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Lao

A language of Laos

ISO 639-3: lao

Population	3,000,000 in Laos (1991 UBS). Population total all countries: 3,184,500.
Region	Mekong River Valley, Luang Prabang south to Cambodia border. Lao-Khrang in Nakhonsawan and Nakhon Pathom area. Possibly in Viet Nam. Also in Australia, Cambodia, Canada, France, Thailand, United States.
Language maps	Laos, reference number 31 Laos, reference number 31
Alternate names	Eastern Thai, Lào, Lao Kao, Lao Wiang, Lao-Lum, Lao-Noi, Lao-Tai, Laotian, Laotian Tai, Lum Lao, Phou Lao, Rong Kong, Tai Lao
Dialects	Luang Prabang, Vientiane (Wiang Jan), Savannakhet (Suwannakhet), Pakse, Lao-Kao, Lao-Khrang. Dialect subgroup with Northeastern Tai of Thailand.
Classification	Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Be-Tai, Tai-Sek, Tai, Southwestern, Lao-Phutai
Language use	Official language. 800,000 L2 speakers.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 30%–60%. Literacy rate in L2: 50%–75%. Bible: 1932.
Writing system	Lao script.
Comments	The Lao Kao migrated to Thailand and are in Nan, Loei, Saraburi, and elsewhere. SOV. Buddhist, traditional religion, Christian.

Also spoken in:

Cambodia

Language name	Lao
Population	17,000 in Cambodia.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

AMARA Prasithrathsint; NATCHANAN Yaowapat, authors. 2009. "A typology of relative clauses in Mainland Southeast Asian languages."  

MOREV, Lev N., author. 2006. "Cognitive and structural aspects of abstract nominalization in Tai and some other isolating languages of Southeast Asia."  

NOMURA, Naomitsu Mikami, author. 1992. "A semantic analysis of the so-called passive verbs in some Indochinese languages."  

PERSON, Kirk R., author. 1998. "Voice quality and tone in several Lao dialects."

SOMSONGE Burusphat, author. 2007. "A comparison of general classifiers in Tai-Kadai languages."  

WAYLAND, Ratree P., author. 1996. "Lao expressives."  

WRIGHT, Pamela S., author. 1996. A Lao grammar for language learners.