LANGUAGE AND NATION BUILDING 1 James R. Chamberlain 1. Background Lao has been the language of the of the realm, ostensibly since the earliest beginnings of the nation in the 12 th or 13 th century. Lao is, formally speaking, a member of the Southwestern Branch of the Tai family, ultimately classified under the superstock usually referred to as Tai-Kadai. 2 Also in the Southwestern Branch are included such languages as Black, White and Red Tai, Lue, Siamese, Shan, and Ahom, as well as Phouan and Phou Thay. The Lao alphabet appears to be the remnant of an intermediate form of written language that would fall between the Cham-based Tai alphabets of Vietnam and the Sukhothai style found in inscriptions from Thailand dating from the 13 th century in Northern and Northeastern Thailand. Geographically, the ethnic Lao proper 3 are distributed principally along the Ou River and the Mekong, with a few speakers on the Nam Tha and the Nam Beng rivers as well, and shown in Map 2 below: 1 This paper is a modified version of a chapter on language from the study: Chamberlain, James R. 2002. Poverty Alleviation for All: Potentials and Options for People in the Uplands. Vientiane: SIDA. It has also been supplemented by some other work and thinking carried out by the author for two ADB projects, namely: Assessment of Economic Potentials and Comparative Advantages of the Ethnic Minority Groups of Lao PDR (2002), and the Northern Region Development Strategy (2003). 2 Although an alternative name has recently been proposed in the form of “Kra-Dai”(Weera 2000). 3 The Lao language may be defined by certain phonological characteristics of the tone system. Technically, this is described as a tone split in the historical C category between syllables beginning with originally voiceless series initial consonants and syllables beginning with the originally unaspirated, preglottalized, and voiced series of consonants. In the writing system this split is in the may tho tone category between syllables beginning with High Class consonants and those beginning with Mid or Low Class consonants. Speakers with this tone characteristic will invariably refer to themselves or their language as Lao. The great cultural barrier imposed by a separate language is perhaps the most effective guarantee that a social world, easily accessible to insiders, will remain opaque to outsiders. …a unique language represents a formidable obstacle to state knowledge, let alone colonization, control, manipulation, instruction, or propaganda. — James C. Scott