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Title: Thai Language development, features and culture


1
Thai Language development, features and culture
  • THAI STUDIES

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chamaipak Tayjasanant The
Department of Linguistics The Faculaty of
Humanities, Kasetsart University
2
Outline
  1. The importance of language
  2. Language families
  3. The development of the Thai language
  4. Thai Language variation
  5. Thai Language and culture
  6. Thai language maintenance

3
THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE
  • Language is an important part of human
    civilization.
  • Humans use language as a communication tool
  • Every society has at least one language in common.

4
2. Language families
  • Criteria
  • Geography/ethnics
  • Word structure
  • Word order in sentences

5
Criterion 1 Geography/ethnics
  • Indo-european Latin, English, French, German,
    Sansakrit
  • Tai thai, Laotian, black tai, red tai, white
    tai, tai lue
  • Mon-Khmer Mon, Khmer, Khmu, lawa
  • sino-tibetan mandarin, Cantonese, Burmese,
    tibetan
  • Austronesian Malaysian, Indonesian, taglog
  • Hamito-Semitic Arabic, Somali, Hebrew, hausa

6
The Indo-European Language Family
Source http//www.slmc.uottawa.ca/content_images/
2xx007e.gif
7
The Thai Language Family
Source http//taisea.org/images/TaiLingBranch.gif
8
  • Fang Kui Li (1959), a linguist at Washington
    University, has classified Tai languages into 3
    groups, based on the relationship between words
    and sounds
  • The South Western Tai
  • The Central Tai
  • The Northern Tai

9
1) The South Western Tai
  • In Burma / Myanmar shan / tai yai, Red tai
  • In Thailand Siamese (Standard THAI), TaakBai
    dialect
  • In Lao Red tai, Black tai
  • In Vietnem white tai, Black tai
  • In China tai lue, tai ya
  • In INDIA Ahom, Tai Phake, Khamti 

10
2) The Central Tai
  • In northern Vietnam  Ngu?i Th?, Nung, Lung
    Chau , yong chun
  • In china Longzhou, Ningming, Nong Zhuang, Dai
    Zhuang, Min Zhuang, Yang Zhuang, Pyang Zhuang

11
3) The Northern Tai
  • In china zhuang, bouyei  
  • In LAo Tai Mène
  • In Thailand Yoy

12
Criterion 2 word structure
  • Finegan (2004) have stated that languages may
    belong to the following types based on how their
    words are structured.
  • Inflectional languages
  • Agglutinative languages
  • Isolating languages

13
  • 1) Inflectional languages
  • (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian,
    Greek, Sanskit)
  • In these languages, a word may consist of more
    than one morpheme (free or bound).
  • A bound morpheme can have more than one meaning.
  • Example English talk - talks
  • (The s allomorph marks a present simple form, a
    3rd-person subject, and a singular subject.)

14
  • 2) Agglutinative languages
  • (Turkish, Japanese, Swahili, Korean, Malay,
    Eskimo)
  • In these languages, a word can have more than one
    morpheme (free or bound).
  • This feature is similar to that of inflectional
    languages.
  • However, a bound morpheme usually has only one
    meaning.
  • Example Turkish kitap book kitaplar
    books
  • (The lar allomorph indicates plurality.)

15
3) Isolating languages (Thai, Chinese,
Vietnamese) In these languages, a word is
generally a single morpheme. Singularity or
plurality, past or future actions, and so on are
indicated by adding more separate words to the
phrase or sentence. Contexts significantly help
with understanding. Example Thai sàmùt saam
lêm - three notebooks
(notebook 3 ARTICLE)
(Examples adapted from Finegan 2004 75)
16
Criterion 3 word order in sentences
  • SVO English, thai , French , khmer ,
    Vietnamese , Chinese
  • SOV Japanese , Korean
  • VSO welsh
  • VOS Malagasy
  • OVS Makushi, Apalai
  • OSV Fasu, Jamamadi

17
? Thai language features
  • Isolating language
  • No indicator/change of word or sentence structure
    for gender, number, tense
  • Tonal language five tones
  • There are numerative classifiers.

18
3. The development of the Thai language
  • Development of the thai alphabet
  • History of the thai language
  • Changes in the thai language

19
1) development of the Thai alphabet
  • King Ramkamhaeng created the first Thai alphabet
    in 1283 (The sukhothai period).
  • The Thai alphabet uses 44 consonant and 15 basic
    vowel characters.
  • These are horizontally placed, left to right,
    with no intervening space, to form syllables,
    words and sentences.

20
  • The vowel characters and consonants can be
    combined in various ways to produce numerous
    compound vowels (dipthongs and tripthongs).
  • The writing system of the sukhothai period
    became the basis for writing and eventually
    developed to be the modern Thai alphabet.

21
The king ram khamhaeng inscription
22
  • After the thai written language was introduced by
    King Ramkamhaeng, it has undergone some
    modifications.
  • yet, it can still be read because it retains
    many similarities to modern Thai writings.
  • The writing was based on Pali, Sanskrit and
    Indian concepts, and many Mon and Khmer words
    entered the Thai languages as well.

23
The Thai Alphabet of the Ayutthaya period
24
The Thai Alphabet of the Present time
Source http//www.thaialphabet.net/
wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Thai-consonants.jpg
25
2) History of the Thai language
  • General background
  • The sukhothai period
  • the Ayutthaya early Rattanakosin period
  • the mid-Rattanakosin period
  • The present days

26
General background
  • Thai, The national and official language of
    Thailand, is spoken by around twenty million
    residents of the Southeast Asian country.
  • spoken Thai may have originated in the area
    around Vietnam and China.
  • Thai is related to the languages spoken in
    eastern Myanmar, northern Vietnam, Yunnan and
    Laos.

27
  • Thai is a tonal language in the Tai group and the
    Tai-Kadai language family.
  • Today, standard Thai is spoken nationwide with
    regional dialects differing widely from north to
    south and east to west, including
  • Issan (Northeastern Thai)
  • Passa Neua or Lanna (Northern Thai)
  • Thai Tai (Southern Thai).

28
  • Early Thai settlers in the late Dvaravati period
    gradually enlarged their Chinese-influenced,
    tonal, monosyllabic language by borrowing certain
    Mon and Khmer words.
  • Later, the language absorbed polysyllabic
    Sanskrit (the classical language of Hindu India)
    and Pali words as Brahmanism and Theraveda
    Buddhism were infused.
  • Foreign traders and Chinese immigrants made minor
    additions in later centuries.

29
The sukhothai period
  • What can be seen in The king ram khamhaeng
    inscription
  • Some Influences from scripts of the following
    languages
  • Mon
  • khmer 
  • Pallava (from Southern India)

30
The Mon Script
Source http//orality-literacy-thailand-nui.blogs
pot.com/2004/12/thai-script-and-its-past.html
31
The Khmer Script
Source http//orality-literacy-thailand-nui.blogs
pot.com/2004/12/thai-script-and-its-past.html
32
The Pallava Script
Source http//www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm
33
The Ayutthaya early rattanakosin period
  • What can be seen in literature, chronicles,
    historical anecdotes, archives, and the first
    thai textbook
  • 44 consonants 3 groups
  • 21 vowels
  • 4 tonal marks

34
3 groups of the 44 consonants
Source http//letstalkthai.com/wp-content/uploads
/2009/12/consonants.jpg
35
The first Thai textbook
36
The mid-rattanakosin period
37
The first Thai Textbook in Mid-Rttanakosin
Moonbot Banpakit by Praya Sri Sunthornvoharn 
38
The reigns of King Rama 4 - King Rama 6
  • Loan words from English, e.g.
  • ?????? (hotel)
  • ??????????? (Siam commercial)
  • ??????? (company)
  • ????????? (telegram)

39
The period of Field Marshal Plaek
phiboonsongkram (1938-1942)
  • In 1942 Field Marshal Plaek phiboonsongkram
    announced some changes in the Thai language
  • Omission of the following consonants
  • ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  • Omission of the following vowels
  • ? ? ?? ? ??
  • These changes were abolished in 1943.

40
The present period
  • Sounds
  • 44 consonants ? 21 consonant sounds
  • 26 vowels ? 21 vowel sounds
  • 4 tonal marks ? 5 tones (sounds)

41
The Thai consonant sounds
42
The Thai vowel sounds
Source http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm
ons /4/40/Thai_vowel_chart_with_thai_alphabets.png
43
The Thai tonal marks
44
  • word formations processes
  • compounding
  • Type 1 ???? ???????? ?????? ???????
    ????????????????????
  • Type 2 (from morphemes with related meanings)
  • ?????? ??????????? ???????????????? ???????
    ??????
  • affixation ?????? ???????? ????????
  • Repetition ??? ????? ????? ?????

45
  • Clipping ?? ???? ???
  • abbreviation ???. ???? ?.?.?.?.?.
  • conversion ???????? (N?V) ?????? (N?V)
  • Loan words ??????? ????????
  • Word coinage ??????????? ?????
  • Onomatopoeia ???? ???? ????

46
  • Sentence structure
  • Simple sentences
  • ???????????????
  • Compound sentences
  • ??????????????????????????????
  • Complex sentences
  • ????????????????

47
3) Changes in the Thai language
  • the sound level
  • The word level
  • The grammatical level
  • The meaning level

48
Sound changes
  • Changes of vowel sounds
  • ????? gt ?????/ ??? gt ???
  • vowel sounds becoming longer ???? gt ????
  • Changes of tones
  • ??? (no mark) gt ???? (high tone)
  • ?? (low tone) gt ?? (falling tone)

49
Sound changes
  • Current trends
  • 1) Omission of ? (R) ? (L)
  • in consonant clusters
  • ???????? gt ??????
  • ??????????? gt ?????????
  • ?????? gt ?????
  • ??? gt ??
  • 2) Change of ? pronunciation
  • ?????????????????
  • 3) Change of vowel pronunciation
  • ???? gt ?????

50
Word changes
  • numerative classifiers in the Sukhothai period
  • ??? was used for round objects.
  • Now this word is used for formless items, e.g.
    soul, fire, etc.
  • conversion took place (n ? V)
  • ???????? (telephone)
  • ?????(radio)
  • Some words no longer exist
  • ???? was used, but is now replaced by ???????.
  • ?????? was used, but is now replaced by
    ???????.

51
Grammatical changes
  • in the Sukhothai period
  • use of double negation
  • ????????????????????????? (??????????????)
  • ??? subject verb
  • ???????????????????????????????????????????????
  • Some intransitive verbs were then transitive.
  • ????

52
meaning/ / semantic changes
  • in the Sukhothai period
  • ??? (lose) meant ??? (win).
  • ????? (preten) meant ?????? (sincere).
  • ???????? (out of town) meant ??????????
    (another country)
  • ???? (fathers younger brother) ? ?? (fathers
    younger sibling)
  • ?????? (a merchants employee) ? ??????? (a
    customer)
  • ????? (beaten) ? ??????? (invited)

53
4. Thai language variation
  • Language and gender
  • Language and geography
  • Language and age
  • Language and social classes
  • Language and ethnics

54
Language and gender
  • Gender (a social factor) ? differences in social
    status
  • It is generally understood that genetics and
    physical features indicate gender roles.
  • Gender roles indicate male/female language use.
  • The role of gender differs from culture to
    culture.
  • It is understood through socialisation
    acculturation.

55
Stockwell (2007 19-21) Gender has become a determinant of linguistic usage, in the last 50 years.
  • Findings from research (by Peter Trudgill)
  • Women claimed to use prestige features more than
    they really did.
  • Men claimed to use fewer prestige features than
    they really did.
  • ?Women ? hypercorrect (conscious of being judged)
  • Men ? covert prestige (streetwise/
    macho)

56
Findings from research in 1970 (by robin lakoff)
  • Womens talk frequent use of
  • particular colour terms (mauve)
  • evaluative adjective (lovely, sweet)
  • hesitant intonation
  • high pitch for surprise and questions
  • tag-phrases (you know, kind of, sort of)
  • superpoliteness (euphemism, indirectness,
    hedging)

57
Findings from recent research
  • The purpose of conversation
  • mens ? information-gathering
  • womens ? support-mechanism
  • In mixed groups
  • Men controls the time and turn-taking.
  • Women support and reply.
  • Men explain things.
  • Women ask more questions and use more backchannel
    noise (uh-huh, yeah, yes, hmm, hmm) and invite
    participant
  • View of forcefulness
  • mens ? normal organization
  • womens ? personal aggression

58
Findings from research in thailand
  • Sompittaya (1996)
  • Male speakers and females speakers used different
    pronouns and sentence endings
  • females speakers ??? ????? ?? ??
  • males speakers ?? ????
  • Homosexual male speakers use all of the above.

59
Language and geography
  • Geography plays important roles in human
    behaviors as well as language use. ? regional
    dialects
  • Speakers of different regional dialects speak use
    the same language differently in many aspects
  • ? pronunciation, vocabulary, sentence
    formation, etc.
  • Speakers from highly different regional dialects
    may not be able to understand each other.

60
Thai dialects
  • Each Thai dialect has its own identities.
  • Thai dialects can be categorized into 4 main
    groups
  • Northern Thai dialects
  • Northeastern Thai dialects
  • Central Thai dialects
  • Southern Thai dialects

61
  • Differences among Thai dialects are found in
  • Sounds
  • consonants
  • Standard thai ???
  • Northeastern thai ???
  • Standard thai ????
  • Northeastern thai ????

62
  • Vowels
  • Standard thai ????? / ????
  • Northeastern thai ????
  • Tones
  • Standard thai ???
  • Northeastern thai ???

63
  • vocabulary
  • Standard thai ?????
  • Northeastern thai ????
  • Standard thai ????
  • Northeastern thai ????
  • Standard thai ??????
  • Northeastern thai ????????? / ???????

64
  • grammar
  • Standard thai
  • ???????????????? item This not expensive
  • Northeastern thai
  • ???????????????? item This expensive not

65
Language and age
  • Age (a social factor)
  • ? differences in social status
  • Different cultures
  • ? different age roles

66
  • The Chinese respect senior/elder people because
    they have power to make decision.
  • The Americans give importance to younger
    generations due to their industrialized society,
    which highlights personal achievement.
  • In The Thai society, older people have more power
    than younger ones, as can be seen in the Thai
    pronouns ??? ????

67
  • The age role of people can change as they get
    older.
  • People of different age groups differ in their
    behavoural patterns, including language use
    patterns.

68
  • Examples of language and age in thai sounds
  • Adult language ???
  • Child language ??? ???
  • Adult language ???
  • Child language ??? / ????
  • Adult language ????
  • Child language ????

Note s ? ch / c r ? y
69
  • Adult language ????
  • Child language ????
  • Adult language ???
  • Child language ???
  • Adult language ?????
  • Child language ???-??
  • Adult language ????????????
  • Child language ???-????? / ????-?????
  • Adult language ?????
  • Child language ?????

Note ease of articulation
70
  • Examples of language and age in thai slang
  • Slang emerges and disappears very quickly.
  • research in the past 30 years has shown
  • younger thais tend to use new slang or pronounce
    existing words with new popular sounds, compared
    with older thais.
  • The Language used by the young generation can be
    an indicator for language change.

71
Language and occupations
  • People from different occupations
  • ? different varieties of language
  • ?Language use may reflect the speakers
    occupation, e.g. doctors, lawyers, politicians,
    businessmen.

72
Language and social classes
  • Social stratification
  • ? the process of categorizing people into
    different groups
  • These groups are called social classes.

73
  • Types of social classes systems
  • Open social-class system
  • in this system, people can move from one class
    to another, depending on their achievement.
  • Closed social-class system
  • in this system, people cannot move from one class
    to another, e.g. the Indian class system.

74
  • Indicators of the Open social-class system are
  • Wealth income , heritage, cash, purchases of
    services, e.g. health or entertainments
  • Power physical strength, family background,
    position in the politics or workplaces
  • Prestige power, wealth, achievement

75
  • Social classes can be expressed through such
    words as
  • ???? (a prestigious form of you)
  • ?????????? (Mr President)
  • ????????? (Mr manager)
  • ?????? (Doctor with respect)

76
  • Other Indicators of social classes salaries,
    education, occupations.
  • Social classes may also influence language
    changes.
  • New forms of language used by prestigious classes
    tend to be easily accepted.

77
  • types of language changes caused by social
    classes
  • Bottom-up type
  • natural, slow, and hardly noticeable
  • Top-down type
  • determined by prestigious people

78
Language and ethnics
  • A language may be spoken differently in all
    linguistic areas
  • sound system
  • vocabulary
  • Grammar
  • due to different ethnics of its speakers.

79
  • ethnics of speakers are indicated by
  • Ethnics
  • Skin colors
  • Languages
  • Costumes
  • Food
  • Religion
  • customs

80
  • Ethnic groups In Thailand are
  • The Chinese
  • Indians
  • Muslims
  • Hilltribers
  • Mon
  • Khmer
  • Laotian groups
  • Causes of inter-Ethnic problems are
  • Different ethnic backgrounds
  • Different languages (Languages indicate ethnics.)

81
  • Examples of ethnic influence on the Thai
    language
  • The Chinese pronunciation of Thai sounds
  • d ????? ????? ? l ?????? ?????
  • n ???? ???? ? ? ???? ????
  • long vowel ? short vowel
  • short vowel ? long vowel

82
5. Thai Language and culture
  • Language is the principal means whereby we
    conduct our social life. When it is used in
    context of communication, it is bound up with
    culture in multiple and complex ways.
  • (Kramsch 1998 3)

83
Through socialisation or acculturation, speakers
of the same society and culture acquire
appropriate language use, interaction and
interpretations, which include etiquette, polite
language, what to say, what not to say, the use
of written language, and so on.
84
If a language is a know-what, culture is the
know-how that a person must possess to get
through the task of daily living.
  • Benefits of learning another language
  • A tool for communication
  • A tool for creation and transfer of culture and
    knowledge

85
6. Thai language maintenance
Richards Schmidt (2002 290) the degree to
which an individual or group continues to use
their language, particularly bilingual and
multilingual area or among immigrant groups
86
  • Issues to consider
  • whether or not the language is an official
    language
  • whether or not it is used in the media, for
    religious purposes, in education
  • How many speakers of the language live in the
    same area.
  • In some places where the use of certain languages
    has greatly decreased there have been efforts to
    revise languages in declining use, e.g. of Maori
    in New Zealand and Hawaiian in Hawaii

87
Early Attempts to create the standard variety of
Thai
  • The revolution of the Thai writing system during
    King Rama 6s period.
  • The establishment of  the Thai Royal Literary
    Club  in 1914 in charge of Certifying literary
    works (except historical writings) and Awarding
    outstanding literary works
  • The establishment of The Royal Institute of
    Thailand in 1933 in charge of academic works of
    the government as well as planning and
    regulation of the Thai language.
  • The spelling revolution (Omission of consonant
    and vowel characters) between 1942-1945Field
    Marshal Plaeks era

88
  • APART FROM THE LANGUAGE,FIELD MARCHAL PLAEK ALSO
    MADE OTHER ATTEMPTS TO MAKE THAILAND MORE
    CIVILISED COUNTRY.

Source http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaek_Phibuns
ongkhram mediaviewer/FileThai_culture_poster.
PNG
89
More Attempts to prevent Thai from changing too
quickly
  • Conferences and seminars
  • Thai language clubs / Thai culture clubs in
    schools, universities, and communities
  • Television programs
  • ??????????? (Thai on the screen) ??????????????
    (A Thai word a day)
  • ????????? (A language club) ?????????? (We love
    our language.)
  • Textbooks, newspaper Articles , Thai monolingual
    dictionary

90
Textbooks for elementary/primary educations
Source https//www.google.co.th/search?qE0B98
1E0B89AE0B89AE0B9 80E0B8A3E0B8B5E0
B8A2E0B899E0B8A0E0B8B2E0B8A9E0B8B
2E0B984E0B897E0B8A2biw1366bih653sour
celnmstbmischsaXeiS1flVKLTK5CdugSp_IH4BAve
d0CAYQ_AUoAQ
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