Also known as Lao script, Lao alphabet, Laoo, Laotische Schrift
abugida script for the Lao language
Key facts
- Script type
- Abugida
- Period
- c. 1497 – present
- Direction
- Left-to-right
- Languages
- Lao , Isan and others
- Parent systems
- Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi script Tamil-Brahmi Pallava Khmer Sukhothai Fakkham Tai Noi Lao
- Iso 15924
- Laoo (356) , Lao
- Unicode alias
- Lao
- Unicode range
- U+0E80–U+0EFF
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Lao Script Sample.svg
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Lao script
- Unicode range
- U+0E80-0EFF
- name
- laotien
- inception
- 1350-00-00
- native label
- ອັກສອນລາວ
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~16 min read
Article
Lao script or Akson Lao (Lao: ອັກສອນລາວ [ʔák.sɔ̌ːn láːw]) is the primary script used to write the Lao language and other languages in Laos. Its earlier form, the Tai Noi script, was also used to write the Isan language, but was replaced by the Thai script. It has 27 consonants (ພະຍັນຊະນະ [pʰā.ɲán.sā.nāʔ]), 7 consonantal ligatures (ພະຍັນຊະນະປະສົມ [pʰā.ɲán.sā.nāʔ pā.sǒm]), 33 vowels (ສະຫລະ/ສະຫຼະ [sā.láʔ]), and 4 tone marks (ວັນນະຍຸດ [wán.nā.ɲūt]).
The Lao abugida was adapted from the Khmer script, which itself was derived from the Pallava script, a variant of the Grantha script descended from the Brāhmī 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.