Guest Posted April 13, 2003 Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 Again, this is relevent when speaking of Isaan Lao dialects -- "Isaan language" would have to refer to Khmer and Suai at least, which are different languages from Thai and Lao. About transformations of certain consonant sounds between Thai and Lao: this is interesting (I can think of other examples, rawn/hawn, etc). Anyone familiar with Lao writing -- is this reflected in the writing system somehow? For example a Sanskrit or Pali loan word with a final consonant sound in Thai of 'n' written with raw-reua provides clues to its roots and original pronunciation -- and in Khmer will continue to be pronounced with a final 'r' (in fact the work 'Khmer' itself illustrates this). Are some of the Lao/Thai mappings similar in some way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 13, 2003 Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 Answering my own post a little. I took a look at http://www.omniglot.com/writing/lao.htm. There's a Lao consonant that looks an awful lot like raw-reua and is listed as having an 'h' sound or 'n' at the end of a syllable. This probably explains the propensity for 'r' at the start of Thai words to correspond to a Lao word that's similar but with an 'h' at the start -- they're written the same but that one symbol has different sounds in Thai vs. Lao. Fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyfarang Posted April 13, 2003 Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 <<<the ª 'ch' is sounded as « 's', puu chai (man) becomes puu sai,>>> This is the opposite with the CHAO LEH (Sea Gypsies) in southern Thailand. SIP(l) BAHT becomes CHIP BAHT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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