25 Facts About Lao language

Lao language falls within the Lao-Phuthai group of languages, including its closest relatives, Phuthai and Tai Yo.

Ancestors of the Lao people were speakers of Southwestern Tai dialects that migrated from what is southeastern China, specifically what is Guangxi and northern Vietnam where the diversity of various Tai languages suggests an Urheimat.

The Tais split and followed the major river courses, with the ancestral Lao language originating in the Tai migrants that followed the Mekong River.

Thai and Lao language, although separated, passively influenced each other through centuries of proximity.

The Thai, and likely the Lao language, were able to make Khmer-style coinages that were later exported back to Khmer.

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The heavy imprint of Khmer is shown in the genetics of Tai speakers, with samples from Thai and Isan people of Lao language descent showing proof of both the Tai migration but intermarriage and assimilation of local populations.

Scholars such as Khanittanan propose that the deep genetic and linguistic impact of the autochthonous Khmer and their Lao language indicates that the earliest days of Ayutthaya had a largely bilingual population.

Many Sanskrit words were adopted via the Khmer Lao language, particularly concerning Indian concepts of astrology, astronomy, ritual, science, kingship, art, music, dance and mythology.

Scribes abandoned the use of written Khmer or Lao language written in the Khmer alphabet, adopting a simplified, cursive form of the script known as Tai Noi that with a few modifications survives as the Lao language script.

Lao language literature was given a major boost with the brief union of Lan Xang with Lan Na during the reign of Xay Xetthathirat .

The influence of the related Tai Lan Na Lao language was strengthened after the capitulation of Lan Na to the Burmese, leading many courtiers and people to flee to safety to Lan Xang.

The Lao language settlements were found only along the banks of the Mekong River and in the wetter northern areas such as Nong Bua Lamphu, Loei, Nong Khai, with most of the population inhabiting the wetter left banks.

Bulk of the Lao language settled after 1778 when King Taksin, Siamese king during the Thonburi Period conquered Champasak and Vientiane and raided Phuan areas for slaves, seizing the Emerald Buddha and Phra Bang and forcing some of the Lao language across the river to settle in Isan.

Whilst previously written in a mixture of etymological and phonetical spellings, depending on audience or author, Lao underwent several reforms that moved the language towards a purely phonetical spelling.

The speech of the old elite families was cultivated into Standard Lao language as emulated by television and radio broadcasts from the capital as well as taught to foreign students of Lao language.

In Isan, Vientiane Lao language is the primary form of Isan spoken in the northern third of the region which was long settled since the days of Lan Xang and was ruled as part of the Kingdom of Vientiane, including most of Nong Khai, Nong Bua Lamphu, eastern Loei and portions of Saiyaphum and Bueng Kan.

The Tai Wiang strengthened numbers in the northern third, where Vientiane Lao language was traditionally spoken, but were scattered across the Isan region overall, with heavier concentrations in Yasothon, Khon Kaen, and Hoi Et provinces.

Northern Lao language contains numerous terms not familiar to other Lao language speakers.

Many of the areas where Southern Lao language is spoken were formerly part of the Kingdom of Champasak, one of the three successor states to the Kingdom of Lan Xang, prior to the division of the Lao language-speaking world between France and Siam.

For instance, Lao language uses xangtimet in an approximation of French centimetre .

Lao language people tend to use French forms of geographic place names, thus the Republic of Guinea is kine from French Guinee .

Many Lao that received a French-language education during the period of French Indochina were educated in French-language schools in Vietnam, exposing them to French and Vietnamese languages and cultures.

Many consonants in Lao language have a labialized and plain form, thus creating a phonemic contrast.

The majority of Lao words are monosyllabic, and are not inflected to reflect declension or verbal tense, making Lao an analytic language.

Lao language script, derived from the Khmer alphabet of the Khmer Empire in the 14th century, is ultimately rooted in the Pallava script of South India, one of the Brahmi scripts.

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