Here are some statistics about the Lao language and the Thai language. Now I understand why Thai language is similar to Lao language, but with a slight Khmer twist to it.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Lao language is made up of the following:

67.56% Lao
24.97% Pali
5.90% Sanskrit
0.53% Khmer
0.40% Thai (Siamese)
0.28% Chinese
0.23% French

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Thai language is made up of the following:

55.55% Lao
24.97% Pali
7.41% Thai
5.90% Sanskrit
5.53% Khmer
0.28% Chinese
0.23% English

Check your source first

Lao4Lao wrote:
ສະບາຍດີ - สบายดี

Thanks Dinsorcee for sharing interesting information. According to the Lao Ministry of Education, Lao words and borrowing words (used as part of Lao language) are:
67.56% are Lao
24.97% from Pali
5.90% from Sanskrit
0.53% from Khmer
0.40% from Thai(Siamese)
0.28% from Chinese
0.23% from French

ขอบใจเดี

Thats cool, So what do you think makes up the Thai Language... I think the Thai Language is made up from the following...

55.55% From Lao
24.97% from Pali
7.41% are Thai
5.90% from Sanskrit
5.53% from Khmer
0.28% from CHinese
0.23% from English

http://www.laohub.com/modules.php?name=For...sc&start=30

why not merge laos and thailand..

I think lao and thai have the same root.

Thailand bangkock language is made up of 99 % jek. If you don't believe me ask Teenoi.

Laos is the shame of SEA. Thailand has nothing to do with Laos. See what they eat

^ wth, i'm sure you're not real thai then, because thailand got stuff like these too, so is cambodia and other SEA country. Stop peeing against the wind. now whose hypocrite?

Ah TeeNoi is confuse if he should call himself Jekloangkoak or Thai.....LOL

Half of Thai or even most can't understand Laos. Only the so called Issan. Notice how laos can understand Thai, cause they get Thai channels and pop music.

Both are similar, I look at it as Thai-High class and Laos-Lower class language. I tried talking Laos to Thai people and they just look at me all weird, then ignore me.

Whether you're Lao or Thai, I think you sound very insecure. Tourists are mentioning to others that Lao language sounds more beautiful than Thai language so you come in here to put down the Lao language? LOL! You're entitled to your own opinion. However, to those who've listened to both and are familiar with both languages, Lao is the more formal language and sounds nicer and softer. Foreigners who've been to Luang Prabang, Laos, don't share your opinions. Thai people speak really fast especially the merchants in Bangkok and Thai tones as spoken by Thais are very harsh sounding, which is characteristic of a low class language.

In case you haven't noticed, Thai people are now listening to Lao music and becoming fans of Lao celebrities like Alexandra Bounxouei. Lao language has more native words and it's also tonally more flexible than Thai, which is why it's harder for a Thai person to understand Lao. Thai language is a tonal language that depends on consonant clusters to add clarity to the words and the tones sound very robotic, whereas Lao language is also a tonal language, but our tones sound smoother because of the way we pronounce our words. Thai language also tends to use the same words for multiple meanings, whereas Lao language usually has different words to convey a meaning. Spoken Lao language is harder to learn than Thai because we have more native words to memorize, whereas Thai language is a simplified version of the Lao language. Thailand had to standardize the Thai language by using only a limited amount of words in order to allow different ethnic groups to understand a central language. After you've mastered the Thai language, then you'll be able to upgrade your language skills by learning how to speak the more complicated but nicer sounding Lao language.

Both Language sound nice and sweet depends on whos talking. I'm just saying its the stereotype for us Laos. Come on Tourist people? Gotta be nice to them to try to scam them. Think u watch that Luang Prabang movie haven't u?

Yes that depends on who's talking, but Lao language is innately softer sounding than Thai language and Lao language is more formal because we use complete sentences unlike spoken Thai language. Tourists don't care one way or another as far as which language sounds better. They're basing their opinions on what they've heard and comparing the two languages and concluded that Lao language sounded more beautiful than Thai. Lao and Thai people are biased so you can't really trust the opinions of Lao/Thai people, but when you've got westerners telling others that they prefer how Lao language sounds over Thai, then you need to open your eyes and ears.

It's like a Scottish saying Scottish sounds more beautiful than English.

HOLY CRAP !!!

Tai accent similarity

Shan (Burma) - Dai (Yunnan) - Lanna (Northern Thai)

Northern Lao - Central Thai

Southern Lao - Northeastern Thai (Isan)

Southern Thai seems to be very unique cuz they speak very fast.

Where is Mon ????

Actually the best polished accent in Britain is Inverness RP followed by Edinburgh RP ( both in Scotland ) , followed by London RP .

RP = received pronunciation


Of the general accents most call centres are based in Scotland because the non-chav central lowland scots accent is seen as soft , trustworthy and nice.


General lowland scots accent is far easier to the ear than the estuarine London drawl , Brummie , Manc or god forbid Scouse or Geordie .






educated Shan pawns the whole lot 5555555555555555555






we're talking about Tai languages here dude

Pardon me, what the hell is Loangkoak.

Lao is also a monosyllabic language so consonant clusters are rare. have consonant clusters does not mean the language is of lower class, it actually is of higher class because it is harder to master. usually asian languages with consonant clusters are due to the fact that they are highly influenced by sanskrit and pali which are master languages. languages who adapted these languages to inlclude sounds not found in their native tongue must create new sounds and letters to accomodate sounds that exist already within these languages. usually these languages are found in religious text, institute and royalty.


i thought the opposite was true, lao government had to simplify the written language so it became phonetic so in turn easier to read. pali and sanskrit words written in lao does not reflect orginal spelling because of all the letters dropped during the reform. from what i have studied lao is actually a more simplified language now than it was 100 years ago. especially after the royal family was no more.

case in point

pradesh=country (sanskrit origin)
prateh=khmer
prathet=thai
pathet=lao

luang prabang original spelling, notice however that the spelling in lao is luang phabang, and i have yet to meet a lao person that pronounces the Prah in Phra Bang.

vrah (brah) sanskrit origin for sacred
preah-khmer
prah-thai
pha- lao


keep in mind central thai is only one region within thailand that is where the government is so naturally central thai would be the standard for all thai spoken and written within thailand. that does not mean it is practiced all over thailand.

I thought they're all based in India nowadays lol

Lao is a monosyllabic language, but this has nothing to do with the use of consonant clusters. I also never said that languages that have consonant clusters are of lower class. You think consonant clusters are harder to master? Try mastering the tones in Lao, Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese. LOL! Now THAT'S hard to master. Using consonant clusters has nothing to do with being of high class. Look at the Japanese language. The Japanese language does not use consonant clusters and neither does the Lao language. However, you will see consonant clusters for some foreign words (like English words) in the Japanese language. But overall, the Japanese language does not use consonant clusters. Are you implying that the Cambodian language is of higher class than Japanese language because you guys use consonant clusters?



I never mentioned anything about the written language. Please go reread my post. I was talking about spoken Lao and spoken Thai. The Lao written language was modernized and upgraded to a written language that is now almost 100% phonetic, which gives it the advantage of being easier to learn, whereas the Thai written language is still based on the old way and still has many silent characters. However, spoken Lao language is harder to learn than spoken Thai language. I said harder to "learn", not harder to "speak". The Thais are still pronouncing Sanskrit (maybe Pali)-based letters so the Thai language is harder to "speak" because you have to roll your R's like in the Cambodian language. However, Modern Lao language no longer uses the rolling R sound, which is why the Lao language is innately softer sounding than Thai. The only times when you'll hear the rolling R sound in the Lao language, is when we're using an ancient word that is not commonly used in modern times. In that case, we would pronounce the word with the rolled R sound. Words evolve over time, which is why Americans and British people don't pronounce words or use the same words that existed in Old English or anything before it. I can't speak for anyone else, but to me whenever I'd hear Lao/Thai/Cambodian words that have rolling Rs, they tend to sound archaic to me only because most modern Lao words no longer use rolling Rs because they've been phased out of our language more or less. It's harder to learn spoken Lao, because we don't have consonant clusters or rolling Rs that jump out at you to help differentiate the meaning of a word. The Lao language depends on tones and regular letters and vowels, which require a good set of trained ears in order to understand the subtle nuances of the Lao language. If we wanted to make our spoken language easier to understand but at the expense of losing the softness of our language, then we might as well bring back the rolling R sound and implement consonant clusters like Khmer and Thai, but then again we're not trying to sound like you guys. Yes, about 30% of our words are Indian loanwords, but this doesn't mean that we actually have to sound Indian or pronounce words like the native Indian way. Many Asian languages have incorporated English words, but you don't see them pronouncing words exactly like Americans or British people, etc...Loanwords are modified to suit the language. In our case, Indian words with rolling Rs were modified to make them sound more similar to native Lao words, which makes our language more consistent and smoother sounding as compared to Thai, where their rolling R is quite apparent and in your face...you can't miss it.



Whenever I'm talking about "Thai" language, it's already implied that I'm talking about central Thai language. What we know as "Thai" language is in fact central Thai language. The other languages spoken in Thailand are considered Thai "regional" languages/dialects...LOL! There goes that word "regional" again.



We do pronounce the R sound if we want to make it sound ancient like how we used to pronounce it or if we're speaking to westerners who are familiar with the R letter in the name "Luang Prabang". I'm not sure how I can make you understand this, but most Lao people are not crazy about the rolling R sound like Thai and Khmer people. If we wanted to emphasize the rolling R sound, then we would've brought back the old pronunciations of our words. However, we're not doing that because we like how our language sounds...it sounds softer without the rolling R sound. For any Lao person who prefers the old way of speaking, then they are free to pronounce Lao words the ancient way with some of the words having the rolling R sound. But most Lao people don't care for our past pronunciations and prefer modern Lao pronunciations.

How about tape yourself speaking Thai and have none Thai speaking people compare it with Khmer language see if they notice any different...

Its one of Tai Kadai original words and you don't know what it mean and/but consider yourself related to Tai people?

Buc Fake Isan, If you are real Isan you will know that Khmer and Central Thai sound different. You can't assume Thai sounds much similar to Khmer because of Khmer loan words and the "rolled R"

Central Thai has R but it is "tapped R" not "trilled R". I feel "trilled R" sound a bit funny but "tapped R" sounds beautiful and "L" is the hard sound comparing to "tapped R". So I prefer speak my Thai-accented English with "tapped R" not "trilled R" and not "American rolled R" too, American rolled R sounds ugly to me. If you don't know what I am talking about, go learn Italian

Everyday life, Thai ppl simply drop "tapped R" to "L", So it's stupid wrong if some Lao here think that Thai ppl cannot understand Lao due to Lao ppl merges R to L (or H).
"R" plays big roll in official speaking/conversation like in TV, movies, drama, songs. you can't expect "Central Thai" speaks like what you hear in drama or music. got it? buc fake Isan

Thai language does sound like Khmer, except that Thai is tonal.



You think the Thai "R" sounds better than the English "R" or the regular "H" or "L" sound???? LOL!

Here's a Thai talk show. Everyone on the show is speaking Thai except for the guests who are Lao artists. The Lao artists don't come out until after they've been introduced by the Thai talk show hosts.

Lao artists Alexandra Bounxouei and L.O.G. on Thai TV:
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/searc...23-aug-07_music

The two men and the lady are Thai. Listen to how harsh she sounds when speaking Thai and especially when pronouncing the Thai "R". Alexandra (the Lao artist in the red dress) sounds nice and soft because she's speaking Lao, whereas the talk show hosts are speaking Thai. The Italian R sounds nice, but not the Thai R. Sorry, but it is what it is.

I never consider myself related to Tai If Tai in your sense means ethnic Tai. I was born in Thailand so What do you expect me to call myself other than Thai! Anyway, one thing I notice here is that Laos tends to use 'Tai' to call themselves instead of 'Lao', Why? Is Lao a bad word? or you guys aren't proud of Lao.

That's because you're a foreigner who doesn't understand what the word Tai means in the Lao language. You're acting like those westerners who are making people think that Tai is an ethnicity. It's just a word that's used in the Lao language. The reason why we still use the word "Tai" is because it's a Lao word and we're proud of our language.

Here, let me teach you why "Tai" is not an ethnicity, but a regular Lao word that's mistakenly used as an ethnicity by westerners and people like you who aren't related to us.

Speaking of consonant clusters, they existed in all ancient languages of the world. Ancient Chinese also used to have consonant clusters but they simplified the consonants by the Tang Dynasty. The same thing for Vietnamese. The consonant clusters and the R that exist in Thai language is actually more original then the simplified consonants and the H sound in Lao. In the recent year, Lao has simplified their consonant just like Vietnamese and Chinese did. But Thai still preserve the more original ones.

Speaking of consonant clusters, they existed in all ancient languages of the world. Ancient Chinese also used to have consonant clusters but they simplified the consonants by the Tang Dynasty. The same thing for Vietnamese. The consonant clusters and the R that exist in Thai language is actually more original then the simplified consonants and the H sound in Lao. In the recent year, Lao has simplified their consonant just like Vietnamese and Chinese did. But Thai still preserve the more original ones.

You are the best at twist fact here.

The trilled R, Thai lady spoke is not what central Thai normally do, It's on TV, ok? She emphasized a name of a drama series and your country name like "Rak Rim fang khong / Satharanarat" . You can notice that she rarely trill her tongue on these "R" words, Reung, mayuRa (her name), alexandRa, aRai, naRak. Rock, kRai, sakkRoo, Rong. She just tap her tongue or simply drop to L. This is the REAL way how Thai people talk in everyday conversation. Moreover, the two Thai guys had never rolled their tongue for R, like the word "Rao", they just pronounced "Lao". why won't you mention them?

To be honest, in the clip, I don't feel Lao speak slower than Central Thai. The slowest is Northern Thai (Lanna/Khammuang) which is slower and softer than Lao. If you think speak slower mean more beautiful, I think northern Thai is more beautiful than northern Lao cuz they speak slower and softer. One more thing, all Thai end conversation sentences with ka/krab/Jao/Ja, but Lao don't. I feel Lao speak curtly/briefly, in Thai is phud huan huan ,or Mai mee hang siang. (ห้วนๆ - ไม่มีหางเสียง). It's not polite and considered as hard/rough talk.

Listen to Nichkhun a Thai singer in Korea, he simply change R to L. Roo-Reurng, Rai-garn become Loo-Leurng, Lai-garn. In reality we talk like him. Don't think we talk like in Thai TV. 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnOJH9Pk3f8

add:


lol, If Thai does sound like Khmer, Lao does too 2

From this movie, Exclude the first guy and Ananda the lead actor speak Thai. Ananda speak Thai with no trilled R like all Thai speak in daily basis. Notice all Lao speak not faster or slower than Thai. like you are claiming.
Sabai dee LPB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAg3mBIuptA

well it shows you that you don't know anything about either languages. its like day and night, even loan words that are exchanged between both tongues are pronounced differently so they don't reflect each other at all.

trust me, thai does not sound like khmer. and vice versa.

For Thai

1 Tai
2 Sanskrit
3 Pali
4 Khmer (and Mon)
5 Chinese (southern)
6 Malay, European...

There are Sanskrit words more than Pali, I don't know why Lao have more Pali, maybe they cannot clearly distinguish Pali and Sanskrit due to their writing is very phonetic unlike Thai writing which can trace back the root of all loan words (including Khmer and Chinese).

You are jek holding thai citizen. When talking about ethnicity, you're not Tai. Any more question let me know jek.

So Thai are trying hard to speak like Lao huh? Before, you Siamese used to make fun of Lao for not using R ....555 Thai want to speak sweet like Lao now...


Buc Jek Loangkoak!!

Few days ago I watched this bald headed guy on Thai TV where he went to 12 Panna to interview this great Asian historian who happened to speak the so called Thai language and the guy even say Tai mean people. The last monarch of Kumming told him "Hao Pen Tai Dio Gun" which mean "We are the same PEOPLE". In Lao Tai Vieng mean People of Vieng...

Oyyy deh Buc Jek Loangkoak!

You have a tendency to lump Lao language in with Chinese and Vietnamese. Please stop doing that. =)

The rolled R sound is not a native sound in the Lao language, at least not the way the Thais are pronouncing their R's.

The Thai "R" is not original. It was borrowed from the Khmers.



It's obvious that some Thai speakers are confused as to what their language truly is supposed to be. Either you pronounce your R's or you don't. Make up your mind already.



That's because our polite participles are only used when needed. Thai language sounds rough and robotic, which is why you HAVE TO constantly end your sentences with your polite participles (i.e. Kha/Krup, etc...) to "humanize" the Thai language. In Lao language, we don't have to do that because our language already sounds polite unlike Thai language. We show politeness by our intonation and how we phrase our sentences. Our polite participles (Jao, Der, Dawk, Doi, etc...) are only used when absolutely necessary because if those words are used too often it would be an overkill because our language already sounds polite. Lao and Thai are related languages, but that doesn't mean that we sound exactly the same. Lao language sounds friendlier than Thai, which is why we're supposed to use our polite participles sparingly, whereas Thais are pretty much required to use their polite participles. If we sounded harsh like robots, then we'd probably be required to end all of our sentences with polite participles like Thai people, but fortunately we don't have that problem with our language.



That shows how very little you know about the Lao language. No one in the movie "Sabaidee Luang Prabang" spoke with a northern Lao accent. You don't even know what Luang Prabang accent sounds like...LOL! Anyway, northern Lao women speak even slower and softer than Alexandra Bounxouie who has a central Vientiane accent.

Besides, Ananda Everingham is LAO! He speaks Thai nicer than actual Thai people (i.e. his boss behind the desk in the movie). Ananda sounds like a Lao person speaking Thai because his voice sounds soft and polite like how northern Lao people sound.

Anyway, Thais are supposed to roll their R's like how a machine gun sounds, so if you're not rolling your R then you're really not speaking Thai, but copying the Lao language. You don't hear Americans changing their R's into L's.

Here's a clip of a Thai news show. IMHO, Thai language sounds like a machine gun. Listen for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2rsQTF-aDU

^The only person speaking in the Lao language is Alexandra Bounxouei, the girl behind the mics and standing next to the Thai guy.

I don't.

Study some linguistics and you'll see what I said was true.

The R sound is among the most original sounds of ancient languages, but later as languages developed they replaced the R with some other sounds to make it sound better.
Like, "love" in Thai is Ruk, "love" in Lao is Huk. Well Ruk is the more original while Huk is recently developed to replace the R sound with some smoother sound.

The consonant clusters in Thai is also more original. As languages developed, they tend to simplify the consonants, not making it more complicated. Meaning they would drop some consonants in the consonant clusters, not adding new consonants.

Anyone with a basic knowledge of linguistics should be able to know this.

Why must Thai got to speak like Lao?

That the way Thai ppl talk. May I say the Shan or Zhuang ppl copy Lao talking because of "L" sound?

stupid, isn't it? 2

and if you are really an Isan driver in Bangkok, you must know why we talk like that.

Buc FAKE Isan

You really don't know Thai at all, do you really think we ROLL our tongue all the time, so you have conclusion that Thai does sound like khmer Thai ppl are not confused, we know when we should roll our unique R. In everyday talk, we are just drop R to L, but in formal/official talk like in TV/ public places, we roll our R BUT we don't trill our tongue like machine gun you said or roll our tongue extremely backward like the American R, we just tap/flap our tongue like the Italian tapped R. So don''t think that we talk like what you hear on Thai TV news, ok?





The ending words make Thai sound more polite, you don't have to be so biased that ONLY Lao language sound polite. Both Thai and Lao are polite ppl. But Thai add polite ending word make Thai sound more polite than Lao. Everybody who speak Thai, I really mean EVERYBODY, when hear Lao ppl talk, we just feel strange in our ears why Lao ppl speaking sounds so harsh. It sounds like hearing a kid talk to his parent like he talk to his friends in same age. Personally, I am bored to hear Alexandra saying robotically "Man Laew" all the way she talked . If she was a Thai, she may talk like human with many words like Chai,kha,ja or just uhh, umm, ahh.

you said LPB accent is slower than Vientiane and don't use polite paticles often. I got to say that our Northern Thai (especially Lanna Chiangmai) talk slower than LPB and guess what? Unlike your Luang Pabang, Northern Thai ppl end up sentence with polite words like Jao,Ja. It makes Northern Thai is the most sweet accent in Thailand and of couse more sweet than Lao.

BTW, for foreigners who learning Thai. If you are learning with Tape/CD that teach you to end ALL sentences with polite particles like Krap/Kha and you feel Thai ppl talk like an American robot ending every sentence with YES/SIR. You need to know that in real life we don't ending ALL sentences with Krap/Ka like you heard in CD, just some suitable sentences not all. Moreover Krap/Ka is just 2 out of our TONS of ending paricles, like ja,na,nau,ga,gau,jao,na,pa,ya,ha,pa etc. This is our charm of Thai language. These particles make Thai is very fun language to talk and very unique to Lao.




LOL,,, so what accent will you represent to be REAL Lao to debate with me? Vientiane or LPB? I understand that Laos have no standard accent but you have to say clearly. If you just say Lao is slower and softer, who will know what Lao accent you mean?
I can act ignorantly like you too by saying Bangkok Thai is not real Central Thai accent. Central Thai is not only Bangkok Thai, there are Ayudhaya and Suphanburi accent which considered as the real accent of Ayudhaya ppl in Siam Kingdom. The accent sounds slower and softer than Bangkok accent. Do you want me to switch to this real sweet accent to talk with you?

Ananda grew up in Thailand not Laos. He speaks true Thai accent. Although, his mom is Lao, you can't expect he will speak with Lao accent. His dad is also farang Aussie, Why wouldn't he talk Thai with farang accent? got it? Because he is Thai, born in Thailand, grew up in Thailand. So he doesn't have any Lao or farang accent. Many Isan ppl have Lao parent from Laos, but they speak Thai with no Lao accent, why? because Bangkok Thai is standard teaching in every school in Thailand. Thai accent is universal in Thailand every generation except some olders can speak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2rsQTF-aDU
^ your clip shows Thai talk with R and no R. Thai lady, the TV reporter. she supposed to talk fomally so she talk clearly with R and all R/L clusters. But just listen to the Thai actor at 1:35 , he talk with no R, he is talking like with friends in everyday conversation.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLXIu5roqxE
Listen to this new clip, Nichkhun a Thai singer in Korea, at 0:40, I would say in everyday life Thai ppl talk like him. Notice the voice of woman reporter she speak for a news program to onair in TV so she must speak officially with clear R and R/L clusters.

LOL! Keep dreaming. Lao sounds more polite and sweeter than Thai. Your slave words, "Kha" and "Krap", does not really help make Thai that much sweeter. It's still a robotic and harsh language. Thai language still sounds like a machine gun going off. The proper way to speak Thai is to rrrrroooolllllllll your R's. Stop trying to make your language sound soft like the Lao language. You should be proud of your R's especially since your government wants you to rrrrroooollll your R's. That's how you were taught so stick to it!



There's many polite Lao participles, but she only uses them with LAO PEOPLE! LOL! Guess the Thai hosts didn't deserve extra respect from her, which is probably why she didn't feel the need to use our polite participles on them...LOL! Even without using our polite participles, she still sounds more polite and sweeter than the people who were speaking Thai.

Again, our language is not robotic and harsh like the Thai language. "Kha" and "Krap" doesn't really help the Thai language all that much, because even "Kha" and "Krap" sound harsh themselves. I prefer the Lao "Jao" and "Doi"...they sound much softer.



Stop copying Lao people. Speak Thai and stick to the proper Thai pronunciations with the RRRRRRRRRRRR's like machine guns going off.



I think you should learn how to think outside the box. Just because R's changing into H's/L's is the more natural progression does not mean that every word that begins with an H/L used to be an R letter. Are you telling me that the English words House, Hen, Hot, Hit, and Here used to be Rouse, Ren, Rot, Rit, and Rere respectively? Seriously think and analyze your information before you apply it to every language in existence.

The Thai "Ruk" is not original. "Huk" is the more original word, but the Siamese changed it to Ruk because they prefer to roll their R's. Even though "Tai" is not an ethnicity, I'll just stick to the current program and say that out of all the "Tai" groups, the Thais are the only ones who say "Ruk". Lao people and other groups are closer to China than the Siamese (Thais), yet no one else says Ruk except the Thais who are more southern than the other "Tai" groups. I've already told you many times not to assume that you know more about our language and culture than we do. You don't want me and others to get started on educating you on your own Vietnamese language .

Many of the Siamese were slaves who spoke a non-tonal language. When "Tai"-speaking rulers forced them to learn the "Tai" language and tones, it was more natural for the slaves to pronounce some words with the R letter, which helped make some words "clearer" because the R sound REALLY jumps out at you especially when trying to make a tonal language easier to understand for non-trained ears. In addition, the Thais adopted certain slave words from the Khmers and incorporated them into the Thai language, which is why no one else uses those participles except the Thais. Why would a Lao person want to use slave words that the Siamese had to use when speaking to their masters? Lao people have our own polite participles that have nothing to do with the slave words in the Thai language.

Anyway, you're getting the whole R's changing to L's thing mixed up with Indian loan words. Those Indian loanwords used to have the R sound, but modern Lao people prefer pronouncing those words the softer way, so the proper way now is to pronounce them with H's. However, those Indian loanwords have NOTHING to do with native Lao words that begin with the letter H or L. You're making it seem as if it's impossible to have words that were originally H's or L's.

Lao language has more native words than the Thai language, so please don't incorrectly assume that the Thai language is closer to the original "Tai" way, because it's definitely not. Compared to other "Tai" languages, the Thai language is the closest to the Khmer language. Native Lao words that begin with either H's or L's were never R's to begin with. Again, I said NATIVE Lao words...I'm not talking about Indian loanwords that used to begin with the letter R.

It seems that you don't have a bit knowledge about linguistics, Savan.

Just because the pattern happens in one language it doesn't mean the same pattern happens in another language. Just because Lao changes R to H, that doesn't mean English and other languages do the same thing. In fact, the pattern of changing R to H is very rare and only happens in Lao.

It's not likely for the H to be changed into R. However, R can be changed into H if it's aspirated. Like R --> Rh --> H. The other way around can't happen because they can't just suddenly add an R to H sound.

It's likely for R and L to interchange though (doesn't matter which one come first).

R and L have long been known to be related to each other, they're more related to each other than H and L.

What's wrong with R's? I prefer the R sound in asian languages. Just be proud Khmers/Thais still use the R sound. We don't fall under the western stereotypes that asians can't pronounce the "R's." I've heard standup comics mocking the asian language and not pronouncing their R's while speaking with a tonal accent and it irritates me because the Khmer language doesn't fit into that category. When I was younger I use to think all asian languages or most at least sound alike but as I got older I realized it wasn't. I know I am going to get bashed for saying this but I think tonal languages are annoying as fu-k. Sounds too whiny and loud. Take Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin for example. Boy when they speak it sounds like a constant arguement. I am glad Khmers roll our R's and isn't tonal.

Get out of here with your assumptions. You should head your own advice that just because the pattern happens in one language does not mean that the same pattern happens in another language.

You're not even a trained linguist yourself. Not everything is so black and white, there's gray areas as well.

Here's a THAI WOMAN speaking English on a show called Big Brother UK.

The Thai girl changed the correct English pronunciation of Hilarious to HIRARIOUS! It's hell of funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg74YolnniE

^The Thais have a tendency to change H's/L's into R's. I also knew this one Thai guy who pronounced the name "Aliana" as "Ariana". We had to teach him to say the name several times until he was able to say "Aliana". So don't tell me that it's impossible for an H/L to change into an R. Once again, stick to your own Vietnamese language because you don't know anything about our language. If you keep this up, don't start complaining when Lao people start making sh!t up about your language and culture because that's what you're doing to our language. We'll definitely be returning the favor.

I love R sound and familiar with only single flip R not trilled R. When I learn Italian (just practicing the pronunciation) I feel very fun to pronounce trilled R, at first I cannot trill much but with more practice I can trill a lot and that is really fun for me, arrivederci, ahR-Ree-veh-dehR-chee.... <<< I think Khmer have less problem pronounce it than Thai.

I guess Khmer R is trilled from listen to this song, Khmer surin, he trill his tongue with the Thai word part more than me (personally)
This is very special song, Khmer+Thai+Lao, he is trilingual
http://www.imeem.com/people/VnK2df4/music/a0C6csHP//

You seem to always be in your own box, you never did any research about your own language. I'm not an expert linguist but I do have the basic knowledge of linguistics and the mechanism of which languages evolve because I do my study and research well.

The Lao H isn't the original sound. The original one is more likely to be L or R because the mechanism is that the H sound cannot evolve into either L or R, but either L or R has the capability to evolve into H if it's aspirated.

So there are two possibilities.

The first possibility is the original is L.
Then Thai changed it to R
And Lao changed it to H.

The second possibility is the original sound is R.
Then Lao changed it to H.

Either way, H is sure not an original sound.

Both L and R have the capability to evolve into one another.

But H sound doesn't have the capability to evolve into either L or R. That's the mechanism if linguistics.

Although I don't prefer the R sound in Lao/Thai/Khmer, the R sound doesn't sound bad for the Khmer language because it suits the language. It blends well with the other consonants and such in the Khmer language. Just like how the R sound is nice in the Spanish language. But for Thai, the R sound doesn't go well with the Thai language. It sounds out of place like it was an afterthought or something.

Anyway, a tonal language is not necessarily louder than a non-tonal language. The English language is louder than some tonal languages. The tones in the Lao language has nothing to do with the loudness, but the pitches themselves. I can't speak for other tonal languages like Vietnamese or Cantonese, but the tones of the Lao language have nothing to do with the softness or loudness of our language. Our tones only affect the pitch of the words and not the volume. If you think that tonal languages are inherently louder, then do you honestly think that it would be impossible to whisper in a tonal language?

I gave you a chance to back down, but now you're asking us to give you a taste of your own medicine. I can't wait for someone to start a thread about the Vietnamese language.

I don't understand why you can't accept that a Thai person decided to change Huk into Ruk for whatever reason. It doesn't have to be a natural progression. It could've been something that was done conciously just like how the English 'TV Show" became "TeeWee Chow" in the Thai language.

It's obvious that some people can't think outside the box. You need to take your head out of those books and realize that there are exceptions to everything.

The same thing applies when people conciously say "fudge" instead of "f*ck" when trying not to swear in public. Saying "fudge" instead of "f*ck" has nothing to do with the natural progression of the sounds. Someone conciously changed f*ck to fudge just like how someone had changed Huk to Ruk because they preferred the sound of Ruk to their ears.

You're so caught up in the Chinese/Vietnamese language debate that you keep assuming that Lao/Thai/Khmer languages have the same problem. The central Thai language is a made up language...it is a "standard" language in Thailand that was created to allow all ethnics in Thailand to be able to understand one another. The natural progression of a language has little to do with a "standard" language that was created from picking and choosing words from the various languages in Thailand.

R sound doesn't go well to Thai? lol, That's totally stupid. I must keep watching this thread because your false & bias info to anything THAI.

R has been in our Thai language since ancient time not just borrowed from Khmer/Pali/Sanskrit. For example, Ruk (love), Roo (know) is ancient Thai word, written in Sukhothai stone inscription is the perfect evidence. R is real Thai consonant. Thai have L and H too and we can distinguish all 3 sounds. But Lao has only 2 sounds L, H, no R (Rak -> Hak, Roo -> Hoo). It's really easy for Lao to merge ALL R sound to H/L but not easy for Thai to pick some H/L NOT all and change to "R" sound. So I wonder that "R" is the original sound may be correct.



Central Thai is what language the Siamese talk in Siam kingdom (central and southen Thailand) since Sukhothai era longer than your first Lao kingdom of Lanxang. It's very easy to be standard accent. It's not hard for Lanna in the north or Isan ppl in northeast to learn and speak with no native accent, this can applied to Lao in Laos too. Honestly it's kind of your stupidity to try very hard to boost your Lao @$$ by separating Thai and Lao language. Thai and Lao difference is just in dialect scope. No Lao guides have to speak English or Thai to any Thai tourists. That's great, isn't it?




oh my goddess!!! I wonder you ever met Thai ppl in Thailand?

"Aliana" is very easy, "Ariana" is a bit harder.
H, L is a piece of cake for Thai to pronounce.
R, is harder but not truly hard. Why we have a tendency to speak the harder sound? simple logic.

Don't say much of BS. It's bad karma to fool ppl, ok?

R sound is cool for me. Single tapped R is beautiful. Trilled R is a bit funny. But L is absolutely harsh, Lao can't bend their tongue to roll R cuz they must keep their tongue straight all the time to speak L.

Copy? sorry, if we accidentally talk like other Tai ppl not Lao.
Nowadays many Lao teens love to speak Thai. They use "Mai" (No) for "Bor" to show off that they are cool. Many Lao workers I met speak Thai fluently with no Lao accent. That surprised me very much and I don't think they are copying my language cuz we are related, not you.

Are you Buddhist or westernized Christian?
If you are a Buddhist, I wonder that Lord Thevada may not understand what you are chanting in Pali because of your Non-R Lao accent.



I can count her "Man Laew" for hundred times LOL! that's totally boring of Lao robotic speaking, it likes an American keep talking "Yes Sir! Yes Sir! Yes Sir!" to me all the time of conversation. lol

Siamese need to stick with their jek sound.

Thai - Lao
Lanchang - Lanxang
Chiangmai - Xiangmai
chai - sai
prachum - Pasum
ฺAlexandra Bounchoui - Alexandra Bounxouei (French romanization for Lao language, Xouei is Suay, Suay is Khmer Chuay means help, Boun is Pali mean merit)

X = S, but different tone.

So
1 Lao S is equivalent to 2 Thai consonant S and Ch
1 Lao L is equivalent to 2 Thai consonant L and R
1 Lao H is equivalent to 2 Thai consonant H and R

Lao merge Thai R to L/H and merge Thai Ch to S.