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KaaN/Middle Class Consonants |
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| As mentioned previously, the
consonants of the Lao alphabet are grouped into three classes. These are called the
kaaN [Middle], su4uN [High], and ta#m [Low] consonant
classes. The tone of a syllable is partially determined by the class of the initial
consonant. It is therefore important to know the class of the initial consonant.
The other factors that govern the tone of the syllable are discussed in the
Introduction to the High Class Consonants page. (Click here to review Lao Vowels) WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE CLASS OF THE INITIAL CONSONANT? Answer! You will first learn to read smoth/live syllables which begin with a kaaN consonant. There are 8 kaaN consonants in all. They are: |
| Note that none of these consonants are aspirated (pronounced with a puff
of air). Also "t" and "p" are voiceless (no
vibration of the vocal cords). (The letter v, ?OO is considered a consonant for reasons which will become clear as we proceed.) Look at the following Lao syllable: dk. It is pronounced "kaa" (low rising tone). (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) SAY IT ALOUD: dk "kaa" Notice three things about this syllable: a) It begins with a kaaN consonant: d b) It ends in a long vowel: k (salá "aa". The word salá means "vowel" and is always used when naming the vowels in Lao). c) It has the low rising tone. SAY THE SYLLABLE AGAIN: dk kaa WHAT IS THE CLASS OF THE INITIAL CONSONANT? Answer! HOW DOES THE SYLLABLE END? Answer! WHAT TONE DOES dk HAVE? Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) We can now formulate our first rule for reading Lao. Rule: A syllable which begins with a kaaN [Middle] consonant and ends in a long vowel is pronounced with the low rising tone. SAY THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES. |
| Note: IPA
"k" is similar to "g" in English, and IPA "c" is closer to
English "j". WHAT TONE DO THEY HAVE? Answer! WHY? Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) NOW SAY THESE OUT LOUD. |
| Note: IPA
"t" is similar to the "t" in "stop". SAY THESE OUT LOUD: |
| Note: IPA
"p" is similar to the "p" in "spot". The syllable vk is read "?aa" (low rising tone). The kaaN symbol v is used to fill the place of an initial consonant in a syllable which begins with a vowel sound. READ THE FOLLOWING: vk "?aa" WHAT TONE DOES IT HAVE? Answer! WHY? Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) You can now recognize all eight kaaN [Middle] consonants. |
| So far we
have used only one vowel symbol,
k (salá "aa"), in our examples. Not all the vowels
are written after the initial consonant. salá "ee", gx, and two other long vowels (salá "EE", cx,
and salá "oo", 3x)
are always written before the consonant. (The x indicates the place of the
initial consonant of the syllable.) READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
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WHAT TONE DO THEY HAVE? Answer! WHY? Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) READ THE FOLLOWING: |
| READ THE FOLLOWING: |
| Three long vowels are
written above the initial consonant. These are salá "ii",
x u, salá "yy", x n, and salá "OO", x=. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
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WHAT TONE DO THEY HAVE AND WHY?
Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart.) READ THE FOLLOWING OUT LOUD: |
| READ THE FOLLOWING: |
| There are two more
long vowels left for you to learn. They are salá "uu",
x6, and salá "ee", gxu. salá "uu" is written
below the initial consonant. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| salá "ee"
is written to the left and above the initial consonant. Do not confuse gx u ("ee") with gx ("ee") or x u ("ii"). READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| Review of Middle Class Consonants and long vowels. Read the following: . |
| Look at these new letters [Low Class Consonants] below. They are pronounced with the high rising tone |
| These letters belong
to the ta#m [Low] class of the initial consonants. The sounds which they represent are "m",
"n", "N", and "v" are called
sonorants. Rule: Syllables which begin with a kaaN [Middle] letter and end with a sonorant have the low falling tone. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
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WHAT TONE DO THEY HAVE? Answer! WHY? Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) The ta#m letter p (ñO2O) is also a sonorant. When it is the final consonant of a syllable, it is pronounced "y". READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| Do not confuse the kaaN letter 1 (yOO) with the ta#m letter p (ñO@O). 1 is never used as a final consonant. The vowel sound OO is written x= if the syllable has no final consonant, and v if it does have a final consonant. (You have previously seen v used as a kaaN consonant. Thus v has a double function: initial consonant and vowel) READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| HOW WOULD YOU READ THESE? |
| v= | vv, |
| ?O4O | ?O4Om |
| In v=, " v " is the kaaN consonant and " x= " is the long vowel OO. In vv,
the first " v " is the kaaN consonant and the second " v " is the long vowel OO. In the second case " v " is used for the vowel because the syllable ends in a consonant. WHY DOES v= HAVE LOW RISING TONE? Answer! WHY DOES vv, HAVE LOW RISING TONE? Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) READ THE FOLLOWING WORDS: |
| cf' | 1n, | 1k' | cdh;fu[= | 1no8vodk' | ||||
| dE4EN | yy4ym | ya4aN | kE@Ew | di4i | bO4O | yy4ym | tO4On | ka4aN |
| xk9k' | 1k,cd;fu[= | |||||||
| pa4a | ca4aN | ya4am | kE4Ew | di4i | bO4O | |||
| All the
preceding words have low rising tone because they begin with a kaaN consonant and end with either a long vowel or a
sonorant. Look at the following syllables, both of which have kaaN initial, short vowel, and sonorant final. |
| x y is called salá "í", and x b is called
salá "y". They are both short vowels. READ THE FOLLOWING WORDS: |
| salá a#,
x a, and salá o#, x q, are written above the syllable initial
consonant. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| salá ú, x5, is written below the initial consonant. |
| The short vowels
salá e2, gx y, and salá é, gx a, are written as shown. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| salá E2, cx a, and salá O2, x av, are rarely used. They are written as follows: |
| Practice Reading: |
| The sound "ay"
is written in two ways. Some words use the symbol wx while others use .x. With a kaaN initial they take
the low rising tone. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| The sound "am"
is written xe. With a kaaN initial, it has the
low rising tone. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| The sound "aw"
is written gxqk. With a kaaN initial, it has the low rising tone. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: |
| Read These: |
| The symbols,
xj (mày
eêk) and
xh (mày thóo), appearing above an initial
consonant ("x") affect the tone of a syllable. These numbers are called
tone marks. There are four of these in all, but only mày eêk and mày
thóo are used to any great extent. Some examples will show how the use of mày eêk affects the tone of a syllable. |
| The rule for mày
eék is a simple one. Any syllable in which it appears has high-mid tone, no
matter what the class of the initial consonant happens to be. Rule: mày eêk always indicates high-mid tone. READ THE FOLLOWING SYLLABLES: 1jk [+ WHAT TONE DO THEY HAVE? Answer! WHY? Answer! (Click here to refer to the Lao Tones Chart) Here are some |
