Talk:Lao script

Lao script disappearance on Wikipedia

Hello all,

I would like to know why the Lao script is not visible on Wikipedia anymore. Can anybody help me on this? Regards.

Wiki Raja 01:18, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

You need to download fonts for your computer. Here are some:

• Lao fonts gallery on Wazu Japan
• Lao Script for Windows
• Alanwood.net

After downloading a font, open the folder and extract it. Then after extracting the font, move the fonts to the special C:\Windows\FontsFonts folder, and once you have done that, go to the control panel and select Network and Internet Connections. From there select Internet Options. Go to fonts and select Lao. Then select the font you downloaded. Kanzler31 (talk) 18:57, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

language request

Would someone please put this text File:Laosnamestrip.jpg into the organization name on the article Scouting in Laos? I am just spitballing with ສກຖຈາລ as the transliteration, I honestly don't know and need help before the rabid deletionists remove the image this week. Thanks Chris 02:06, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Lao script recognition for Windows XP, and Internet Explorer

I've tried downloading and installing various 'Lao' fonts to my 'Windows XP', and they seem to work in word pad and other programs but not when viewing Internet pages like these. I checked 'Regional Language' setting but it isn't listed as a language there, and according to this http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms776260(VS.85).aspx Lao wasn't officially supported by Windows until Vista. Internet Explorer doesn't seem to load the fonts when viewing this type of webpage, does anyone know a way around this, so Internet Explorer will use the fonts that so far it seems only windows programs can use? I've tried Internet Explorers, "View" 'Encoding' and then 'Thai (Windows)' but that doesn't seem to work very well either. Thanks for any help.(Floppydog66 (talk) 19:04, 11 October 2009 (UTC))

Yeah, I found another site that gave me a better explanation of what the problem was http://www.amerilao.org/faq_3.html I needed to open a webpage and click on "Tools" then "Internet options", 'General' 'Appearance' 'Fonts', and then find the fonts I'd downloaded. I hope this will help out anyone else that finds it hard to load these scripts. (Floppydog66 (talk) 19:30, 11 October 2009 (UTC))

I added a small section about 'Lao script compatibility", and how to install Lao script on Windows, I hope this section will also be used to show how it is read it with Macintosh and other browsers. Please add more references when they are added so that it is not considered Wikipedia users only info. Like any other article if we list the info we should list the source and remember not to use words like "You should", 'now do this', always remember to use outside third person and not 'talking to' method of writing. I hope these things will help make Wikipedia in English more relevant to Laos and help others find their way to other Lao subjects. (Floppydog66 (talk) 20:06, 11 October 2009 (UTC))

Safari

Hello, I am using Safari for Windows. I still can read Laotian scripts. Can anyone help me? Kanzler31 (talk) 22:33, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

Never mind, I finally have the Lao fonts. :DKanzler31 (talk) 22:59, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Vowels

I am wondering if the Lao word for "vowel" really is "ສຣະ"? I know in Thai vowels are "สระ", so there is a certain symmetry there. However, given the orthographic preferences of modern Lao, where ຣ is almost always replaced by ລ (or dropped in a cluster), and where all vowels are always written, I wonder if the proper spelling wouldn't be "ສະຫຼະ"? V85 (talk) 22:03, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Agree Juidzi (talk) 10:14, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Sisters

@WilliamThweatt: Thanks for catching that, I assumed it was malformed syntax. 81.31.9.164 (talk · contribs): their edits have been part of that ["Indic scripts are derived from the Harappan Seals" crowd and I reverted all of them but one as unconstructive. Ogress _smash! 21:05, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Ah, I see. It's a constant battle trying to keep up with those guys and can get rather tiresome. I'll help keep an eye on them as well. Cheers!--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 21:20, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

How many consonantal ligatures?

The opening paragraph says there are 7 consonantal ligatures. The ligatures section shows 6 of which:

• 3 can be written either as two consonants, or with a new character: ຫນ ໜ; ຫມ ໝ; ຫລ ຫຼ
• the other 3 are written only as two separate consonants - ຫວ ຫຍ ຫງ.

Of these, only the first two strike me as really being ligatures, in the sense of merging two letter shapes; perhaps ຫຼ also qualifies. But I see no way to get to the number 7. Am I missing something?

I would propose changing this to say:

...there are 6 consonants which change to the high tone class if the ຫ consonant is written before them and three of them also have an alternate way of being written.

But that's quite a mouthful for an introductory paragraph. Perhaps it would be better to leave the details for later and just say:

...there are 6 consonants which have alternate forms when they are in the high tone class.

Any thoughts?

Big Uncle Mouse (talk) 05:11, 10 September 2017 (UTC)

I agree, only three of are actually ligatures, and leaving the details for later is a good idea, too. I would even leave out the mention of tone in the introduction; that ຫ can be prepended to change a consonant's tone is a minor detail akin to using an appended 'h' to lengthen a vowel in English. Changing 7 to 3 would be fine, it gives all the information that is actually about the script as opposed to how a certain language (i.e. Lao, obviously the major but not the only language to use it) uses that script to express its phonemes.

Mbethke (talk) 10:13, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Pronunciation of final ລ/ຣ

The consonant table shows ລ and ຣ as being pronounced /n/ in final position. Is there any reference for that? As far as I know that can only occur when used as a semivowel. Other semivowels like ວ produce the phoneme for final-position-consonant when used as such, so e.g. ຝລັ່ງ should be pronounced /fnāŋ/, which it isn't. Mbethke (talk) 10:35, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Bogus edit regarding Unicode names?

Could someone else review this change, please? As it stands, the new version makes no sense. Nothing has been changed in Unicode and the discussion on changing it anyway was finished over a decade ago, the names are not going to be changed. So I'm inclined to revert that change even though the anonymous user has made some small but seemingly useful contributions to this article, too. Mbethke (talk) 07:42, 13 November 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, that needs to be reverted. Here is the recent Lao unicode chart and the names are still wrong (i.e. they're still reversed for both /f/ and /l/). After all this time, they're not likely to ever be fixed.--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 08:17, 13 November 2017 (UTC)

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Pronunciation of ຂ and ຄ

Why is it shown as /kʰ, x/ when the Phonology part of the lao language doesn't list /x/ as a phoneme? --LonleyGhost (talk) 17:14, 13 January 2019 (UTC)

It is not an alphabet

The Lao Script is an abugida, not an alphabet. So, why does the type say it is an alphabet? As an alphabet has separate letters for vowels, whilst abugidas have "letters" that surround consonants to show the reader the vowel. In Lao, one uses these "letters" to write a vowel, whilst in English we use full on letters for our vowels. So, I would suggest that unless there is an inherent reason as to why it is listed as an alphabet, that someone should change what it says on type to an abugida. Laoo1244 (talk) 16:33, 8 February 2020 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.191.51.126(talk) 16:22, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@Laoo1244: I think you've confused abugida and alphasyllabary. If Lao be an abugida, what's the 'inherent' vowel? Modern Lao actually meets Daniels' restrictive definition of an alphabet. --RichardW57m (talk) 16:25, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

This source (from a more recent paper) contradicts the date given in the article

https://hal.science/hal-02358511/document this source says the earliest inscription with the Lao script on it is from 1497 AD rather than the 1350 AD that the article says. If no one is able to find they source that supports the earlier date I will be WP:BOLD and change it. Legendarycool (talk) 11:19, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

@Legendarycool: Yes it should be changed. In 1350 it's precursor the Fakkham script did not even exist yet. --Glennznl (talk) 16:55, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Ok I’ll change it. Legendarycool (talk) 21:21, 10 September 2024 (UTC)