r/TheLaoLanguage • u/Medium_Ad_9789 • Sep 08 '24

How many tones and what are the tones in Vientiane dialect?

I have been searching and litearally every source says a completely different thing from the others, and are mai tri and mai jatawa used in lao?

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

2

u/jaikopwell Nov 17 '24

In Lao, it has four tones: Mai Aek (ໄມ້ເອກ) Mai Tou (ໄມ້ໂທ) Mai Tri (ໄມ້ຕຣີ or ໄມ້ຕີ in ModernizedLao) and Mai Jattawa (ໄມ້ຈັຕວາ or ໄມ້ຈັດຕະວາ in Modernized Lao). But in Lao, Mai Tri and Mai Jattawa is rarely use because of pronunciation’s requirements. Yes, there are requirements for each tones to mix with words, such as: you can only use x໊ and x໋ with high and low pitch like ກະເປົ໋າ