Editing Lao language (section)

===Southern Lao===
Southern Lao is spoken along the southern third of Isan and Laos. This region covers the Thai provinces of [[Surin Province|Surin]], [[Buriram Province|Buriram]] and [[Sisaket Province|Sisaket]], where a large minority of speakers are [[Khmer people|Khmer]] people speaking the archaic [[Northern Khmer dialect|northern]] variety of Khmer and another Austroasiatic people, the [[Kuy people]], use Southern Lao as a second language to engage with their Isan neighbors. It is also spoken in [[Ubon Ratchathani Province|Ubon Ratsathani]], [[Amnat Charoen Province|Amnat Charoen]] and portions of [[Yasothorn Province|Yasothon]] and [[Nakhon Ratchasima Province|Nakhon Ratsasima]]. In Laos, it is the primary dialect of [[Champasak Province|Champasak]], [[Saravane Province|Salavan]], [[Attapeu Province|Attapeu]] and [[Sekong Province|Xékong]] provinces. There are also small pockets of speakers located in [[Steung Treng Province]], Cambodia or ''Siang Taeng'' ({{lang|lo|ຊຽງແຕງ}}, {{IPA|/síaŋ tɛ̀ːŋ/}}), particularly near the Mekong River close to the Laotian border. Many of the areas where Southern Lao is spoken were formerly part of the [[Kingdom of Champasak]], one of the three successor states to the Kingdom of Lan Xang, prior to the division of the Lao-speaking world between France and Siam.

Compared to other Isan and Lao dialects, Southern Lao has low tones in syllables that begin with high- or middle-class consonants and have long vowels. High- and middle-class consonants marked with the ''mai tho'' tone mark are low and low-falling, respectively, but in these cases are pronounced with very strong [[glottalization]], which can be described as 'creaky'. Combined with the somewhat faster manner of speaking and reduced tendency to soften consonants at the end of words, Southern Lao sounds very rough and harsh to speakers of other dialects. Many of these features, such as the faster speaking pace and glottalization may be influences from Austroasiatic languages as most of the region was inhabited by the Khmer, Kuy and various other Austroasiatic peoples until the eighteenth century when the Lao began to settle and even now, Khmer speakers comprise half the population of Surin and roughly a quarter each of the populations of Sisaket and Buriram provinces.<ref name="LaoDialects">Enfield, N. J. (1966). A Grammar of Lao. Mouton de Gruyter: New York, NY. 2007 reprint. p. 19.</ref>

Specific dialectal words include ''don'' ({{lang|lo|ດອນ}}, {{IPA|/dɔːn/}}), 'riparian island', ''se'' ({{lang|lo|ເຊ}} xé, /sȅː/)) and many of the words used in Savannakhét that are more typical of Southern Lao such as ''mae thao'' ({{lang|lo|ແມ່ເຖົ້າ}}, {{IPA|/mɛ́ː tʰȁw/}}) as a respectful term for an 'old lady' (as opposed to Vientiane 'mother-in-law') and use ''pen sang'' ({{lang|lo|ເປັນສັງ}}, {{IPA|/pȅn sȁŋ/}}) instead of Vientiane ''pen yang'' ({{lang|lo|ເປັນຫຍັງ}} ''pén gnang'', {{IPA|/pen ɲăŋ/}}), 'what's wrong?'. Possibly as a result of historical Khmer influence and current influences from Thai, Southern dialects tend to pronounce some words with initial Proto-Southwestern Tai *{{IPA|/r/}} as either the rhotic tap {{IPA|/ɾ/}} or a strongly velarized {{IPA|/ɬ/}} which is confused with {{IPA|/d/}} by speakers of other Lao dialects which have /h/. For example, Vientiane Lao ''hap'' ({{lang|lo|ຮັບ}}, {{IPA|/hāp/}}), 'to receive', and ''hong haem'' ({{lang|lo|ໂຮງແຮມ}} ''hônghèm'', {{IPA|/hóːŋ hɛ́ːm/}}) are pronounced as ''lap'' ({{lang|lo|ລັບ}}, {{IPA|/ɾàp/}}) and ''honglaem'' ({{lang|lo|ໂຮງແລມ}} ''hônglèm'', {{IPA|/hɔ̏ːŋ ɾɛ̏ːm/}}), respectively but may sound like *''dap'' and *''hongdaem'' (''hông dèm'') to other Lao, but are really a strongly velarized /ɬ/ or a rhotic tap /ɾ/.<ref>Davis, G. W. (2015). [http://www.laostudies.org/system/files/subscription/Davis.pdf The Story of Lao r: Filling in the Gaps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305221711/http://www.laostudies.org/system/files/subscription/Davis.pdf |date=2021-03-05 }}. ''The Journal of Lao Studies'', Special 2(2015), pps 97–109.</ref> Southerners also tend to use ''chak'' ({{lang|lo|ຈັກ}}, {{IPA|/tɕa᷇k/}}) to mean 'to know someone' as opposed to ''hu chak'' ({{lang|lo|ຮູ້ຈັກ}} ''hou chak'', {{IPA|/hȗː tɕák/}}) used in all other dialects.

{| class="wikitable"
|-----bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|+ Southern Dialect Tone (Pakxé) Distribution<ref>Hartmann, J. (2002). [http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/LaoLanguage/LaoTones/pakse_tones.htm Southern Lao Tones (Pakxé).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713001818/http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/LaoLanguage/LaoTones/pakse_tones.htm |date=2020-07-13 }} Based on Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong (1981).</ref>
||'''Tone Class'''||'''Inherent Tone'''||'''Mai ek ({{lang|lo|◌່}})'''||'''Mai tho ({{lang|lo|◌້}})'''||'''Long Vowel'''||'''Short Vowel'''
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
! High
| style="background-color:#7432b9;" | High-Rising
| style="background-color:#cc9e15;" | Lower-Middle 
| style="background-color:#fd6864;" | Low (glottalized)
| style="background-color:#fd6864;" | Low
| style="background-color:#7432b9;" | High-Rising
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
! Middle
| style="background-color:#f8ff00;" | Middle
| style="background-color:#cc9e15;" | Lower-Middle 
| style="background-color:#3dbaaf;" | Low-Falling (glottalized)	
| style="background-color:#fd6864;" | Low
| style="background-color:#7432b9;" | High-Rising
|----- bgcolor="#ffffff"
! Low
| style="background-color:#c94f19;" | Mid-Falling
| style="background-color:#cc9e15;" | Lower-Middle 
| style="background-color:#3dbaaf;" | Low-Falling
| style="background-color:#3dbaaf;" | Low-Falling
| style="background-color:#cc9e15;" | Lower-Middle (short)
|}