Lao People - Language

Language

The Lao language is a tonal, analytic, right-branching, pronoun pro-drop language of the Tai–Kadai language family, closely related to Thai and other languages of Tai peoples. Most of the vocabulary is of native Tai origin, although important contributions have come from Pali and Sanskrit as well as Mon–Khmer languages. The alphabet is an indic-based alphabet. Although the Lao have five major dialects, they are all mutually intelligible and Lao people believe they all speak variations of one language.

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Famous quotes containing the word language:

    Though language forms the preacher,
    ‘Tis “good works” make the man.
    Eliza Cook (1818–1889)

    Denotation by means of sounds and markings is a remarkable abstraction. Three letters designate God for me; several lines a million things. How easy becomes the manipulation of the universe here, how evident the concentration of the intellectual world! Language is the dynamics of the spiritual realm. One word of command moves armies; the word liberty entire nations.
    Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)

    ... language is meaningful because it is the expression of thoughts—of thoughts which are about something.
    Roderick M. Chisholm (b. 1916)