The Thai spelling reform of 1942 was initiated by the government of Prime Minister Field Marshal

Plaek Phibunsongkhram Plaek Phibunsongkhram; 14 July 1897 – 11 June 1964) was a Thai military officer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and again from 1948 to 1957. He rose to power as a leading member of the Kh ...

. The prime minister's office announced a simplification of the

Thai alphabet The Thai script (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai, 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 leas ...

on 29 May 1942. The announcement was published in the ''Royal Gazette'' on 1 June 1942. The reform was cancelled by the government of

Khuang Aphaiwong Khuang Aphaiwong (also spelled Kuang, Abhaiwong and Abhaiwongse; , ; 17 May 1902 – 15 March 1968), also known by his noble title Luang Kowit-aphaiwong (, ), was the founder of the Democrat Party and three times the prime minister of Thaila ...

on 2 August 1944. Following the November 1947 coup, Phibunsongkhram became prime minister for a second time, but did not revive the

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 ...

reform.

Proposed simplification of the Thai writing system

A significant amount of redundancy of the Thai writing system was retained, in contrast to the simplification undertaken within the

Lao language Lao (Lao: , ), sometimes referred to as Laotian, is the official language of Laos and a significant language in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Spoken by over 3 million people in ...

. The changes to simplify Thai spelling were: *All of วรรค ฎ (i.e., ฎ ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ), the section of the alphabet corresponding to the Indic

retroflex consonant A retroflex () or cacuminal () consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consona ...

s, is gone, being replaced by their corresponding denti-alveolar consonants วรรค ด (ด ต ถ ท ธ น) . *For , the vowel ใ, used in twenty specific words, is uniformly replaced with ไ. *ญ is replaced with ย in initial position (e.g., ใหญ่ > ไหย่), but retained in final position as without its "base" (ฐาน). *Of the three high consonants, ศ ษ ส, only ส is retained (e.g., ศึกษา > สึกสา). *Initial cluster ทร is replaced by ซ (e.g., กระทรวง > กะซวง). * ''Leading ho'' ห, which typically combines with low-class consonants to make high-class consonants, replaces the ''leading o'' อ in these four words อยาก อย่า อย่าง อยู่ (หยาก หย่า หย่าง หยู่). *Many silent consonants that do not add to the pronunciation are eliminated (e.g., จริง > จิง, ศาสตร์ > สาตร). *Some clusters are reduced (e.g., กระทรวง > กะซวง).

Proposed simplification of the Thai writing system

See also

References

Further reading