The tone system in Lao is complicated because it varies from place to place, both within Laos and among speakers from other places, such as Lao speakers in the northeast of Thailand. Speakers in the south will pronounce words differently from speakers in the north, for example. That's not such a strange concept when you think about the different accents in any country, like the southern U.S. versus the northeastern U.S. For the purposes of this course, you will be introduced to a tone system commonly spoken in the central Vientiane region, and one that if you master, will be good enough for you to make yourself understood by most Lao speakers. The rules below explain the system. You will have many opportunities to memorize the rules as you go through the lessons. The best way that I have found to memorize the system is to pick one word to represent each of the different that tones are incorporated into the writing system. Then, anytime you come across a similar word, you will know its tone. For example, the word ສູງ (tall) is a low rising tone. Anytime you see another word with a high class beginning consonant, a long vowel and an open/live/nasal final consonant, you will know it too has a low rising tone. Lao tone rules: 1. If the ending of the word is unstopped, meaning it has a long vowel with no final consonant, or the final consonant is nasal, either ມ, ນ, ຍ, ວ or ງ, and: The beginning consonant is: High class = Low rising tone Mid class = Low tone Low class = High tone The following examples illustrate this rule. B = beginning consonant, V = vowel, E = ending consonant and T = tone marker. The word ຂາ begins with a high class consonant and ends with a long vowel. There is no tone marker or ending consonant so this would be a low rising tone. The word ສູງ begins with a high class consonant, has a long vowel and ends with the nasal consonant ງ. There is no tone marker so this would be a low rising tone. The word ກາ begins with a mid class consonant and ends with a long vowel. There is no tone marker or ending consonant so this would be a low tone. Note: There is some debate about this tone, with some arguing it is really a low rising tone, while others say it is a low tone. Either way, at this point, it will be hard for you to tell the difference, so just learn it as low for now. The word ອາ begins with a mid class consonant and ends with a long vowel. There is no tone marker or ending consonant so this would be a low tone. Note: The consonant ອ does not have a sound of its own when starting a word. In this case it acts as a place holder allowing the word to begin with the vowel sound. Any time you see this consonant at the beginning of a word, you start the word with the vowel sound. The word ມາ begins with a low class consonant and ends with a long vowel. There is no tone marker or ending consonant so this would be a high tone. The word ທາງ begins with a low class consonant, has a long vowel and ends with the nasal consonant ງ. There is no tone marker so this would be a high tone. The word ເຮັດ begins with a low class consonant, has a short vowel and ends with the stopped consonant ດ. There is no tone marker so this would be a mid tone. The word ຈະ begins with a mid class consonant and ends with a short vowel. There is no tone marker or ending consonant so this would be a high tone. The word ແປດ begins with a mid class consonant, has a long vowel ແ and ends with a stopped consonant ດ. There is no tone marker so this would be a low falling tone. Remember, the consonant marks the beginning of the word, not the vowel, even though in this case the vowel is written before the beginning consonant. The word ໂພດ begins with a low class consonant, has a long vowel ໂ and ends with a stopped consonant ດ. There is no tone marker so this would be a high falling tone. The word ຂ່າ begins with a high class consonant and ends with a long vowel. However, since there is a tone marker, ອ່ this would be a mid tone, because any word with that tone marker is automatically a mid tone. The word ແມ່ນ begins with a low class consonant, has a long vowel and ends with a nasal consonant. However, since there is a tone marker, ອ່ this would be a mid tone, because any word with that tone marker is automatically a mid tone. The word ເຈົ້າ begins with a mid class consonant ຈ and ends with a vowel ເອົາ. However, since there is a tone marker, ອ້ this would be a high falling tone, because any word beginning with a mid or low class consonant and marked with that tone marker is automatically a high falling tone. The word ຂ້ອຍ begins with a high class consonant ຂ, has a long vowel ອ and ends with a nasal consonant ຍ. However, since there is a tone marker, ອ້ this would be a low falling tone, because any word beginning with a high class consonant and marked with that tone marker is automatically a low falling tone. 2. If the ending of the word is stopped and the vowel is short, with or without the final consonant ກ, ບ or ດ and: The beginning consonant is: High class = High tone Mid class = High tone Low class = Mid tone 3. If the vowel is long and the word ends in ກ, ບ or ດ, and: The beginning consonant is: High class = Low falling tone Mid class = Low falling tone Low class = High falling tone 4. Any word with the tone marker ອ່ will be a mid tone. 5. Any word with the tone marker ອ້ and: High class = Low falling Mid class = High falling Low class = High falling As you have seen, consonants that end a Lao word can make a difference with the tone of that word. It is also important to understand the other ways they affect the sound of the word. There are two types of consonant endings for Lao words, stopped and nasal. Stopped endings only occur with the consonants ກ, ບ and ດ. Nasal endings occur with the consonants ມ, ນ, ວ, ງ and ຍ. Stopped endings, ກ, ບ and ດ, do exactly that, they stop the sound of the word in either a hard sound that is somewhere between k and g for ກ, between a p and b for ບ and between d and t for ດ. The difference between the kg, bp or dt ending in Lao and English is that in Lao it is an unaspirated stop, meaning that the throat constricts to stop all air from exiting when pronouncing the consonant. So, if you say cut or cud in English, normally a small puff of air comes out of your mouth after the t or d is spoken. In Lao, that is not the case. You must close your throat off just before that puff of air escapes to stop the word. Nasal, or sonorant, endings, ມ, ນ, ວ, ງ and ຍ, do not stop the word abruptly like the stopped endings, but they can change the sound of the vowel. ມ, ນ, and ງ are fairly straightforward, adding an m, n and ng ending to the word respectively, and doing little to change the sound of the vowel. ວ and ຍ on the other hand, do change the vowel sound. ວ adds an u sound to the end of the vowel, while ຍ adds an i sound to the end.