thai-language.com

Glossary of Thai Language Terms

acrophonic	A system in which an alphabetic letter is represented by a word that starts with—or otherwise represents—that letter

alphabetic	Referring to a language, a system where the set of phonemic sounds, or phonemes, are represented by graphemes (characters or letters) which, standing alone, carry no meaning; these are in turn built-up to form the meaning-carrying words. Examples of alphabetic languages include English and Thai. An example of a non-alphabetic language is Chinese; it is ideographic.

aspirate	A consonant sound which "can blow out a match," in Thai, the low-class consonants { ค, ฆ, ช, ซ, ท, ธ, พ, ฟ, ภ, ฮ } and high-class consonants {ข, ฉ, ถ, ผ, ฝ, ส, ศ, ษ, ห }, roughly /kh/, /ch/, /th/, /ph/, /f/, /s/, /h/. Also referred to as "aspirant"

attributive verb	A descriptive word which, in addition to functioning like an adjective, can also stand alone because it can imply the verb "to be." See Attributive Verbs for more information.

closed syllable	A syllable that ends with a consonant sound. The complete syllable thus follows the pattern: Initial consonant + vowel + final consonant. The syllable is classified as live or dead based on the type of final consonant: live consonant ending or dead consonant ending.

clustered consonant tone rule	In syllables with initial consonant clusters, the spoken tone is determined by the consonant class of the first consonant in the cluster. This applies when the second consonant in the cluster is a sonorant, which is the almost always the case.

compound vowel	A vowel symbol which is written with several components.

consonant อักษร	As in all languages, Thai consonants are those phonemes (or the graphemes that represent them) which are characterized by constraint of the vocal apparatus.

consonant class	Thai consonants are divided into three classes, called low, mid, and high, for the purposes of applying the tone rules. The consonant class of the initial consonant in a syllable determines the spoken tone of that syllable in accordance with the tone rules.

consonant cluster อักษร ควบ	A grouping of two consonants that function together without a written vowel.

dead consonant ending	In a closed syllable, one of the consonant endings /-k/, /-p/, or /-t/.

dead syllable คำ ตาย	Either an open syllable with a short vowel, or a closed syllable with a dead consonant ending. In the latter case, the tone rules require further distinction between long dead syllable and short dead syllable.

diphthong	A monosyllabic vowel combination heard as a single phoneme.

eight word-ending protocols มาตรา	A conception of the eight possible ending sounds for a syllable.

falling tone เสียง โท	One of five spoken tones used in Thai (along with low, mid, high, and rising). With a low-class initial consonant, the falling tone occurs if the syllable is a dead and the vowel duration is long, or the ไม้เอก tone mark is present. It can also occur with mid- or high-class initial consonant if tone mark ไม้โท is present. In falling tone, the voice begins above normal speaking pitch, and decends to normal pitch from there.

false consonant cluster อักษรควบ ไม่แท้	A consonant cluster in which the first consonant is one of { จ, ซ, ท, ส, ศ }, the second consonant is ร, and the ร is silent.

final consonant ตัว สะกด	The consonant grapheme which is associated with the ending phoneme of an orthographic syllable. Also, informally refers to the the sound thereof, the final consonant phoneme.

final consonant phoneme	One of the following six consonant syllable ending sounds: live endings /-n/, /-ng/, or /-m/; and dead endings /-k/, /-p/, or /-t/.

gaaran การันต์	The silence mark in Thai, which appears, for example, above the last letter in the word การันต์ .

glottal stop	A type of consonant phoneme in which the vocal cords are constricted to stop the flow of air, as in the English interjection, "uh-oh." More common in Thai, it is nominally represented by the consonant อ.

grapheme	A single written symbol in a written language.

high-class อักษร สูง	One of the classes of consonants in Thai (along with low- and mid-), used in the tone rules to determine the spoken tone of a syllable. Syllables that begin with a high-class consonant are pronounced with a rising tone in live syllables with no tone marker. In dead syllables without a tone marker, the low tone is indicated. The first and second tone markers indicate the low and falling tones, respectively; the third and fourth tone marks are never used.

high tone	One of five spoken tones used in Thai (along with low, mid, rising, and falling). With a low-class initial consonant, the high tone occurs if the syllable is a dead and the vowel duration is short, or the ไม้โท tone mark is present. It can also occur with mid-class initial consonant if tone mark ไม้ตรี is present. In high tone, the voice begins above normal speaking pitch, arcing slightly upwards from there.

implied vowel	[see inherent vowel]

initial consonant	The consonant grapheme which is associated with the starting phoneme of an orthographic syllable.

initial consonant cluster	A group of two consonants that act together as the initial consonant in a single orthographic syllable. Types of clusters that can act as an initial consonant include true consonant clusters, false consonant clusters, and 'leading consonant' clusters (including clusters with leading ห or อ, as well as "non-conforming" clusters).

initial consonant phoneme	One of the twenty-one consonant sounds which can appear at the beginning of a Thai syllable: /g-/, /kh-/, /ng-/, /j-/, /ch-/, /s-/, /y-/, /d-/, /dt-/, /th-/, /n-/, /b-/, /bp-/, /ph-/, /f-/, /m-/, /r-/, /l-/, /w-/, /h-/, and /glottal stop/.

inherent vowel	An vowel which is invoked in a syllable with no written vowel grapheme (symbol). In Thai, inherent /-oh-/ is invoked between a syllable's initial consonant and final consonant when there is no written vowel. Sub-syllable inherent /-a/ is invoked within a non-conforming initial consonant cluster. /-a/ or /-aaw/ are also invoked in some standalone syllables with a single consonant.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)	A standardized system of phonetic notation intended to be able to represent the sounds of all world languages.

leading consonant อักษร นำ	The first of two consonants in a 'leading consonant' cluster.

'leading consonant' cluster อักษรควบ ที่ใช้อักษรนำ	A consonant cluster which is neither a true consonant cluster nor a false consonant cluster, i.e. all remaining cases of two consonants appearing with a single written vowel.

letter	Layperson's terminology for grapheme.

live consonant ending	A syllable which ends in a sonorant sound. In a closed syllable, one of the consonant endings /-n/, /-ng/, or /-m/.

live syllable คำ เป็น	An important step in determining the tone of a syllable is to determine if the syllable is live or dead. A live syllable is either an open syllable with a long vowel, or a closed syllable with a live consonant ending.

loanword	A word from a foreign language which is borrowed into the native language, for example, English words which are adopted into Thai, with their own approximate Thai spellings. Meanings can also become derivative in the native language as loanwords take on a life of their own.

long dead syllable	A closed dead syllable which uses a long vowel sound.

long vowel สระ เสียง ยาว	In Thai, every vowel is spoken with either long duration or short duration, a distinction which conveys meaning and collaterally affects the tone rules.

low-class อักษร ต่ำ	One of the classes of consonants in Thai (along with mid- and high-), used in the tone rules to determine the spoken tone of a syllable. Syllables that begin with a low-class consonant are pronounced with a middle tone in live syllables with no tone marker. In dead syllables without a tone marker, the falling tone is indicated for long vowels and the high tone is indicated if the vowel is short. The first and second tone markers indicate the falling and high tones, respectively; the third and fourth tone markers are never used.

low tone เสียง เอก	One of five spoken tones used in Thai (along with mid, high, rising, and falling). The low tone occurs in dead syllables with mid- or high-class initial consonant or when tone mark ไม้เอก appears with mid- or high-class initial consonant. In low tone, the voice begins below normal speaking pitch, dropping slightly down from there.

mid-class อักษร กลาง	One of the classes of consonants in Thai (along with low- and high-), used in the tone rules to determine the spoken tone of a syllable. Syllables that begin with a mid-class consonant are pronounced with a middle tone in live syllables with no tone marker. In dead syllables without a tone marker, the low tone is indicated. All four tone marks may appear, and they indicate the low, falling, high, or rising tones.

mid tone เสียง สามัญ	One of five spoken tones used in Thai (along with low, high, rising, and falling). The mid tone occurs in live syllables with low- or mid-class initial consonant. In mid tone, the voice speaks at an even, normal pitch. The mid tone is sometimes referred to as common tone or even tone.

monosyllabic	pertaining to a single syllable.

non-conforming initial consonant cluster	A subclass of 'leading consonant' clusters which invoke an (unwritten) /-ะ/ (-a) sound between the two consonants because they are not phonologically compatible. That is, a type of consonant cluster where /a/ is pronounced between the two consonants.

open syllable	A syllable that does not use a final consonant. The complete syllable thus follows the pattern: Initial consonant + vowel.

orthography	The specific arrangement of graphemes (letters, consonants, vowels) in valid writing and spelling.

orthographic syllable	A written syllable. In our preferred method of studying Thai, it will be important to distinguish between a written syllable—that is, a logical assemblage of initial consonant(s) + vowel + optional final consonant(s)—and the phonetic, spoken syllable sounds Westerners may be used to, because in Thai, certain initial consonant clusters can be pronounced with what may sound like multiple phonetic syllables.

particle	In Thai, a small word which is added to a sentence to affect its meaning or nuance.

phinthu พินทุ	The name of the Thai orthographic symbol, a dot, which is placed underneath a consonant which has no associated vowel sound. For example, phinthu may be placed under the first consonant in a consonant cluster.

phoneme	The simplest single significant unit of sound in a language. In this context, 'significant' means 'meaningful, conveying or carrying meaning.' For some phonemes, phonetic variation may be permissible (regional accents or speech variation of an individual); such variation does not change the semantic content of the utterance.

phonemic	Pertaining to phonemes, the simplest meaningful sounds of a language.

phonemic portion	In the phonemic transcription scheme used by this website, each syllable is presented in two parts: a phonemic portion and a tone indicator. "Phonemic portion" refers to the basic sounds of the consonants and vowels present.

phonemic transcription	A transcription scheme in which the phonemes, or significant sounds of a language are rendered in writing, typicially using a non-native script. Sounds which do not contribute to meaning in speech are not rendered. In this way, the native alphabet of a language, as well as any transcription system which is designed to convey significant speech distinction, can be considered phonemic.

phonetic	As opposed to phonemic, referring to all possible sound variation in speech, including that which may not be significant in a particular language.

phonetic equivalent consonant	Some of the (non-sonorant) low-class consonants have phonetic equivalents in high-class, which allows any of the five spoken tones to be delivered in any phonetic syllable. The {low high} pairs are {ค ข}, {ช ฉ}, {ซ (ส ศ ษ)}, {ท ถ}, {พ ผ}, {ฟ ฝ}, {ฮ ห}.

phonetic syllable	A spoken vowel sound with optional initial and final consonant elements. We must be careful to distinguish between orthographic (written) syllables and phonetic (spoken) syllables in Thai, because many initial consonant clusters which should be thought of as part of a single orthographic syllable can generate an extraneous inherent vowel sound which generally qualifies as an additional phonetic syllable.

plain	[see unaspirated stop]

predisposed vowel	[see preposed vowel]

preposed vowel	A Thai vowel grapheme which is written before its consonant, viz. { เ- แ- โ- ใ- ไ- }. Sometimes referred to as "predisposed vowel"

rising tone เสียง จัตวา	One of five spoken tones used in Thai (along with low, mid, high, and falling). The rising tone occurs in live syllables with high-class initial consonant or when tone mark ไม้จัตวา appears with mid-class initial consonant. In rising tone, the pitch of the voice rises, about the interval of a perfect fourth in music, during the pronunciation of the syllable, from normal speaking pitch to a higher level.

romanization	The general practice of rendering the written words or speech of a foreign language into a Latin- or Latin-derived alphabet for the benefit of persons not familiar with the source language.

short dead syllable	A closed dead syllable which uses a short vowel sound.

short vowel สระ เสียง สั้น	In Thai, every vowel is spoken with either long duration or short duration, a distinction which conveys meaning and collaterally affects the tone rules.

sonorant	Consonant sound which can "carry a tune:" ng, n, m, y r, l, w. This includes the Thai consonants { ง น ม ย ร ล ว ญ ณ ฬ }. All sonorants are low-class consonants—memorize this important fact. Some linguists may use the term "resonant" to refer to such consonants.

sound	Layperson's terminology for phoneme.

spoken tone เสียง สูง ต่ำ	One of five pitch characteristics—low, mid (or common), high, rising, or falling—which must be pronounced for a syllable to be properly understood. We generally use the term "spoken tone" to avoid ambiguity with the term "tone" which might possibly refer to the four written tone mark symbols.

straddling vowel	The situation in which a compound vowel with a preposed element is stated with an initial consonant cluster, such that the preposed element is written in front of both consonants in the initial consonant cluster.

subscript vowel	Either of the two Thai vowel graphemes which are placed below their corresponding consonant.

superscript vowel	Any one of several Thai vowel graphemes which are placed above their corresponding consonant or consonants.

syllable	A single fundamental sound grouping from which speech is constructed. Exactly one vowel sound (monophthong, diphthong, triphthong, etc.) must be present.

syllable-final consonant	[see final consonant]

syllable-initial consonant	[see initial consonant]

TIS-620	Thai International Standard-620 is a standard way of representing all the letters (graphemes) and symbols of the Thai language within the upper positions of an 8-bit character set. In this way, both Thai and English can be represented using single-byte characters. Although nowawdays becoming obsolete because of the prevalance of Unicode, which uses a 16-bit character width, this character mapping is still sometimes favored for its compactness in transmission or storage. Because the upper character positions used by TIS-620 are also claimed by many other character sets, some sort of out-of-band indicator (meta information) describing which character set was used must generally accompany 8-bit data.

tonal language	A language where the pitch characteristic—as in the case of Thai which uses five tones: low, middle (or common), high, rising, or falling—of each syllable must be spoken correctly for the word to be properly understood.

tone เสียง	Thai is a tonal language, which means that every syllable has a pitch characteristic which must be spoken correctly for the word to be properly understood. There are five spoken tones in Thai, to wit: low, middle (or common), high, rising, and falling.

tone indicator	In the thai-language.com enhanced phonemic transcription scheme used by this website, the tone with which a Thai word must be spoken is indicated by a superscripted capital letter which appears after the phonemic portion of each transcripted syllable. The superscripts {L, M, H, F, or R} are used to indicate the spoken tones {Low, Mid, High, Falling, or Rising}, respectively.

tone mark วรรณ ยุกต์	One of the four symbols written above a Thai syllable to modify its spoken tone.

tone rules	Rules which determine the spoken tone for a syllable based on the initial consonant class, vowel duration, tone mark (if any), and final consonant type (if any).

transcription	The rendering of the phonetics or phonemics of a spoken language into a (typically) foreign writing system. In phonemic transcription, this is done in a manner such that only semantically significant phonemes are rendered. In phonetic transcription, attempt is made at a detailed rendering of all sonic details of speech, even those that may have little or significance in the source language.

translation	The rendering of the meaning of a sentence or phrase of one language into another language.

transliteration	The rendering of the written glyphs of a spoken language into a foreign writing system. This is usually achieved in a manner such that the original script can be reconstructed from the transliteration result.

true consonant cluster อักษรควบ แท้	A group of two consonants where the first consonant is one of { ก, ข, ค, ต, ป, ผ, พ } and the second consonant is one of the three sonorants { ร, ล, ว } and both consonants contribute equally to the pronounced sound of the cluster.

Unicode	A standard mapping of graphemes from many world languages into a 16-bit (wide) character set such that each language and all symbols have mutually-exclusive assignements.

unaspirated stop	Any of the following consonant sounds, corresponding to { ก, จ, ฎ , ฏ, ด, ต, บ, ป, อ }, neither aspirated nor sonorant: /g/, /j/, /d/, /dt/, /b/, /bp/, and the glottal stop corresponding to อ. These are also called plains or plain consonants, and all are mid-class consonants.

vowel สระ	As in all languages, Thai vowels are spoken sounds (or the graphemes that represent them) which are characterized by an open configuration of the vocal apparatus

vowel duration	In Thai, most vowels have long- and short- duration variations that are usually written differently. This difference in relative spoken vowel duration is semantically distinguishing (essential in conveying intended meaning). Note that this refers to the actual length of time that the vowel sound is held, which is not equivalent to the meaning of "long" and "short" when applied to vowels in English (i.e. in which the vowel sound itself changes).