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 (July 24th).

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. (AP)

Source: http://e.sinchew-i.com