Editing Lao script (section)

===Consonantal digraphs and ligatures===
Lao also uses [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] based on combinations of the silent (unpronounced) ຫ ຫ່ານ with certain other consonants, some of which also have special [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] forms that are optionally used.

In the Thai script, certain consonants are preceded by '''tone modifiers'''. This is because high consonants or low consonants cannot produce the full 5 tones of Thai. For instance, tone modifier '''ห''' can turn low consonants into high ones. This also explains why the Lao script reserved consonants with the same sounds (e.g. ຂ and ຄ {{IPA|/kʰ/}}, ສ and ຊ {{IPA|/s/}}). Both high and low consonants are needed to produce full five (or six) tones of Lao.

Such design also exists in Lao. Sonorants ງ, ຍ, ນ, ມ, ລ, ວ are originally low consonants, but when they're preceded by ຫ, they become high consonants.

The older versions of the script also included special forms for combinations of ພ {{IPA|/pʰ/}} + ຍ {{IPA|/ɲ/}}, ສ {{IPA|/s/}} + ນ {{IPA|/n/}}, and ມ {{IPA|/m/}} + ລ {{IPA|/l/}}. In addition, consonant clusters that had the second component of ຣ {{IPA|/r/}} or ລ {{IPA|/l/}} were written with a special form ◌ຼ underneath the consonant.<ref>Ronnakieat, N.</ref><ref>Davis, Garry W. (2015). The story of Lao r: Filling in the gaps. ''Journal of Lao Studies'' 2, 97–109. Retrieved from http://www.laostudies.org/system/files/subscription/Davis.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309115625/http://www.laostudies.org/system/files/subscription/Davis.pdf |date=9 March 2016 }}</ref> Since these were not pronounced in Lao, they were removed during various spelling reforms, and this symbol only appears in the ligature ຫຼ.<ref>Ivarsson, Søren. (2008). Creating laos: the making of a lao space between indochina and siam, 1860–1945. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Inst of Asian Studies.</ref>
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width:80px;" rowspan="2"|Letter!!colspan=4|Initial position
!rowspan=2|Unicode!!rowspan=2|Sample Word
!rowspan=2|Tone Class
|-
!IPA!!BGN/PCGN!!LC!!RTGS
|- align=center
|align=left|<span style="font-size:190%;"> ຫງ </span>
|{{IPA|/ŋ/}} ||colspan=3|ng
|ng||ເຫງົາ ''lonely''||style="background: #fcc"|High
|- align=center
|align=left|<span style="font-size:190%;"> ຫຍ </span>
|{{IPA|/ɲ/}} ||gn||ny||y
|ny||ຫຍ້າ ''grass''||style="background: #fcc"|High
|- align=center
|align=left|<span style="font-size:190%;"> ໜ </span>or<span style="font-size:190%;"> ຫນ </span>
|{{IPA|/n/}}||colspan=3|n
|n||ໜູ ''rat''||style="background: #fcc"|High
|- align=center
|align=left|<span style="font-size:190%;"> ໝ </span>or<span style="font-size:190%;"> ຫມ </span>
|{{IPA|/m/}}||colspan=3|m
|m||ໝາ ''dog''||style="background: #fcc"|High
|- align=center
|- align=center
|align=left|<span style="font-size:190%;"> ຫຼ </span>or<span style="font-size:190%;"> ຫລ </span>
|{{IPA|/l/}}||colspan=3|l
|l||ຫຼັງ ''back''||style="background: #fcc"|High
|- align=center
|align=left|<span style="font-size:190%;"> ຫວ </span>
|{{IPA|/w/}}||v||colspan=2|w
|w||ແຫວນ ''ring''||style="background: #fcc"|High
|}