Editing Lao script (section)

==Other languages in Lao script==
According to Article 89 of the 2003 Amended Constitution of the [[Lao People's Democratic Republic]], the Lao alphabet, though originally used solely for transcribing the Lao language, is also used to write several minority languages.<ref>National Assembly No. 25/NA, 6 May 2003.  Constitution of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.  Translation Endorsed by the Law Committee of the National Assembly of the Lao PDR.  Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=180175 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229054452/http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=180175 |date=29 December 2013 }} [[WIPO Lex]].</ref>{{clarify|date=May 2019|reason=Article 89 as cited here did not specifically mentioned minority languages}}

#Additional Lao characters used to write [[Pali]]/[[Sanskrit]], the [[Sacred language|liturgical language]] of [[Theravada|Theravāda Buddhism]], are now available with the publication of Unicode 12.0.<ref name=":1">Rajan, V., Mitchell, B., Jansche, M., & Brawer, S. (2017). [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17106r-lao-for-pali.pdf ''Revised Proposal to Encode Lao Characters for Pali''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615000628/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17106r-lao-for-pali.pdf |date=15 June 2019 }}.</ref> The font ''Lao Pali (Alpha)'' can be downloaded from Aksharamukha.<ref>[http://aksharamukha.appspot.com/describe/LaoPali ''Lao (Pali)''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224110819/http://aksharamukha.appspot.com/describe/LaoPali |date=24 February 2021 }}. Aksharamukha. Retrieved 25 February 2020.</ref>
#Additional Lao characters used to write [[Khmu language|Khmu’]] were also encoded.<ref>Hosken, Martin. (2010). [http://unicode.org/L2/L2010/10335r-n3893r.pdf ''Proposal to add minority characters to Lao script''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003043348/http://unicode.org/L2/L2010/10335r-n3893r.pdf |date=3 October 2020 }}.</ref><ref>Miller, Michelle. (2013). [http://www.sealang.net/mks/mks42miller.pdf A Description of Kmhmu’ Lao Script-Based Orthography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102170835/http://www.sealang.net/mks/mks42miller.pdf |date=2 January 2020 }}. ''[[Mon-Khmer Studies]]'', 42, 12–25.</ref> The script has also been adapted for [[Katu language|Katu]], while Tai-speaking groups in Viet Nam including the Tai Dam and White Tai use a similar script (called [[Tai Viet script|Tai Viet]]).<ref name=":02">{{Citation |last=Jenny |first=Mathias |title=Writing systems of MSEA |date=2021-08-23 |work=The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia: A comprehensive guide |pages=879–906 |editor-last=Sidwell |editor-first=Paul |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110558142-036/html |access-date=2024-12-06 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110558142-036 |isbn=978-3-11-055814-2 |editor2-last=Jenny |editor2-first=Mathias|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
#An older version of Lao, ''[[Tai Noi script|Tai Noi]]'', was also used by the ethnic Lao of Thailand's [[Isan]] region before Isan was incorporated into Siam.<ref>Tsumura, Fumihiko. (2009). Magical Use of Traditional Scripts in Northeastern Thai Villages. ''Senri Ethnological Studies, 74'', 63–77.</ref> Its use was banned by the Thai government and supplemented with the very similar Thai alphabet in 1871; however, the region remained culturally and politically distant until further government campaigns and integration into the Thai state ([[Thaification]]) were imposed in the 20th century.<ref>Ronnakiat, Nantana (1992). Evidence of the Thai Noi alphabet found in inscriptions. ''The Third International Symposium on Language and Linguistics'', 1326 – 1334.</ref> Attempts to encode Thai Noi in [[Unicode]] have been made.<ref>Mitchell, Ben. (2018). [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2018/18072-toward-thai-noi.pdf ''Towards a comprehensive proposal for Thai Noi/Lao Buhan script''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615005555/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2018/18072-toward-thai-noi.pdf |date=15 June 2019 }}.</ref>
#The applicability of Lao script for other minority languages requires further evaluations.<ref>Lew, Sigrid. (2014). A linguistic analysis of the Lao writing system and its suitability for minority language orthographies. ''Writing Systems Research, 6''(1), 25–40. [[doi:10.1080/17586801.2013.846843]]</ref>

Some minority languages use other writing systems. For example, the [[Hmong people|Hmong]] adopted the [[Romanized Popular Alphabet]] to spell the [[Hmong language]]s.
===Pali===
[[File:Buddhapanditsabhacandapuri.jpg|thumb|right|These now-obsolete Lao letters were once used to spell words of [[Pali]] and [[Sanskrit]] derivation, but were removed, reducing the consonant inventory and the similarity of spelling between Thai and Lao.]]The modern Lao alphabet cannot be used to transcribe [[Pali]], due to spelling reforms. In the 20th century, [[Sila Viravong|Maha Sila Viravong]] designed the additional characters to transcribe Pali, based on research into various epigraphic sources, including precursor characters that can be traced back to the [[Tai Noi script]].<ref name=":1" /> Extended characters to support Lao Pali were added to [[Unicode|Unicode 12]] in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lao Characters for Pali added to Unicode 12 {{!}} Computer Science Blog |url=https://blogs.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/csblog/2019/03/06/lao-characters-for-pali-added-to-unicode-12/ |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=blogs.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk}}</ref> Below are the consonant letters used for Pali, including their [[IAST]] transcriptions (the ones in gold are extended characters not found in the modern Lao alphabet). For additional details, see the Thai script page's sections for the [[Thai script#Alphabetic|alphabetic table]] and [[Thai script#Sanskrit and Pali|usage for Sanskrit and Pali]].

{| class="wikitable letters-orange"
|-
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ກ |iso={{IAST|k}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຂ |iso={{IAST|kh}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຄ |iso={{IAST|g}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຆ |iso={{IAST|gh}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ງ |iso={{IAST|ṅ}} }}
|-
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຈ |iso={{IAST|c}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຉ |iso={{IAST|ch}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຊ |iso={{IAST|j}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຌ |iso={{IAST|jh}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຎ |iso={{IAST|ñ}}|color=gold}}
|-
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຏ |iso={{IAST|ṭ}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຐ |iso={{IAST|ṭh}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຑ |iso={{IAST|ḍ}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຒ |iso={{IAST|ḍh}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຓ |iso={{IAST|ṇ}}|color=gold}}
|-
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ດ |iso={{IAST|t}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຖ |iso={{IAST|th}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ທ |iso={{IAST|d}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຘ |iso={{IAST|dh}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ນ |iso={{IAST|n}} }}
|-
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ບ |iso={{IAST|p}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຜ |iso={{IAST|ph}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ພ |iso={{IAST|b}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຠ |iso={{IAST|bh}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ມ |iso={{IAST|m}} }}
|-
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຍ |iso={{IAST|y}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຣ |iso={{IAST|r}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ລ |iso={{IAST|l}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ວ |iso={{IAST|v}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ສ |iso={{IAST|s}} }}
|- 
|
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຫ |iso={{IAST|h}} }}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ຬ |iso={{IAST|ḷ}}|color=gold}}
|{{Letter|s=Laoo|ch=ອ |iso={{IAST|a}} }}
|
|}
The extended characters are listed below:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Letter
! Unicode
! Similar Thai Letter
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຆ</span>
|PALI GHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฆ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຉ</span>
|PALI CHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฉ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຌ</span>
|PALI JHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฌ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຎ</span>
|PALI NYA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ญ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຏ</span>
|PALI TTA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฏ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຐ</span>
|PALI TTHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฐ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຑ</span>
|PALI DDA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฑ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຒ</span>
|PALI DDHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฒ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຓ</span>
|PALI NNA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ณ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຘ</span>
|PALI DHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ธ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຠ</span>
|PALI BHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ภ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຨ</span>
|SANSKRIT SHA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ศ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຩ</span>
|SANSKRIT SSA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ษ</span>
|- align="center"
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ຬ</span>
|PALI LLA
|<span style="font-size:190%;">ฬ</span>
|}