Laos Language
The official language of Laos is Lao (pasaa Lao), a tonal language whereby the meaning of a word is determined by the tone or pitch (inflection). There are six tones in the Lao language – low, mid, high, rising, high falling and low falling. Lao is a Tai-Kadai language that was modeled on the alphabet of the old Khmer script. It is spoken by an estimated 15 million people in Laos, northern Thailand and by Lao communities around the world especially in the US, France and Canada. Interestingly, there are more Laos speakers in Thailand than there are in Laos. There are five different Lao dialects: Vientiene Lao, Luang Prabang, Xieng Khouang, Khammouane and Champassak. The Vientiane Lao is considered the standard and is the most widely understood throughout the country. As Lao is closely related to Thai, speakers of Lao are often able to understand spoken Thai, though the reverse is not always true. The Lao language is phonetic, so each letter stands for a sound. There are 21 consonant sounds, though 27 consonants used. These additional symbols were originally used to represent separate sounds, but with the loss of distinction between the sounds, the additional letters are now used to indicate tones. There are no spaces between words in Lao, with the use of spaces reserved for the end of clauses or sentences. Because there is no official Latin transliteration system for Laos, a French based system is in use, resulting in considerable variations in spelling, particularly with respect to vowels. It is not uncommon to find a town referenced by up to 15 different spelling variations. While Lao is the official language, it represents only 52% of the total population. Other Tai Kadai speakers make up approximately 15% of the population, and the remainder is fragmented into the culturally distinct tribal groups. Many tribal communities will still have some knowledge of Lao, especially those who have been in close contact with military services or other endeavours will have a higher understanding of Lao. The hill and mountain areas of Laos are the most linguistically diverse, with many different tribal languages being spoken. Some societies, particularly the midland Lao Theung, do not possess a written equivalent of their language. Less mountainous areas (such as the Mekong River) have predominantly Lao speakers. Two popular ethnic languages in Laos are Khmmu and Hmong. Both languages have large amounts of speakers in Northern Laos. The Hmong language has proven to be resilient despite efforts to increase the use of Lao in that community. Among the older generation, French and Vietnamese are widely spoken. In the younger generation English is often used as it has been adopted as the language of business and tourism. English is also seen as the preferred language amongst the younger generation. Many younger Laotians will speak some English. Most tuk-tuk (taxi drivers) in Vientiane will understand some English, though there may be local restaurants at which English is not spoken. In more remote regions, it should not be expected that English will be well understood if at all. Russian is also understood in some areas of Laos due to a close prior relationship between Laos and the Soviet Union, but is less common than are French speakers. Last edited Oct 16, 07 5:19 PM. |
