Editing Thailand (section)

=== Language ===
{{Main|Languages of Thailand}}
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| image1            = Thailand ethnic map.svg
| caption1          = An ethnolinguistic map of Thailand
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| caption2          = The Silajaruek of [[Sukhothai Kingdom]] are hundreds of stone inscriptions that form a historical record of the period.
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[[Thai language|Thai]] is the official language. It is a [[Kra–Dai language]] closely related to [[Lao language|Lao]], [[Shan language|Shan]] in Myanmar, and numerous smaller languages spoken in an arc from [[Hainan]] and [[Yunnan]] south to the Chinese border. It is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout the country.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=M. Paul |url=https://archive.org/details/ethnologuelangua0000unse_k9t5 |title=Ethnologue : languages of the world |publisher=SIL International |year=2009 |edition=16th |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=529–533, 829–831|isbn=978-1-55671-216-6 }}</ref> The standard is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the [[Thai alphabet]], an [[abugida]] script that evolved from the [[Khmer alphabet]].<ref name="hartmann">{{citation |last1=Hartmann |first1=John F. |title=The spread of South Indic scripts in Southeast Asia |year=1986 |page=8}}</ref> 

Sixty-two languages were recognised by the Royal Thai Government.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 October 2011 |title=CERD/C/THA/1-3 |url=https://www.rlpd.go.th/rlpdnew/images/rlpd_1/HRC/CERD%201_3.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009184727/http://www.rlpd.go.th/rlpdnew/images/rlpd_1/HRC/CERD%201_3.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2016 |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref> For the purposes of the national census, four dialects of Thai exist; these partly coincide with regional designations, such as [[Southern Thai language|Southern Thai]] and [[Northern Thai language|Northern Thai]].<ref name=":1" />

The largest of Thailand's minority languages is the [[Lao language|Lao]] dialect of [[Isan language|Isan]] spoken in the northeastern provinces. In the far south, [[Kelantan-Pattani Malay]] is the primary language of Malay Muslims. Varieties of Chinese are also spoken by the large [[Thai Chinese]] population, with the [[Teochew dialect]] best-represented. Numerous tribal languages are also spoken, including many [[Austroasiatic languages]] such as [[Mon language|Mon]], [[Khmer language|Khmer]], and [[Mlabri language|Mlabri]]; [[Austronesian languages]] such as [[Cham language|Cham]], [[Moken language|Moken]] and [[Urak Lawoi' language|Urak Lawoi']]; [[Sino-Tibetan languages]] like [[Lawa language|Lawa]], [[Akha language|Akha]], and [[Karen languages|Karen]]; and other [[Tai languages]] such as [[Phu Thai language|Phu Thai]], and [[Saek language|Saek]]. [[Hmong language|Hmong]] is a member of the [[Hmong–Mien languages]], which is now regarded as a language family of its own.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thailand {{!}} Ethnologue Free |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/TH/ |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=Ethnologue (Free All) |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309065755/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/TH/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":1" />