Thai āļāļąāļāļĐāļĢāđāļāļĒ | |
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Script type | |
Creator | Ramkhamhaeng the Great |
Time period | 1283âpresent |
Direction | Left-to-right
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Languages | Standard form: Thai, Southern Thai Non-standard form: Lanna, Isan, Pattani Malay, Urak Lawoi and others |
Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Tai Viet |
Sister systems | Fakkham |
ISO 15924 | |
ISO 15924 | Thai (352), Thai |
Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Thai |
U+0E00âU+0E7F | |
Brahmic scripts |
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The Brahmi script and its descendants |
The Thai script ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļĐāļĢāđāļāļĒ, RTGS: akson thai) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( Thai: āļāļĒāļąāļāļāļāļ°, phayanchana) and 16 vowel symbols ( Thai: āļŠāļĢāļ°, sara) that combine into at least 32 vowel forms and four tone diacritics ( Thai: āļ§āļĢāļĢāļāļĒāļļāļāļāđ or āļ§āļĢāļĢāļāļĒāļļāļ, wannayuk or wannayut) to create characters mostly representing syllables.
Although commonly referred to as the Thai alphabet, the script is in fact not a true alphabet but an abugida, a writing system in which the full characters represent consonants with diacritical marks for vowels; the absence of a vowel diacritic gives an implied 'a' or 'o'. Consonants are written horizontally from left to right, and vowels following a consonant in speech are written above, below, to the left or to the right of it, or a combination of those.
The Thai alphabet is derived from the Old Khmer script ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļĐāļĢāļāļāļĄ, akson khom), which is a southern Brahmic style of writing derived from the south Indian Pallava alphabet ( Thai: āļāļąāļĨāļĨāļ§āļ°). According to tradition it was created in 1283 by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great ( Thai: āļāđāļāļāļļāļāļĢāļēāļĄāļāļģāđāļŦāļāļĄāļŦāļēāļĢāļēāļ). [1] The earliest attestation of the Thai script is the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription dated to 1292, however some scholars question its authenticity. [2] The script was derived from a cursive form of the Old Khmer script of the time. [1] It modified and simplified some of the Old Khmer letters and introduced some new ones to accommodate Thai phonology. It also introduced tone marks. Thai is considered to be the first script in the world that invented tone markers to indicate distinctive tones, which are lacking in the Mon-Khmer ( Austroasiatic languages) and Indo-Aryan languages from which its script is derived. Although Chinese and other Sino-Tibetan languages have distinctive tones in their phonological system, no tone marker is found in their orthographies. Thus, tone markers are an innovation in the Thai language that later influenced other related Tai languages and some Tibeto-Burman languages on the Southeast Asian mainland. [2] Another addition was consonant clusters that were written horizontally and contiguously, rather than writing the second consonant below the first one. [2] Finally, the script wrote vowel marks on the main line, however this innovation fell out of use not long after. [1]
Bilabial |
Labio- dental |
Alveolar |
Alveolo- palatal |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | [mĖ] āļŦāļĄ |
[m] āļĄ |
[nĖ] āļŦāļ |
[n] āļ, āļ |
[ÉēĖ]
āļŦāļ |
[Éē]
āļ |
[ÅĖ] āļŦāļ |
[Å] āļ |
|||||||||||||
Plosive | [p] āļ |
[pĘ°] āļ |
[b] āļ, āļ |
[Ęb] āļ |
[t] āļ, āļ |
[tĘ°] āļ, āļ |
[d] āļ, āļ |
[Ęd] āļ, āļ |
[k] āļ |
[kĘ°] āļ |
[g] āļ, āļ |
[Ę] āļ | |||||||||
Affricate | [tÉ] āļ |
[tÉĘ°] āļ |
[dĘ]
āļ |
[x] āļ |
[ÉĢ] āļ |
||||||||||||||||
Fricative | [f] āļ |
[v] āļ |
[s] āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
[z - Ę] āļ |
[h] āļŦ |
[ÉĶ] āļŪ | |||||||||||||||
Trill | [rĖ] āļŦāļĢ |
[r] āļĢ |
|||||||||||||||||||
Approximant | [áš] āļŦāļ§ |
[w] āļ§ |
[jĖ] āļŦāļĒ |
[j] āļĒ |
[Ęj] āļāļĒ |
||||||||||||||||
Lateral approximant |
[lĖĨ] āļŦāļĨ |
[l] āļĨ |
Letters | IPA | Word in Sukhothai (in Modern Thai script) | Pronunciation in IPA (excluding tone) | Meaning and Definitions |
---|---|---|---|---|
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Kor | ||||
āļ | k | āđāļāļīāļ | kÉĪËtĖ | v. to be born |
āļ | kĘ° | āļāļāļ | kĘ°ÉËÅ | n. thing |
āļ | x | āļāļķāđāļ (āļāļķāđāļ) | xÉŊn | v. to go up |
āļ | g | āļāļĢāļđ | gruË | n. teacher |
āļ | ÉĢ | āļ āļ§āļēāļĄ (āļāļ§āļēāļĄ) | ÉĢwaËm | n. affair; matter; content |
āļ | g | āļāđāļē | gaË | v. to kill |
āļ | Å | āļāļ | ÅokĖ | adj. greedy |
āļŦāļ | ÅĖ | āļŦāļāļāļ | ÅĖÉËkĖ | v. to whiten (hair) |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Jor | ||||
āļ | tÉ | āđāļ | tÉaÉŊ | n. heart |
āļ | tÉĘ° | āļāļēāļĒ | tÉĘ°aËj | v. to shine (on something) |
āļ | dĘ | āļāļ·āđāļ | dĘÉŊË | n. name |
āļ | z - Ę | āļāđāļģ | zam | adv. repeatedly |
āļ | Éē | āļāļ§āļ | Éēuan | v. Vietnam (archaic) |
āļŦāļ | ÉēĖ | āļŦāļāļīāļ | ÉēĖiÅ | n. woman |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļĢāļ | Varga Ra Tor | ||||
āļ | Ęd | āļāļĩāļāļē | ĘdiËkaË | n. petition notice |
āļ | t | āļāļēāļĢ | tara | n. Ganymede |
āļ | tĘ° | āļāļēāļ | tĘ°aËn | n. base, platform |
āļ | n | āđāļāļĢ | neËn | n. novice monk |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Tor | ||||
āļ | Ęd | āļāļēāļ§ | ĘdaËw | n. star |
āļ | t | āļāļē | taË | n. eye |
āļ | tĘ° | āļāļāļĒ | tĘ°Éj | v. to move back |
āļ | d | āļāļāļ | dÉËÅ | n. gold |
āļ | d | āļāļļāļĢāļ° | duraĘ | n. business; affairs; errands |
āļ | n | āļāđāļģ | naËm | n. water |
āļŦāļ | nĖ | āļŦāļāļđ | nĖuË | n. mouse |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Por | ||||
āļ | Ęb | āļāđāļēāļ | ĘbaËn | n. house |
āļ | p | āļāļĨāļē | plaË | n. fish |
āļ | pĘ° | āļāļķāđāļ | pĘ°ÉŊÅ | n. bee |
āļ | f | āļāļąāļ | fan | n. dream |
āļ | b | āļāđāļ | bÉË | n. father |
āļ | v | āļāļąāļ | van | n. tooth |
āļ | b | āļ āļēāļĐāļē | baËsaË | n. language |
āļĄ | m | āđāļĄāđ | mÉË | n. mother |
āļŦāļĄ | mĖ | āļŦāļĄāļē | mĖaË | n. dog |
āļāļ§āļĢāļĢāļ | Avarga | ||||
āļāļĒ | Ęj | āļāļĒāđāļē | ĘjaË | adv. do not |
āļĒ | j | āđāļĒāđāļ | jen | adj. cold |
āļŦāļĒ | jĖ | āđāļŦāļĒāļĩāļĒāļ | jĖiap | v. to step on |
āļĢ | r | āļĢāļąāļ | rak | v. to love |
āļŦāļĢ | rĖ | āļŦāļĢāļ·āļ | rĖÉŊË | conj. or |
āļĨ | l | āļĨāļĄ | lom | n. wind |
āļŦāļĨ | lĖĨ | āļŦāļĨāđāļ | lĖĨÉË | adj. handsome |
āļ§ | w | āļ§āļąāļ | wan | n. day |
āļŦāļ§ | áš | āļŦāļ§āļĩ | ášiË | n. comb |
āļĻ | s | āļĻāļēāļĨ | saËn | n. court of law |
āļĐ | s | āļĪāđ āļĐāļĢāļĩ (āļĪāđ āļĐāļĩ) | rÉŊËsiË | n. hermit |
āļŠ | s | āļŠāļ§āļĒ | swai | adj. beautiful |
āļ | Ę | āļāđāļēāļĒ | ĘaËi | n. first born son |
There is a fairly complex relationship between spelling and sound. There are various issues:
Thai letters do not have upper- and lower-case forms like Latin letters do. Spaces between words are not used, except in certain linguistically motivated cases.
Minor pauses in sentences may be marked by a comma ( Thai: āļāļļāļĨāļ āļēāļ or āļĨāļđāļāļāđāļģ, chunlaphak or luk nam), and major pauses by a period ( Thai: āļĄāļŦāļąāļāļ āļēāļ or āļāļļāļ, mahap phak or chut), but most often are marked by a blank space ( Thai: āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ, wak). Thai writing also uses quotation marks ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļāļĢāļ°āļāļēāļĻ, anyaprakat) and parentheses (round brackets) ( Thai: āļ§āļāđāļĨāđāļ, wong lep or Thai: āļāļāļĨāļīāļāļīāļ, nakha likhit), but not square brackets or braces.
A paiyan noi āļŊ ( Thai: āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāļāđāļāļĒ) is used for abbreviation. A paiyan yai āļŊāļĨāļŊ ( Thai: āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāđāļŦāļāđ) is the same as "etc." in English.
Several obsolete characters indicated the beginning or ending of sections. A bird's eye āđ ( Thai: āļāļēāđāļāđ, ta kai, officially called āļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ, fong man) formerly indicated paragraphs. An angkhan kuu āđ ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ) was formerly used to mark the end of a chapter. A kho mut āđ ( Thai: āđāļāļĄāļđāļāļĢ) was formerly used to mark the end of a document, but is now obsolete.
Thai (along with its sister system, Lao) lacks conjunct consonants and independent vowels, while both designs are common among Brahmic scripts (e.g., Burmese and Balinese). [4] In scripts with conjunct consonants, each consonant has two forms: base and conjoined. Consonant clusters are represented with the two styles of consonants. The two styles may form typographical ligatures, as in Devanagari. Independent vowels are used when a syllable starts with a vowel sign.
There are 44 consonant letters representing 21 distinct consonant sounds. Duplicate consonants either correspond to sounds that existed in Old Thai at the time the alphabet was created but no longer exist (in particular, voiced obstruents such as b d g v z), or different Sanskrit and Pali consonants pronounced identically in Thai. There are in addition four consonant-vowel combination characters not included in the tally of 44.
Consonants are divided into three classes â in alphabetical order these are middle (āļāļĨāļēāļ, klang), high (āļŠāļđāļ, sung), and low (āļāđāļģ, tam) class â as shown in the table below. These class designations reflect phonetic qualities of the sounds to which the letters originally corresponded in Old Thai. In particular, "middle" sounds were voiceless unaspirated stops; "high" sounds, voiceless aspirated stops or voiceless fricatives; "low" sounds, voiced. Subsequent sound changes have obscured the phonetic nature of these classes. [nb 1] Today, the class of a consonant without a tone mark, along with the short or long length of the accompanying vowel, determine the base accent (āļāļ·āđāļāđāļŠāļĩāļĒāļ, phuen siang). Middle class consonants with a long vowel spell an additional four tones with one of four tone marks over the controlling consonant: mai ek, mai tho, mai tri, and mai chattawa. High and low class consonants are limited to mai ek and mai tho, as shown in the . Differing interpretations of the two marks or their absence allow low class consonants to spell tones not allowed for the corresponding high class consonant. In the case of digraphs where a low class follows a higher class consonant, often the higher class rules apply, but the marker, if used, goes over the low class one; accordingly, āļŦ āļāļģ ho nam and āļ āļāļģ o nam may be considered to be digraphs as such, as explained below the Tone table. [nb 2]
To aid learning, each consonant is traditionally associated with an acrophonic Thai word that either starts with the same sound, or features it prominently. For example, the name of the letter āļ is kho khai (āļ āđāļāđ), in which kho is the sound it represents, and khai (āđāļāđ) is a word which starts with the same sound and means "egg".
Two of the consonants, āļ (kho khuat) and āļ (kho khon), are no longer used in written Thai, but still appear on many keyboards and in character sets. When the first Thai typewriter was developed by Edwin Hunter McFarland in 1892, there was simply no space for all characters, thus two had to be left out. [5] Also, neither of these two letters correspond to a Sanskrit or Pali letter, and each of them, being a modified form of the letter that precedes it (compare āļ and āļ), has the same pronunciation and the same consonant class as the preceding letter, thus making them redundant. They used to represent the sound /x/ in Old Thai, but it has merged with /kĘ°/ in Modern Thai.
Equivalents for romanisation are shown in the table below. Many consonants are pronounced differently at the beginning and at the end of a syllable. The entries in columns initial and final indicate the pronunciation for that consonant in the corresponding positions in a syllable. Where the entry is '-', the consonant may not be used to close a syllable. Where a combination of consonants ends a written syllable, only the first is pronounced; possible closing consonant sounds are limited to 'k', 'm', 'n', 'ng', 'p' and 't'.
Although official standards for romanisation are the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) defined by the Royal Thai Institute, and the almost identical ISO 11940-2 defined by the International Organization for Standardization, many publications use different romanisation systems. In daily practice, a bewildering variety of romanisations are used, making it difficult to know how to pronounce a word, or to judge if two words (e.g. on a map and a street sign) are actually the same. For more precise information, an equivalent from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is given as well.
Symbol | Name | RTGS | IPA | Class | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | Meaning | Initial | Final | Initial | Final | ||
āļ | āļ āđāļāđ | ko kai | chicken | k | k | /k/ | /k/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđ | kho khai | egg | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | high |
āļ [a] | āļ āļāļ§āļ | kho khuat | bottle (obsolete) | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļ§āļēāļĒ | kho khwai | buffalo | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | low |
āļ [b] | āļ āļāļ | kho khon | person (obsolete) | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ | kho rakhang | bell | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļđ | ngo ngu | snake | ng | ng | /Å/ | /Å/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļēāļ | cho chan | plate | ch | t | /tÉ/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļīāđāļ | cho ching | cymbals | ch | â | /tÉĘ°/ | â | high |
āļ | āļ āļāđāļēāļ | cho chang | elephant | ch | t | /tÉĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđ | so so | chain | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāļ | cho choe | tree | ch | t | /tÉĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ [c] | āļ āļŦāļāļīāļ | yo ying | woman | y | n | /j/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļāļē | do chada | headdress | d | t | /d/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļāļąāļ | to patak | goad, javelin | t | t | /t/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ [d] | āļ āļāļēāļ | tho than | pedestal | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | high |
āļ | āļ āļĄāļāđāļ | tho montho | Montho, character from Ramayana | th or d | t | /tĘ°/ or /d/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļđāđāđāļāđāļē | tho phu thao | elder | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāļĢ | no nen | samanera | n | n | /n/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđāļ | do dek | child | d | t | /d/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđāļē | to tao | turtle | t | t | /t/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļļāļ | tho thung | sack | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļŦāļēāļĢ | tho thahan | soldier | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļ | tho thong | flag | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļŦāļāļđ | no nu | mouse | n | n | /n/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđāļĄāđ | bo baimai | leaf | b | p | /b/ | /p/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļĨāļē | po pla | fish | p | p | /p/ | /p/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļķāđāļ | pho phueng | bee | ph | â | /pĘ°/ | â | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļē | fo fa | lid | f | â | /f/ | â | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļēāļ | pho phan | phan | ph | p | /pĘ°/ | /p/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļąāļ | fo fan | tooth | f | p | /f/ | /p/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļŠāļģāđāļ āļē | pho samphao | junk | ph | p | /pĘ°/ | /p/ | low |
āļĄ | āļĄ āļĄāđāļē | mo ma | horse | m | m | /m/ | /m/ | low |
āļĒ | āļĒ āļĒāļąāļāļĐāđ | yo yak | giant, yaksha | y | â or n [e] |
/j/ | /j/ or /n/ |
low |
āļĢ | āļĢ āđāļĢāļ·āļ | ro ruea | boat | r | n | /r/ | /n/ | low |
āļĨ | āļĨ āļĨāļīāļ | lo ling | monkey | l | n | /l/ | /n/ | low |
āļ§ | āļ§ āđāļŦāļ§āļ | wo waen | ring | w | â [f] | /w/ | /w/ | low |
āļĻ | āļĻ āļĻāļēāļĨāļē | so sala | pavilion, sala | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
āļĐ | āļĐ āļĪāđ āļĐāļĩ | so ruesi | hermit | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
āļŠ | āļŠ āđāļŠāļ·āļ | so suea | tiger | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
āļŦ | āļŦ āļŦāļĩāļ | ho hip | chest, box | h | â | /h/ | â | high |
āļŽ | āļŽ āļāļļāļŽāļē | lo chula | kite | l | n | /l/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāđāļēāļ | o ang | basin | â [g] | â | /Ę/ | â | mid |
āļŪ | āļŪ āļāļāļŪāļđāļ | ho nok huk | owl | h | â | /h/ | â | low |
The consonants can be organised by place and manner of articulation according to principles of the International Phonetic Association. Thai distinguishes among three voice/aspiration patterns for plosive consonants:
Where English has only a distinction between the voiced, unaspirated /b/ and the unvoiced, aspirated /pĘ°/, Thai distinguishes a third sound which 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 a laminal denti-alveolar /t/, /tĘ°/, /d/ triplet. In the velar series there is a /k/, /kĘ°/ pair and in the postalveolar series the /tÉ/, /tÉĘ°/ pair.
In each cell below, the first line indicates International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), [6] the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position (several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation). The conventional alphabetic order shown in the table above follows roughly the table below, reading the coloured blocks from right to left and top to bottom.
Bilabial |
Labio- dental |
Dental/ Alveolar |
Alveolo- palatal |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | [m] āļĄ |
[n] āļ, āļ |
[Å] āļ |
|||||||||||
Plosive | [p] āļ |
[pĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ |
[b] āļ |
[t] āļ, āļ |
[tĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ |
[d] āļ, āļ |
[k] āļ |
[kĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ , āļ [a] |
[Ę] āļ [b] | |||||
Affricate | [tÍĄÉ] āļ |
[tÍĄÉĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ |
||||||||||||
Fricative | [f] āļ, āļ |
[s] āļ, āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
[h] āļŦ, āļŪ | |||||||||||
Trill | [r] āļĢ |
|||||||||||||
Approximant | [w] āļ§ |
[j] āļ, āļĒ |
||||||||||||
Lateral approximant |
[l] āļĨ, āļŽ |
|||||||||||||
|
Although the overall 44 Thai consonants provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. The consonant sounds in the table for initials collapse in the table for final sounds. At the end of a syllable, all plosives are unvoiced, unaspirated, and have no audible release. Initial affricates and fricatives become final plosives. The initial trill (āļĢ), approximant (āļ), and lateral approximants (āļĨ, āļŽ) are realized as a final nasal /n/.
Only 8 ending consonant sounds, as well as no ending consonant sound, are available in Thai pronunciation. Among these consonants, excluding the disused āļ and āļ , six (āļ, āļ, āļ, āļŦ, āļ, āļŪ) cannot be used as a final. The remaining 36 are grouped as following.
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | [m] āļĄ |
[n] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĢ, āļĨ, āļŽ |
[Å] āļ |
|||||
Plosive | [pĖ] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ |
[tĖ] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
[kĖ] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ |
[Ę] āļ [a] | ||||
Approximant | [w] āļ§ |
[j] āļĒ |
||||||
|
Thai vowel sounds and diphthongs are written using a mixture of vowel symbols on a consonant base. Each vowel is shown in its correct position relative to a base consonant and sometimes a final consonant as well. Vowels can go above, below, left of or right of the consonant, or combinations of these places. If a vowel has parts before and after the initial consonant, and the syllable starts with a consonant cluster, the split will go around the whole cluster.
Twenty-one vowel symbol elements are traditionally named, which may appear alone or in combination to form compound symbols.
Symbol | Name | Combinations | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
āļ° | āļ§āļīāļŠāļĢāļĢāļāļāļĩāļĒāđ, āļāļĄāļāļēāļ | wisanchani, nom nang (from Sanskrit visarjanÄŦya) |
âāļ°; âāļąāļ§āļ°; āđâāļ°; āđâāļāļ°; āđâāļēāļ°; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ°; āđâāļ·āļāļ°; āđâāļ°; āđâāļ° |
âāļą | āđāļĄāđāļŦāļąāļāļāļēāļāļēāļĻ, āđāļĄāđāļāļąāļ, āļŦāļēāļāļāļąāļāļŦāļąāļ | mai han akat, mai phat, mai kanghan | âāļąâ; âāļąāļ§; âāļąāļ§āļ° |
âāđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļāđāļāļđāđ | mai tai khu | âāđ; âāđāļâ; āđâāđâ; āđâāđâ |
āļē | āļĨāļēāļāļāđāļēāļ | lak khang | âāļē; âāļēâ; âāđāļē; āđâāļē; āđâāļēāļ° |
âāļī | āļāļīāļāļāļļāđāļāļī, āļāļīāļāļāļļāļāļī | phin i, phinthu i | âāļī; āđâāļīâ; âāļĩ; âāļĩâ; āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ°; âāļ·â; âāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļāļ° |
âĖ | āļāļāļāļāļ | fon thong [a] | âāļĩ; âāļĩâ; āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ° |
âĖ | āļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđ, āļĄāļđāļŠāļīāļāļāļąāļāļāđ | fan nu [a] | âāļ·â; âāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļāļ° |
âāđ | āļāļīāļāļŦāļīāļ, āļāļĪāļāļŦāļīāļ, āļŦāļĒāļēāļāļāđāļģāļāđāļēāļ | nikkhahit, naruekhahit, yat namkhang | âāļķ; âāļķâ; âāđāļē |
âāļļ | āļāļĩāļāđāļŦāļĒāļĩāļĒāļ, āļĨāļēāļāļāļĩāļ | tin yiat, lak tin | âāļļ; âāļļâ |
âāļđ | āļāļĩāļāļāļđāđ | tin khu | âāļđ; âāļđâ |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļŦāļāđāļē | mai na | āđâ; āđââ; āđâāđâ; āđâāļ; āđâāļâ; āđâāļāļ°; āđâāļē; āđâāļēāļ°; āđâāļīâ; āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒâ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ°; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļâ; āđâāļ·āļāļ°; āđâ; āđââ; āđâāđâ; āđâāļ° |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļ | mai o | āđâ; āđââ; āđâāļ° |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļĄāđāļ§āļ | mai muan | āđâ |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĨāļēāļĒ | mai malai | āđâ |
āļ | āļāļąāļ§ āļ | tua o | âāļ; âāđāļâ; âāļ·āļ; āđâāļ; āđâāļâ; āđâāļāļ°; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļāļ° |
āļĒ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĒ | tua yo | āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒâ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ° |
āļ§ | āļāļąāļ§ āļ§ | tua wo | âāļąāļ§; âāļąāļ§āļ° |
āļĪ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĪ | tua rue | āļĪ |
āļĪāđ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĪāđ | tua rue | āļĪāđ |
āļĶ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĶ | tua lue | āļĶ |
āļĶāđ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĶāđ | tua lue | āļĶāđ |
|
The inherent vowels are /a/ in open syllables (CV) and /o/ in closed syllables (CVC). For example, āļāļāļ transcribes /tĘ°Ã nĮn/ "road". There are a few exceptions in Pali loanwords, where the inherent vowel of an open syllable is /o/. The circumfix vowels, such as āđâāļēāļ° /ÉĘ/, encompass a preceding consonant with an inherent vowel. For example, /pĘ°ÉĘ/ is written āđāļāļēāļ°, and /tÉĘ°apĘ°ÉĘ/ "only" is written āđāļāļāļēāļ°.
The characters āļĪ āļĪāđ (plus āļĶ āļĶāđ , which are obsolete) are usually considered as vowels, the first being a short vowel sound, and the latter, long. The letters are based on vocalic consonants used in Sanskrit, given the one-to-one letter correspondence of Thai to Sanskrit, although the last two letters are quite rare, as their equivalent Sanskrit sounds only occur in a few, ancient words and thus are functionally obsolete in Thai. The first symbol 'āļĪ' is common in many Sanskrit and Pali words and 'āļĪāđ ' less so, but does occur as the primary spelling for the Thai adaptation of Sanskrit 'rishi' and treu ( Thai: āļāļĪāđ /trÉŊĖË/ or /trÄŦË/), a very rare Khmer loan word for 'fish' only found in ancient poetry. As alphabetical entries, āļĪ āļĪāđ follow āļĢ, and themselves can be read as a combination of consonant and vowel, equivalent to āļĢāļķ (short), and āļĢāļ·āļ (long) (and the obsolete pair as āļĨāļķ, āļĨāļ·āļ), respectively. Moreover, āļĪ can act as āļĢāļī as an integral part in many words mostly borrowed from Sanskrit such as āļāļĪāļĐāļāļ° (kritsana, not kruetsana), āļĪāļāļāļīāđ (rit, not ruet), and āļāļĪāļĐāļāļē (kritsada, not kruetsada), for example. It is also used to spell āļāļąāļāļāļĪāļĐ angkrit England/English. The word āļĪāļāļĐāđ (roek) is a unique case where āļĪ is pronounced like āđāļĢāļ. In the past, prior to the turn of the twentieth century, it was common for writers to substitute these letters in native vocabulary that contained similar sounds as a shorthand that was acceptable in writing at the time. For example, the conjunction 'or' ( Thai: āļŦāļĢāļ·āļ /rÉŊĖË/ rue, cf. Lao: āšŦāšžāšķ/āšŦāšĨāš· /lÉŊĖË/ lu) was often written Thai: āļĪ. This practice has become obsolete, but can still be seen in Thai literature.
The pronunciation below is indicated by the International Phonetic Alphabet [6] and the Romanisation according to the Royal Thai Institute as well as several variant Romanisations often encountered. A very approximate equivalent is given for various regions of English speakers and surrounding areas. Dotted circles represent the positions of consonants or consonant clusters. The first one represents the initial consonant and the latter (if it exists) represents the final.
Ro han (āļĢ āļŦāļąāļ) is not usually considered a vowel and is not included in the following table. It represents the sara a /a/ vowel in certain Sanskrit loanwords and appears as âāļĢāļĢâ. When used without a final consonant (âāļĢāļĢ), /n/ is implied as the final consonant, giving /an/.
Short vowels | Long vowels | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Symbol | IPA | RTGS | Variants | Similar Sound (English RP pronunciation) |
Name | Symbol | IPA | RTGS | Variants | Similar Sound (English RP pronunciation) | |||
Simple vowels | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ° | sara a | âāļ° â âāļąâ |
/aĘ/, /a/ | a | u | u in "nut" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļē | sara a | âāļē âāļēâ |
/aË/ | a | ah, ar, aa | a in "father" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļī | sara i | âāļī âāļīâ |
/i/ | i | y in "greedy" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļĩ | sara i | âāļĩ âāļĩâ |
/iË/ | i | ee, ii, y | ee in "see" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļķ | sara ue | âāļķ âāļķâ |
/ÉŊ/ | ue | eu, u, uh | Can be approximated by pronouncing the oo in "look" with unrounded lips
German: the Þ in MÞcke |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ·āļ | sara ue | âāļ·āļ âāļ·â |
/ÉŊË/ | ue | eu, u | Can be approximated by pronouncing the oo in RP "goose" with unrounded lips | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļļ | sara u | âāļļ âāļļâ |
/u/ | u | oo | oo in "shoot" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļđ | sara u | âāļđ âāļđâ |
/uË/ | u | oo, uu | oo in "too" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° | sara e | āđâāļ° āđâāđâ |
/eĘ/, /e/ | e | e in "neck" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara e | āđâ āđââ |
/eË/ | e | ay, a, ae, ai, ei | a in "lame" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° | sara ae | āđâāļ° āđâāđâ |
/ÉĘ/, /É/ | ae | aeh, a | a in "at" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara ae | āđâ āđââ |
/ÉË/ | ae | a | a in "ham" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° | sara o | āđâāļ° ââ |
/oĘ/, /o/ | o | oa in "boat" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara o | āđâ āđââ |
/oË/ | o | or, oh, Ãī | o in "go" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļēāļ° | sara o | āđâāļēāļ° âāđāļâ |
/ÉĘ/, /É/ | o | aw | o in "not" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ | sara o | âāļ âāļâ ââ [a] âāđ [b] |
/ÉË/ | o | or, aw | aw in "saw" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļāļ° | sara oe | āđâāļāļ° | /ÉĪĘ/ | oe | eu | e in "the" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ | sara oe | āđâāļ āđâāļīâ āđâāļâ [c] |
/ÉĪË/ /ÉĪ/ |
oe | er, eu, ur | u in "burn" | |
Diphthongs | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļĩāļĒāļ° | sara ia | āđâāļĩāļĒāļ° | /iaĘ/ | ia | iah, ear, ie | ea in "ear" with glottal stop | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļĩāļĒ | sara ia | āđâāļĩāļĒ āđâāļĩāļĒâ |
/ia/ | ia | ear, ere, ie | ear in "ear" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ·āļāļ° | sara uea | āđâāļ·āļāļ° | /ÉŊaĘ/ | uea | eua, ua | ure in "pure" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ·āļ | sara uea | āđâāļ·āļ āđâāļ·āļâ |
/ÉŊa/ | uea | eua, ua, ue | ure in "pure" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ§āļ° | sara ua | âāļąāļ§āļ° | /uaĘ/ | ua | ewe in "sewer" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ§ | sara ua | âāļąāļ§ âāļ§â |
/ua/ | ua | uar | ewe in "newer" | ||
Phonemic diphthongs [d] | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļī + āļ§ | sara i + wo waen | âāļīāļ§ | /iw/ | io | iu, ew | ew in "few" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° + āļ§ | sara e + wo waen | āđâāđāļ§ | /ew/ | eo | eu, ew | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ + āļ§ | sara e + wo waen | āđâāļ§ | /eËw/ | eo | eu, ew | ai + ow in "rainbow" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ + āļ§ | sara ae + wo waen | āđâāļ§ | /ÉËw/ | aeo | aew, eo | a in "ham" + ow in "low" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļē | sara ao [e] | āđâāļē | /aw/ | ao | aw, au, ow | ow in "cow" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļē + āļ§ | sara a + wo waen | âāļēāļ§ | /aËw/ | ao | au | ow in "now" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļĩāļĒ + āļ§ | sara ia + wo waen | āđâāļĩāļĒāļ§ | /iaw/ | iao | eaw, iew, iow | io in "trio" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ° + āļĒ | sara a + yo yak | âāļąāļĒ | /aj/ | ai | ay | i in "hi" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļē + āļĒ | sara a + yo yak | âāļēāļĒ | /aËj/ | ai | aai, aay, ay | ye in "bye" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara ai [e] | āđâ,
[f] āđâ āđâāļĒ [g] | ||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļēāļ° + āļĒ | sara o + yo yak | âāđāļāļĒ | /Éj/ | oi | oy | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ + āļĒ | sara o + yo yak | âāļāļĒ | /ÉËj/ | oi | oy | oy in "boy" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ + āļĒ | sara o + yo yak | āđâāļĒ | /oËj/ | oi | oy | |||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļļ + āļĒ | sara u + yo yak | âāļļāļĒ | /uj/ | ui | uy | |||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ + āļĒ | sara oe + yo yak | āđâāļĒ | /ÉĪËj/ | oei | oey | u in "burn" + y in "boy" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ§ + āļĒ | sara ua + yo yak | âāļ§āļĒ | /uaj/ | uai | uay | uoy in "buoy" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ·āļ + āļĒ | sara uea + yo yak | āđâāļ·āļāļĒ | /ÉŊaj/ | ueai | uai | |||||||||
Extra vowels [h] | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļģ | sara am | āļģ | /am/ | am | um | um in "sum" | ||||||||
āļĪ | rue | āļĪ | /rÉŊ/ /ri/ /rÉĪË/ |
rue, ri, roe | ru, ri | rew in "grew", ry in "angry" | āļĪāđ | rue | āļĪāđ | /rÉŊË/ | rue | ruu | ||
āļĶ | lue | āļĶ | /lÉŊ/ | lue | lu, li | lew in "blew" | āļĶāđ | Lue | āļĶāđ | /lÉŊË/ | lue | lu |
Thai is a tonal language, and the script gives full information on the tones. Tones are realised in the vowels, but indicated in the script by a combination of the class of the initial consonant (high, mid or low), vowel length (long or short), closing consonant ( plosive or sonorant, called dead or live) and, if present, one of four tone marks, whose names derive from the names of the digits 1â4 borrowed from Pali or Sanskrit. The rules for denoting tones are shown in the following chart:
Symbol | Name | Syllable composition and initial consonant class | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | Vowel and final | Low | Mid | High | |
(āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĩ) | (none) | live long vowel or vowel plus sonorant |
middle | middle | low rising | |
(āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĩ) | (none) | dead short short vowel at end or plus plosive |
high rising | low falling | low falling | |
(āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĩ) | (none) | dead long long vowel plus plosive |
high falling | low falling | low falling | |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļāļ | mai ek | any | high falling | low falling | low falling |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļ | mai tho | any | high rising | high falling | high falling |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļāļĢāļĩ | mai tri | any | - | high rising | - |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļāļąāļāļ§āļē | mai chattawa | any | - | low rising | - |
"None", that is, no tone marker, is used with the base accent (āļāļ·āđāļāđāļŠāļĩāļĒāļ, phuen siang). Mai tri and mai chattawa are only used with mid-class consonants.
Two consonant characters (not diacritics) are used to modify the tone:
Low consonant | High consonant | IPA |
---|---|---|
āļ | āļŦāļ | /Å/ |
āļ | āļŦāļ | /j/ |
āļ | āļŦāļ | /n/ |
āļĄ | āļŦāļĄ | /m/ |
āļĒ | āļŦāļĒ | /j/ |
āļĢ | āļŦāļĢ | /r/ |
āļĨ | āļŦāļĨ | /l/ |
āļ§ | āļŦāļ§ | /w/ |
Low consonant | Middle consonant | IPA |
āļĒ | āļāļĒ | /j/ |
In some dialects there are words which are spelled with one tone but pronounced with another and often occur in informal conversation (notably the pronouns āļāļąāļ chan and āđāļāļē khao, which are both pronounced with a high tone rather than the rising tone indicated by the script). Generally, when such words are recited or read in public, they are pronounced as spelled.
Spoken Southern Thai can have up to seven tones. [7] When Southern Thai is written in Thai script, there are different rules for indicating spoken tone.
Tones | Nakhon Si Thammarat accent rules | IPA | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First tone | An initial consonant class "high" with long sound, and an initial consonant class "low" after the word. | [ËĶËĨ˧] | ||
An initial consonant class "high" with short sound, and an initial consonant class "low" with [kĖ], [tĖ], [pĖ] finals after the word. |
[ËĻËĶ] | |||
Second tone | An initial consonant class "high" both short long sound, and an initial consonant class "low" after the word. |
[ËĶ] | ||
Third tone | An initial consonant class "middle" long sound. | [˧ËĶ˧] | ||
An initial consonant class "middle" short sound with [kĖ], [tĖ], [pĖ] finals. | [˧ËĶ] | |||
Fourth tone | An initial consonant class "middle" both short long sound. | [˧] | ||
Fifth tone | An initial consonant class "low" with head word. | [ËĻ˧ËĻ] | ||
Sixth tone | An initial consonant class "low" long sound. | [ËĻËĶ] | ||
Seventh tone | An initial consonant class "low" short sound. | [ËĻËĐ] |
Other diacritics are used to indicate short vowels and silent letters:
Symbol | Name | Meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
âāđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļāđāļāļđāđ | mai tai khu | shortens vowel |
âāđ | āļāļąāļāļāļāļēāļ or āļāļēāļĢāļąāļāļāđ | thanthakhat or karan | indicates silent letter |
Fan nu means "rat teeth" and is thought as being placed in combination with short sara i and fong man to form other characters.
Symbol | Name | Use | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
" | āļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđ | fan nu | combined with short sara i (âāļī) to make long sara ue (âāļ·) |
combined with fong man (āđ) to make fong man fan nu (āđ") |
For numerals, mostly the standard Hindu-Arabic numerals ( Thai: āđāļĨāļāļŪāļīāļāļāļđāļāļēāļĢāļāļīāļ, lek hindu arabik) are used, but Thai also has its own set of Thai numerals that are based on the Hindu-Arabic numeral system ( Thai: āđāļĨāļāđāļāļĒ, lek thai), which are mostly limited to government documents, election posters, license plates of military vehicles, and special entry prices for Thai nationals.
Hindu-Arabic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ |
Symbol | Name | Meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
āļŊ | āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāļāđāļāļĒ | paiyan noi | marks formal phrase shortened by convention (abbreviation) |
āļŊāļĨāļŊ | āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāđāļŦāļāđ | paiyan yai | et cetera |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļĒāļĄāļ | mai yamok | preceding word or phrase is reduplicated |
āđ | āļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ, āļāļēāđāļāđ | fong man, ta kai | previously marked beginning of a sentence, paragraph, or stanza (obsolete); [8] now only marks beginning of a stanza in a poem; now also used as bullet point [9] |
āđ" | āļāļāļāļĄāļąāļāļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđ, āļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđāļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ, āļāļāļāļāļāļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ | fong man fan nu, fan nu fong man, fon tong fong man | previously marked beginning of a chapter (obsolete) |
āđ" | āļāļāļāļāļąāļ | fong dan | |
āļŊ | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāđāļāļĩāđāļĒāļ§, āļāļąāđāļāđāļāļĩāđāļĒāļ§, āļāļąāđāļāđāļāļĩāđāļĒāļ§ | angkhan diao, khan diao, khan diao | previously marked end of a sentence or stanza (obsolete) [8] |
āđ | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ, āļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ, āļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ | angkhan khu, khan khu, khan khu | marks end of stanza; marks end of chapter [8] or long section [9] |
āļŊāļ° | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļ§āļīāļŠāļĢāļĢāļāļāļĩāļĒāđ | angkhan wisanchani | marks end of a stanza in a poem [9] |
āđāļ° | |||
āđ | āđāļāļĄāļđāļāļĢ, āļŠāļđāļāļĢāļāļēāļĢāļēāļĒāļāđ | kho mut, sut narai | marks end of a chapter or document; [9] marks end of a story [8] |
āđāļ°āđ | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļ§āļīāļŠāļĢāļĢāļāļāļĩāļĒāđāđāļāļĄāļđāļāļĢ | angkhan wisanchani kho mut | marks the very end of a written work |
āļŋ | āļāļēāļ | bat | baht (the currency of Thailand) |
Pai-yan noi and angkhan diao share the same character. Sara a (âāļ°) used in combination with other characters is called wisanchani.
Some of the characters can mark the beginning or end of a sentence, chapter, or episode of a story or of a stanza in a poem. These have changed use over time and are becoming uncommon.
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | |
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | ||
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | ||
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | ||
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļĄ |
āļĒ, āļĢ, āļĨ, āļ§ | āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ | āļŦ | āļŽ | āļ | āļŪ |
Colour | Class |
---|---|
Green | Medium |
Pink | High |
Blue | Paired low class; has its high class counterpart |
Purple | Single low class; turns into high class if preceded by āļŦ |
āļ, āļ, āļ
āļ, āļ , āļ |
/k/ | āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ
āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
/t/ | āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ
āļ, āļ, āļ |
/p/ |
āļ | /Å/ | āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĢ, āļĨ | /n/ | āļĄ | /m/ |
āļ | /Ę/ | āļĒ | /j/ | āļ§ | /w/ |
colour codes
red: dead
green: alive
-āļī,-āļĩ | -āļķ,-āļ· | -āļļ,-āļđ | |
āđ- | āđ-āļ | āđ- | *āđ- > āđ-, â |
āđ- | āļ°,āļē | -āļ | *-āļ > āđ-āļēāļ°, -āđāļ |
āđ-āļĩāļĒ | āđ-āļ·āļ | -āļąāļ§ | |
-āļģ | āđ- | āđ- | āđ-āļē |
āļĪ | āļĪāđ | āļĶ | āļĶāļē |
colour codes
pink: long vowel, shortened by add "āļ°"(no ending consonant) or "-āđ"(with ending consonant)
green: long vowel, has a special form when shortened
position | front | central | back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
duration | short | long | short | long | short | long |
high | -āļī /i/ | -āļĩ /iË/ | -āļķ /ÉŊ/ | -āļ·āļ,-āļ· /ÉŊË/ | -āļļ /u/ | -āļđ /uË/ |
mid | āđ-āļ°,āđ-āđ /e/ | āđ- /eË/ | āđ-āļāļ° /ÉĪĘ/ | āđ-āļ,āđ-āļī /ÉĪË/ | āđ-āļ°,-- /o/ | āđ- /oË/ |
low | āđ-āļ°,āđ-āđ /É/ | āđ- /ÉË/ | -āļ°,-āļą /a/ | -āļē /aË/ | āđ-āļēāļ°,-āđāļ /É/ | -āļ /ÉË/ |
vowel+/a/ | āđ-āļĩāļĒāļ° /iaĘ/ | āđ-āļĩāļĒ /ia/ | āđ-āļ·āļāļ° /ÉŊaĘ/ | āđ-āļ·āļ /ÉŊa/ | -āļąāļ§āļ° /uaĘ/ | -āļąāļ§ /ua/ |
/a/+vowel | āđ- āđ- /aj/ | -āļēāļĒ /aËj/ | -āļģ /am/ | -āļēāļĄ /aËm/ | āđ-āļē /aw/ | -āļēāļ§ /aËw/ |
class | ending | none | -āđ | -āđ | -āđ | -āđ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mid | dead | low | â | fall | high | â |
mid | alive | mid | low | fall | high | rise |
high | dead | low | â | fall | ||
high | alive | rise | low | fall | ||
low | dead (short vowel) | high | fall | â | ||
low | dead (long vowel) | fall | â | high | ||
low | alive | mid | fall | high |
Brahmic scripts |
---|
The Brahmi script and its descendants |
The Thai script (like all Indic scripts) uses a number of modifications to write Sanskrit and related languages (in particular, Pali). Pali is very closely related to Sanskrit and is the liturgical language of Thai Buddhism. In Thailand, Pali is written and studied using a slightly modified Thai script. The main difference is that each consonant is followed by an implied short a (āļāļ°), not the 'o', or 'É' of Thai: this short a is never omitted in pronunciation, and if the vowel is not to be pronounced, then a specific symbol must be used, the pinthu āļāļš (a solid dot under the consonant). This means that sara a (āļāļ°) is never used when writing Pali, because it is always implied. For example, namo is written āļāļ°āđāļĄ in Thai, but in Pali it is written as āļāđāļĄ, because the āļāļ° is redundant. The Sanskrit word 'mantra' is written āļĄāļāļāļĢāđ in Thai (and therefore pronounced mon), but is written āļĄāļāļšāļāļšāļĢ in Sanskrit (and therefore pronounced mantra). When writing Pali, only 33 consonants and 12 vowels are used.
This is an example of a Pali text written using the Thai Sanskrit orthography: āļāļĢāļŦāđ āļŠāļĄāļšāļĄāļēāļŠāļĄāļšāļāļļāļāļšāđāļ āļ āļāļ§āļē [arahaáđ sammÄsambuddho bhagavÄ]. Written in modern Thai orthography, this becomes āļāļ°āļĢāļ°āļŦāļąāļ āļŠāļąāļĄāļĄāļēāļŠāļąāļĄāļāļļāļāđāļ āļ āļ°āļāļ°āļ§āļē arahang sammasamphuttho phakhawa.
In Thailand, Sanskrit is read out using the Thai values for all the consonants (so āļ is read as kha and not [ga]), which makes Thai spoken Sanskrit incomprehensible to sanskritists not trained in Thailand. The Sanskrit values are used in transliteration (without the diacritics), but these values are never actually used when Sanskrit is read out loud in Thailand. The vowels used in Thai are identical to Sanskrit, with the exception of āļĪ, āļĪāđ , āļĶ, and āļĶāđ , which are read using their Thai values, not their Sanskrit values. Sanskrit and Pali are not tonal languages, but in Thailand, the Thai tones are used when reading these languages out loud.
In the tables of this section, the Thai value (transliterated according to the Royal Thai system) of each letter is listed first, followed by the IAST value of each letter in square brackets. The IAST values are never used in pronunciation, but sometimes in transcriptions (with the diacritics omitted). This disjoint between transcription and spoken value explains the romanisation for Sanskrit names in Thailand that many foreigners find confusing. For example, āļŠāļļāļ§āļĢāļĢāļāļ āļđāļĄāļī is romanised as Suvarnabhumi, but pronounced su-wan-na-phum. āļĻāļĢāļĩāļāļāļĢāļīāļāļāļĢāđ is romanised as Srinagarindra but pronounced si-nakha-rin.
Plosives (also called stops) are listed in their traditional Sanskrit order, which corresponds to Thai alphabetical order from āļ to āļĄ with three exceptions: in Thai, high-class āļ is followed by two obsolete characters with no Sanskrit equivalent, high-class āļ and low-class āļ ; low-class āļ is followed by sibilant āļ (low-class equivalent of high-class sibilant āļŠ that follows āļĻ and āļĐ.) The table gives the Thai value first, and then the IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) value in square brackets.
class | Sanskrit unvoiced | Sanskrit voiced | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai unvoiced | Thai voiced | |||||||||
Unaspirated | Aspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | Nasal | |||||
Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | |
velar | āļ kà | āĪ
[ka] /k/ |
āļ khà | āĪ
[kha] /kĘ°/ |
āļ khÃĄ | āĪ
[ga] /g/ |
āļ khÃĄ | āĪ
[gha] /gĘą/ |
āļ ngÃĄ | āĪ
[áđ a] / Å/ |
palatal | āļ cà | āĪ
[ca] /c/, / tÉ/ |
āļ chà | āĪ
[cha] /cĘ°/, /tÉĘ°/ |
āļ chÃĄ | āĪ
[ja] |
āļ chÃĄ | āĪ
[jha] /ÉĘą/, /dÍĄĘĘą/ |
āļ yÃĄ | āĪ
[Ãąa] / Éē/ |
retroflex | āļ tà |
āĪ[áđa] /Ę/ |
āļ thà |
āĪ [áđha] /ĘĘ°/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪĄ[áļa] /É/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪĒ[áļha] /ÉĘą/ |
āļ nÃĄ |
āĪĢ[áđa] /Éģ/ |
dental | āļ tà |
āĪĪ[ta] /t/ |
āļ thà |
āĪĨ[tha] /tĘ°/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪĶ[da] /d/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪ§[dha] /dĘą/ |
āļ nÃĄ |
āĪĻ[na] /n/ |
labial | āļ pà |
āĪŠ[pa] /p/ |
āļ phà |
āĪŦ[pha] /pĘ°/ |
āļ phÃĄ |
āĪŽ[ba] /b/ |
āļ phÃĄ |
āĪ[bha] /bĘą/ |
āļĄ mÃĄ |
āĪŪ[ma] /m/ |
tone class | Mid | High | Low | Low | Low |
None of the Sanskrit plosives are pronounced as the Thai voiced plosives, so these are not represented in the table. While letters are listed here according to their class in Sanskrit, Thai has lost the distinction between many of the consonants. So, while there is a clear distinction between āļ and āļ in Sanskrit, in Thai these two consonants are pronounced identically (including tone). Likewise, the Thai phonemes do not differentiate between the retroflex and dental classes, since Thai has no retroflex consonants. The equivalents of all the retroflex consonants are pronounced identically to their dental counterparts: thus āļ is pronounced like āļ, āļ is pronounced like āļ, āļ is pronounced like āļ, āļ is pronounced like āļ, and āļ is pronounced like āļ.
The Sanskrit unaspirated unvoiced plosives are pronounced as unaspirated unvoiced, whereas Sanskrit aspirated voiced plosives are pronounced as aspirated unvoiced.
Semivowels (āļāļķāđāļāļŠāļĢāļ° kueng sara) and liquids come in Thai alphabetical order after āļĄ, the last of the plosives. The term āļāļ§āļĢāļĢāļ awak means "without a break"; that is, without a plosive.
series | symbol | value | related vowels | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | |||
palatal | āļĒ | yÃĄ | āĪŊ [ya] /j/ | āļāļī and āļāļĩ |
retroflex | āļĢ | rÃĄ | āĪ° [ra]
/É―/ |
āļĪ and āļĪāđ |
dental | āļĨ | lÃĄ | āĪē [la]
/l/ |
āļĶ and āļĶāđ |
labial | āļ§ | wÃĄ | āĪĩ [va]
/Ę/ |
āļāļļ and āļāļđ |
Inserted sounds (āđāļŠāļĩāļĒāļāđāļāļĢāļ siat saek) follow the semi-vowel āļ§ in alphabetical order.
series | symbol | value | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | ||
palatal | āļĻ | sà | āĪķ [Åa]/É/ |
retroflex | āļĐ | sà | āĪ· [áđĢa]/Ę/ |
dental | āļŠ | sà | āĪļ [sa]/s/ |
Like Sanskrit, Thai has no voiced sibilant (so no 'z' or 'zh'). In modern Thai, the distinction between the three high-class consonants has been lost and all three are pronounced 'sà '; however, foreign words with a sh-sound may still be transcribed as if the Sanskrit values still hold (e.g., ang-grit āļāļąāļāļāļĪāļĐ for English instead of āļāļąāļāļāļĪāļŠ).
symbol | value | |
---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | |
āļŦ | hà | āĪđ [ha]
/ÉĶ/ |
āļŦ, a high-class consonant, comes next in alphabetical order, but its low-class equivalent, āļŪ, follows similar-appearing āļ as the last letter of the Thai alphabet. Like modern Hindi, the voicing has disappeared, and the letter is now pronounced like English 'h'. Like Sanskrit, this letter may only be used to start a syllable, but may not end it. (A popular beer is romanized as Singha, but in Thai is āļŠāļīāļāļŦāđ, with a karan on the āļŦ; correct pronunciation is " sing", but foreigners to Thailand typically say "sing-ha".)
symbol | value | |
---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | |
āļŽ | llÃĄ | āĪģ[áļ·a]
/É/ |
This represents the retroflex liquid of Pali and Vedic Sanskrit, which does not exist in Classical Sanskrit.
symbol | value |
---|---|
āļāļ° | a [a] |
āļāļē | a [Ä] |
āļāļī | i [i] |
āļāļĩ | i [ÄŦ] |
āļāļļ | u [u] |
āļāļđ | u [ÅŦ] |
āđāļ | e [e] |
āđāļ | o [o] |
āļĪ | ru [áđ] |
āļĪāđ | ru [áđ] |
āļĶ | lu [áļ·] |
āļĶāđ | lu [áļđ] |
All consonants have an inherent 'a' sound, and therefore there is no need to use the āļ° symbol when writing Sanskrit. The Thai vowels āļāļ·, āđāļ, āđāļ, and so forth, are not used in Sanskrit. The zero consonant, āļ, is unique to the Indic alphabets descended from Khmer. When it occurs in Sanskrit, it is always the zero consonant and never the vowel o [ÉË]. Its use in Sanskrit is therefore to write vowels that cannot be otherwise written alone: e.g., āļāļē or āļāļĩ. When āļ is written on its own, then it is a carrier for the implied vowel, a [a] (equivalent to āļāļ° in Thai).
The vowel sign āļāļģ occurs in Sanskrit, but only as the combination of the pure vowels sara a āļāļē with nikkhahit āļāđ.
There are a number of additional symbols only used to write Sanskrit or Pali, and not used in writing Thai.
Symbol | IAST |
---|---|
āļāđ | áđ |
In Sanskrit, the anusvÄra indicates a certain kind of nasal sound. In Thai this is written as an open circle above the consonant, known as nikkhahit (āļāļīāļāļŦāļīāļ), from Pali niggahÄŦta. Nasalisation does not occur in Thai, therefore, a nasal stop is always substituted: e.g. āļāđ taáđ, is pronounced as āļāļąāļ tang by Thai Sanskritists. If nikkhahit occurs before a consonant, then Thai uses a nasal stop of the same class: e.g. āļŠāđāļŠāļšāļāļĪāļāļē [saáđskáđta] is read as āļŠāļąāļāļŠāļāļĪāļāļē san-sa-krit-ta (The āļŠ following the nikkhahit is a dental-class consonant, therefore the dental-class nasal stop āļ is used). For this reason, it has been suggested that in Thai, nikkhahit should be listed as a consonant. [8] Also, traditional Pali grammars describe nikkhahit as a consonant. Nikkhahit āļāļīāļāļŦāļīāļ occurs as part of the Thai vowels sara am āļāļģ and sara ue āļāļķ.
āļāļš
Because the Thai script is an abugida, a symbol (equivalent to virÄma in devanagari) needs to be added to indicate that the implied vowel is not to be pronounced. This is the phinthu, which is a solid dot (also called 'Bindu' in Sanskrit) below the consonant.
āļāđ
Yamakkan (āļĒāļēāļĄāļąāļāļāļēāļĢ) is an obsolete symbol used to mark the beginning of consonant clusters: e.g. āļāđāļĢāļēāļŦāđāļĄāļ phramana [brÄhmaáđa]. Without the yamakkan, this word would be pronounced pharahamana [barÄhamaáđa] instead. This is a feature unique to the Thai script (other Indic scripts use a combination of ligatures, conjuncts or virÄma to convey the same information). The symbol is obsolete because pinthu may be used to achieve the same effect: āļāļšāļĢāļēāļŦāļšāļĄāļ.
The means of recording visarga (final voiceless 'h') in Thai has reportedly been lost, although the character âāļ° which is used to transcribe a short /a/ or to add a glottal stop after a vowel is the closest equivalent and can be seen used as a visarga in some Thai-script Sanskrit text.
Thai script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.
The Unicode block for Thai is U+0E00âU+0E7F. It is a verbatim copy of the older TIS-620 character set which encodes the vowels āđ, āđ, āđ, āđ and āđ before the consonants they follow, and thus Thai, Lao, Tai Viet and New Tai Lue are the only Brahmic scripts in Unicode that use visual order instead of logical order.
Thai
[1]
[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
U+0E0x | ก | ข | ฃ | ค | ฅ | ฆ | ง | จ | ฉ | ช | ซ | ฌ | ญ | ฎ | ฏ | |
U+0E1x | ฐ | ฑ | ฒ | ณ | ด | ต | ถ | ท | ธ | น | บ | ป | ผ | ฝ | พ | ฟ |
U+0E2x | ภ | ม | ย | ร | ฤ | ล | ฦ | ว | ศ | ษ | ส | ห | ฬ | อ | ฮ | ฯ |
U+0E3x | ะ | ั | า | ำ | ิ | ี | ึ | ื | ุ | ู | ฺ | ฿ | ||||
U+0E4x | เ | แ | โ | ใ | ไ | ๅ | ๆ | ็ | ่ | ้ | ๊ | ๋ | ์ | ํ | ๎ | ๏ |
U+0E5x | ๐ | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | ๙ | ๚ | ๛ | ||||
U+0E6x | ||||||||||||||||
U+0E7x | ||||||||||||||||
Notes |
Thai characters can be typed using the Kedmanee layout and the Pattachote layout.
This article needs additional citations for
verification. (December 2007) |
Thai āļāļąāļāļĐāļĢāđāļāļĒ | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Script type | |
Creator | Ramkhamhaeng the Great |
Time period | 1283âpresent |
Direction | Left-to-right
![]() |
Languages | Standard form: Thai, Southern Thai Non-standard form: Lanna, Isan, Pattani Malay, Urak Lawoi and others |
Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Tai Viet |
Sister systems | Fakkham |
ISO 15924 | |
ISO 15924 | Thai (352), Thai |
Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Thai |
U+0E00âU+0E7F | |
Brahmic scripts |
---|
The Brahmi script and its descendants |
The Thai script ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļĐāļĢāđāļāļĒ, RTGS: akson thai) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( Thai: āļāļĒāļąāļāļāļāļ°, phayanchana) and 16 vowel symbols ( Thai: āļŠāļĢāļ°, sara) that combine into at least 32 vowel forms and four tone diacritics ( Thai: āļ§āļĢāļĢāļāļĒāļļāļāļāđ or āļ§āļĢāļĢāļāļĒāļļāļ, wannayuk or wannayut) to create characters mostly representing syllables.
Although commonly referred to as the Thai alphabet, the script is in fact not a true alphabet but an abugida, a writing system in which the full characters represent consonants with diacritical marks for vowels; the absence of a vowel diacritic gives an implied 'a' or 'o'. Consonants are written horizontally from left to right, and vowels following a consonant in speech are written above, below, to the left or to the right of it, or a combination of those.
The Thai alphabet is derived from the Old Khmer script ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļĐāļĢāļāļāļĄ, akson khom), which is a southern Brahmic style of writing derived from the south Indian Pallava alphabet ( Thai: āļāļąāļĨāļĨāļ§āļ°). According to tradition it was created in 1283 by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great ( Thai: āļāđāļāļāļļāļāļĢāļēāļĄāļāļģāđāļŦāļāļĄāļŦāļēāļĢāļēāļ). [1] The earliest attestation of the Thai script is the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription dated to 1292, however some scholars question its authenticity. [2] The script was derived from a cursive form of the Old Khmer script of the time. [1] It modified and simplified some of the Old Khmer letters and introduced some new ones to accommodate Thai phonology. It also introduced tone marks. Thai is considered to be the first script in the world that invented tone markers to indicate distinctive tones, which are lacking in the Mon-Khmer ( Austroasiatic languages) and Indo-Aryan languages from which its script is derived. Although Chinese and other Sino-Tibetan languages have distinctive tones in their phonological system, no tone marker is found in their orthographies. Thus, tone markers are an innovation in the Thai language that later influenced other related Tai languages and some Tibeto-Burman languages on the Southeast Asian mainland. [2] Another addition was consonant clusters that were written horizontally and contiguously, rather than writing the second consonant below the first one. [2] Finally, the script wrote vowel marks on the main line, however this innovation fell out of use not long after. [1]
Bilabial |
Labio- dental |
Alveolar |
Alveolo- palatal |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | [mĖ] āļŦāļĄ |
[m] āļĄ |
[nĖ] āļŦāļ |
[n] āļ, āļ |
[ÉēĖ]
āļŦāļ |
[Éē]
āļ |
[ÅĖ] āļŦāļ |
[Å] āļ |
|||||||||||||
Plosive | [p] āļ |
[pĘ°] āļ |
[b] āļ, āļ |
[Ęb] āļ |
[t] āļ, āļ |
[tĘ°] āļ, āļ |
[d] āļ, āļ |
[Ęd] āļ, āļ |
[k] āļ |
[kĘ°] āļ |
[g] āļ, āļ |
[Ę] āļ | |||||||||
Affricate | [tÉ] āļ |
[tÉĘ°] āļ |
[dĘ]
āļ |
[x] āļ |
[ÉĢ] āļ |
||||||||||||||||
Fricative | [f] āļ |
[v] āļ |
[s] āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
[z - Ę] āļ |
[h] āļŦ |
[ÉĶ] āļŪ | |||||||||||||||
Trill | [rĖ] āļŦāļĢ |
[r] āļĢ |
|||||||||||||||||||
Approximant | [áš] āļŦāļ§ |
[w] āļ§ |
[jĖ] āļŦāļĒ |
[j] āļĒ |
[Ęj] āļāļĒ |
||||||||||||||||
Lateral approximant |
[lĖĨ] āļŦāļĨ |
[l] āļĨ |
Letters | IPA | Word in Sukhothai (in Modern Thai script) | Pronunciation in IPA (excluding tone) | Meaning and Definitions |
---|---|---|---|---|
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Kor | ||||
āļ | k | āđāļāļīāļ | kÉĪËtĖ | v. to be born |
āļ | kĘ° | āļāļāļ | kĘ°ÉËÅ | n. thing |
āļ | x | āļāļķāđāļ (āļāļķāđāļ) | xÉŊn | v. to go up |
āļ | g | āļāļĢāļđ | gruË | n. teacher |
āļ | ÉĢ | āļ āļ§āļēāļĄ (āļāļ§āļēāļĄ) | ÉĢwaËm | n. affair; matter; content |
āļ | g | āļāđāļē | gaË | v. to kill |
āļ | Å | āļāļ | ÅokĖ | adj. greedy |
āļŦāļ | ÅĖ | āļŦāļāļāļ | ÅĖÉËkĖ | v. to whiten (hair) |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Jor | ||||
āļ | tÉ | āđāļ | tÉaÉŊ | n. heart |
āļ | tÉĘ° | āļāļēāļĒ | tÉĘ°aËj | v. to shine (on something) |
āļ | dĘ | āļāļ·āđāļ | dĘÉŊË | n. name |
āļ | z - Ę | āļāđāļģ | zam | adv. repeatedly |
āļ | Éē | āļāļ§āļ | Éēuan | v. Vietnam (archaic) |
āļŦāļ | ÉēĖ | āļŦāļāļīāļ | ÉēĖiÅ | n. woman |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļĢāļ | Varga Ra Tor | ||||
āļ | Ęd | āļāļĩāļāļē | ĘdiËkaË | n. petition notice |
āļ | t | āļāļēāļĢ | tara | n. Ganymede |
āļ | tĘ° | āļāļēāļ | tĘ°aËn | n. base, platform |
āļ | n | āđāļāļĢ | neËn | n. novice monk |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Tor | ||||
āļ | Ęd | āļāļēāļ§ | ĘdaËw | n. star |
āļ | t | āļāļē | taË | n. eye |
āļ | tĘ° | āļāļāļĒ | tĘ°Éj | v. to move back |
āļ | d | āļāļāļ | dÉËÅ | n. gold |
āļ | d | āļāļļāļĢāļ° | duraĘ | n. business; affairs; errands |
āļ | n | āļāđāļģ | naËm | n. water |
āļŦāļ | nĖ | āļŦāļāļđ | nĖuË | n. mouse |
āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ āļ | Varga Por | ||||
āļ | Ęb | āļāđāļēāļ | ĘbaËn | n. house |
āļ | p | āļāļĨāļē | plaË | n. fish |
āļ | pĘ° | āļāļķāđāļ | pĘ°ÉŊÅ | n. bee |
āļ | f | āļāļąāļ | fan | n. dream |
āļ | b | āļāđāļ | bÉË | n. father |
āļ | v | āļāļąāļ | van | n. tooth |
āļ | b | āļ āļēāļĐāļē | baËsaË | n. language |
āļĄ | m | āđāļĄāđ | mÉË | n. mother |
āļŦāļĄ | mĖ | āļŦāļĄāļē | mĖaË | n. dog |
āļāļ§āļĢāļĢāļ | Avarga | ||||
āļāļĒ | Ęj | āļāļĒāđāļē | ĘjaË | adv. do not |
āļĒ | j | āđāļĒāđāļ | jen | adj. cold |
āļŦāļĒ | jĖ | āđāļŦāļĒāļĩāļĒāļ | jĖiap | v. to step on |
āļĢ | r | āļĢāļąāļ | rak | v. to love |
āļŦāļĢ | rĖ | āļŦāļĢāļ·āļ | rĖÉŊË | conj. or |
āļĨ | l | āļĨāļĄ | lom | n. wind |
āļŦāļĨ | lĖĨ | āļŦāļĨāđāļ | lĖĨÉË | adj. handsome |
āļ§ | w | āļ§āļąāļ | wan | n. day |
āļŦāļ§ | áš | āļŦāļ§āļĩ | ášiË | n. comb |
āļĻ | s | āļĻāļēāļĨ | saËn | n. court of law |
āļĐ | s | āļĪāđ āļĐāļĢāļĩ (āļĪāđ āļĐāļĩ) | rÉŊËsiË | n. hermit |
āļŠ | s | āļŠāļ§āļĒ | swai | adj. beautiful |
āļ | Ę | āļāđāļēāļĒ | ĘaËi | n. first born son |
There is a fairly complex relationship between spelling and sound. There are various issues:
Thai letters do not have upper- and lower-case forms like Latin letters do. Spaces between words are not used, except in certain linguistically motivated cases.
Minor pauses in sentences may be marked by a comma ( Thai: āļāļļāļĨāļ āļēāļ or āļĨāļđāļāļāđāļģ, chunlaphak or luk nam), and major pauses by a period ( Thai: āļĄāļŦāļąāļāļ āļēāļ or āļāļļāļ, mahap phak or chut), but most often are marked by a blank space ( Thai: āļ§āļĢāļĢāļ, wak). Thai writing also uses quotation marks ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļāļĢāļ°āļāļēāļĻ, anyaprakat) and parentheses (round brackets) ( Thai: āļ§āļāđāļĨāđāļ, wong lep or Thai: āļāļāļĨāļīāļāļīāļ, nakha likhit), but not square brackets or braces.
A paiyan noi āļŊ ( Thai: āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāļāđāļāļĒ) is used for abbreviation. A paiyan yai āļŊāļĨāļŊ ( Thai: āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāđāļŦāļāđ) is the same as "etc." in English.
Several obsolete characters indicated the beginning or ending of sections. A bird's eye āđ ( Thai: āļāļēāđāļāđ, ta kai, officially called āļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ, fong man) formerly indicated paragraphs. An angkhan kuu āđ ( Thai: āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ) was formerly used to mark the end of a chapter. A kho mut āđ ( Thai: āđāļāļĄāļđāļāļĢ) was formerly used to mark the end of a document, but is now obsolete.
Thai (along with its sister system, Lao) lacks conjunct consonants and independent vowels, while both designs are common among Brahmic scripts (e.g., Burmese and Balinese). [4] In scripts with conjunct consonants, each consonant has two forms: base and conjoined. Consonant clusters are represented with the two styles of consonants. The two styles may form typographical ligatures, as in Devanagari. Independent vowels are used when a syllable starts with a vowel sign.
There are 44 consonant letters representing 21 distinct consonant sounds. Duplicate consonants either correspond to sounds that existed in Old Thai at the time the alphabet was created but no longer exist (in particular, voiced obstruents such as b d g v z), or different Sanskrit and Pali consonants pronounced identically in Thai. There are in addition four consonant-vowel combination characters not included in the tally of 44.
Consonants are divided into three classes â in alphabetical order these are middle (āļāļĨāļēāļ, klang), high (āļŠāļđāļ, sung), and low (āļāđāļģ, tam) class â as shown in the table below. These class designations reflect phonetic qualities of the sounds to which the letters originally corresponded in Old Thai. In particular, "middle" sounds were voiceless unaspirated stops; "high" sounds, voiceless aspirated stops or voiceless fricatives; "low" sounds, voiced. Subsequent sound changes have obscured the phonetic nature of these classes. [nb 1] Today, the class of a consonant without a tone mark, along with the short or long length of the accompanying vowel, determine the base accent (āļāļ·āđāļāđāļŠāļĩāļĒāļ, phuen siang). Middle class consonants with a long vowel spell an additional four tones with one of four tone marks over the controlling consonant: mai ek, mai tho, mai tri, and mai chattawa. High and low class consonants are limited to mai ek and mai tho, as shown in the . Differing interpretations of the two marks or their absence allow low class consonants to spell tones not allowed for the corresponding high class consonant. In the case of digraphs where a low class follows a higher class consonant, often the higher class rules apply, but the marker, if used, goes over the low class one; accordingly, āļŦ āļāļģ ho nam and āļ āļāļģ o nam may be considered to be digraphs as such, as explained below the Tone table. [nb 2]
To aid learning, each consonant is traditionally associated with an acrophonic Thai word that either starts with the same sound, or features it prominently. For example, the name of the letter āļ is kho khai (āļ āđāļāđ), in which kho is the sound it represents, and khai (āđāļāđ) is a word which starts with the same sound and means "egg".
Two of the consonants, āļ (kho khuat) and āļ (kho khon), are no longer used in written Thai, but still appear on many keyboards and in character sets. When the first Thai typewriter was developed by Edwin Hunter McFarland in 1892, there was simply no space for all characters, thus two had to be left out. [5] Also, neither of these two letters correspond to a Sanskrit or Pali letter, and each of them, being a modified form of the letter that precedes it (compare āļ and āļ), has the same pronunciation and the same consonant class as the preceding letter, thus making them redundant. They used to represent the sound /x/ in Old Thai, but it has merged with /kĘ°/ in Modern Thai.
Equivalents for romanisation are shown in the table below. Many consonants are pronounced differently at the beginning and at the end of a syllable. The entries in columns initial and final indicate the pronunciation for that consonant in the corresponding positions in a syllable. Where the entry is '-', the consonant may not be used to close a syllable. Where a combination of consonants ends a written syllable, only the first is pronounced; possible closing consonant sounds are limited to 'k', 'm', 'n', 'ng', 'p' and 't'.
Although official standards for romanisation are the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) defined by the Royal Thai Institute, and the almost identical ISO 11940-2 defined by the International Organization for Standardization, many publications use different romanisation systems. In daily practice, a bewildering variety of romanisations are used, making it difficult to know how to pronounce a word, or to judge if two words (e.g. on a map and a street sign) are actually the same. For more precise information, an equivalent from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is given as well.
Symbol | Name | RTGS | IPA | Class | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | Meaning | Initial | Final | Initial | Final | ||
āļ | āļ āđāļāđ | ko kai | chicken | k | k | /k/ | /k/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđ | kho khai | egg | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | high |
āļ [a] | āļ āļāļ§āļ | kho khuat | bottle (obsolete) | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļ§āļēāļĒ | kho khwai | buffalo | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | low |
āļ [b] | āļ āļāļ | kho khon | person (obsolete) | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ | kho rakhang | bell | kh | k | /kĘ°/ | /k/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļđ | ngo ngu | snake | ng | ng | /Å/ | /Å/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļēāļ | cho chan | plate | ch | t | /tÉ/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļīāđāļ | cho ching | cymbals | ch | â | /tÉĘ°/ | â | high |
āļ | āļ āļāđāļēāļ | cho chang | elephant | ch | t | /tÉĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđ | so so | chain | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāļ | cho choe | tree | ch | t | /tÉĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ [c] | āļ āļŦāļāļīāļ | yo ying | woman | y | n | /j/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļāļē | do chada | headdress | d | t | /d/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļāļąāļ | to patak | goad, javelin | t | t | /t/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ [d] | āļ āļāļēāļ | tho than | pedestal | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | high |
āļ | āļ āļĄāļāđāļ | tho montho | Montho, character from Ramayana | th or d | t | /tĘ°/ or /d/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļđāđāđāļāđāļē | tho phu thao | elder | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāļĢ | no nen | samanera | n | n | /n/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđāļ | do dek | child | d | t | /d/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđāļē | to tao | turtle | t | t | /t/ | /t/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļļāļ | tho thung | sack | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļŦāļēāļĢ | tho thahan | soldier | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļ | tho thong | flag | th | t | /tĘ°/ | /t/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļŦāļāļđ | no nu | mouse | n | n | /n/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āđāļāđāļĄāđ | bo baimai | leaf | b | p | /b/ | /p/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļĨāļē | po pla | fish | p | p | /p/ | /p/ | mid |
āļ | āļ āļāļķāđāļ | pho phueng | bee | ph | â | /pĘ°/ | â | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļē | fo fa | lid | f | â | /f/ | â | high |
āļ | āļ āļāļēāļ | pho phan | phan | ph | p | /pĘ°/ | /p/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāļąāļ | fo fan | tooth | f | p | /f/ | /p/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļŠāļģāđāļ āļē | pho samphao | junk | ph | p | /pĘ°/ | /p/ | low |
āļĄ | āļĄ āļĄāđāļē | mo ma | horse | m | m | /m/ | /m/ | low |
āļĒ | āļĒ āļĒāļąāļāļĐāđ | yo yak | giant, yaksha | y | â or n [e] |
/j/ | /j/ or /n/ |
low |
āļĢ | āļĢ āđāļĢāļ·āļ | ro ruea | boat | r | n | /r/ | /n/ | low |
āļĨ | āļĨ āļĨāļīāļ | lo ling | monkey | l | n | /l/ | /n/ | low |
āļ§ | āļ§ āđāļŦāļ§āļ | wo waen | ring | w | â [f] | /w/ | /w/ | low |
āļĻ | āļĻ āļĻāļēāļĨāļē | so sala | pavilion, sala | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
āļĐ | āļĐ āļĪāđ āļĐāļĩ | so ruesi | hermit | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
āļŠ | āļŠ āđāļŠāļ·āļ | so suea | tiger | s | t | /s/ | /t/ | high |
āļŦ | āļŦ āļŦāļĩāļ | ho hip | chest, box | h | â | /h/ | â | high |
āļŽ | āļŽ āļāļļāļŽāļē | lo chula | kite | l | n | /l/ | /n/ | low |
āļ | āļ āļāđāļēāļ | o ang | basin | â [g] | â | /Ę/ | â | mid |
āļŪ | āļŪ āļāļāļŪāļđāļ | ho nok huk | owl | h | â | /h/ | â | low |
The consonants can be organised by place and manner of articulation according to principles of the International Phonetic Association. Thai distinguishes among three voice/aspiration patterns for plosive consonants:
Where English has only a distinction between the voiced, unaspirated /b/ and the unvoiced, aspirated /pĘ°/, Thai distinguishes a third sound which 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 a laminal denti-alveolar /t/, /tĘ°/, /d/ triplet. In the velar series there is a /k/, /kĘ°/ pair and in the postalveolar series the /tÉ/, /tÉĘ°/ pair.
In each cell below, the first line indicates International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), [6] the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position (several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation). The conventional alphabetic order shown in the table above follows roughly the table below, reading the coloured blocks from right to left and top to bottom.
Bilabial |
Labio- dental |
Dental/ Alveolar |
Alveolo- palatal |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | [m] āļĄ |
[n] āļ, āļ |
[Å] āļ |
|||||||||||
Plosive | [p] āļ |
[pĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ |
[b] āļ |
[t] āļ, āļ |
[tĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ |
[d] āļ, āļ |
[k] āļ |
[kĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ , āļ [a] |
[Ę] āļ [b] | |||||
Affricate | [tÍĄÉ] āļ |
[tÍĄÉĘ°] āļ, āļ, āļ |
||||||||||||
Fricative | [f] āļ, āļ |
[s] āļ, āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
[h] āļŦ, āļŪ | |||||||||||
Trill | [r] āļĢ |
|||||||||||||
Approximant | [w] āļ§ |
[j] āļ, āļĒ |
||||||||||||
Lateral approximant |
[l] āļĨ, āļŽ |
|||||||||||||
|
Although the overall 44 Thai consonants provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. The consonant sounds in the table for initials collapse in the table for final sounds. At the end of a syllable, all plosives are unvoiced, unaspirated, and have no audible release. Initial affricates and fricatives become final plosives. The initial trill (āļĢ), approximant (āļ), and lateral approximants (āļĨ, āļŽ) are realized as a final nasal /n/.
Only 8 ending consonant sounds, as well as no ending consonant sound, are available in Thai pronunciation. Among these consonants, excluding the disused āļ and āļ , six (āļ, āļ, āļ, āļŦ, āļ, āļŪ) cannot be used as a final. The remaining 36 are grouped as following.
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | [m] āļĄ |
[n] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĢ, āļĨ, āļŽ |
[Å] āļ |
|||||
Plosive | [pĖ] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ |
[tĖ] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
[kĖ] āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ |
[Ę] āļ [a] | ||||
Approximant | [w] āļ§ |
[j] āļĒ |
||||||
|
Thai vowel sounds and diphthongs are written using a mixture of vowel symbols on a consonant base. Each vowel is shown in its correct position relative to a base consonant and sometimes a final consonant as well. Vowels can go above, below, left of or right of the consonant, or combinations of these places. If a vowel has parts before and after the initial consonant, and the syllable starts with a consonant cluster, the split will go around the whole cluster.
Twenty-one vowel symbol elements are traditionally named, which may appear alone or in combination to form compound symbols.
Symbol | Name | Combinations | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
āļ° | āļ§āļīāļŠāļĢāļĢāļāļāļĩāļĒāđ, āļāļĄāļāļēāļ | wisanchani, nom nang (from Sanskrit visarjanÄŦya) |
âāļ°; âāļąāļ§āļ°; āđâāļ°; āđâāļāļ°; āđâāļēāļ°; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ°; āđâāļ·āļāļ°; āđâāļ°; āđâāļ° |
âāļą | āđāļĄāđāļŦāļąāļāļāļēāļāļēāļĻ, āđāļĄāđāļāļąāļ, āļŦāļēāļāļāļąāļāļŦāļąāļ | mai han akat, mai phat, mai kanghan | âāļąâ; âāļąāļ§; âāļąāļ§āļ° |
âāđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļāđāļāļđāđ | mai tai khu | âāđ; âāđāļâ; āđâāđâ; āđâāđâ |
āļē | āļĨāļēāļāļāđāļēāļ | lak khang | âāļē; âāļēâ; âāđāļē; āđâāļē; āđâāļēāļ° |
âāļī | āļāļīāļāļāļļāđāļāļī, āļāļīāļāļāļļāļāļī | phin i, phinthu i | âāļī; āđâāļīâ; âāļĩ; âāļĩâ; āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ°; âāļ·â; âāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļāļ° |
âĖ | āļāļāļāļāļ | fon thong [a] | âāļĩ; âāļĩâ; āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ° |
âĖ | āļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđ, āļĄāļđāļŠāļīāļāļāļąāļāļāđ | fan nu [a] | âāļ·â; âāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļāļ° |
âāđ | āļāļīāļāļŦāļīāļ, āļāļĪāļāļŦāļīāļ, āļŦāļĒāļēāļāļāđāļģāļāđāļēāļ | nikkhahit, naruekhahit, yat namkhang | âāļķ; âāļķâ; âāđāļē |
âāļļ | āļāļĩāļāđāļŦāļĒāļĩāļĒāļ, āļĨāļēāļāļāļĩāļ | tin yiat, lak tin | âāļļ; âāļļâ |
âāļđ | āļāļĩāļāļāļđāđ | tin khu | âāļđ; âāļđâ |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļŦāļāđāļē | mai na | āđâ; āđââ; āđâāđâ; āđâāļ; āđâāļâ; āđâāļāļ°; āđâāļē; āđâāļēāļ°; āđâāļīâ; āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒâ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ°; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļâ; āđâāļ·āļāļ°; āđâ; āđââ; āđâāđâ; āđâāļ° |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļ | mai o | āđâ; āđââ; āđâāļ° |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļĄāđāļ§āļ | mai muan | āđâ |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĨāļēāļĒ | mai malai | āđâ |
āļ | āļāļąāļ§ āļ | tua o | âāļ; âāđāļâ; âāļ·āļ; āđâāļ; āđâāļâ; āđâāļāļ°; āđâāļ·āļ; āđâāļ·āļāļ° |
āļĒ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĒ | tua yo | āđâāļĩāļĒ; āđâāļĩāļĒâ; āđâāļĩāļĒāļ° |
āļ§ | āļāļąāļ§ āļ§ | tua wo | âāļąāļ§; âāļąāļ§āļ° |
āļĪ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĪ | tua rue | āļĪ |
āļĪāđ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĪāđ | tua rue | āļĪāđ |
āļĶ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĶ | tua lue | āļĶ |
āļĶāđ | āļāļąāļ§ āļĶāđ | tua lue | āļĶāđ |
|
The inherent vowels are /a/ in open syllables (CV) and /o/ in closed syllables (CVC). For example, āļāļāļ transcribes /tĘ°Ã nĮn/ "road". There are a few exceptions in Pali loanwords, where the inherent vowel of an open syllable is /o/. The circumfix vowels, such as āđâāļēāļ° /ÉĘ/, encompass a preceding consonant with an inherent vowel. For example, /pĘ°ÉĘ/ is written āđāļāļēāļ°, and /tÉĘ°apĘ°ÉĘ/ "only" is written āđāļāļāļēāļ°.
The characters āļĪ āļĪāđ (plus āļĶ āļĶāđ , which are obsolete) are usually considered as vowels, the first being a short vowel sound, and the latter, long. The letters are based on vocalic consonants used in Sanskrit, given the one-to-one letter correspondence of Thai to Sanskrit, although the last two letters are quite rare, as their equivalent Sanskrit sounds only occur in a few, ancient words and thus are functionally obsolete in Thai. The first symbol 'āļĪ' is common in many Sanskrit and Pali words and 'āļĪāđ ' less so, but does occur as the primary spelling for the Thai adaptation of Sanskrit 'rishi' and treu ( Thai: āļāļĪāđ /trÉŊĖË/ or /trÄŦË/), a very rare Khmer loan word for 'fish' only found in ancient poetry. As alphabetical entries, āļĪ āļĪāđ follow āļĢ, and themselves can be read as a combination of consonant and vowel, equivalent to āļĢāļķ (short), and āļĢāļ·āļ (long) (and the obsolete pair as āļĨāļķ, āļĨāļ·āļ), respectively. Moreover, āļĪ can act as āļĢāļī as an integral part in many words mostly borrowed from Sanskrit such as āļāļĪāļĐāļāļ° (kritsana, not kruetsana), āļĪāļāļāļīāđ (rit, not ruet), and āļāļĪāļĐāļāļē (kritsada, not kruetsada), for example. It is also used to spell āļāļąāļāļāļĪāļĐ angkrit England/English. The word āļĪāļāļĐāđ (roek) is a unique case where āļĪ is pronounced like āđāļĢāļ. In the past, prior to the turn of the twentieth century, it was common for writers to substitute these letters in native vocabulary that contained similar sounds as a shorthand that was acceptable in writing at the time. For example, the conjunction 'or' ( Thai: āļŦāļĢāļ·āļ /rÉŊĖË/ rue, cf. Lao: āšŦāšžāšķ/āšŦāšĨāš· /lÉŊĖË/ lu) was often written Thai: āļĪ. This practice has become obsolete, but can still be seen in Thai literature.
The pronunciation below is indicated by the International Phonetic Alphabet [6] and the Romanisation according to the Royal Thai Institute as well as several variant Romanisations often encountered. A very approximate equivalent is given for various regions of English speakers and surrounding areas. Dotted circles represent the positions of consonants or consonant clusters. The first one represents the initial consonant and the latter (if it exists) represents the final.
Ro han (āļĢ āļŦāļąāļ) is not usually considered a vowel and is not included in the following table. It represents the sara a /a/ vowel in certain Sanskrit loanwords and appears as âāļĢāļĢâ. When used without a final consonant (âāļĢāļĢ), /n/ is implied as the final consonant, giving /an/.
Short vowels | Long vowels | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Symbol | IPA | RTGS | Variants | Similar Sound (English RP pronunciation) |
Name | Symbol | IPA | RTGS | Variants | Similar Sound (English RP pronunciation) | |||
Simple vowels | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ° | sara a | âāļ° â âāļąâ |
/aĘ/, /a/ | a | u | u in "nut" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļē | sara a | âāļē âāļēâ |
/aË/ | a | ah, ar, aa | a in "father" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļī | sara i | âāļī âāļīâ |
/i/ | i | y in "greedy" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļĩ | sara i | âāļĩ âāļĩâ |
/iË/ | i | ee, ii, y | ee in "see" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļķ | sara ue | âāļķ âāļķâ |
/ÉŊ/ | ue | eu, u, uh | Can be approximated by pronouncing the oo in "look" with unrounded lips
German: the Þ in MÞcke |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ·āļ | sara ue | âāļ·āļ âāļ·â |
/ÉŊË/ | ue | eu, u | Can be approximated by pronouncing the oo in RP "goose" with unrounded lips | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļļ | sara u | âāļļ âāļļâ |
/u/ | u | oo | oo in "shoot" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļđ | sara u | âāļđ âāļđâ |
/uË/ | u | oo, uu | oo in "too" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° | sara e | āđâāļ° āđâāđâ |
/eĘ/, /e/ | e | e in "neck" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara e | āđâ āđââ |
/eË/ | e | ay, a, ae, ai, ei | a in "lame" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° | sara ae | āđâāļ° āđâāđâ |
/ÉĘ/, /É/ | ae | aeh, a | a in "at" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara ae | āđâ āđââ |
/ÉË/ | ae | a | a in "ham" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° | sara o | āđâāļ° ââ |
/oĘ/, /o/ | o | oa in "boat" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara o | āđâ āđââ |
/oË/ | o | or, oh, Ãī | o in "go" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļēāļ° | sara o | āđâāļēāļ° âāđāļâ |
/ÉĘ/, /É/ | o | aw | o in "not" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ | sara o | âāļ âāļâ ââ [a] âāđ [b] |
/ÉË/ | o | or, aw | aw in "saw" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļāļ° | sara oe | āđâāļāļ° | /ÉĪĘ/ | oe | eu | e in "the" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ | sara oe | āđâāļ āđâāļīâ āđâāļâ [c] |
/ÉĪË/ /ÉĪ/ |
oe | er, eu, ur | u in "burn" | |
Diphthongs | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļĩāļĒāļ° | sara ia | āđâāļĩāļĒāļ° | /iaĘ/ | ia | iah, ear, ie | ea in "ear" with glottal stop | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļĩāļĒ | sara ia | āđâāļĩāļĒ āđâāļĩāļĒâ |
/ia/ | ia | ear, ere, ie | ear in "ear" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ·āļāļ° | sara uea | āđâāļ·āļāļ° | /ÉŊaĘ/ | uea | eua, ua | ure in "pure" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ·āļ | sara uea | āđâāļ·āļ āđâāļ·āļâ |
/ÉŊa/ | uea | eua, ua, ue | ure in "pure" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ§āļ° | sara ua | âāļąāļ§āļ° | /uaĘ/ | ua | ewe in "sewer" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ§ | sara ua | âāļąāļ§ âāļ§â |
/ua/ | ua | uar | ewe in "newer" | ||
Phonemic diphthongs [d] | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļī + āļ§ | sara i + wo waen | âāļīāļ§ | /iw/ | io | iu, ew | ew in "few" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ° + āļ§ | sara e + wo waen | āđâāđāļ§ | /ew/ | eo | eu, ew | āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ + āļ§ | sara e + wo waen | āđâāļ§ | /eËw/ | eo | eu, ew | ai + ow in "rainbow" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ + āļ§ | sara ae + wo waen | āđâāļ§ | /ÉËw/ | aeo | aew, eo | a in "ham" + ow in "low" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļē | sara ao [e] | āđâāļē | /aw/ | ao | aw, au, ow | ow in "cow" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļē + āļ§ | sara a + wo waen | âāļēāļ§ | /aËw/ | ao | au | ow in "now" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļĩāļĒ + āļ§ | sara ia + wo waen | āđâāļĩāļĒāļ§ | /iaw/ | iao | eaw, iew, iow | io in "trio" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ° + āļĒ | sara a + yo yak | âāļąāļĒ | /aj/ | ai | ay | i in "hi" | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļē + āļĒ | sara a + yo yak | âāļēāļĒ | /aËj/ | ai | aai, aay, ay | ye in "bye" | |
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ | sara ai [e] | āđâ,
[f] āđâ āđâāļĒ [g] | ||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļēāļ° + āļĒ | sara o + yo yak | âāđāļāļĒ | /Éj/ | oi | oy | āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļ + āļĒ | sara o + yo yak | âāļāļĒ | /ÉËj/ | oi | oy | oy in "boy" | ||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļ + āļĒ | sara o + yo yak | āđâāļĒ | /oËj/ | oi | oy | |||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļļ + āļĒ | sara u + yo yak | âāļļāļĒ | /uj/ | ui | uy | |||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ + āļĒ | sara oe + yo yak | āđâāļĒ | /ÉĪËj/ | oei | oey | u in "burn" + y in "boy" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļąāļ§ + āļĒ | sara ua + yo yak | âāļ§āļĒ | /uaj/ | uai | uay | uoy in "buoy" | ||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āđāļāļ·āļ + āļĒ | sara uea + yo yak | āđâāļ·āļāļĒ | /ÉŊaj/ | ueai | uai | |||||||||
Extra vowels [h] | ||||||||||||||
āļŠāļĢāļ°āļāļģ | sara am | āļģ | /am/ | am | um | um in "sum" | ||||||||
āļĪ | rue | āļĪ | /rÉŊ/ /ri/ /rÉĪË/ |
rue, ri, roe | ru, ri | rew in "grew", ry in "angry" | āļĪāđ | rue | āļĪāđ | /rÉŊË/ | rue | ruu | ||
āļĶ | lue | āļĶ | /lÉŊ/ | lue | lu, li | lew in "blew" | āļĶāđ | Lue | āļĶāđ | /lÉŊË/ | lue | lu |
Thai is a tonal language, and the script gives full information on the tones. Tones are realised in the vowels, but indicated in the script by a combination of the class of the initial consonant (high, mid or low), vowel length (long or short), closing consonant ( plosive or sonorant, called dead or live) and, if present, one of four tone marks, whose names derive from the names of the digits 1â4 borrowed from Pali or Sanskrit. The rules for denoting tones are shown in the following chart:
Symbol | Name | Syllable composition and initial consonant class | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | Vowel and final | Low | Mid | High | |
(āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĩ) | (none) | live long vowel or vowel plus sonorant |
middle | middle | low rising | |
(āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĩ) | (none) | dead short short vowel at end or plus plosive |
high rising | low falling | low falling | |
(āđāļĄāđāļĄāļĩ) | (none) | dead long long vowel plus plosive |
high falling | low falling | low falling | |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļāļ | mai ek | any | high falling | low falling | low falling |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļ | mai tho | any | high rising | high falling | high falling |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļāļĢāļĩ | mai tri | any | - | high rising | - |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļāļąāļāļ§āļē | mai chattawa | any | - | low rising | - |
"None", that is, no tone marker, is used with the base accent (āļāļ·āđāļāđāļŠāļĩāļĒāļ, phuen siang). Mai tri and mai chattawa are only used with mid-class consonants.
Two consonant characters (not diacritics) are used to modify the tone:
Low consonant | High consonant | IPA |
---|---|---|
āļ | āļŦāļ | /Å/ |
āļ | āļŦāļ | /j/ |
āļ | āļŦāļ | /n/ |
āļĄ | āļŦāļĄ | /m/ |
āļĒ | āļŦāļĒ | /j/ |
āļĢ | āļŦāļĢ | /r/ |
āļĨ | āļŦāļĨ | /l/ |
āļ§ | āļŦāļ§ | /w/ |
Low consonant | Middle consonant | IPA |
āļĒ | āļāļĒ | /j/ |
In some dialects there are words which are spelled with one tone but pronounced with another and often occur in informal conversation (notably the pronouns āļāļąāļ chan and āđāļāļē khao, which are both pronounced with a high tone rather than the rising tone indicated by the script). Generally, when such words are recited or read in public, they are pronounced as spelled.
Spoken Southern Thai can have up to seven tones. [7] When Southern Thai is written in Thai script, there are different rules for indicating spoken tone.
Tones | Nakhon Si Thammarat accent rules | IPA | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First tone | An initial consonant class "high" with long sound, and an initial consonant class "low" after the word. | [ËĶËĨ˧] | ||
An initial consonant class "high" with short sound, and an initial consonant class "low" with [kĖ], [tĖ], [pĖ] finals after the word. |
[ËĻËĶ] | |||
Second tone | An initial consonant class "high" both short long sound, and an initial consonant class "low" after the word. |
[ËĶ] | ||
Third tone | An initial consonant class "middle" long sound. | [˧ËĶ˧] | ||
An initial consonant class "middle" short sound with [kĖ], [tĖ], [pĖ] finals. | [˧ËĶ] | |||
Fourth tone | An initial consonant class "middle" both short long sound. | [˧] | ||
Fifth tone | An initial consonant class "low" with head word. | [ËĻ˧ËĻ] | ||
Sixth tone | An initial consonant class "low" long sound. | [ËĻËĶ] | ||
Seventh tone | An initial consonant class "low" short sound. | [ËĻËĐ] |
Other diacritics are used to indicate short vowels and silent letters:
Symbol | Name | Meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
âāđ | āđāļĄāđāđāļāđāļāļđāđ | mai tai khu | shortens vowel |
âāđ | āļāļąāļāļāļāļēāļ or āļāļēāļĢāļąāļāļāđ | thanthakhat or karan | indicates silent letter |
Fan nu means "rat teeth" and is thought as being placed in combination with short sara i and fong man to form other characters.
Symbol | Name | Use | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
" | āļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđ | fan nu | combined with short sara i (âāļī) to make long sara ue (âāļ·) |
combined with fong man (āđ) to make fong man fan nu (āđ") |
For numerals, mostly the standard Hindu-Arabic numerals ( Thai: āđāļĨāļāļŪāļīāļāļāļđāļāļēāļĢāļāļīāļ, lek hindu arabik) are used, but Thai also has its own set of Thai numerals that are based on the Hindu-Arabic numeral system ( Thai: āđāļĨāļāđāļāļĒ, lek thai), which are mostly limited to government documents, election posters, license plates of military vehicles, and special entry prices for Thai nationals.
Hindu-Arabic | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ | āđ |
Symbol | Name | Meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | RTGS | ||
āļŊ | āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāļāđāļāļĒ | paiyan noi | marks formal phrase shortened by convention (abbreviation) |
āļŊāļĨāļŊ | āđāļāļĒāļēāļĨāđāļŦāļāđ | paiyan yai | et cetera |
āđ | āđāļĄāđāļĒāļĄāļ | mai yamok | preceding word or phrase is reduplicated |
āđ | āļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ, āļāļēāđāļāđ | fong man, ta kai | previously marked beginning of a sentence, paragraph, or stanza (obsolete); [8] now only marks beginning of a stanza in a poem; now also used as bullet point [9] |
āđ" | āļāļāļāļĄāļąāļāļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđ, āļāļąāļāļŦāļāļđāļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ, āļāļāļāļāļāļāļāļāļĄāļąāļ | fong man fan nu, fan nu fong man, fon tong fong man | previously marked beginning of a chapter (obsolete) |
āđ" | āļāļāļāļāļąāļ | fong dan | |
āļŊ | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāđāļāļĩāđāļĒāļ§, āļāļąāđāļāđāļāļĩāđāļĒāļ§, āļāļąāđāļāđāļāļĩāđāļĒāļ§ | angkhan diao, khan diao, khan diao | previously marked end of a sentence or stanza (obsolete) [8] |
āđ | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ, āļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ, āļāļąāđāļāļāļđāđ | angkhan khu, khan khu, khan khu | marks end of stanza; marks end of chapter [8] or long section [9] |
āļŊāļ° | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļ§āļīāļŠāļĢāļĢāļāļāļĩāļĒāđ | angkhan wisanchani | marks end of a stanza in a poem [9] |
āđāļ° | |||
āđ | āđāļāļĄāļđāļāļĢ, āļŠāļđāļāļĢāļāļēāļĢāļēāļĒāļāđ | kho mut, sut narai | marks end of a chapter or document; [9] marks end of a story [8] |
āđāļ°āđ | āļāļąāļāļāļąāđāļāļ§āļīāļŠāļĢāļĢāļāļāļĩāļĒāđāđāļāļĄāļđāļāļĢ | angkhan wisanchani kho mut | marks the very end of a written work |
āļŋ | āļāļēāļ | bat | baht (the currency of Thailand) |
Pai-yan noi and angkhan diao share the same character. Sara a (âāļ°) used in combination with other characters is called wisanchani.
Some of the characters can mark the beginning or end of a sentence, chapter, or episode of a story or of a stanza in a poem. These have changed use over time and are becoming uncommon.
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | |
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | ||
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | ||
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | ||
āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļ | āļĄ |
āļĒ, āļĢ, āļĨ, āļ§ | āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ | āļŦ | āļŽ | āļ | āļŪ |
Colour | Class |
---|---|
Green | Medium |
Pink | High |
Blue | Paired low class; has its high class counterpart |
Purple | Single low class; turns into high class if preceded by āļŦ |
āļ, āļ, āļ
āļ, āļ , āļ |
/k/ | āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ
āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĻ, āļĐ, āļŠ |
/t/ | āļ, āļ, āļ, āļ
āļ, āļ, āļ |
/p/ |
āļ | /Å/ | āļ, āļ, āļ, āļĢ, āļĨ | /n/ | āļĄ | /m/ |
āļ | /Ę/ | āļĒ | /j/ | āļ§ | /w/ |
colour codes
red: dead
green: alive
-āļī,-āļĩ | -āļķ,-āļ· | -āļļ,-āļđ | |
āđ- | āđ-āļ | āđ- | *āđ- > āđ-, â |
āđ- | āļ°,āļē | -āļ | *-āļ > āđ-āļēāļ°, -āđāļ |
āđ-āļĩāļĒ | āđ-āļ·āļ | -āļąāļ§ | |
-āļģ | āđ- | āđ- | āđ-āļē |
āļĪ | āļĪāđ | āļĶ | āļĶāļē |
colour codes
pink: long vowel, shortened by add "āļ°"(no ending consonant) or "-āđ"(with ending consonant)
green: long vowel, has a special form when shortened
position | front | central | back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
duration | short | long | short | long | short | long |
high | -āļī /i/ | -āļĩ /iË/ | -āļķ /ÉŊ/ | -āļ·āļ,-āļ· /ÉŊË/ | -āļļ /u/ | -āļđ /uË/ |
mid | āđ-āļ°,āđ-āđ /e/ | āđ- /eË/ | āđ-āļāļ° /ÉĪĘ/ | āđ-āļ,āđ-āļī /ÉĪË/ | āđ-āļ°,-- /o/ | āđ- /oË/ |
low | āđ-āļ°,āđ-āđ /É/ | āđ- /ÉË/ | -āļ°,-āļą /a/ | -āļē /aË/ | āđ-āļēāļ°,-āđāļ /É/ | -āļ /ÉË/ |
vowel+/a/ | āđ-āļĩāļĒāļ° /iaĘ/ | āđ-āļĩāļĒ /ia/ | āđ-āļ·āļāļ° /ÉŊaĘ/ | āđ-āļ·āļ /ÉŊa/ | -āļąāļ§āļ° /uaĘ/ | -āļąāļ§ /ua/ |
/a/+vowel | āđ- āđ- /aj/ | -āļēāļĒ /aËj/ | -āļģ /am/ | -āļēāļĄ /aËm/ | āđ-āļē /aw/ | -āļēāļ§ /aËw/ |
class | ending | none | -āđ | -āđ | -āđ | -āđ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mid | dead | low | â | fall | high | â |
mid | alive | mid | low | fall | high | rise |
high | dead | low | â | fall | ||
high | alive | rise | low | fall | ||
low | dead (short vowel) | high | fall | â | ||
low | dead (long vowel) | fall | â | high | ||
low | alive | mid | fall | high |
Brahmic scripts |
---|
The Brahmi script and its descendants |
The Thai script (like all Indic scripts) uses a number of modifications to write Sanskrit and related languages (in particular, Pali). Pali is very closely related to Sanskrit and is the liturgical language of Thai Buddhism. In Thailand, Pali is written and studied using a slightly modified Thai script. The main difference is that each consonant is followed by an implied short a (āļāļ°), not the 'o', or 'É' of Thai: this short a is never omitted in pronunciation, and if the vowel is not to be pronounced, then a specific symbol must be used, the pinthu āļāļš (a solid dot under the consonant). This means that sara a (āļāļ°) is never used when writing Pali, because it is always implied. For example, namo is written āļāļ°āđāļĄ in Thai, but in Pali it is written as āļāđāļĄ, because the āļāļ° is redundant. The Sanskrit word 'mantra' is written āļĄāļāļāļĢāđ in Thai (and therefore pronounced mon), but is written āļĄāļāļšāļāļšāļĢ in Sanskrit (and therefore pronounced mantra). When writing Pali, only 33 consonants and 12 vowels are used.
This is an example of a Pali text written using the Thai Sanskrit orthography: āļāļĢāļŦāđ āļŠāļĄāļšāļĄāļēāļŠāļĄāļšāļāļļāļāļšāđāļ āļ āļāļ§āļē [arahaáđ sammÄsambuddho bhagavÄ]. Written in modern Thai orthography, this becomes āļāļ°āļĢāļ°āļŦāļąāļ āļŠāļąāļĄāļĄāļēāļŠāļąāļĄāļāļļāļāđāļ āļ āļ°āļāļ°āļ§āļē arahang sammasamphuttho phakhawa.
In Thailand, Sanskrit is read out using the Thai values for all the consonants (so āļ is read as kha and not [ga]), which makes Thai spoken Sanskrit incomprehensible to sanskritists not trained in Thailand. The Sanskrit values are used in transliteration (without the diacritics), but these values are never actually used when Sanskrit is read out loud in Thailand. The vowels used in Thai are identical to Sanskrit, with the exception of āļĪ, āļĪāđ , āļĶ, and āļĶāđ , which are read using their Thai values, not their Sanskrit values. Sanskrit and Pali are not tonal languages, but in Thailand, the Thai tones are used when reading these languages out loud.
In the tables of this section, the Thai value (transliterated according to the Royal Thai system) of each letter is listed first, followed by the IAST value of each letter in square brackets. The IAST values are never used in pronunciation, but sometimes in transcriptions (with the diacritics omitted). This disjoint between transcription and spoken value explains the romanisation for Sanskrit names in Thailand that many foreigners find confusing. For example, āļŠāļļāļ§āļĢāļĢāļāļ āļđāļĄāļī is romanised as Suvarnabhumi, but pronounced su-wan-na-phum. āļĻāļĢāļĩāļāļāļĢāļīāļāļāļĢāđ is romanised as Srinagarindra but pronounced si-nakha-rin.
Plosives (also called stops) are listed in their traditional Sanskrit order, which corresponds to Thai alphabetical order from āļ to āļĄ with three exceptions: in Thai, high-class āļ is followed by two obsolete characters with no Sanskrit equivalent, high-class āļ and low-class āļ ; low-class āļ is followed by sibilant āļ (low-class equivalent of high-class sibilant āļŠ that follows āļĻ and āļĐ.) The table gives the Thai value first, and then the IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) value in square brackets.
class | Sanskrit unvoiced | Sanskrit voiced | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thai unvoiced | Thai voiced | |||||||||
Unaspirated | Aspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | Nasal | |||||
Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | Thai | Sanskrit | |
velar | āļ kà | āĪ
[ka] /k/ |
āļ khà | āĪ
[kha] /kĘ°/ |
āļ khÃĄ | āĪ
[ga] /g/ |
āļ khÃĄ | āĪ
[gha] /gĘą/ |
āļ ngÃĄ | āĪ
[áđ a] / Å/ |
palatal | āļ cà | āĪ
[ca] /c/, / tÉ/ |
āļ chà | āĪ
[cha] /cĘ°/, /tÉĘ°/ |
āļ chÃĄ | āĪ
[ja] |
āļ chÃĄ | āĪ
[jha] /ÉĘą/, /dÍĄĘĘą/ |
āļ yÃĄ | āĪ
[Ãąa] / Éē/ |
retroflex | āļ tà |
āĪ[áđa] /Ę/ |
āļ thà |
āĪ [áđha] /ĘĘ°/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪĄ[áļa] /É/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪĒ[áļha] /ÉĘą/ |
āļ nÃĄ |
āĪĢ[áđa] /Éģ/ |
dental | āļ tà |
āĪĪ[ta] /t/ |
āļ thà |
āĪĨ[tha] /tĘ°/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪĶ[da] /d/ |
āļ thÃĄ |
āĪ§[dha] /dĘą/ |
āļ nÃĄ |
āĪĻ[na] /n/ |
labial | āļ pà |
āĪŠ[pa] /p/ |
āļ phà |
āĪŦ[pha] /pĘ°/ |
āļ phÃĄ |
āĪŽ[ba] /b/ |
āļ phÃĄ |
āĪ[bha] /bĘą/ |
āļĄ mÃĄ |
āĪŪ[ma] /m/ |
tone class | Mid | High | Low | Low | Low |
None of the Sanskrit plosives are pronounced as the Thai voiced plosives, so these are not represented in the table. While letters are listed here according to their class in Sanskrit, Thai has lost the distinction between many of the consonants. So, while there is a clear distinction between āļ and āļ in Sanskrit, in Thai these two consonants are pronounced identically (including tone). Likewise, the Thai phonemes do not differentiate between the retroflex and dental classes, since Thai has no retroflex consonants. The equivalents of all the retroflex consonants are pronounced identically to their dental counterparts: thus āļ is pronounced like āļ, āļ is pronounced like āļ, āļ is pronounced like āļ, āļ is pronounced like āļ, and āļ is pronounced like āļ.
The Sanskrit unaspirated unvoiced plosives are pronounced as unaspirated unvoiced, whereas Sanskrit aspirated voiced plosives are pronounced as aspirated unvoiced.
Semivowels (āļāļķāđāļāļŠāļĢāļ° kueng sara) and liquids come in Thai alphabetical order after āļĄ, the last of the plosives. The term āļāļ§āļĢāļĢāļ awak means "without a break"; that is, without a plosive.
series | symbol | value | related vowels | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | |||
palatal | āļĒ | yÃĄ | āĪŊ [ya] /j/ | āļāļī and āļāļĩ |
retroflex | āļĢ | rÃĄ | āĪ° [ra]
/É―/ |
āļĪ and āļĪāđ |
dental | āļĨ | lÃĄ | āĪē [la]
/l/ |
āļĶ and āļĶāđ |
labial | āļ§ | wÃĄ | āĪĩ [va]
/Ę/ |
āļāļļ and āļāļđ |
Inserted sounds (āđāļŠāļĩāļĒāļāđāļāļĢāļ siat saek) follow the semi-vowel āļ§ in alphabetical order.
series | symbol | value | |
---|---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | ||
palatal | āļĻ | sà | āĪķ [Åa]/É/ |
retroflex | āļĐ | sà | āĪ· [áđĢa]/Ę/ |
dental | āļŠ | sà | āĪļ [sa]/s/ |
Like Sanskrit, Thai has no voiced sibilant (so no 'z' or 'zh'). In modern Thai, the distinction between the three high-class consonants has been lost and all three are pronounced 'sà '; however, foreign words with a sh-sound may still be transcribed as if the Sanskrit values still hold (e.g., ang-grit āļāļąāļāļāļĪāļĐ for English instead of āļāļąāļāļāļĪāļŠ).
symbol | value | |
---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | |
āļŦ | hà | āĪđ [ha]
/ÉĶ/ |
āļŦ, a high-class consonant, comes next in alphabetical order, but its low-class equivalent, āļŪ, follows similar-appearing āļ as the last letter of the Thai alphabet. Like modern Hindi, the voicing has disappeared, and the letter is now pronounced like English 'h'. Like Sanskrit, this letter may only be used to start a syllable, but may not end it. (A popular beer is romanized as Singha, but in Thai is āļŠāļīāļāļŦāđ, with a karan on the āļŦ; correct pronunciation is " sing", but foreigners to Thailand typically say "sing-ha".)
symbol | value | |
---|---|---|
Thai | Sanskrit | |
āļŽ | llÃĄ | āĪģ[áļ·a]
/É/ |
This represents the retroflex liquid of Pali and Vedic Sanskrit, which does not exist in Classical Sanskrit.
symbol | value |
---|---|
āļāļ° | a [a] |
āļāļē | a [Ä] |
āļāļī | i [i] |
āļāļĩ | i [ÄŦ] |
āļāļļ | u [u] |
āļāļđ | u [ÅŦ] |
āđāļ | e [e] |
āđāļ | o [o] |
āļĪ | ru [áđ] |
āļĪāđ | ru [áđ] |
āļĶ | lu [áļ·] |
āļĶāđ | lu [áļđ] |
All consonants have an inherent 'a' sound, and therefore there is no need to use the āļ° symbol when writing Sanskrit. The Thai vowels āļāļ·, āđāļ, āđāļ, and so forth, are not used in Sanskrit. The zero consonant, āļ, is unique to the Indic alphabets descended from Khmer. When it occurs in Sanskrit, it is always the zero consonant and never the vowel o [ÉË]. Its use in Sanskrit is therefore to write vowels that cannot be otherwise written alone: e.g., āļāļē or āļāļĩ. When āļ is written on its own, then it is a carrier for the implied vowel, a [a] (equivalent to āļāļ° in Thai).
The vowel sign āļāļģ occurs in Sanskrit, but only as the combination of the pure vowels sara a āļāļē with nikkhahit āļāđ.
There are a number of additional symbols only used to write Sanskrit or Pali, and not used in writing Thai.
Symbol | IAST |
---|---|
āļāđ | áđ |
In Sanskrit, the anusvÄra indicates a certain kind of nasal sound. In Thai this is written as an open circle above the consonant, known as nikkhahit (āļāļīāļāļŦāļīāļ), from Pali niggahÄŦta. Nasalisation does not occur in Thai, therefore, a nasal stop is always substituted: e.g. āļāđ taáđ, is pronounced as āļāļąāļ tang by Thai Sanskritists. If nikkhahit occurs before a consonant, then Thai uses a nasal stop of the same class: e.g. āļŠāđāļŠāļšāļāļĪāļāļē [saáđskáđta] is read as āļŠāļąāļāļŠāļāļĪāļāļē san-sa-krit-ta (The āļŠ following the nikkhahit is a dental-class consonant, therefore the dental-class nasal stop āļ is used). For this reason, it has been suggested that in Thai, nikkhahit should be listed as a consonant. [8] Also, traditional Pali grammars describe nikkhahit as a consonant. Nikkhahit āļāļīāļāļŦāļīāļ occurs as part of the Thai vowels sara am āļāļģ and sara ue āļāļķ.
āļāļš
Because the Thai script is an abugida, a symbol (equivalent to virÄma in devanagari) needs to be added to indicate that the implied vowel is not to be pronounced. This is the phinthu, which is a solid dot (also called 'Bindu' in Sanskrit) below the consonant.
āļāđ
Yamakkan (āļĒāļēāļĄāļąāļāļāļēāļĢ) is an obsolete symbol used to mark the beginning of consonant clusters: e.g. āļāđāļĢāļēāļŦāđāļĄāļ phramana [brÄhmaáđa]. Without the yamakkan, this word would be pronounced pharahamana [barÄhamaáđa] instead. This is a feature unique to the Thai script (other Indic scripts use a combination of ligatures, conjuncts or virÄma to convey the same information). The symbol is obsolete because pinthu may be used to achieve the same effect: āļāļšāļĢāļēāļŦāļšāļĄāļ.
The means of recording visarga (final voiceless 'h') in Thai has reportedly been lost, although the character âāļ° which is used to transcribe a short /a/ or to add a glottal stop after a vowel is the closest equivalent and can be seen used as a visarga in some Thai-script Sanskrit text.
Thai script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.
The Unicode block for Thai is U+0E00âU+0E7F. It is a verbatim copy of the older TIS-620 character set which encodes the vowels āđ, āđ, āđ, āđ and āđ before the consonants they follow, and thus Thai, Lao, Tai Viet and New Tai Lue are the only Brahmic scripts in Unicode that use visual order instead of logical order.
Thai
[1]
[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
U+0E0x | ก | ข | ฃ | ค | ฅ | ฆ | ง | จ | ฉ | ช | ซ | ฌ | ญ | ฎ | ฏ | |
U+0E1x | ฐ | ฑ | ฒ | ณ | ด | ต | ถ | ท | ธ | น | บ | ป | ผ | ฝ | พ | ฟ |
U+0E2x | ภ | ม | ย | ร | ฤ | ล | ฦ | ว | ศ | ษ | ส | ห | ฬ | อ | ฮ | ฯ |
U+0E3x | ะ | ั | า | ำ | ิ | ี | ึ | ื | ุ | ู | ฺ | ฿ | ||||
U+0E4x | เ | แ | โ | ใ | ไ | ๅ | ๆ | ็ | ่ | ้ | ๊ | ๋ | ์ | ํ | ๎ | ๏ |
U+0E5x | ๐ | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | ๙ | ๚ | ๛ | ||||
U+0E6x | ||||||||||||||||
U+0E7x | ||||||||||||||||
Notes |
Thai characters can be typed using the Kedmanee layout and the Pattachote layout.
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verification. (December 2007) |