Lao, the official language of Laos, belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family and shares significant linguistic and cultural ties with its neighboring languages in Southeast Asia. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Lao are Thai, Shan, Burmese, Cantonese, and Dzongkha.
- Thai (79.4)
Primarily spoken in Thailand, just to the south of Laos, it is no surprise Thai makes this list. These languages have a high degree of mutual intelligibility due to their similar tonal systems, grammatical structures, and extensive shared vocabulary. They have influenced each other through their close geographical proximity. - Shan (78.9)
Spoken in Myanmar, Shan shares many phonological and syntactic features with Lao. Both languages have similar vowel and consonant systems and use tones to distinguish meaning. The Shan people have historical and ethnic ties with the Tai groups, leading to significant linguistic convergence. - Burmese (31.8)
Burmese is the official language of Myanmar. The country is on the northwest of Laos. Burmese and Lao are both tonal languages. Despite belonging to different families, their tonal nature and some shared vocabulary. Historical interactions through trade and conquest have led to linguistic exchanges between them. - Cantonese (29.9)
While Cantonese and Lao are from different language families, they share tonal qualities and some lexical similarities due to historical Chinese influence in the region. Trade and migration have resulted in linguistic borrowing, particularly in vocabulary related to commerce, cuisine, and technology. - Dzongkha (23.1)
The official language of Bhutan, Dzongkha, shares a distant but intriguing similarity with Lao. Although it belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of Sino-Tibetan languages, it still shares several characteristics with Lao due to its tonal nature and regional proximity. In addition, Dzongkha and Lao both employ similar sentence structures.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)