[Tlc] L-National Dictionary

[justinm at ucr.edu]

FYI.
Thanks,
justin

2007-0724 - AP - Laos plans to update national dictionary

Laos plans to update national dictionary

AP - Tuesday, July 24

BANGKOK, Thailand - The Lao government plans to set up a
Council of Lao Linguistics to approve words for a new official
edition of the national Lao dictionary, local media reported
Tuesday.
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Lao people create new words all the time, from television,
newspapers, foreign films and music, and integrate them into
their daily speech, said Dr Thongphet Kingsada, director
general of the Institute for Linguistic Research, according to
the Web site of the English-language Vientiane Times newspaper.

The council, to be made up of linguistics experts from schools
and government agencies, will discuss and approve new words
for the dictionary, he said.

"The Institute for Linguistic Research doesn't have the power
to decide on the official use of Lao words, which is why we
need an officially approved council," he told the newspaper.

The latest edition of the national Lao library was published
in 2005, but it was not approved by linguistics experts.

The new one, which will take at last three years to complete,
will be the most comprehensive and include some foreign words,
mostly related to technology such as computers, Thongphet said.

Lao is the official language of the country of about 6.5
million people. About have of them ethnic Lao with the rest
made up of various ethnic groups in the mountainous regions in
the north, central and southern parts of the country. The
speaks their own language, but many also speak Lao.

Laos has long borders with Thailand and Vietnam and shorter
ones with Myanmar, China and Cambodia.

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu