Characteristics of Thai Language by Professor Dhapani Nakorndhap

The characteristics of the Thai language that are favorable to its durability. The Thai language has many characteristics that correspond to universal characteristics of all world languages still in existence. The following are the eight characteristics found in Thailand:

1) The use of characters to represent sounds. It is very convenient to have characters to use for sounds. There are three types of characters: vowels, consonants and tone markers. In particular, it should be noticed that a tone marker renders different meaning to a word. For example, the word pa when pronounced with a middle tone means to throw; with the tone marker called mai eak, it means forest. With yet another tone marker called mai toh, it means aunt. In addition, Thai people use tone markers with words that are borrowed from other languages. This is done in spite of the fact that many foreign languages are non-tonal.

Examples include words from Chinese (tao-hoo, pa-thong-ko), Java (sarim, pa-teh, pa-nan), English (shirt, note, cork) and Japanese (karate, sukiyaki).

2) The musical tones, The tone markers in Thai make the language sound musical. The rising and falling tones and the sounds allow beautiful composition of verse. When a song is sung in Thai, the voice harmoniously fits with the accompaniment of musical instruments. Occasionally, poets also play around with the tones, making their work even more beautiful.

The poetry of many master poets impresses on people for a long time. The musical characteristics of the language have certainly helped preserve the Thai language.

3) Language register. The variety of levels that exist in the language reflect the refinement of the Thai language. We have a particular set of vocabulary to be used with the royal family and also choices must be made about the appropriacy of language for a certain person, time, and place.

These levels of language appear both in the national language and the dialects that exist in different localities.

4) The development of the language with time. The Thai language has developed considerably over time. We have borrowed words as necessary and coined new words for various fields. Printing and computer systems have also been adjusted to use Thai characters as well.

5) The ordering of words. The ordering of words is very important in the Thai language, since we do not change forms of words as in some other languages like English, to mark plurality or past tense or Pali which has suffixes. The Thai language simply relies on the ordering of words.

Take these four words for example, hai-krai-ma-ha. They can be arranged in many ways, each with different meaning. For example,

There are also many patterns in speaking. For example, in stressing the subject, we say mae-tham-khanom-thad-ni (Mother made this tray of sweets). In stressing the object, we say khanom-thad-ni-mae-tham (This tray of sweets Mother made). This way of ordering words is simple and well-understood.

6) The variety of expressions. We have a variety of expression called samnuan (idiom), kham phang-phoei (proverb with a simile) and phasit (adage or proverb).

Information from: The Source of Thai Cultural Knowledge in the Days of Globalization. Published by the Office of the National Culture Commission.