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Thai Language
Thai,In or Central Thai (historically Siamese;Although "Thai" and "Central Thai" have become more common, the older term, "Siamese", is still used by linguists, especially when it is being distinguished from other Tai languages (Diller 2008:6). "Proto-Thai" is, for example, the ancestor of all of Southwestern Tai, not just Siamese (Rischel 1998). ), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai, Mon, Lao Wiang, Phuan people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout the country. It is the sole official language of Thailand. Thai is the most spoken of over 60 languages of Thailand by both number of native and overall speakers. Over half of its vocabulary is derived from or borrowed from Pali, Sanskrit, Mon and Old Khmer. It is a tonal and analytic language. Thai has a complex orthography and system of relational markers. Spoken Thai, depending on standard sociolinguistic factors such as age, gender ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thai Script
The Thai script (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai language, Thai, Southern Thai language, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (, ), 16 vowel symbols (, ) that combine into at least 32 vowel forms, four Tone (linguistics), tone diacritics ( or , or ), and other diacritics. Although commonly referred to as the ''Thai alphabet'', the script is 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 Writing direction, 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. History The Thai script is derived from the Sukhothai script, which itself is derived from the Old Khmer script (, ''akson khom''), which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southwestern Tai Languages
The Southwestern Tai or Thai languages are a branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. Its languages include Central Thai (Siamese), Northern Thai (Lanna), Lao (including Isan), Shan and others. Classification The internal classification of the Southwestern Tai dialects is still not well agreed on. Chamberlain (1975) Chamberlain (1975) divides Southwestern Tai into 4 branches.Chamberlain, James R. 1975.A new look at the history and classification of the Tai dialects" In J. G. Harris and J. R. Chamberlain, eds, Studies in Tai Linguistics in Honor of William J. Gedney, pp. 49–60. Bangkok: Central Institute of English Language, Office of State Universities. Chamberlain based his classification on the following phonological patterns. (''Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see Proto-Tai language#Tones''.) #/p/ vs. /ph/ #tone *A column split/merger pattern #tone *BCD columns split/merger patterns #B-DL tonal coalescence ;Proto-Southwestern Tai * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mon Language
The Mon language, formerly known as Peguan and Talaing, is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon people. Mon, like the related Khmer language, but unlike most languages in mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recognised indigenous language in Myanmar as well as a recognised indigenous language of Thailand. Mon was classified as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's 2010 ''Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger''. The Mon language has faced assimilative pressures in both Myanmar and Thailand, where many individuals of Mon descent are now monolingual in Burmese or Thai respectively. In 2007, Mon speakers were estimated to number between 1,800,000 and 2 million. In Myanmar, the majority of Mon speakers live in Southern Myanmar, especially Mon State, followed by Tanintharyi Region and Kayin State. History Mon is an important language in Burmese history. Until the 12th century, it was the lingua franca of the Irrawaddy valley—not only in the Mon ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pali
Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Canon'' or ''Tripiṭaka, Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravada, Theravāda'' Buddhism. Pali was designated as a Classical languages of India, classical language by the Government of India on 3 October 2024. Origin and development Etymology The word 'Pali' is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon. The word seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript. K. R. Norman suggests that its emergence was based on a misunderstanding of the compound , with being interpreted as the name of a particular language. The name Pali does not appear in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Languages Of Thailand
Thailand is home to 51 living indigenous languages and 24 living non-indigenous languages, with the majority of people speaking languages of the Southwestern Tai family, and the national language being Central Thai. Lao is spoken along the borders with the Lao PDR, Karen languages are spoken along the border with Myanmar, Khmer is spoken near Cambodia and Malay is spoken in the south near Malaysia. Sixty-two 'domestic' languages are officially recognized, and international languages spoken in Thailand, primarily by international workers, expatriates and business people, include Burmese, Karen, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese, among others. Officially recognized languages National breakdown The following table comprises all 62 ethnolinguistic groups recognized by the Royal Thai Government in the 2011 Country Report to the UN Committee responsible for the ''International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination'', available from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Official Language
An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishment of an official language might also place restrictions on the use of other languages. Designated rights of an official language can be created in written form or by historic usage. An official language is recognized by 178 countries, of which 101 recognize more than one. The government of Italy made Italian language, Italian their official language in 1999, and some nations (such as Mexico and Australia) have never declared ''de jure'' official languages at the national level. Other nations have declared non-indigenous official languages. Many of the world's constitutions mention one or more official or national languages. Some countries use the official language designation to empower indigenous groups by giving them access to the gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics analogous to a family tree, or to phylogenetic trees of taxa used in evolutionary taxonomy. Linguists thus describe the ''daughter languages'' within a language family as being ''genetically related''. The divergence of a proto-language into daughter languages typically occurs through geographical separation, with different regional dialects of the proto-language undergoing different language changes and thus becoming distinct languages over time. One well-known example of a language family is the Romance languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, and many others, all of which are descended from Vulgar Latin.Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.)''Ethnologue: Languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kra–Dai Languages
The Kra–Dai languages ( , also known as Tai–Kadai and Daic ), are a language family in mainland Southeast Asia, southern China, and northeastern India. All languages in the family are tonal language, tonal, including Thai language, Thai and Lao language, Lao, the national languages of Thailand and Laos, respectively. Around 93 million people speak Kra–Dai languages; 60% of those speak Thai. ''Ethnologue'' lists 95 languages in the family, with 62 of these being in the Tai languages, Tai branch. Names The name "Kra–Dai" was proposed by Weera Ostapirat (2000), as Kra and Dai are the reconstructed Exonym and endonym, autonyms of the Kra languages, Kra and Tai languages, Tai branches, respectively. "Kra–Dai" has since been used by the majority of specialists working on Southeast Asian linguistics, including Peter K. Norquest, Norquest (2007), Pittayaporn (2009),Pittayaporn, Pittayawat. 2009. The phonology of Proto-Tai. Ph.D. Thesis, Cornell UniversityPeter Jenks and Pitt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southwestern Tai
The Southwestern Tai or Thai languages are a branch of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia. Its languages include Central Thai (Siamese), Northern Thai (Lanna), Lao (including Isan), Shan and others. Classification The internal classification of the Southwestern Tai dialects is still not well agreed on. Chamberlain (1975) Chamberlain (1975) divides Southwestern Tai into 4 branches.Chamberlain, James R. 1975.A new look at the history and classification of the Tai dialects" In J. G. Harris and J. R. Chamberlain, eds, Studies in Tai Linguistics in Honor of William J. Gedney, pp. 49–60. Bangkok: Central Institute of English Language, Office of State Universities. Chamberlain based his classification on the following phonological patterns. (''Note: For an explanation of the notation system for Tai tones, see Proto-Tai language#Tones''.) #/p/ vs. /ph/ #tone *A column split/merger pattern #tone *BCD columns split/merger patterns #B-DL tonal coalescence ;Proto-Southwestern Tai * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Tai
The Central Tai languages include southern dialects of Zhuang, and various Nung and Tày dialects of northern Vietnam. Central Tai languages differ from Northern Tai languages in that Central Tai distinguishes unaspirated and aspirated onsets, while Northern Tai generally does not (Li 1977). Southwestern Tai also displays this kind of aspiration contrast. Classification William Gedney considers Central Tai to be more closely related to Southwestern Tai than to Northern Tai, while André-Georges Haudricourt argues for a closer relation to Northern Tai. Pittayaporn's (2009) tentative tree of the Tai branch, however, considers Central Tai to be paraphyletic. Certain languages in predominantly Central Tai-speaking areas, such as Caolan and Nùng An in northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Thai General System Of Transcription
The Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) is the official system for rendering Thai words in the Latin alphabet. It was published by the Royal Institute of Thailand in early 1917, when Thailand was called Siam. It is used in road signs and government publications and is the closest method to a standard of transcription for Thai, but its use, even by the government, is inconsistent. The system is almost identical to the one that is defined by ISO 11940-2. Features Prominent features of the system are: *It uses only unmodified letters from the Latin alphabet without diacritics. *It spells all vowels and diphthongs with vowel letters: , , , , . **Single letters , , , , are monophthongs (simple vowels), with the same value as in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). ** Digraphs with trailing are monophthongs; , , sound like respectively. **Digraphs and trigraphs with trailing , , are diphthongs and indicate IPA respectively. * It uses consonants as in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
