Help:IPA/Lao

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Lao on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Lao in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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These charts illustrate International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols used for pronunciations of the Lao/Isan (Lao script for Nongkhai-Vientiane dialect, a standard Lao in Laos; Thai script for Isan is from Khon Kaen dialect, a standard Lao in Thailand) and Phu Thai in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-lo}}, and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants
IPA	Lao	Isan	Phu Thai	English approximation
b	ບ	บ	บ	boss
d	ຏ,ດ	ฎ,ด	ฎ,ด	done
f	ຝ,ຟ	ฝ,ฟ	ฝ,ฟ	food
h	ຫ,ຮ	ห,ฮ	ห,ฮ	head
j	ຎ,ຍ,ຢ	ย,อย,หย	ย,อย,หย	yak
k	ກ	ก	ก	scan
kʰ	ຂ,ຄ,ຆ	ข,ฃ,ค,ฅ,ฆ	ข,ฃ,ค,ฅ,ฆ	can
l	ລ,ຫຼ	ล,ฬ,หล	ร,หร,ล,ฬ,หล	law
m	ມ,ໝ	ม,หม	ม,หม	much
n	ນ,ໜ	ณ,น,หน	ณ,น,หน	not
ŋ	ງ,ຫງ	ง,หง	ง,หง	singer
ɲ	ຍ,ຫຍ	ญ	ญ	canyon
p	ປ	ป	ป	span
pʰ	ຜ,ພ,ຠ	ผ,พ,ภ	ผ,พ,ภ	pan
r^[1]	ຣ,ຫຼ,ຫຣ	ร,หร	—	trilled r
ɾ	—	ร,หร	—	butter
s	ຨ,ຩ,ສ,ຊ	ฉ,ช,ฌ ,ซ,ศ,ษ,ส	ฉ,ช,ฌ ,ซ,ศ,ษ,ส	sue
t	ຏ,ຕ	ฏ,ต	ฏ,ต	stable
tʰ	ຖ,ທ,ຒ,ຖ,ທ,ຘ	ฐ,ฑ,ฒ,ถ,ท,ธ	ฐ,ฑ,ฒ,ถ,ท,ธ	table
tɕ	ຈ	จ	จ	somewhat like jean; like Mandarin beijing
tɕʰ ^[2]	ຉ,ຊ,ຌ	ฉ,ช,ฌ	—	somewhat like cheese; like Mandarin qing
w	ວ,ຫວ	ว,หว	ว,หว	way
ʔ	ອ	อ, ะ	อ, ะ	the catch in uh'-oh

Tone^[3]
IPA	Description
aː = āː	mid [aː˧]
àː	low [aː˨˩] or [aː˩]
âː	high falling [aː˥˧]
a̭ː	low falling [aː˧˩]
áː	high [aː˦˥] or [aː˥]
ǎː	rising [aː˩˩˦] or [aː˩˦]

Vowels
IPA	Lao^[4]	Isan/Phu Thai	English approximation
Short vowels^[5]
a	◌ະ, ◌ັ◌	◌ะ, ◌ั◌	cut
e	ເ◌ະ, ເ◌ັ◌	เ◌ะ, เ◌็◌	mate
ɛ	ແ◌ະ, ແ◌ັ◌	แ◌ะ, แ◌็◌	bat
i	◌ິ	◌ิ, ◌ิ◌	happy
o	ໂ◌ະ, ◌ົ◌	โ◌ะ, ◌◌	boat
ɔ	ເ◌າະ, ◌ັອ◌	เ◌าะ, ◌็อ◌	off
u	◌ຸ	◌ุ, ◌ุ◌	shoot
ɯ	◌ຶ	◌ึ, ◌ึ◌	Somewhat like North American good. [u] said with unrounded lips
ɤ	ເ◌ິະ^[6], ເ◌ິ◌	เ◌อะ	the
Long vowels
aː	◌າ	◌า, ◌า◌	bra
eː	ເ◌	เ◌, เ◌◌	play
ɛː	ແ◌	แ◌, แ◌◌	man
iː	◌ີ	◌ี, ◌ี◌	green
oː	ໂ◌	โ◌, โ◌◌	go
ɔː	◌ໍ, ◌ອ◌	◌อ, ◌อ◌	dog
uː	◌ູ	◌ู, ◌ู	moon
ɯː	◌ື	◌ือ, ◌ื◌	Roughly like good
ɤː	ເ◌ີ	เ◌อ, เ◌ิ◌	fur
Diphthongs^[7]^[8]
iaʔ, iəʔ	ເ◌ັຍ, ◌ັຽ◌	เ◌ียะ	idea (shorter)
ia, iə	ເ◌ຍ, ◌ຽ◌	เ◌ีย, เ◌ีย◌	idea
uaʔ, uəʔ	◌ົວະ, ◌ົວ◌	◌ัวะ	poor (shorter)
ua, uə	◌ົວ, ◌ວ◌	◌ัว, ◌ว◌	poor (British English)
ɯaʔ, ɯəʔ	ເ◌ຶອ	เ◌ือะ	pure (shorter)
ɯa, ɯə	ເ◌ືອ	เ◌ือ, เ◌ือ◌	pure (British English)

NotesEdit

^ Only loan word from Central Thai and Southern Thai.
^ Only loan word from Central Thai and Southern Thai.
^ In contrast to Pinyin romanization for Mandarin, Thai romanization uses diacritics in the same way as the IPA.
^ Diacritics are shown on a dotted circle "◌".
^ In Isan, Phu Thai and Lao, the signs ◌ะ and ◌ະ are respectively used to indicate a glottal stop after the vowel.
^ The vowel "ເ◌ິະ" is a modern vowel form.
^ More diphthongs occur in the pattern /Vw/ or /Vj/: /aj, aːj, aw, aːw, iw, uj, uːj, ew, eːw, ɛːw, ɤːj, oːj, ɔːj, iow, uɛj, ɯɛj/.
^ Each first element represents a Thai diphthong, with /a/ as the ending vowel (according to Tingsabadh, Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993). "Thai". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 23 (1): 24–28. doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746.).

[1] Only loan word from Central Thai and Southern Thai.

[2] Only loan word from Central Thai and Southern Thai.

[3] In contrast to Pinyin romanization for Mandarin, Thai romanization uses diacritics in the same way as the IPA.

[4] Diacritics are shown on a dotted circle "◌".

[5] In Isan, Phu Thai and Lao, the signs ◌ะ and ◌ະ are respectively used to indicate a glottal stop after the vowel.

[6] The vowel "ເ◌ິະ" is a modern vowel form.

[7] More diphthongs occur in the pattern /Vw/ or /Vj/: /aj, aːj, aw, aːw, iw, uj, uːj, ew, eːw, ɛːw, ɤːj, oːj, ɔːj, iow, uɛj, ɯɛj/.

[8] Each first element represents a Thai diphthong, with /a/ as the ending vowel (according to Tingsabadh, Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993). "Thai". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 23 (1): 24–28. doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746.).

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