Romanization of Lao

There are several different Lao romanization systems, which are transcriptions of the Lao alphabet into the Latin alphabet.

History

One standard system was devised in the first half of the 20th century when Laos was a French protectorate, and which is reflected in the BGN/PCGN standards. There are two important factors that govern the way Lao — as opposed to Thai or Isan — was transcribed in these systems. The first is that the Lao script does not include mute characters. This standard was put into place via a royal edict, which took the form of a letter from the king to the Comité Littéraire. The idea was both to make it easier for non-ethnic Laotians to read and write Lao, and to differentiate Lao from Thai, which does include mute characters. A second is that the French system for transcribing sounds was used, hence "ou", for example, instead of "oo" or "u" for an /u/ sound.

"X" and final "-ne" in the place name Lane Xang violate these rules, but are preserved in the highly conservative BGN/PCGN standards. The final -ne for /n/ follows French practice and the "X" reflects the Thai, where the initial sound of the word in question is /ch/ and /s/ in Lao. It is worthy of note that both Lao and Thai use the honorific Si/Sri, but whereas Lao always uses "Si", Thai may use either. If not for these factors, Lao and Thai romanization would appear very similar. See below.

Tables

Consonants

The table below shows the Lao consonant letters and their transcriptions according to the United States Board on Geographic Names and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (BGN/PCGN), the US Library of Congress (LC) and the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS,) as well as the transcriptions used in the Unicode names of the letters and in official Lao government use.

Character	Initial position				Final position				Unicode	Official
	IPA	BGN/PCGN	LC	RTGS	IPA	BGN/PCGN	LC	RTGS
ກ	/k/	k			/k/	k			k	g
ຂ	/kʰ/	kh			/k/	k			k	k
ຄ	/kʰ/	kh			/k/	k			k	k
ງ	/ŋ/	ng			/ŋ/	ng			ng	ng
ຈ	/t͡ʃ/	ch			/t/	t			c	j
ສ	/s/	s			/t/	t			s	s
ຊ	/s/	x	s		/t/	t			s	s
ຍ	/ɲ/	gn	ny	j	–	–			ny	y
ດ	/d/	d			/t/	t			d	d
ຕ	/t/	t			/t/	t			t	t
ຖ	/tʰ/	th			/t/	t			th	t
ທ	/tʰ/	th			/t/	t			th	t
ນ	/n/	n			/n/	ne	n		n	n
ບ	/b/	b			/p/	p			b	b
ປ	/p/	p			/p/	p			p	p
ຜ	/pʰ/	ph			–	–			ph	p
ຝ	/f/	f			/p/	p			f	f
ພ	/pʰ/	ph			/p/	p			ph	p
ຟ	/f/	f			/p/	p			f	f
ມ	/m/	m			/m/	m			m	m
ຢ	/j/	y			–	–			y	y
ຣ*	/r/,/l/	r			/n/	ne	n		r	r
ລ	/l/	l			/n/	ne	n		l	l
ວ	/ʋ/,/w/	v	v,w		–	–			w	w
ຫ	/h/	h			–	–			h	h
ອ	/ʔ/	–			–	–			o	–
ຮ	/h/	h			–	–			h	h

* Officially removed by the Ministry of Education in the 1970s (replaced with ລ), but still used by many

Vowel nuclei

The table below shows the Lao vowel nuclei, combined with the consonant ກ.

	IPA	BGN	LC	Unicode		IPA	BGN	LC	Unicode		IPA	BGN	LC	Unicode		IPA	BGN	LC	Unicode
ກະ/ກັກ	/a/	a	a	a	ກາ	/aː/	a	ā	aa
ກິ	/i/	i	i	i	ກີ	/iː/	i	ī	ii	ເກັຽະ/ກັຽກ	/iə/	ia	ia		ເກັຽ/ກຽກ		ia	īa
ກຶ	/ɯ/	u	ư	y	ກື	/ɯː/	u	ư̄	yy	ເກຶອະ/ເກຶອກ	/ɯə/	ua	ưa		ເກືອ		ua	ư̄a
ກຸ	/u/	ou	u	u	ກູ	/uː/	ou	ū	uu	ກົວະ/ກັວກ	/uə/	oua	ua		ກົວ/ ກວກ		oua	ūa
ເກະ/ເກັກ	/e/	é	e		ເກ	/eː/	é	ē	e
ແກະ/ແກັກ	/ɛ/	è	æ		ແກ	/ɛː/	è	ǣ	ei
ໂກະ/ກົກ	/o/	ô	o		ໂກ	/oː/	ô	ō	o
ເກາະ/ກັອກ	/ɔ/	o	o̜		ກໍ/ກອກ	/ɔː/	o	ō̜
ເກິະ/ເກິກ	/ɤ/	eu	œ		ເກີ/ ເກືກ	/ɤː/	eu	œ̄
										ໄກ/ໃກ/ກັຍ	/ai/	ai	ai	ai/ay	ກາຍ/ກາຽ		/ai/	āi
ເກົາ	/au/	ao	ao
ກໍາ	/am/	am	am	am

External links

• Simmala, Buasawan and Benjawan Poomsan Becker (2003), Lao for Beginners. Paiboon Publishing. ISBN 1-887521-28-3
• Report on the current status of United Nations romanization systems for geographical names - Lao (PDF; this document refers to the Lao Commission Nationale de Toponymie. There is no Lao romanization system officially adopted by the UN.)
• Library of Congress romanization table for Lao (PDF)
• Unicode code chart for Lao
• ANSI Z39.35-1979, System for the Romanization of Lao, Khmer, and Pali; ISBN 0-88738-968-6.