Lao alphabet
| Lao |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | |
| Languages | Lao, Thai and others |
|
Time period
|
c. 1350–present |
|
Parent systems
|
|
|
Sister systems
|
Thai |
| Direction | Left-to-right |
| ISO 15924 | Laoo, 356 |
|
Unicode alias
|
Lao |
| U+0E80–U+0EFF | |
Lao script, or Akson Lao, (Lao: ອັກສອນລາວ [ʔáksɔ̌ːn láːw]) is the primary script used to write the Lao language and other minority languages in Laos. It was also used to write the Isan language, but was replaced by the Thai script. It has 27 consonants (ພະຍັນຊະນະ [pʰāɲánsānā]), 7 consonantal ligatures (ພະຍັນຊະນະປະສົມ [pʰāɲánsānā pá sǒm]), 33 vowels (ສະຫລະ [sálā]), and 4 tone marks (ວັນນະຍຸດ [ván nā ɲūt]).
The Lao alphabet was adapted from the Khmer script, which itself was derived from the Pallava script, a variant of the Grantha alphabet descended from the Brahmi script, which was used in southern India and South East Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Akson Lao is a sister system to the Thai script, with which it shares many similarities and roots. However, Lao has fewer characters and is formed in a more curvilinear fashion than Thai.
Lao is traditionally written from left to right. Lao is considered an abugida, in which certain 'implied' vowels are unwritten. However, due to spelling reforms by the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party, it is less apparent. Despite this, most Lao outside of Laos, and many inside Laos, continue to write according to former spelling standards, so vernacular Lao functions as a pure abugida. For example, the old spelling of ສເລີມ 'to hold a ceremony, celebrate' contrasts with the new ສະເຫລີມ. 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 punctuation 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 lowercase) differentiation.
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