Lao is the national language of Laos, and is also spoken widely in Thailand and Cambodia. It is a tone language of the Tai-Kadai family (Southwestern Tai branch). Lao is an extreme example of the isolating, analytic language type. This book is the most comprehensive grammatical description of Lao to date. It describes and analyses the important structures of the language, including classifiers, sentence-final particles, and serial verb constructions. Special attention is paid to grammatical topics from a semantic, pragmatic, and typological perspective.

Main description: Lao is the national language of Laos, and is also spoken widely in Thailand and Cambodia. It is a tone language of the Tai-Kadai family (Southwestern Tai branch). Lao is an extreme example of the isolating, analytic language type. This book is the most comprehensive grammatical description of Lao to date. It describes and analyses the important structures of the language, including classifiers, sentence-final particles, and serial verb constructions. Special attention is paid to grammatical topics from a semantic, pragmatic, and typological perspective.

Lao is spoken in Laos and northeastern Thailand, where it is called Isan. Focusing on the dialect that is accepted as the central language of the Lao P.D.R., this is the first Lao dictionary to present the correct Vientiane pronunciation. It is designed both for travelers and those wishing to learn native pronunciation. As one of the few Lao-English dictionaries available, the English-Lao section has been expanded for those English speakers who have been seeking such a reference.

This book offers clear, easy, step-by-step instruction, building on what has been previously learned. It also written in a brisk, interesting style using beautiful Lao script.

This is a concise, do–it– yourself guide to the Lao language Lao Basics teaches conversational Lao from the very beginning with an emphasis on reading and writing an is the easiest way to learn Lao. Students of Thai will find Lao quite simple, as much of these two languages are the same or very similar. These languages derive from Sanskrit and share many of the same consonants, vowels, vocabulary and grammar. Lao Basics is organized so that you first learn to read Lao, write Lao, speak Lao and comprehend the 26 consonants in their tonal classes. Once you have mastered these you will study the 28 vowels in subsets. Within each vowel grouping, you will learn vocabulary, conversational phrases, alphabetical order and sentence structure through exercises that grow more challenging as your vocabulary increases. As you progress through Lao Basics, vocabulary from previous lessons will be repeated regularly and our command of the written and spoken language will steadily improve. And you can do all this on your own. Each chapter's Lao words and exercises have been recorded on the accompanying downloadable audio, and all of the exercises answers are in the back of the book. Highlights of this book are: Throughout, review exercises with answer keys help you polish your skills. The vocabulary and phrases are written in Lao script, and are accompanied by pronunciations that help English speakers to say them accurately. The downloadable audio includes every vocabulary item, sample phrases, and exercises, so that you can learn from native voices.

This practical hands-on book builds a solid foundation to help students with the Lao writing system. The book contains fun visuals and worksheet activities for beginners who are just learning how to read and write. It covers consonants, vowels, words, and sentences in a gradual step-by-step process. Additionally, you'll get to hear the audio recordings of all the Lao words in this book!You will learn 100+ Lao words as you learn to write in Lao!Some of the many words you will learn are ສະບາຍດີ /sa-bai-dee/ "Hello" and food words like ຕຳຫມາກຫຸ່ງ /Tham Mak Hoong/ "Papaya salad." Plus, know what each of the consonants/vowels represent in the sound of the Lao alphabet. The Sentences section will give you an overview of Lao grammar and provide you with a good amount of practice to write complete sentences.After completing this book, you will be able to recognize and write sentences like these (and more) on your own:ບໍ່ເປັນຫຍັງ = Not a problemເຈົ້າກິນເຂົ້າໜຽວຫຼາຍກວ່າຂ້ອຍ = You ate more sticky rice than meໝົກປານີ້ແຊບແທ້ໆ = This steamed fish is really deliciousຂ້ອຍກິນຊີ້ນໝູກັບແຈ່ວເຜັດ = I eat pork with hot dipping sauceຂ້ອຍຢາກກິນຕຳຫມາກຫຸ່ງເຜັດແທ້ = I want to eat papaya salad that's really spicyIf you can write in Lao, then learning to type/text in Lao on your mobile or computer should be easier.There are printable/cutout flashcards, worksheets and writing exercises to help you retain the skills. They are made to be printed out as many as you want. Because it is a digital product, you will get it instantly. With accompanying audio, you'll be able to recognize many Lao words written in its native script.

This important new study examines in detail a semantic-pragmatic pattern surrounding the basic verb 'acquire' in nearly 30 Southeast Asian languages, concentrating on Lao, Vietnamese, Khmer, Kmhmu, Hmong, and varieties of Chinese. The book makes a significant contribution to empirical work on semantic and grammatical change in a linguistic area, as well as representing theoretical advances in cognitive semantics. Gricean pragmatics, semantic change, grammaticalization, language contact, and areal linguistics. The book also examines how changes in the speech of individuals actually become changes in large-scale public convention, 'language contact' is reconsidered, and traditional distinctions such as that between 'internal' and 'external' linguistic mechanisms are challenged. This groundbreaking new book is for specialists in Southeast Asian linguistics as well as scholars of descriptive semantics and pragmatics, grammaticalisation, linguistic change and evolution, areal linguistics and language contact, history and linguistic anthropology.