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Cooper-Lahu Shi Orthorgaphy 44 Lahu Shi Vowels There are eightvowels inthe Lahu Shi language. Examplesoftheseare found in Table 10. The symbols selected followthe Lahu Na orthography developed in Myanmar. The letters 'h' and 'w'are used to mark vowelquality distinctions sincethe Roman script hasonlyfive symbols normallyused for vowels. Continuing research hasrefined the choiceofphonemicvowel symbols from an initial phonological statementforLahu Shi (Cooper& Cooper, 1996), but has not changedthe proposed orthography. Phonemic Sound Cooper-Lahu Shi Orthorgaphy 45 morpheme. In theseinstances, a 'dash' (-) is inserted at the morpheme boundary andthe vowelsare given separatetone marks. Alltogether, Lahu Shi has 14 differentvowel sequences. PhonemicSound Cooper- Lahu Shi Orthorgaphy 46 aspiration. Theotherconsonantsymbols in thisorthographyrepresentthe common sounds associatedwith them in otherlanguages that use a Roman based script. These consonants coverthe phonemic rangeofconsonantsin Lahu Shi, butone moreorthographicsymbol is required. The orthographicconsonantcharacterY (in thesyllableinitial position) hasthe same phoneticand phonemicvaluesasT. Itis used onlyinloan words from English thatarespelled using an Y\ such as rerdior(He* di1o1])forthe English word 'radio1 Some ofthe Lahu Shi speakerswho aredeveloping the . alphabetare awarethatthey do notproduce a unique soundfor Y\ However, theybelievethat ifan 'r' is used in thesource language spelling ofa word, replacing itwith an T in Lahu Shiwould beincorrect. There seem to betwo main reasons forthisconviction. First, the Lahu Naorthographies have the Y character, though there isno distinction between the T and Y in Lahu Na. Second, the Lahu Shi developers have adopted a strategy ofrepresenting loan words as closeto the originalrendering aspossible. This strategyforencoding loan words isalso evidentin two languagesto whichthey have agreatdealof exposure, Lahu Naand Thai. Thereforetheproposed Lahu Shi orthography includesthe letter Y as a consonantrepresenting the phoneme/!/which is used onlyin borrowed words. Cooper-Lahu Shi Orthorgaphy 47 PHONEMIC SOUND Cooper- Lahu Shi Orthorgaphy 48 more beautifulthanthe special characters used inthe Lahu Na orthography developed in Myanmar. Theyalsowantedto avoidthe need forspecially adapted typewriters and specialfonts forcomputersrequiredforthe special charactersin thatsystem. Beyondthat, theybelieved itwould beeasyforLahu Shi people tolearn to marktonewith letters, even those peoplewhowere already familiarwith thecharacters used in the Lahu Na orthographyfrom Myanmar. PhonemicSound Cooper-Lahu Shi Orthorgaphy 49 Syllable* Cooper-Lahu Shi Orthorgaphy 50 Type In Honor of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej On theAuspicious Occasion of his Sixth Cycle Birthday Minority Language Orthograph in Thailand: Five Case Studies Edited by the TU-SIL-LRDP Committee Under the auspices ofThammasat University and in cooperation with SIL International January2002