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Languages in Laos

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Laos officially referred to as the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, is a landlocked state situated in Southeast Asia and covers about 236,800 kilometers squares. It is bordered by Thailand to the northeast, Vietnam to the west, China and Myanmar (Burma) to the northwest, and by Cambodia to the south. The country has a total population of about 6.8 million people. Its position has most of the time made it a barrier between its neighboring countries that are more powerful and also an intersection for communication and trade. Global conflict and migration have led to the current ethnic makeup of Laos and to the geographical dispersion of its ethnic communities.

With the numerous ethnic communities, there are bound to be a number of languages used by the different groups. The number of languages spoken in Laos is quite surprising. This is because a total number of 84 languages have been documented for Laos and all these are living dialects. Of the 84, 74 are local and 10 aboriginal. Note that one of them is institutional, 10 are coming up, 50 are quite dynamic, 21 are in a snag, and 2 of them are becoming extinct. It is, however, important to note the most common language used in the country is Lao. Others include French and English. These and other few minority languages will be discussed in brief below.

Lao, the official dialect of Laos

"Printing plate" French storefront letteringThis is the country’s official dialect and is also referred to as Laotian. Lao belongs to the Tai-Kadai dialect family which constitutes Shan, Thai, and dialects used by minority ethnic groups in Laos, northern Vietnam, Thailand, Southern China, and Burma. All these languages share the same tone structure and grammar. Besides it being the country’s official language most people in the country use it as a second language to converse with others. This is because most ethnic communities have their own dialects which are the first languages for them. This language has five major tongues. These include Vientiane Lao, Northern Lao (Prabang), North Eastern Lao (Xieng Khouang), Central Lao (Khammouane), and Southern Lao (Champassak). Of these five, Vientiane Lao is the most comprehended tongue in the whole country and the Lao vocabulary is founded on it. About 52% of the country’s population is believed to speak Lao.

Lao’s written form was developed from ThamScript which originated from the Pali dialect that was started in India. This script was brought to Laos by the Theravada Buddhists in an era where Buddhism was gaining popularity. The writing system was also developed from Sanskrit. It was initially used by the Khmers during the era of the Angkor regime. It was then accommodated by the Central Thais, Northern Thais, and Laotians into their alphabets which are all individual but similar to each other. The alphabets are made up of letters with their unique sounds, and just like English are read from the left to the right.

This is a concise dialect. It uses prefixes and amalgamation of simple words to create meanings that are more complex. The structure of the sentences is also very easy and the term ‘grammar’ is used to refer to the word order.

The Lao language has six tones which include low, mid, high, rising, high falling, and law falling. The language is mostly made up of local Lao words but as a result of Buddhism, Pali language contributed many words particularly those related to religion. The majority of the words also have one syllable. Many syllable words are at a higher level and are mostly used in government, religion, and academics. Most of these words have been borrowed from Sanskrit which is the official language in India and are somehow similar to Thai’s high-level words.

There are other notable characteristics of Lao language. These include the fact that it has two writing systems: abugida and syllabic alphabet. Its syllables are established around consonants. Vowels are shown by diacritics which can appear around, above, or below, the consonant letters and when they appear on their own or at the start of a word, they are joined to the glottal stop sign. There are also no gaps between words; the gaps rather indicate the conclusion of a clause or a sentence.

French spoken in Lao

A recycled Laos newspaperThis language is spoken by a very small population in Laos. The country is the second-biggest Francophone society in that region with the other French speakers being found in Cambodia and Vietnam. The locals use French as a business and ambassadorial dialect and about a third of the students in the country study the language.

This dialect was introduced to the country in the 19th century with the arrival of French explorers who wanted to create encroachments into China after their colonization of Vietnam. The French created a colonial protectorate over the country because they were afraid of political and economic competition from Britain. The French did not exercise their power in Laos unlike in Vietnam and it was in the 1900s when they introduced their language to schools. It was, however, only restricted to Vientiane. The French regime gained popularity and their language became the main dialect in learning institutions and government and began spreading to the southern parts of Laos after the origination of Paske. When Laos gained self-governance in 1949 both French and Laos were used as the official languages but in 1953, when Laos gained its independence, Lao became the only formal language.

Currently, French has a very healthy status in Laos as compared to other Francophone countries in Asia. Approximately 35% of the students in the country acquire their schooling in French, which is a mandatory course in most of the schools. Besides diplomacy and commercial purposes, French is also applied in public works in Luang Prabang and southern and central Laos. It is also used by people in the elite class, elders and advanced occupations. It is, however, important to note that French is often threatened by the English language as the dialect is viewed as the language of global trade and a number of learning institutions have made English a compulsory course.

English spoken in Lao

This language is practiced by the young ones in the community as they are more fascinated on talking and practicing it. It is very common to uncover people of all ages speaking English very well. The language is also taught in most of the schools in the country and most tourists are of the opinion that the locals speak the language better compared to the people of Thai.

Minority languages in Lao

A gas station signThere are quite a number of minority languages spoken in Laos but the most common ones are Khmu and Hmong. These two will be discussed in brief below.

Khmu

This language is in the Austro-Asiatic dialect family which has a number of closely linked dialects such as Kniang, Puoc, and O’du just to mention a few. These are grouped collectively to create the Khumuic division. The different Khmu languages vary especially in the extent to which the dialect has been impacted by the neighboring state dialects, the number of consonants, and the presence of register. These tongues are mostly understandable but communication can be hard amid speakers of languages that are geographically far.

This language is spoken by the Khmu people who initially inhabited northern Laos. The population of Khmu speakers in Laos is believed to be about 500,000 and they are the biggest ethnic community and live in five provinces in the North; Bokeo, Luang Prabang, Lungnamtha, Oudomxay, and Phongsaly. This group is believed to outnumber even the Lao speakers.

This language is mostly used among peers, but it is important to know that most of these people are also eloquent in the dialect used by the dominant community in the region. Most of them use three or four diverse languages. The majority speak Lao when talking to government representatives, when doing business with people from lowland Lao, or in schools.

Hmong

This language is spoken by the Hmong people who reside in the Mountains of Laos, Burma, and Thailand. This community cannot be categorized as Lao, Thai or Chinese as their origin is not known. Their language is separate from Lao but most of them speak Lao.

The Hmong language has two main groups that are used in Laos. These are White Hmong (Hmong Daw) and green/blue Hmong (Hmong Njua). Both live next to each other but the Hmong Daw appears to be the dominant language because the majority of the people discern and comprehend it better. This is evident in the fact that the Hmong writing system generally mirrors the articulation of the Hmong Daw dialect. Besides this, the number of published Hmong Daw dictionaries significantly exceeds that of the Hmong Njua language. These two dialects are quite similar but the two groups talk diverse languages. The main difference between these two is in their lexicon and pronunciation. The difference is also in the word structure and the grammar. As such, the extent of clearness in these languages is significantly less. In the last 50 years, Hmong Daw has somehow been homogenized so that both languages could have simple comprehension of each other. Both dialects made a few changes so as to fit together slightly better than before.

This language has eight or twelve tones. These depend on the reference which causes the spelling to appear dissimilar from the articulation.

Besides the languages discussed above, there are other immigrant languages spoken in Laos. One of them is Central Khmer. This is spoken by refugees from Cambodia who fled their war-torn nation. Most of them reside in the southwest region of Laos near the borders of Cambodia and Thailand. The other is the Laotian Chinese which is spoken by Chinese descendants who migrated to Laos from Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong provinces. Most of these speak Cantonese and Teochew and a few use Southwestern Mandarin.