral set. However, it has fallen out of contemporary use. Even in official documentation, the conventional indo-arabic numeral set is often used. They are compared below:

Western 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

So, its first steps but it takes a bit to get familiar with these new characters.  Fortunately, its one of those things that works well with simple wrote learning. Repetition and structured recollection works. YouTube videos will help a lot in these especially with the alphabet and vowels. The next step is getting around the tones. These aren't as simple but there are also a few tricks and structured ways to understanding these. These two components help crack the puzzle to learning more about Lao.

It's easy to fall in love with the Lao language. It's logical form is inspiring and it's functional simplicity will leave you questioning why English with all its unnecessary complications has reached such prominence. I'm no expert but as someone with an engineering background, the beautiful efficiency of the Lao language strikes a cord with me and can only work to enamor oneself even more with such a wonderful land of the Lao people.