Rhode Island College

M.Ed. In TESL Program Language Group Specific Informational Reports

Produced by Graduate Students in the M.Ed. In TESL Program In the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development

Language Group: Laotian Author: Jennifer Mancone

Program Contact Person: Nancy Cloud ([email protected])

LAOTIAN: AN IN DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE LANGUAGE AND THE PROBLEMS NATIVE SPEAKERS WILL FACE

TESL 539: Language Group Specific Informational Report Spring 2009

Jennifer Mancone

General Facts About Laos

Capitol: Vientiane

Population: Over 6,000,000

Size: 236,800 Sq. Km.

Religion: Buddhist 60%, Animist 40%,

Languages: Lao, Hmong, Khmu, Lahu, Mien, Yao, Tibeto-Burman, Austronesia, French, Thai, and English

Ethnicities: Lao Loum, Lao Theung, Lao Soung, Ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese

http://maps.nationmaster.com/country/la The Language

History History: The Writing System

 Lao is derived from the Tai  14th Century Lan Xang Monarchs language. The Tai language can created the written language be traced to southern China and used old Khmer script as a 2000 years ago. guide.

 The Tai language expanded to  The writing system is also Laos in the 12th century. influenced by ancient Indo-Aryan Scripts. The Language: Consonants

•LaoConsonants•There has sixare differentare 28 split into tonesthreevowel which groups. sounds are Each givenwhich differentgroupare divided determines diacritical into the signs. •Tonestonelong of are and the determined shortsyllable. The by anumbers combinationdurations. indicate of groupthe oftone •consonant,Vowels given are to typethat of syllable,Consonant.indicated tone with marker, and thediacritics Onelength indicates of which the a vowel.low •Tonesoccurtone. give before,Two words indicates after, and a low rising tone and three syllablesbelow, aand different around indicates a high tone. meaning.consonants.

Examples of Lao at a music award show. Analytic Language

ProblemWords arethat composed will Arise offor single Laotian morphemes. Native Speakers English Lacks contains bound words morphemes that are composed of multiple morphemes. So Laotian speakers will have difficulty understanding English’s  Affixes: Prefixes and Suffixes compositional structure. In particular, Laotian speakers will have trouble Laos with is inflectionalnot a compositional suffixes. Many structure. SLL will omit Words the past are tense, plural,independent and the past entities.participle.

Examples: I clean house yesterday. (I cleaned the house yesterday.) I have four cat. (I have four cats)

http://www.molon.de/galleries/Laos/LuangPrabang/People/

 Laotian does not have spaces between words. If there is a space then that indicates the end of a sentence or clause.  Students may have trouble using spaces between words. This may affect their literacy skills in the beginning.  Punctuation marks are rarely used expect for periods at the end of a sentence.  Students may have difficulty comprehending and recognizing the various end marks in English.  Lao does not use upper or lower case letters.  Students may have difficulty knowing when to capitalize letters and understanding why they have to be capitalized. Common Mistakes and the Trouble English Makes

Syntax Phonemes

 In Lao, the adjective comes  Students may have trouble with English phonemes because several after the noun. So a common phonemes do not exist in the Laotian problem students will have is language. reversing the word order  Such as V, G, Q, Th, Z etc. while speaking English.  Another common mistake will be how students pronounce certain  Ex: I saw the dog brown. consonants and vowels. Certain vowels and consonants are  Ex: I ate the apple red. pronounced differently in Lao.  Ex: A sounds like a long U.  Ex: J sounds like dg.  Another common error students will make is to pronounce L instead of R. In some instances, R and L will be omitted entirely. http://www.mcknight.org/feature/print_mekong.aspx Common Mistakes

Mishandling of • She toy is under the table. Pronouns • Him ball is in the street.

Exclusion of the Indefinite and • I saw monkey. Definite Articles • Cat crossed street.

Omission of the • That is David book. Possessive • This is my mother earrings.

Exclusion of • She I went to the zoo. Conjunctions • Seng Dom I went to the store bought cookies. Communication Rules

 They try to avoid  Students may reveal conflicts during very little about goals conversations. They may or dreams. say that they agree with you even if they don’t in  Few expressive features order to avoid conflict. other than nop.  Yes and No may have

two different meanings.  Comfortable with long pauses during a conversation.

Yes No

Could mean that they heard you and understood what you said but may not have agreed with it. Often means yes.

Could also mean no because it is considered rude to directly say no. Communication Rules Cont.

Pointing is considered rude. Use a palms up gesture to show direction.

Saving face is very important and they will keep outward composure even if angry or upset.

Eye Contact is considered rude.

Public body contact is avoided especially between males and females.

Do not touch someone’s head and do not point your feet at someone. References

Books Internet Sites

Ember, M., & Ember C. R., Eds. (2001). Countries and their Ager, S. (2008). Lao Alphabet. Omniglot: The online encylopedia of writing systems & languages. cultures. New York: Macmillan Reference USA Retrieved from: March 20, 2009, from: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/lao.htm Flaitz, J. (2006) Understanding your refugee and immigrant students: An educational, cultural and GMS Sustainable Tourism Development Project in linguistic guide (Michigan Teacher Resource). Ann Lao PDR. (2012). Do's and don'ts in Laos. Ecotourism Arbor: University of Michigan Press/ESL Laos. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from: www.ecotourismlaos.com/dosdont.htm Roseberry-McKibbin, C. (2008). Multicultural students with special language needs: Practical strategies for Morev, L. N., et al. (1979). Native Phonetic Inventory: Lao. The Speech Accent Archive. Retrieved assessment and intervention (3rd edition). Oceanside: Mar.ch 22, 2009, from: Academic Communication Associates http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_native.php?function =detail&languageid=40 Sayavong, P. (2003). A brief introduction to three selected Southeast Asian languages from Cambodia, SEAsite Laos. (2003). Lao language: Interactive Lao Laos, and Vietnam, American Education Concerns. language learning, SEAsite Laos. Retrieved March Sep. - Oct. 2003, 24-28. 25, 2009, from: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/LaoLanguage/Lao_ language_fp.htm

References

Images NationMaster.com. (2012). Maps of Laos. [Map] Retrieved from: http://maps.nationmaster.com/country/la

Molon, A. (Photgrapher). (n.d.) Laotian children [Photograph]. Retrieved from: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Laos/LuangPrabang /People/

The McKnight Foundation. (2006). Children in class [Photograph]. Retrieved from: http://www.mcknight.org/feature/print_mekong.asp x

M.Ed. in TESL Program Nancy Cloud, Director Educational Studies Department Rhode Island College, HBS 206 #5 600 Mt. Pleasant Avenue Providence, RI 02908 Phone (401) 456-8789 Fax (401) 456-8284 [email protected]

The M.Ed. in TESL Program at Rhode Island College is Nationally Recognized by TESOL and NCATE