--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
wrote:

> Again, ALEF isn't possible in Standard Arabic. It's ALIF.

You think that's bad. The Lao Unicode block has the sequence:

LAO LETTER PO
LAO LETTER PHO SUNG
LAO LETTER FO TAM
LAO LETTER PHO TAM
LAO LETTER FO SUNG

I am convinced that the names of the FOs have been
transposed. "Sung" means 'high', "tam" means 'low', and all the
other letters named with "sung" are high class and all the other
letters named with "tam" are low. The shape and alphabetic position
of what is labelled 'FO TAM' matches up with the high 'f' of Thai
(it's a modification of PHO SUNG) and the shape and alphabetic
position of what is labelled 'FO SUNG' matches up with the low 'f' of
Thai (it's a modificationof PHO TAM), so I conclude that the names
have been transposed. Diller's article on Thai and Lao writing in
the WWS does not clarify - he erroneously marks all four 'f's as low!

The lists of high and low consonants at
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/LaoLanguage/LaoAlphabet/Laoconsonants.h
tm supports what I am saying.

I have my suspicions about the Lao labels LAO LETTER LO LOOT and LAO
LETTER LO LING. Graphically and in alphabetic order, LAO LETTER LO
LOOT corresponds to THAI CHARACTER LO LING, and THAI CHARACTER RO RUA
corresponds to both of LAO LETTER LO LING (which has its position in
the alphabet) and LAO LETTER HO TAM.

There's an intereseting set of flashcards at
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/LaoLanguage/reading%
20lao_consonants1/lao_consonants_poster2.htm which reinforce my
susicions. For Unicode LAO LETTER LO LOOT, it shows a monkey /ling/,
also spelt out with 'LAO LETTER LO LOOT'. For Unicode LAO LETTER LO
LING, the card shows a 4-wheeled motor vehicle. Now in Thai,
that's /rot/ <r.o~th>, derived from Sanskrit <ratha>, so I'd expect
the Lao to be /lot/ (while admitting /hot/ as a possibility).
Unfortunately, the link is missing, so I can't check the spelling.

There is one caveat about these pages. The author, Prasong Haisong,
comes from Thailand, so his account of Lao may have been confused by
a Thai education.

Richard.