59-533: Phongsaly province ( Lao ຜົ້ງສາລີ), also spelled Phôngsali , is a province of Laos in the extreme north of the country. The capital of the province is the city of Phôngsali . Phongsaly is between Yunnan (China), and Điện Biên province in Vietnam . Its culture has thus been historically heavily influenced by China. Phongsaly province covers an area of 16,270 square kilometres (6,280 sq mi), out of which 77% has forest cover . The province borders China to
118-621: A cost of Euro 210,000 with 48% financing by the Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP)of Mekong with Electriciens Sand Frontieres as lead partner. The project is slated for implementation over a 20 months period. In order to reduce the addiction to opium , the United Nations Organization on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) introduced the Phongsaly Alternative Development Fund Project for Opium Elimination and
177-497: A dotted circle ◌ is used on this page to represent the consonant, in standard Lao orthography a small x symbol is used for this purpose. Traditionally this was a simple, stylized, sans-serif x and it was included in Lao fonts before Unicode became widespread. Unicode does not make it available as part of the Lao alphabet set, and a lower-case sans-serif x is often used instead. Some vowels change their forms depending on whether they appear in
236-776: A minimum of 200 m (660 ft) and a maximum of 1,200 m (3,900 ft). The density of the species is low across its range. In China, it is known to be found in the Mengyang Nature Reserve in Yunnan , and in the Nonggang National Nature Reserve and Diding Nature Reserve in Guangxi province. It is also known to be present in Hainan . In Vietnam the species is found in Annam and western Tonkin , in which regions it
295-467: A more curvilinear fashion than Thai. Lao is written from left to right. Vowels can be written above, below, in front of, or behind consonants, with some vowel combinations written before, over, and after. Spaces for separating words and punctuation were traditionally not used, but space is used and functions in place of a comma or period. The letters have no majuscule or minuscule (upper- and lowercase) differentiation. The Lao script ultimately derived from
354-437: A shrub close above the water, rather than from an exposed vantage point. The species is presumed not to migrate. It is described as a shy bird. Blyth's kingfisher frequents small rivers and waterways in evergreen forest, hilly regions, or deep ravines. It is sometimes found near streams near well-wooded farmland. Its elevational range is chiefly between 400 and 1,000 m (1,300 and 3,300 ft) above sea level, extending to
413-593: A software system of international standard that would enable the Phetsarath OT font to be like other font systems that local users could access. In March 2011, the Lao company XY Mobile presented the Phetsarath OT on mobile phones as well as tablet PCs using the mobile device operating system Android . iOS supports Lao script on iPhones and iPads . The consonant letters below are obsolete, due to spelling reforms. Characters for these obsolete letters are added in later versions of Unicode. For additional details, see
472-688: A variant of the Old Khmer script of Angkor , through the Sukhothai script . By the late 15th century, a form of the Sukhothai script had reached the Mekong River basin, after which the script developed differences between its Thai and Lao variants. In the 1960s, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party has simplified the spelling to be phonemic and omitted extra letters used to write words of Pali-Sanskrit origin. In
531-470: Is monotypic . It has also been referred to as the great blue kingfisher. Blyth's kingfisher is between 22 and 23 cm ( 8 + 5 ⁄ 8 and 9 in) in length, making it the largest of the Alcedo kingfishers. The wing of the male is between 9.6 and 10.2 cm ( 3 + 3 ⁄ 4 and 4 in) long, and that of the female between 9.5 and 10.3 cm ( 3 + 3 ⁄ 4 and 4 in). On
590-464: Is also common. Hyphens (-) and the ellipsis (...) are also commonly found in modern writing. According to Article 89 of the 2003 Amended Constitution of the Lao People's Democratic Republic , the Lao alphabet, though originally used solely for transcribing the Lao language, is also used to write several minority languages. Some minority languages use other writing systems. For example, the Hmong adopted
649-887: Is at the top of a hill, approached by walking up 400 steps. Lao alphabet Lao script or Akson Lao (Lao: ອັກສອນລາວ [ʔák.sɔ̌ːn láːw] ) is the primary script used to write the Lao language and other minority languages in Laos . Its earlier form, the Tai Noi script , was also used to write the Isan language , but was replaced by the Thai script . It has 27 consonants ( ພະຍັນຊະນະ [pʰā.ɲán.sā.nāʔ] ), 7 consonantal ligatures ( ພະຍັນຊະນະປະສົມ [pʰā.ɲán.sā.nāʔ pā.sǒm] ), 33 vowels ( ສະຫລະ / ສະຫຼະ [sā.láʔ] ), and 4 tone marks ( ວັນນະຍຸດ [wán.nā.ɲūt] ). The Lao abugida
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#1732859318440708-404: Is chiefly between April and May, extending to March and June. The nests are built at the end of a tunnel in a muddy bank, next to either a stream or a ravine in the forest. The tunnel extends straight, then rises, before descending to the chamber in which the nest is. This chamber is between 15 and 20 cm (6 and 8 in) wide and 10 and 13 cm (4 and 5 in) high. The width of the tunnel
767-704: Is fairly common. In northern Laos and the Annamite mountains , it may be locally common. It is also found in Myanmar, where its density varies considerably, and is either a visitor or a rare resident in northwestern Thailand. It is rare in Bhutan in northeastern India, and a vagrant in Bangladesh and eastern Nepal. Its range in northeast India includes the eastern Himalayas , up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft). The population of Blyth's kingfisher has not been quantified globally. In China,
826-697: Is made up of the following districts (mueang) : The northernmost district of the province is Yot Ou, which has a population of 31,000 spread over 98 villages made up of 11 ethnic groups. The majority of the people are farmers. The Lao-Chinese Border Checkpoint is at Lan Tui, which is designated by landmark No. 7. The population of the province is 177,989 as of the 2015 census. There are 13 minority ethnic groups with independent language and culture identity: Khammu, Thai Dam, Thai Daeng, Yao, Leu, Ho ( Hani ), Hmong, Akha, Yang, Bid, Lolo and others. Each group has its own practices in respect to marriage customs as well as specific handicrafts, silverware and jewelry. Other than
885-434: Is the mainstay of the people of the province. Phôngsali is the primary trade gateway between Laos and China, exporting lumber and importing several types of finished goods. There are also several Chinese manufacturing companies in the province, along with other foreign investment. As an economic activity 24 villages have been identified to install mini hydro-power projects with pico-turbines to provide electric supply utilizing
944-569: Is typically 8 cm ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 8 in): the length varies with the soil, ranging from 45 to 60 cm ( 17 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 23 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) in hard soil to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in sandy soil. Between four and six eggs are laid, incubated by both parents. The parents sit very tight; nests become covered in faecal matter . The periods of incubation and fledging are not known. The species feeds on fish and insects it catches by diving in water bodies. Unlike other Alcedo kingfishers, Blyth's kingfisher dives from
1003-839: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as well as various romanization schemes, such as the French-based systems in use by both the US Board of Geographic Names and the British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (BGN/PCGN), the English-based system in use by the US Library of Congress (LC), Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) used in Thailand, and finally its Unicode name. A slash indicates
1062-711: The LAOK46 Phongsaly Alternative Livelihood and Food Security Project (PALAFS )]] covering 30 villages in Khoua and Mai districts, and also minimise opium addiction in 60 villages in Samphan district, through alternative development activities. During the final years of the 20th century, 3,872 ha of the province had opium poppy cultivation (20% of the national total production) with 513 villages out of 611 growing opium with an addiction rate of 5.6%. In spite of government ban on opium poppy cultivation, Phongsaly has
1121-662: The Nam Ou River and its catchment, the area at the confluence of the Nam Khang River, mountainous terrain, and slopes. The habitat is characterized by unbroken dry evergreen forest and inland wetlands. Notable avifauna includes Blyth's kingfisher ( Alcedo hercules ), brown dipper ( Cinclus pallasii ), brown hornbill ( Anorrhinus tickelli ), crested kingfisher ( Megaceryle lugubris ), great hornbill ( Buceros bicornis ), lesser fish eagle ( Ichthyophaga humilis ), and rufous-necked hornbill ( Aceros nipalensis ). The province
1180-584: The Romanized Popular Alphabet to spell the Hmong languages . Linux has been available in Lao since 2005. Windows did not officially support Lao until Windows Vista . User-generated fonts are freely available online. In December 2011, the Lao Ministry of Science and Technology, in cooperation with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, officially authorized the use of Phetsarath OT as
1239-612: The 1930s, Maha Sila Viravong , a Buddhist scholar, backed by the Buddhist Institute in Vientiane and the Buddhist Academic Council, added an additional set of Lao characters to support Pali and Sanskrit, thereby filling the missing gaps in the existing script. While the Buddhist Institute published books that utilised these extended Indic characters, they did not see widespread usage, and fell out of usage by 1975. In 2019,
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#17328593184401298-409: The Lao alphabet. It was dropped as part of a language reform because most speakers pronounced it as "l", and had an ambiguous status for several decades. A 1999 dictionary does not include it when listing the full alphabet but does use it to spell many country names. A comprehensive dictionary published by a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Information and Culture did not include it. However, as
1357-422: The Lao language. Each letter has an acrophonical name that either begins with or features the letter prominently, and is used to teach the letter and serves to distinguish them from other, homophonous consonants. The letter ອ is a special null consonant used as a mandatory anchor for vowels, which cannot stand alone, and also to serve as a vowel in its own right. The letter ຣ (r) is a relatively new re-addition to
1416-503: The Lao vocabulary began to incorporate more foreign names (such as Europe, Australia, and America) it filled a need and is now taught in schools. The letter ຣ can also be found in Unit 14 (ບົດທີ 14 ຮ ຫ ຣ) of a textbook published by the government. It is generally used as the first consonant of a syllable, or to follow a leading consonant, rarely as a final consonant. The table below shows the Lao consonant, its name, its pronunciation according to
1475-572: The Tai Lue conducted a revolt against colonial authority. When it ended, the colonial military assumed full authority in Phongsaly. In 1936, Sithon Kommadam and his brother, Kamphanh were jailed in Phongsaly because of their participation in their father's (Ong Kommandam) 1934–1936 armed revolt against the French. After Sithon's release in 1945, he established resistance bases in Phongsaly, soon making contact with
1534-498: The Thai script page's sections for the alphabetic table and usage for Sanskrit and Pali . The Unicode block for the Lao script is U+0E80–U+0EFF, added in Unicode version 1.0. The first ten characters of the row U+0EDx are the Lao numerals 0 through 9. Throughout the chart, grey (unassigned) code points are shown because the assigned Lao characters intentionally match the relative positions of
1593-674: The Viet Minh. The Communists came into power in 1954 in the province; within six years, the Phunoy began experiencing Buddhist religious purges. Subsequent to the 1954 Geneva Accords , Communist Pathet Lao forces in Phongsaly province were provided with regrouping zones. Phongsaly was integrated into the Royal Lao Government on December 18, 1957. Phongsaly province covers an area of 16,270 square kilometres (6,280 sq mi), out of which 77% has forest cover. The province borders China to
1652-570: The afternoon, which has created lush green forests. Large areas of the province's forests in Phou Den Din NBCA have plentiful wildlife but no human habitation. The 126,880 hectare Phou Dendin Important Bird Area (IBA) is located within the 222,000 hectare Phou Den Din NBCA . The IBA altitude varies between 500–1,900 metres (1,600–6,200 ft) above sea level. Topographical elements include
1711-416: The bird are black, and have a buff coloured streak above them. The back of the bird from mantle to the tail coverts is a bright cobalt blue or azure, with a tinge of purple towards the rump and the tail coverts. When the bird is at rest, the upper parts may appear brownish black. The tail itself is a darker ultramarine blue. The wings and the scapular feathers are a dark greenish black. The feathers of
1770-399: The blue-eared kingfisher, and is entirely black. Its crown and wings are less brilliant as those of the smaller bird, and it may be distinguished by the speckles of light blue on its crown and wing coverts. The dark ear coverts set it apart from the common kingfisher ( Alcedo atthis ), which has rufous ear-coverts. It is similar to the female blue-banded kingfisher ( Alcedo euryzona ), but
1829-490: The corresponding Thai characters. This has created the anomaly that the Lao letter ສ is not in alphabetical order, since it occupies the same code-point as the Thai letter ส . Blyth%27s kingfisher Blyth's kingfisher ( Alcedo hercules ) is the largest kingfisher in the genus Alcedo . Named for Edward Blyth , the species has also been known as Alcedo grandis and as the great blue kingfisher. Between 22 and 23 cm ( 8 + 5 ⁄ 8 and 9 in) long,
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1888-538: The density of the species is low, and the population, though not thoroughly surveyed, is believed to be small, and declining further. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies it as " near threatened ". Blyth's kingfisher was described by the English zoologist and curator at the Asiatic Society of Bengal Edward Blyth in 1845 and given the binomial name Alcedo grandis . Unfortunately, this name
1947-458: The extended Indic characters were added to Unicode 12. The twenty-seven consonants of the Lao alphabet are divided into three tone classes—high (ສູງ [sǔːŋ] ), middle (ກາງ [kàːŋ] ), and low (ຕ່ຳ [tām] )—which determine the tonal pronunciation of the word in conjunction with the four tone marks and distinctions between short and long vowels. Aside from tone, there are twenty-one distinct consonant sounds that occur in
2006-454: The final or medial position. As in the neighboring Thai script , ◌ະ is used to represent a glottal stop after a vowel. Lao is traditionally not written with spaces between words. Spaces are reserved for ends of clauses or sentences. Periods are not used, and questions can be determined by question words in a sentence. Traditional punctuation marks include ◌໌, an obsolete mark indicating silenced consonants; ໆ, used to indicate repetition of
2065-471: The full 5 tones of Thai. For instance, tone modifier ห can turn low consonants into high ones. This also explains why the Lao script reserved consonants with the same sounds (e.g. ຂ and ຄ /kʰ/, ສ and ຊ /s/). Both high and low consonants are needed to produce full five (or six) tones of Lao. Such design also exists in Lao. Sonorants ງ, ຍ, ນ, ມ, ລ, ວ are originally low consonants, but when they're preceded by ຫ, they become high consonants. The older versions of
2124-667: The full repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs used in the language. Vowels cannot stand alone or begin a syllable, so the silent consonant, ອ, which can function as a vowel in its own right, is used as a base when spelling a word that begins with a vowel sound. The names of the vowels are just as easy as saying sala (ສະຫຼະ, [sā.lāʔ] ) before the vowel sign. Some vowels have unique names, and these are ໃ◌ (ໄມ້ມ້ວນ, /mâj mûan/ , rolled stem ), ໄ◌ (ໄມ້ມາຍ, /mâj máːj/ , unwound stem ), ◌ົ (ໄມ້ກົງ, . /mâj kòŋ/ , straight stem ), ◌ັ (ໄມ້ກັນ, . /mâj kàn/ , ear stem ), ◌ຽ (ວິລາມ, /wīʔ láːm/ ), and ◌ໍ (ນິກຄະຫິດ, /nīk kʰāʔ hǐt/ ). Although
2183-416: The hydro power potential of the hilly areas which have good monsoon rainfall. Local material will be used for construction of civil works and villagers trained to plan, implement and operate the units including maintenance of all components of the project covering transmission lines also. The objective is to reduce poverty among the rural poor of the remote villages. The project is proposed for implementation at
2242-540: The kingfisher has deep rufous underparts with a blackish blue breast patch, and brilliant cobalt blue or azure upperparts, tinged with purple. The wings are a dark blackish green, with blue speckles and tips to some of the feathers. The bill of the male is entirely black, while the female has a dark red lower mandible. The species is distinguished from the similar blue-eared kingfisher ( Alcedo meninting ) and common kingfisher ( Alcedo atthis ) by its greater size, heavy black bill, and dark lores . The species breeds between
2301-427: The male, the feathering on the head is black, with shiny tips of bright blue. It has a neck patch that is whitish or buff in colour, as is the chin. The breast and belly are rufous, except for a dark blackish-blue patch on the breast. The legs and feet of the bird are also red. The bill is entirely black in the male, while the female has a red base to the mandible . The iris of the bird is reddish brown. The lores of
2360-643: The maximum number of districts below the poverty line, and is one of the major opium producing provinces in the country. Important landmarks in the province are the Wat Ou-Tai Temple , the Wat Luang Ou-Neua Temple and the That Phou Xay Stupa . The Wat Ou-Tai Temple is in the Ban Ou-Tai village. It was built by Praya Chakkawattiraja and is said to be 500 years old. The Hor Thane Keo, inside
2419-678: The monastery complex which is called “ Ou Bo Sot” (meaning a place where monks meet and conduct religious rites) by the Tai Lue ethnic groups. Wat Luang Ou-Neua Temple is also an old and highly revered temple built about 500 years ago in Ban Ou Neua village. The temple has a double overlapping roof in the Lue architecture style and is very impressive. The temple is adorned with traditional fine art techniques and houses A large Buddha image and small Buddha statues are deified inside this temple. That Phou Xay Stupa
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2478-411: The monastery, is a specific sanctum where Buddha images are deified. This sanctum is built with mud and has many types of decorations retained in its original form. The wooden columns of the shrine are supported over on stone blocks; these also have been elegantly designed and painted with drawings of daggers, swords, flowers and flags, and all carved in wood. There is a shrine built in brick masonry within
2537-615: The months of March and June. It builds nests at the end of tunnels dug in the banks of streams or ravines. Four to six eggs are laid, with both sexes incubating. A shy bird, it frequents small waterways, feeding on fish and insects caught by diving from a shrub close to the water. It is found along streams in evergreen forest and adjacent open country between 200 and 1,200 m (660 and 3,900 ft), mainly between 400 and 1,000 m (1,300 and 3,300 ft). The species ranges from Nepal through India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Even within its preferred habitat
2596-541: The national language Lao , various minority languages are spoken in Phongsaly province, most of which belong to the Tai (Kra-Dai), Hanoish (Tibeto-Burman), and Khmuic (Austroasiatic) branches. The table below lists the languages surveyed in Kingsada (1999), Shintani (2001), and Kato (2008), with autonyms and informant birthplaces given as well. All languages are spoken in Phongsaly province unless indicated otherwise. Agriculture
2655-436: The north and west, Vietnam to the east, Luang Prabang province to the south, and Oudomxai province to the southwest. It is located high in the mountains, approximately 450–1,800 metres (1,480–5,910 ft) above sea level. The highest mountain in the province is Phou Doychy with an elevation of 1,842 metres (6,043 ft). The Phou Fa hill, at 1,625 metres (5,331 ft), is near the capital city and has road access to
2714-498: The north and west, Vietnam to the east, Luang Prabang province to the south, and Oudomxai province to the southwest. The highest mountain in the province is Phou Doychy with an elevation of 1,842 metres (6,043 ft) Protected areas in the province include the Phou Dene Din National Biodiversity Conservation Area and Nam Lan Conservation Area. Agriculture is the mainstay of the people of
2773-411: The preceding word; ຯ, the Lao ellipsis that is also used to indicate omission of words; ฯ, a more or less obsolete symbol indicating shortened form of a phrase (such as royal names); and ฯລฯ, used to indicate et cetera . In more contemporary writing, punctuation marks are borrowed from French, such as exclamation point !, question mark ?, parentheses (), and «» for quotation marks, although ""
2832-425: The pronunciation at the beginning juxtaposed with its pronunciation at the end of a syllable. Lao also uses digraphs based on combinations of the silent (unpronounced) ຫ ຫ່ານ with certain other consonants, some of which also have special ligature forms that are optionally used. In the Thai script, certain consonants are preceded by tone modifiers . This is because high consonants or low consonants cannot produce
2891-500: The province. Phongsaly is the primary trade gateway between Laos and China, exporting lumber and importing several types of finished goods. The Phunoi left Muang Sing or Burma and arrived in Phongsaly at the end of the 18th century. The Hmong settled in Phongsaly at the end of the 19th century, having migrated from southern China. In 1895, a Sino-French treaty transferred the Tai Lue's Sip Song Phan Na principalities of Phongsaly and Muang Sing to French Laos. Between 1908 and 1910,
2950-411: The rest of vowel diacritics still apply. However, many Lao outside of Laos, and some inside Laos, continue to write according to former spelling standards. For example, the old spelling of ສເຫຼີມ 'to hold a ceremony, celebrate' contrasts with the new ສະເຫລີມ/ສະເຫຼີມ. Vowels are constructed from only a handful of basic symbols, but they can be combined with other vowel forms and semi-vowels to represent
3009-424: The same box have identical pronunciation). Lao characters in final position. In the old documents, the letter ຽ could be found in place of ຍ. In its earlier form, Lao would be considered a full abugida , in which the inherent vowel is embedded in the consonant letters. The spelling reforms by the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party shallows the orthography, the main vowels are now written explicitly, but
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#17328593184403068-460: The script also included special forms for combinations of ພ (pʰ) + ຍ (ɲ), ສ (s) + ນ (n), and ມ (m) + ລ (l). In addition, consonant clusters that had the second component of ຣ (r) or ລ (l) were written with a special form ◌ຼ underneath the consonant. Since these were not pronounced in Lao, they were removed during various spelling reforms, and this symbol only appears in the ligature ຫຼ. Lao characters in initial position (several letters appearing in
3127-425: The species is estimated to have fewer than 100 breeding pairs. The species occurs at a low density even within a favorable habitat. The habitats it favors are being degraded and fragmented by human activity. Other potential threats to the species include water pollution in the rivers it inhabits and anthropogenic disturbance such as deforestation. No specific conservation actions are known to have been taken to protect
3186-449: The standard national font. The Phetsarath OT font was already adopted by the government in 2009; however, Lao users were unable to use it, as international software manufacturers did not include the font in their software systems. Mobile devices were not able to use or show Lao language. Instead, mobile phone users had to rely on Thai or English as language. The Laos Ministry of Post and Telecommunications asked local technicians to develop
3245-402: The top from where vistas of the city are visible. The top of the mountain is also approached by 431 steps. Because of economic commerce with China, large portions of the province have been deforested. Phongsaly is characterized by a relatively cool climate. Weather in the province is described as "four seasons in a single day" with cold mornings and evenings, humidity during the day, and rains in
3304-424: The two species do not overlap in their range. The call of the species is described as a loud "pseet", less shrill but louder and more hoarse than that of the common kingfisher, and similar but louder to that of the blue-eared kingfisher. One of the calls made by the slaty-backed forktail ( Enicurus schistaceus ) is sometimes mistaken for the call of Blyth's kingfisher. The breeding period of Blyth's kingfisher
3363-413: The upperwing coverts have cobalt-blue tips, while the underwing coverts are dark rufous-red. The lesser and median coverts have prominent speckles of cobalt. Any distinctive features in the plumage of the juvenile are not known. The species is morphologically similar to the blue-eared kingfisher ( Alcedo meninting ), but in comparison is substantially larger. Its bill is heavier and longer than that of
3422-592: Was adapted from the Khmer script , which itself was derived from the Pallava script , a variant of the Grantha script descended from the Brāhmī script , which was used in southern India and South East Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Akson Lao is a sister system to the Thai script , with which it shares many similarities and roots. However, Lao has fewer characters and is formed in
3481-451: Was preoccupied as it had already been introduced for another species by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his Systema naturae of 1788. In 1917, the German naturalist Alfred Laubmann proposed the substitute binomial name Alcedo hercules to replace the preoccupied name. Blyth's kingfisher is most closely related to the blue-eared kingfisher ( Alcedo meninting ). The species
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