زبان تایلندی زبان تای

زبان تایلندی یا زبان تای (به تایلندی: ภาษาไทย) زبان ملی و رسمی کشور تایلند و زبان مادری قوم تای گروه نژادی غالب تایند است. زبان تای عضو گروه زبان‌های تای از خانواده زبان‌های تای-کدای است. به نظر می‌رسد خانواده زبان‌های تای-کدای از چین جنوبی سرچشمه گرفته باشد و برخی زبان‌شناسان آن را با خانواده زبان‌های استروآسیایی، استرانزی یا چینی-تبتی مرتبط می‌دانند. این زبان، نواخت‌بر است و برای نمایش روابط نحوی، واژه‌های غیرقابل تصریف را به‌کار می‌برد. ترکیب نواخت‌ها، رسم‌الخط پیچیده، نشانه‌های نحوی و نشانگرهای آوانمایی می‌توانند آموختن زبان تای را برای کسانی که به زبان‌های وابسته سخن نمی‌گویند، دشوار سازد.
محتویات [نمایش]
گویشوران [ویرایش]

زبان تایلندی در تایلند و مالزی شمالی به‌کار می‌رود و مجموع گویشوران آن در حدود ۶۰ تا ۶۵ میلیون نفر برآورد می‌شوند.
دبیره [ویرایش]

الفبای تای از الفبای خمری ریشه گرفته است که از خط برهمایی از خانواده هندی الگوبرداری شده است. زبان و الفبای آن خویشاوندی نزدیکی با زبان لائوسی (لائو) دارد. این خط شامل ۴۴ همخوان است که ۲ همخوان دیگر کاربردی ندارند. از این تعداد، ۶ همخوان در آغاز کلمه به کار نمی‌روند. ویژگی شگفت خط تای، جداناسازی کلمه‌های یک جمله از یکدیگر است که دشواری خواندن این خط را بسیار افزایش می‌هد.
دشواری‌ها [ویرایش]

مانند بسیاری از زبان‌های آسیایی، به ویژه زبان خمر، یکی از دشواری‌های عمده، کاربرد عبارت‌های مؤدبانه‌ای است که دقیقا مناسب با شرایط باشد: سن، جنس، نقش اجتماعی مخاطب و نیز میزان احترام نسبت به او در ضمیرها و گاه واژگان تغییراتی ایجاد می‌کند. توجه به تمایز بزرگترها از کوچکترها از اهمیت ویژه‌ای برخوردار است.
منابع [ویرایش]

مشارکت‌کنندگان ویکی‌پدیا، «Thai language»، ویکی‌پدیای انگلیسی، دانشنامهٔ آزاد. (بازیابی در ‏‏۱۷ ژوئن ۲۰۰۸).
زبان‌های مردم جهان، میشل مالرب، مترجم: عفت ملانظر، شرکت انتشارات علمی و فرهنگی، تهران ۱۳۸۲
رده‌ها: تایلندزبان‌ها

قس عربی
اللغة التایلندیة هی اللغة الوطنة والرسمیة لتایلند، واللغة الأم للشعب التایلندی، المجموعة العرقیة المهیمنة فی تایلند. اللغة التایلندیة هی جزء من مجموعة تای من العائلة اللغویة تای کادای. لغات تای کادای یعتقد بأنهم نشأؤا فی ما هو الآن جنوب الصین، واقترح بعض اللغویین الصلات بینها وبین الأوسترواسیاتیة، أو الأوسترونیسیانیة، أو العوائل اللغویة الصینیة التیبتیة. وهی لغة نغمیة وتحلیلیة. تتمیز بمجموعة متناسقة من الأنغام، وقواعد الإملاء معقدة، والعلامات العلائقیة والأصوات الممیزة، مما یجعلها صعبة التعلم لأولئک الذین لا یتکلمون بلغة متعلقة.
محتویات [اعرض]
[عدل]تاریخ

اللغة التایلندیة هی اللغة الوطنیة لتایلند، تستخدم من قبل حوالی ثمانین بالمائة من الستین ملیون من سکان البلاد الآسیویة الجنوبیة الشرقیة. اللغویون یعتبرونها "لغة نغمیة أحادیة المقاطع " فی مجموعة کا تای. اللغة المنطوقة یعتقد بأنها نشأت فی المنطقة التی تمثل الآن الحدود بین فیتنام والصین، کفکرة یعود أصلها للشعب التایلندی. لغویاً، اللغة تتعلق باللغات المستخدمة فی شرق بورما، وشمال فیتنام، ویونان، ولاووس.
اللغة التایلاندیة المکتوبة قدمت من قبل ملک السوکوتای فی الفترة الثالثة، رامکامهاینج، فی 1283. نظام الکتابة هذا مر بتغییرات صغیرة منذ تقدیمه، بحیث یمکن للنقوش المکتوبة فی عصر السوکوتای أن تقرأ من قبل القراء التایلندیین الحدیثین. الکتابة کانت مستندة على مفاهیم بالی، والمفاهیم السنسکریتیة والهندیة.
[عدل]الرموز التایلندیة

ก ข ฃ ค ฅ
ฆ ง จ ฉ ช
ซ ฌ ญ ฎ ฏ
ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ ด
ต ถ ท ธ น
บ ป ผ ฝ พ
ฟ ภ ม ย ร
ล ว ศ ษ ส
ห ฬ อ ฮ
[عدل]مراجع

اللغة التایلندیة
[عدل]وصلات خارجیة

قاموس تایلندی متعدد اللغات
تصنیفات: لغات عازلةلغات تای کادایلغات تایلند

قس انگلیسی

Thai (ภาษาไทย Phasa Thai[2] [pʰāːsǎː tʰāj] ( listen)), more precisely Central Thai[3] or Siamese,[4] is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Some words in Thai are borrowed from Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer. It is a tonal and analytic language. Thai also has a complex orthography and relational markers.‹The template Reference necessary is being considered for merging.› [citation needed] Thai is mutually intelligible with Lao.[5] Native speakers of these two languages can understand one another without great difficulty.

Contents [show]
[edit]Languages and dialects

Thai is the official language of Thailand, spoken by over 20 million people (2000),[6] Standard Thai is based on the register of the educated classes of Bangkok.[7][8] In addition to Siamese Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages, including:

Isan (Northeastern Thai), the language of the Isan region of Thailand, a socio-culturally distinct Thai–Lao hybrid dialect[citation needed] which is written with the Thai script. It is spoken by about 15 million people (1983).
Khorat Thai, spoken by about 400,000 (1984) in Nakhon Ratchasima occupies a linguistic position somewhere between Siamese Thai and Isan on a dialect continuum, and may be considered a variant of either.
Northern Thai (Phasa Nuea, Lanna, Kam Mueang, or Thai Yuan), spoken by about 6 million (1983) in the formerly independent kingdom of Lanna (Chiang Mai).
Southern Thai (Pak Tai), spoken by 4.5 million (2006) in the formerly independent kingdom of Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat).
Phu Thai, spoken by about half a million around Nakhon Phanom Province, and 300,000 more in Laos and Vietnam (2006).
Phuan, spoken by 200,000 in central Thailand and Isan, and 100,000 more in northern Laos (2006).
Shan (Thai Luang, Tai Long, Thai Yai), spoken by about 100,000 in north-west Thailand along the border with the Shan States of Burma, and by 3.2 million in Burma (2006).
Lü (Tai Lue, Dai), spoken by about 80,000 (2001) in northern Thailand, and 600,000 more in China, Burma, and Laos (1981–2000).
Nyaw language, spoken by 50,000 in Nakhon Phanom Province, Sakhon Nakhon Province, Udon Thani Province of Northeast Thailand (1990)
Song, spoken by about 30,000 in central and northern Thailand (2000).
Most speakers of dialects and minority languages speak Central Thai as well, since it is the language used in schools and universities all across the kingdom.

Numerous languages not related to Thai are spoken within Thailand. Near Laos and Burma, ethnic minority hill tribes people speak Hmong–Mien (Yao), Karen, Lisu, and others. Near Cambodia many communities speak Khmer, and the Mon-Khmer language variously known as Suay (ส่วย) Guay or Kuay (กวย).[9]

Siamese Thai is composed of several distinct registers, forms for different social contexts:

Street or common Thai (ภาษาพูด, spoken Thai): informal, without polite terms of address, as used between close relatives and friends.
Elegant or formal Thai (ภาษาเขียน, written Thai): official and written version, includes respectful terms of address; used in simplified form in newspapers.
Rhetorical Thai: used for public speaking.
Religious Thai: (heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Pāli) used when discussing Buddhism or addressing monks.
Royal Thai (ราชาศัพท์): (influenced by Khmer) used when addressing members of the royal family or describing their activities.
Most Thais can speak and understand all of these contexts. Street and elegant Thai are the basis of all conversations;[citation needed] rhetorical, religious and royal Thai are taught in schools as the national curriculum.

[edit]Script

Main articles: Thai alphabet and Thai braille
Many scholars believe that the Thai script is derived from the Khmer script, which is modeled after the Brahmic script from the Indic family. However, in appearance, Thai is closer to Thai Dam script, which may have the same Indian origins as the Khmer script. The language and its script[citation needed] are closely related to the Lao language and script. Most literate Lao are able to read and understand Thai, as more than half of the Thai vocabulary, grammar, intonation, vowels and so forth are common with the Lao language. Much like the Burmese adopted the Mon script (which also has Indic origins), the Thais adopted and modified the Khmer script to create their own writing system. While in Thai the pronunciation can largely be inferred from the script, the orthography is complex, with silent letters to preserve original spellings and many letters representing the same sound. While the oldest known inscription in the Khmer language dates from 611 CE, inscriptions in Thai writing began to appear around 1292 CE. Notable features include:

It is an abugida script, in which the implicit vowel is a short /a/ in a syllable without final consonant and a short /o/ in a syllable with final consonant.
Tone markers are placed above the final onset consonant of the syllable.
Vowels sounding after a consonant are nonsequential: they can be located before, after, above or below the consonant, or in a combination of these positions.
[edit]Transcription
There is no universal standard for transcribing Thai into the Latin alphabet. For example, the name of King Rama IX, the present monarch, is transcribed variously as Bhumibol, Phumiphon, phuuM miH phohnM, or many other versions. Guide books, text books and dictionaries may each follow different systems. For this reason, most language courses recommend that learners master the Thai script.

What comes closest to a standard is the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS), published by the Thai Royal Institute.[10] This system is increasingly used in Thailand by central and local governments,[citation needed] especially for road signs. Its main drawbacks are that it does not indicate tone or vowel length. Retro-transliteration, that is, reconstruction of Thai spelling from RTGS romanisation, is not possible.

[edit]Transliteration
The ISO published an international standard for the transliteration of Thai into Roman script in September 2003 (ISO 11940) [2]. By adding diacritics to the Latin letters, it makes the transcription reversible, making it a true transliteration. This system is intended for academic use, but is rarely used in any context.[citation needed]

[edit]Grammar

Main article: Thai grammar
From the perspective of linguistic typology, Thai can be considered to be an analytic language. The word order is subject–verb–object, although the subject is often omitted. Thai pronouns are selected according to the gender and relative status of speaker and audience.

[edit]Adjectives and adverbs
There is no morphological distinction between adverbs and adjectives. Many words can be used in either function. They follow the word they modify, which may be a noun, verb, or another adjective or adverb. Intensity can be expressed by a duplicated word, which is used to mean "very" (with the first occurrence at a higher pitch) or "rather" (with both at the same pitch) (Higbie 187-188). Usually, only one word is duplicated per clause.

คนอ้วน (khon uan, [kʰon ʔûan ]) a fat person
คนอ้วน ๆ (khon uan uan, [kʰon ʔûan ʔûan]) a very/rather fat person
คนที่อ้วนเร็วมาก (khon thi uan rew mak, [khon tʰîː ʔûan rew mâːk]) a person who becomes/became fat very quickly
คนที่อ้วนเร็วมาก ๆ (khon thi uan rew mak mak, [khon tʰîː ʔûan rew mâːk mâːk]) a person who becomes/became fat very very quickly
Comparatives take the form "A X กว่า B" (kwa, [kwàː]), A is more X than B. The superlative is expressed as "A X ที่สุด" (thi sut, [tʰîːsùt]), A is most X.

เขาอ้วนกว่าฉัน (khao uan kwa chan, [kʰǎw ʔûan kwàː tɕ͡ʰǎn]) S/he is fatter than me.
เขาอ้วนที่สุด (khao uan thi sut, [kʰǎw ʔûan tʰîːsùt]) S/he is the fattest (of all).
Because adjectives can be used as complete predicates, many words used to indicate tense in verbs (see Verbs:Tense below) may be used to describe adjectives.

ฉันหิว (chan hiu, [tɕ͡ʰǎn hǐw]) I am hungry.
ฉันจะหิว (chan cha hiu, [tɕ͡ʰǎn tɕ͡àʔ hǐw]) I will be hungry.
ฉันกำลังหิว (chan kamlang hiu, [tɕ͡ʰǎn kamlaŋ hǐw]) I am hungry right now.
ฉันหิวแล้ว (chan hiu laeo, [tɕ͡ʰǎn hǐw lɛ́ːw]) I am already hungry.
Remark ฉันหิวแล้ว mostly means "I am hungry right now" because normally, แล้ว ([lɛ́ːw]) is a past-tense marker, but แล้ว has many other uses as well. For example, in the sentence, แล้วเธอจะไปไหน ([lɛ́ːw tʰɤː tɕ͡àʔ paj nǎj]): So where are you going?, แล้ว ([lɛ́ːw]) is used as a discourse particle.
[edit]Verbs
Verbs do not inflect (i.e. do not change with person, tense, voice, mood, or number) nor are there any participles. Duplication conveys the idea of doing the verb intensively.

The passive voice is indicated by the insertion of ถูก (thuk, [tʰùːk]) before the verb. For example:

เขาถูกตี (khao thuk ti, [kʰǎw tʰùːk tiː]), He is hit. This describes an action that is out of the receiver's control and, thus, conveys suffering.
To convey the opposite sense, a sense of having an opportunity arrive, ได้ (dai, [dâj], can) is used. For example:

เขาจะได้ไปเที่ยวเมืองลาว (khao cha dai pai thiao mueang lao, [kʰǎw t͡ɕaʔ dâj paj tʰîow mɯːaŋ laːw]), He gets to visit Laos.
Note, dai ([dâj] and [dâːj]), though both spelled ได้, convey two separate meanings. The short vowel dai ([dâj]) conveys an opportunity has arisen and is placed before the verb. The long vowel dai ([dâːj]) is placed after the verb and conveys the idea that one has been given permission or one has the ability to do something. Also see the past tense below.

เขาตีได้ (khao ti dai, [kʰǎw tiː dâːj]), He is/was allowed to hit or He is/was able to hit
Negation is indicated by placing ไม่ (mai,[mâj] not) before the verb.

เขาไม่ตี, (khao mai ti) He is not hitting. or He not hit.
Tense is conveyed by tense markers before or after the verb.

Present can be indicated by กำลัง (kamlang, [kamlaŋ], currently) before the verb for ongoing action (like English -ing form), by อยู่ (yu, [jùː]) after the verb, or by both. For example:
เขากำลังวิ่ง (khao kamlang wing, [kʰǎw kamlaŋ wîŋ]), or
เขาวิ่งอยู่ (khao wing yu, [kʰǎw wîŋ jùː]), or
เขากำลังวิ่งอยู่ (khao kamlang wing yu, [kʰǎw kamlaŋ wîŋ jùː]), He is running.
Future can be indicated by จะ (cha, [t͡ɕaʔ], will) before the verb or by a time expression indicating the future. For example:
เขาจะวิ่ง (khao cha wing, [kʰǎw t͡ɕaʔ wîŋ]), He will run or He is going to run
Past can be indicated by ได้ (dai, [dâːj]) before the verb or by a time expression indicating the past. However, แล้ว (laeo, :[lɛ́ːw], already) is more often used to indicate the past tense by being placed behind the verb. Or, both ได้ and แล้ว are put together to form the past tense expression, i.e. Subject + ได้ + Verb + แล้ว. For example:
เขาได้กิน (khao dai kin, [kʰǎw dâːj kin]), He (was able) ate
เขากินแล้ว (khao kin laeo, [kʰǎw kin lɛ́ːw], He (already) ate or He's already eaten
เขาได้กินแล้ว (khao dai kin laeo, [kʰǎw dâːj kin lɛ́ːw]), He (already) ate or He's already eaten
Thai exhibits serial verb constructions, where verbs are strung together. Some word combinations are common and may be considered set phrases.

เขาไปกินข้าว (khao pai kin khao, [kʰǎw paj kin kʰâːw]) He went out to eat, literally He go eat rice
ฉันฟังไม่เข้าใจ (chan fang mai khao chai, [tɕ͡ʰǎn faŋ mâj kʰâw tɕ͡aj]) I don't understand what was said, literally I listen not enter heart
เข้ามา (khao ma, [kʰâw maː]) Come in, literally enter come
ออกไป! (ok pai, [ʔɔ̀ːk paj]) Leave! or Get out!, literally exit go
[edit]Nouns
Nouns are uninflected and have no gender; there are no articles.

Nouns are neither singular nor plural. Some specific nouns are reduplicated to form collectives: เด็ก (dek, child) is often repeated as เด็กๆ (dek dek) to refer to a group of children. The word พวก (phuak, [pʰûak]) may be used as a prefix of a noun or pronoun as a collective to pluralize or emphasise the following word. (พวกผม, phuak phom, [pʰûak pʰǒm], we, masculine; พวกเรา phuak rao, [pʰûak raw], emphasised we; พวกหมา phuak ma, (the) dogs) Plurals are expressed by adding classifiers, used as measure words (ลักษณนาม), in the form of noun-number-classifier (ครูห้าคน, "teacher five person" for "five teachers"). While in English, such classifiers are usually absent ("four chairs") or optional ("two bottles of beer" or "two beers"), a classifier is almost always used in Thai (hence "chair four item" and "beer two bottle").

[edit]Pronouns
Subject pronouns are often omitted, with nicknames used where English would use a pronoun. See informal and formal names for more details. Pronouns, when used, are ranked in honorific registers, and may also make a T–V distinction in relation to kinship and social status. Specialised pronouns are used for those with royal and noble titles, and for clergy. The following are appropriate for conversational use:

Word RTGS IPA Meaning
ผม phom [pʰǒm] I/me (masculine; formal)
ดิฉัน dichan [dìʔt͡ɕʰán]) I/me (feminine; formal)
ฉัน chan [t͡ɕʰǎn] I/me (feminine; informal; also commonly used by transsexuals; in the past this was both masculine and feminine)
คุณ khun [kʰun] you (polite)
ท่าน than [tʰân] you (polite to a person of high status)
เธอ thoe [tʰɤː] you (informal), she/her (informal)
เรา rao [raw] we/us, I/me/you (casual)
เขา khao [kʰǎw] he/him, she/her
มัน man [man] it, he/she (sometimes casual or offensive; if used to refer to a person)
พวกเขา phuak khao [pʰûak kʰǎw] they/them
พี่ phi [pʰîː] older brother, sister (also used for older acquaintances)
น้อง nong [nɔːŋ] younger brother, sister (also used for younger acquaintances)
ลูกพี่ ลูกน้อง luk phi luk nong [lûːk pʰîː lûːk nɔ́ːŋ] first cousin (male or female)
The reflexive pronoun is ตัวเอง (tua eng), which can mean any of: myself, yourself, ourselves, himself, herself, themselves. This can be mixed with another pronoun to create an intensive pronoun, such as ตัวผมเอง (tua phom eng, lit: I myself) or ตัวคุณเอง (tua khun eng, lit: you yourself).

Thai does not have a separate possessive pronoun. Instead, possession is indicated by the particle ของ (khong). For example, "my mother" is แม่ของผม (mae khong phom, lit: mother of I). This particle is often implicit, so the phrase is shortened to แม่ผม (mae phom).

Thai has many more pronouns than those listed above. Their usage is full of nuances. For example:

"ผม เรา ฉัน ดิฉัน ชั้น หนู กู ข้า กระผม ข้าพเจ้า กระหม่อม อาตมา กัน ข้าน้อย ข้าพระพุทธเจ้า อั๊ว เค้า" all translate to "I", but each expresses a different gender, age, politeness, status, or relationship between speaker and listener.
เรา (rao) can be first person (I), second person (you), or both (we), depending on the context.
When speaking to someone older, หนู (nu) is a feminine first person (I). However, when speaking to someone younger, the same word หนู is a neuter second person (you).
The second person pronoun เธอ (thoe) (lit: you) is semi-feminine. It is used only when the speaker or the listener (or both) are female. Males usually don't address each other by this pronoun.
Both คุณ (khun) and เธอ (thoe) are polite neuter second person pronouns. However, คุณเธอ (khun thoe) is a feminine derogative third person.
Instead of a second person pronoun such as "คุณ" (you), it's much more common for unrelated strangers to call each other "พี่ น้อง ลุง ป้า น้า อา ตา ยาย" (brother/sister/aunt/uncle/granny).
To express deference, the second person pronoun is sometimes replaced by a profession, similar to how, in English, presiding judges are always addressed as "your honor" rather than "you". In Thai, students always address their teachers by "ครู คุณครู อาจารย์" (each means teacher) rather than คุณ (you). Teachers, monks, and doctors are almost always addressed this way.
[edit]Particles
The particles are often untranslatable words added to the end of a sentence to indicate respect, a request, encouragement or other moods (similar to the use of intonation in English), as well as varying the level of formality. They are not used in elegant (written) Thai. The most common particles indicating respect are ครับ (khrap, [kʰráp], with a high tone) when the speaker is male, and ค่ะ (kha, [kʰâ], with a falling tone) when the speaker is female; these can also be used to indicate an affirmative, though the ค่ะ (falling tone) is changed to a คะ (high tone).

Other common particles are:

Word RTGS IPA Meaning
จ๊ะ cha/ja [t͡ɕáʔ] indicating a request
จ้ะ, จ้า or จ๋า cha/ja [t͡ɕâː] indicating emphasis
ละ or ล่ะ la [láʔ] indicating emphasis
สิ si [sìʔ] indicating emphasis or an imperative
นะ na [náʔ] softening; indicating a request
[edit]Phonology

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.
[edit]Tones
There are five phonemic tones: mid, low, falling, high, and rising, sometimes referred to in older reference works as rectus, gravis, circumflexus, altus, and demissus, respectively.[11] The table shows an example of both the phonemic tones and their phonetic realization, in the IPA.



Thai language tone chart
Tone Thai Example Phonemic Phonetic Example meaning in English
mid สามัญ นา /nāː/ [naː˧] paddy field
low เอก หน่า /nàː/ [naː˩] (a nickname)
falling โท หน้า /nâː/ [naː˥˩] face
high ตรี น้า /náː/ [naː˧˥] or [naː˥] aunt or uncle (younger than one's mother)
rising จัตวา หนา /nǎː/ [naː˩˩˦] or [naː˩˦] thick
Note that the full complement of five tones exist only on live syllables, those that end in a long vowel or a sonorant (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /j/, /w/). For dead syllables, which end in either a plosive (/p/, /t/, or /k/) or a short vowel, only two tonal distinctions are possible: Falling vs. low for syllables containing a long vowel, and high vs. low for syllables containing a short vowel (i.e. ending either in a short vowel + plosive, or in a short vowel alone). Note that syllables that phonemically end in a short vowel have an automatic glottal stop added to the end (especially in slower speech). Hence, an alternative characterization of dead syllables is simply those syllables ending in a phonetic plosive consonant.

[edit]Consonants
[edit]Initials
Thai distinguishes among three voice/aspiration patterns for plosive and affricate consonants:

unvoiced, unaspirated
unvoiced, aspirated
voiced, unaspirated
Where English has only a distinction between the voiced, unaspirated /b/ and the unvoiced, aspirated /pʰ/, Thai distinguishes a third sound that is neither voiced nor aspirated, which occurs in English only as an allophone of /p/, approximately the sound of the p in "spin". There is similarly an alveolar /t/, /tʰ/, /d/ triplet. In the velar series there is a /k/, /kʰ/ pair and in the postalveolar series the /t͡ɕ/, /t͡ɕʰ/ pair.

In each cell below, the first line indicates International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position (several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation).

Bilabial Labio-
dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal [m]
ม [n]
ณ,น [ŋ]
ง
Plosive [p]
ป [pʰ]
ผ,พ,ภ [b]
บ [t]
ฏ,ต [tʰ]
ฐ,ฑ,ฒ,ถ,ท,ธ [d]
ฎ,ด [k]
ก [kʰ]
ข,ฃ,ค,ฅ,ฆ* [ʔ]
อ**
Fricative [f]
ฝ,ฟ [s]
ซ,ศ,ษ,ส [h]
ห,ฮ
Affricate [tɕ]
จ [tɕʰ]
ฉ, ช, ฌ
Trill [r]
ร
Approximant [j]
ญ,ย [w]
ว
Lateral
approximant [l]
ล,ฬ
* ฃ and ฅ are no longer used. Thus, modern Thai is said to have 42 consonant letters.
** Initial อ is silent and therefore considered as glottal plosive.
[edit]Finals
Although the overall 44 Thai consonant letters provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. For finals, only eight sounds, as well as no sound, called mātrā (มาตรา) are used. To demonstrate, at the end of a syllable, บ (/b/) and ด (/d/) are devoiced, becoming pronounced as /p/ and /t/ respectively.

Of the consonant letters, excluding the disused ฃ and ฅ, six (ฉ ผ ฝ ห อ ฮ) cannot be used as a final and the other 36 are grouped as following.

Bilabial Labio-
dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal [m]
ม [n]
ญ,ณ,น,ร,ล,ฬ [ŋ]
ง
Plosive [p]
บ,ป,พ,ฟ,ภ [t]
จ,ช,ซ,ฌ,ฎ,ฏ,ฐ,ฑ,ฒ,
ด,ต,ถ,ท,ธ,ศ,ษ,ส [k]
ก,ข,ค,ฆ [ʔ]*
Approximant [j]
ย [w]
ว
* The glottal plosive appears at the end when no final follows a short vowel
[edit]Clusters
In Thai, each syllable in a word is considered separate from the others, so combinations of consonants from adjacent syllables are never recognised as a cluster. Thai has phonotactical constraints that define permissible syllable structure, consonant clusters, and vowel sequences. Original Thai vocabulary introduces only 11 combined consonantal patterns:

/kr/ (กร), /kl/ (กล), /kw/ (กว)
/kʰr/ (ขร,คร), /kʰl/ (ขล,คล), /kʰw/ (ขว,คว)
/pr/ (ปร), /pl/ (ปล)
/pʰr/ (พร), /pʰl/ (ผล,พล)
/tr/ (ตร)
The number of clusters increases when a few more combinations are presented in loanwords such as /tʰr/ (ทร) in อินทรา (/intʰraː/, from Sanskrit indrā) or /fr/ (ฟร) in ฟรี (/friː/, from English free); however, it can be observed that Thai language supports only those in initial position, with either /r/, /l/, or /w/ as the second consonant sound and not more than two sounds at a time.

[edit]Vowels
The basic vowels of the Thai language, from front to back and close to open, are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet, the second entry gives the spelling in the Thai alphabet, where a dash (–) indicates the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates that a final consonant must follow.



Monophthongs of Thai. From Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:25)
Front Back
unrounded unrounded rounded
short long short long short long
Close /i/
-ิ /iː/
-ี /ɯ/
-ึ /ɯː/
-ื- /u/
-ุ /uː/
-ู
Close-mid /e/
เ-ะ /eː/
เ- /ɤ/
เ-อะ /ɤː/
เ-อ /o/
โ-ะ /oː/
โ-
Open-mid /ɛ/
แ-ะ /ɛː/
แ- /ɔ/
เ-าะ /ɔː/
-อ
Open /a/
-ะ, -ั- /aː/
-า
The vowels each exist in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes forming unrelated words in Thai,[12] but usually transliterated the same: เขา (khao) means "he" or "she", while ขาว (khao) means "white".

The long-short pairs are as follows:

Long Short
Thai IPA Example Thai IPA Example
–า /aː/ ฝาน /fǎːn/ 'to slice' –ะ /a/ ฝัน /fǎn/ 'to dream'
–ี /iː/ กรีด /krìːt/ 'to cut' –ิ /i/ กริช /krìt/ 'kris'
–ู /uː/ สูด /sùːt/ 'to inhale' –ุ /u/ สุด /sùt/ 'rearmost'
เ– /eː/ เอน /ʔēːn/ 'to recline' เ–ะ /e/ เอ็น /ʔēn/ 'tendon, ligament'
แ– /ɛː/ แพ้ /pʰɛ́ː/ 'to be defeated' แ–ะ /ɛ/ แพะ /pʰɛ́ʔ/ 'goat'
–ื- /ɯː/ คลื่น /kʰlɯ̂ːn/ 'wave' –ึ /ɯ/ ขึ้น /kʰɯ̂n/ 'to go up'
เ–อ /ɤː/ เดิน /dɤ̄ːn/ 'to walk' เ–อะ /ɤ/ เงิน /ŋɤ̄n/ 'silver'
โ– /oː/ โค่น /kʰôːn/ 'to fell' โ–ะ /o/ ข้น /kʰôn/ 'thick (soup)'
–อ /ɔː/ กลอง /klɔːŋ/ 'drum' เ–าะ /ɔ/ กล่อง /klɔ̀ŋ/ 'box'


Diphthongs of Thai. From Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:25)
The basic vowels can be combined into diphthongs. Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993) analyze those ending in high vocoids as underlyingly /Vj/ and /Vw/. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:

Long Short
Thai IPA Thai IPA
–าย /aːj/ ไ–*, ใ–*, ไ–ย, -ัย /aj/
–าว /aːw/ เ–า* /aw/
เ–ีย /iːa/ เ–ียะ /ia/
– – –ิว /iw/
–ัว /uːa/ –ัวะ /ua/
–ูย /uːj/ –ุย /uj/
เ–ว /eːw/ เ–็ว /ew/
แ–ว /ɛːw/ – –
เ–ือ /ɯːa/ เ–ือะ /ɯa/
เ–ย /ɤːj/ – –
–อย /ɔːj/ – –
โ–ย /oːj/ – –
Additionally, there are three triphthongs, all of which are long:

Thai IPA
เ–ียว /iaw/
–วย /uaj/
เ–ือย /ɯaj/
For a guide to written vowels, see the Thai alphabet page.

[edit]Vocabulary

Other than compound words and words of foreign origin, most words are monosyllabic. Historically, words have most often been borrowed from Sanskrit and Pāli; Buddhist terminology is particularly indebted to these. Old Khmer has also contributed its share, especially in regard to royal court terminology. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, the English language has had the greatest influence, especially for scientific and technical vocabulary. Many Teochew Chinese words are also used, some replacing existing Thai words (for example, the names of basic numbers; see also Sino-Xenic).[citation needed]

As noted above, Thai has several registers, each having certain usages, such as colloquial, formal, literary, and poetic. Thus, the word "eat" can be กิน (kin; common), แดก (daek; vulgar), ยัด (yat; vulgar), บริโภค (boriphok; formal), รับประทาน (rapprathan; formal), ฉัน (chan; religious), or เสวย (sawoei; royal).

Thailand also uses the distinctive Thai six hour clock in addition to the 24 hour clock.

[edit]History

Thai has undergone a number of sound changes in its history. Some of the most significant changes, at least in terms of consonants and tones, have occurred between the Old Thai spoken at the time when the language was first written and the Thai language of the present time, and are reflected in the orthography.

[edit]Old Thai
Old Thai had a three-way tone distinction on live syllables (those that did not end in a stop consonant) and no possible tone distinction on dead syllables (those ending in a stop consonant, i.e. either /p/, /t/, /k/ or the glottal stop that automatically closes syllables otherwise ending in a short vowel).

There was a two-way voiced vs. voiceless distinction among all fricative and sonorant consonants, and up to a four-way distinction among stops and affricates. The maximal distinctions occurred in labials (/p ph b ʔb/) and dentals (/t th d ʔd/), while a three-way distinction occurred among velars (/k kh g/) and palatals (/tɕ tɕh dʐ/), with the glottalized member of each set apparently missing.

The major change between Old Thai and modern Thai was due to the loss of voicing distinctions and concomitant tone split. This may have happened between about 1300 and 1600 AD, possibly occurring at different times in different parts of the Thai-speaking area. All of the voiced/voiceless pairs of consonants lost the voicing distinction:

Plain voiced stops (/b d g dʐ/) became voiceless aspirated stops (/ph th kh tɕh/). (The glottalized stops /ʔb ʔd/ were unaffected, as they were treated in every respect like voiceless unaspirated stops due to the initial glottal stop. These stops are often described in the modern language as phonemically plain stops /b d/, but the glottalization is still commonly heard.)
Voiced fricatives became voiceless.
Voiceless sonorants became voiced.
However, in the process of these mergers the former distinction of voice was transferred into a new set of tonal distinctions. In essence, every tone in Old Thai split into two new tones, with a lower-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiced consonant, and a higher-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiceless consonant (including glottalized stops). An additional complication is that formerly voiceless unaspirated stops/affricates (original /p t k tɕ ʔb ʔd/) also caused original tone 1 to lower, but had no such effect on original tones 2 or 3.

The above consonant mergers and tone splits account for the complex relationship between spelling and sound in modern Thai. Modern "low"-class consonants were voiced in Old Thai, and the terminology "low" reflects the lower tone variants that resulted. Modern "mid"-class consonants were voiceless unaspirated stops or affricates in Old Thai — precisely the class the triggered lowering in original tone 1 but not tones 2 or 3. Modern "high"-class consonants all remaining voiceless consonants in Old Thai (voiceless fricatives, voiceless sonorants, voiceless aspirated stops). The three most common tone "marks" (the lack of any tone mark, as well as the two marks termed mai ek and mai tho) represent the three tones of Old Thai, and the complex relationship between tone mark and actual tone is due to the various tonal changes since then. Note also that the since the tone split the tones have changed in actual representation to the point that the former relationship between lower and higher tonal variants has been completely obscured. Furthermore, the six tones that resulted after the three tones of Old Thai were split have since merged into five in standard Thai, with the lower variant of former tone 2 merging with the higher variant of former tone 3, becoming the modern "falling" tone. (Note that modern Lao and northern Thai dialects are often described as having six tones, but these are not necessarily due to preservation of the original six tones resulting from the tone split. For example, in standard Lao, both the high and low variants of Old Thai tone 2 merged; however, the mid-class variant of tone 1 became pronounced differently from either the high-class or low-class variants, and all three eventually became phonemic due to further changes, e.g. /kr/ -" /kh/. For similar reasons, Lao has developed more than two tonal distinctions in "dead" syllables.)

Early Old Thai also apparently had velar fricatives /x ɣ/ as distinct phonemes. These were represented by the now-obsolete letters ฃ kho khuat and ฅ kho khon, respectively. During the Old Thai period, these sounds merged into the corresponding stops /kh g/, and as a result the use of these letters became unstable.

At some point in the history of Thai, a palatal nasal phoneme /ɲ/ also existed, inherited from Proto-Tai. A letter ญ yo ying also exists, which is used to represent a palatal nasal in words borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali, and is currently pronounced /j/ at the beginning of a syllable but /n/ at the end of a syllable. Most native Thai words that are reconstructed as beginning with /ɲ/ are also pronounced /j/ in modern Thai, but generally spelled with ย yo yak, which consistently represents /j/. This suggests that /ɲ/ -" /j/ in native words occurred in the pre-literary period. It's unclear whether Sanskrit and Pali words beginning with /ɲ/ were borrowed directly with a /j/, or whether a /ɲ/ was re-introduced, followed by a second change /ɲ/ -" /j/.

Proto-Tai also had a glottalized palatal sound, reconstructed as /ʔj/ in Li Fang-Kuei (1977[full citation needed]). Corresponding Thai words are generally spelled หย, which implies an Old Thai pronunciation of /hj/ (or /j̥/), but a few such words are spelled อย, which implies a pronunciation of /ʔj/ and suggests that the glottalization may have persisted through to the early literary period.

[edit]Vowel developments
The vowel system of modern Thai contains nine pure vowels and three centering diphthongs, each of which can occur long or short. According to Li (1977[full citation needed]), however, many Thai dialects have only one such long-short pair (/a aː/), and in general it is difficult or impossible to find minimal long-short pairs in Thai that involve vowels other than /a/ and where both members have frequent correspondences throughout the Tai languages. More specifically, he notes the following facts about Thai:

In open syllables, only long vowels occur. (This assumes that all apparent cases of short open syllables are better described as ending in a glottal stop. This makes sense from the lack of tonal distinctions in such syllables, and the glottal stop is also reconstructible across the Tai languages.)
In closed syllables, the long high vowels /iː ɨː uː/ are rare, and cases that do exist typically have diphthongs in other Tai languages.
In closed syllables, both long and short mid /e eː o oː/ and low /ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː/ do occur. However, generally, only words with short /e o/ and long /ɛː ɔː/ are reconstructible back to Proto-Tai.
Both of the mid back unrounded vowels /ǝ ǝː/ are rare, and words with such sounds generally cannot be reconstructed back to Proto-Tai.
Furthermore, the vowel that corresponds to short Thai /a/ has a different and often higher quality in many of the Tai languages compared with the vowel corresponding to Thai /aː/.

This leads Li to posit the following:

Proto-Tai had a system of nine pure vowels with no length distinction, and possessing approximately the same qualities as in modern Thai: high /i ɨ u/, mid /e ǝ o/, low /ɛ a ɔ/.
All Proto-Tai vowels were lengthened in open syllables, and low vowels were also lengthened in closed syllables.
Modern Thai largely preserved the original lengths and qualities, but lowered /ǝ/ to /a/, which became short /a/ in closed syllables and created a phonemic length distinction /a aː/. Eventually, length in all other vowels became phonemic as well and a new /ǝ/ (both long and short) was introduced, through a combination of borrowing and sound change. Li believes that the development of long /iː ɨː uː/ from diphthongs, and the lowering of /ǝ/ to /a/ to create a length distinction /a aː/, had occurred by the time of Proto-Southwestern-Tai, but the other missing modern Thai vowels had not yet developed.
Note that not all researchers agree with Li. Pittayaporn (2009[full citation needed]), for example, reconstructs a similar system for Proto-Southwestern-Tai, but believes that there was also a mid back unrounded vowel /ǝ/ (which he describes as /ɤ/), occurring only before final velar /k ŋ/. He also seems to believe that the Proto-Southwestern-Tai vowel length distinctions can be reconstructed back to similar distinctions in Proto-Tai.

[edit]See also

Thai honorifics
Thai literature
Thai numerals
[edit]Notes

^ Thai at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
^ Royal Thai General System of Transcription: phasa thai; ISO 11940 transliteration: p̣hās̄ʹāthịy
^ Not to be confused with Central Tai
^ Although "Thai" has become more common, the older term "Siamese" is still used by linguists, especially when disambiguating from other Tai languages (Diller 2008:6[full citation needed]). "Proto-Thai", for example, is the ancestor of all of Southwestern Tai, not just of Siamese (Rischel 1998[full citation needed]).
^ "Ausbau and Abstand languages". Ccat.sas.upenn.edu. 1995-01-20. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
^ "Ethnologue report for Thai". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
^ Andrew Simpson (2007). Language and national identity in Asia. Oxford University Press. "Standard Thai is a form of Central Thai based on the variety of Thai spoken earlier by the elite of the court, and now by the educated middle and upper classes of Bangkok. It ... was standardized in grammar books in the nineteenth century, and spread dramatically from the 1930s onwards, when public education became much more widespread"
^ Peansiri Vongvipanond (Summer 1994). "Linguistic Perspectives of Thai Culture". paper presented to a workshop of teachers of social science. University of New Orleans. p. 2. Retrieved 26 April 2011. "The dialect one hears on radio and television is the Bangkok dialect, considered the standard dialect."
^ "ภาษาส่วย" (Dictionary). Regional Dialects and Minority Languages of the Thai Language » Suay (Guay) Language. thai-language.com. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
^ Royal Thai General System of Transcription, published by the Thai Royal Institute only in Thai.
^ Frankfurter, Oscar. Elements of Siamese grammar with appendices. American Presbyterian mission press, 1900 [1] (Full text available on Google Books)
^ Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:25)
[edit]References

อภิลักษณ์ ธรรมทวีธิกุล และ กัลยารัตน์ ฐิติกานต์นารา. 2549.“การเน้นพยางค์กับทำนองเสียงภาษาไทย” (Stress and Intonation in Thai ) วารสารภาษาและภาษาศาสตร์ ปีที่ 24 ฉบับที่ 2 (มกราคม – มิถุนายน 2549) หน้า 59-76
สัทวิทยา : การวิเคราะห์ระบบเสียงในภาษา. 2547. กรุงเทพฯ : สำนักพิมพ์มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์
Diller, Anthony van Nostrand. 2008. The Tai–Kadai Languages.
Gandour, Jack, Tumtavitikul, Apiluck and Satthamnuwong, Nakarin. 1999. “Effects of Speaking Rate on the Thai Tones.” Phonetica 56, pp. 123–134.
Rischel, Jørgen. 1998. 'Structural and Functional Aspects of Tone Split in Thai'. In Sound structure in language, 2009.
Tumtavitikul, Apiluck, 1998. “The Metrical Structure of Thai in a Non-Linear Perspective”. Papers presentd to the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 1994, pp. 53–71. Udom Warotamasikkhadit and Thanyarat Panakul, eds. Temple,Arizona:Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University.
Apiluck Tumtavitikul. 1997. “The Reflection on the X’ category in Thai”. Mon–Khmer Studies XXVII, pp. 307–316.
อภิลักษณ์ ธรรมทวีธิกุล. 2539. “ข้อคิดเกี่ยวกับหน่วยวากยสัมพันธ์ในภาษาไทย” วารสารมนุษยศาสตร์วิชาการ. 4.57-66.
Tumtavitikul, Appi. 1995. “Tonal Movements in Thai”. The Proceedings of the XIIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Vol. I, pp. 188–121. Stockholm: Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University.
Tumtavitikul, Apiluck. 1994. “Thai Contour Tones”.Current Issues in Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, pp. 869–875. Hajime Kitamura et al., eds, Ozaka: The Organization Committee of the 26th Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics,National Museum of Ethnology.
Tumtavitikul, Apiluck. 1993. “FO – Induced VOT Variants in Thai”. Journal of Languages and Linguistics, 12.1.34 – 56.
Tumtavitikul, Apiluck. 1993. “Perhaps, the Tones are in the Consonants?” Mon–Khmer Studies XXIII, pp. 11–41.
Higbie, James and Thinsan, Snea. Thai Reference Grammar: The Structure of Spoken Thai. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2003. ISBN 974-8304-96-5.
Nacaskul, Karnchana, Ph.D. (ศาสตราจารย์กิตติคุณ ดร.กาญจนา นาคสกุล) Thai Phonology, 4th printing. (ระบบเสียงภาษาไทย, พิมพ์ครั้งที่ 4) Bangkok: Chulalongkorn Press, 1998. ISBN 978-974-639-375-1.
Nanthana Ronnakiat, Ph.D. (ดร.นันทนา รณเกียรติ) Phonetics in Principle and Practical. (สัทศาสตร์ภาคทฤษฎีและภาคปฏิบัติ) Bangkok: Thammasat University, 2005. ISBN 974-571-929-3.
Segaller, Denis. Thai Without Tears: A Guide to Simple Thai Speaking. Bangkok: BMD Book Mags, 1999. ISBN 974-87115-2-8.
Smyth, David. Thai: An Essential Grammar. London: Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-22614-7.
Tingsabadh, M.R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur (1993), "Thai", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (1): 24–28, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746
[edit]External links

Thai language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Thai proverbs
IPA and SAMPA for Thai
Structure of Thai Language (TH101) PDF version of university text book
Glossaries and word lists

Trang Education Department list of words for primary school children
Thai phrasebook in Wikitravel
Thai Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
Dictionaries

English-Thai dictionary, NECTEC English"–"Thai dictionary; free download with sound files.
English–Thai Dictionary: English–Thai bilingual online dictionary
The Royal Institute Dictionary, official standard Thai–Thai dictionary
Longdo Thai Dictionary LongdoDict
Thai-English dictionary
Thai2english.com: LEXiTRON-based Thai–English dictionary
Daoulagad Thai: mobile OCR Thai–English dictionary
Thai dictionaries for Stardict/GoldenDict - Thai - English (French, German, Russian and others) dictionaries in Stardict and GoldenDict formats
Learners' resources

thai-language.com English speakers' online resource for the Thai language
Say Hello in the Thai Language
Thai Language Wiki (Online lectures)
Spoken Thai (30 exercises with audio)
Thai books+Audio, a lot of books in Thai with audio.
USA Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Thai basic course
Thai Keyboard

Thai Keyboard Virtual Thai Keyboard
[hide] v t e
Tai–Kadai languages
Kra
(Proto-Kra) Laha Gelao Lachi Paha Buyang En Qabiao
Kam–Sui
Mulam Dong Then Maonan Chadong Sui Mak Ai-Cham Biao Lakkja
Hlai
(Proto-Hlai) Hlai Jiamao
Ong Be
Ong Be
Tai
(Zhuang)
(Proto-Tai)
Northern
Standard Zhuang Bouyei Yei Zhuang E Saek Tai Mène Yoy
Central
Ningming Nong Zhuang Dai Zhuang Min Zhuang Yang Zhuang Nung Tày
Southwestern
(Thai)
Northwestern
Shan Khun Tai Ya Tai Lü Tai Nüa Tai Hongjin Khamti Tai Laing Tai Phake Tai Aiton Khamyang Ahom Turung
Lao–Phutai
Lao Phu Thai Isan Nyaw
Chiang Saen
Thai (Siamese) Northern Thai Tai Dam Tai Dón Tai Daeng Phuan Tày Tac Sapa
Southern
Southern Thai
(other)
Caolan
View page ratings
Rate this page
What's this?
Trustworthy
Objective
Complete
Well-written
I am highly knowledgeable about this topic (optional)

Submit ratings
Categories: Thai languageIsolating languagesLanguages of ThailandSubject–verb–object languagesTai languages