Going from Lao to Northern Sami (DavvisΓ‘megiella) has a composite linguistic distance of 84% (heuristic estimate). Below is the dimension-by-dimension breakdown.
Shared vocabulary, cognates, and loanwords.
Morphology, syntax, word order, cases.
Shared sounds and phoneme inventory.
Lao β Latin
Tai-Kadai β Uralic
The 5 languages with the lowest linguistic distance from Lao:
A quick 3-question check between Lao and Northern Sami. No signup.