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== Phonology == {{IPA notice}} === Consonants === ==== Initials ==== Standard Thai distinguishes three [[voice-onset time]]s among plosive and affricate consonants: *[[voiced consonant|voiced]] *[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]] (unvoiced, unaspirated) *[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]] Where English makes a distinction between voiced {{IPA|/b/}} and unvoiced aspirated {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, Thai distinguishes a third sound – the unvoiced, unaspirated {{IPA|/p/}} that occurs in English only as an allophone of {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, for example after an {{IPA|/s/}} as in the sound of the ''p'' in "spin". There is similarly a laminal denti-alveolar{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/tʰ/}} triplet in Thai. In the velar series there is a {{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/kʰ/}} pair and in the postalveolar series a {{IPA|/tɕ/}}, {{IPA|/tɕʰ/}} pair, without the corresponding voiced sounds {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and {{IPA|/dʑ/}}. (In loanwords from English, English {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} are borrowed as the tenuis stops {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/tɕ/}}.) In each cell below, the first line indicates [[help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA), the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position. Note that several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation. In such cases, one of the letters may serve as the "default", being more common and/or preferred for borrowings from English and such; for example, น in the case of "n" and ส for "s". The letter ห, the default "h" letter, is also used to help write certain tones (described below). {|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! colspan=2| ! [[Labial consonant|Labial]] ! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/ <br> [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ! ([[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolo-]]) <br> [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] ! [[Velar consonant|Velar]] ! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- ! colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] | style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|m}}<br />ม | style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|n}}<br />ณ, น | | style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|ŋ}}<br />ง | |- ! rowspan=3| [[Plosive]]/<br />[[Affricate]] ! <small>[[voiced consonant|voiced]]</small> | style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|b}}<br />บ | style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|d̪|d}}<br />ฎ, ด | | | |- ! <small>[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]</small> | style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|p}}<br />ป | style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|t̪|t}}<br />ฏ, ต | style="background-color: #fcf" | {{IPAslink|tɕ}}<br />จ | style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|k}}<br />ก | style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|ʔ}}<br />อ{{efn|Initial อ is silent and therefore considered as a [[glottal stop]].}} |- ! <small>[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small> | style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|pʰ}}<br />ผ, พ, ภ | style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|tʰ}}<br />ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ | style="background-color: #fcf" | {{IPAslink|tɕʰ}}<br />ฉ, ช, ฌ | style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|kʰ}}<br />ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ{{efn|ฃ and ฅ are no longer used. Thus, modern Thai is said to have 42 consonant letters.}} | |- ! colspan=2| [[Fricative]] | style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|f}}<br />ฝ, ฟ | style="background-color: #ffc" | {{IPAslink|s}}<br />ซ, ศ, ษ, ส | | | style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|h}}<br />ห, ฮ |- ! colspan=2| [[Approximant]] | style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|w}}<br />ว | style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|l}}<br />ล, ฬ | style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|j}}<br />ญ, ย | | |- ! colspan=2| [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]/[[Liquid consonant|Liquid]] | | style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|r}}<br />ร | | | |} ==== Finals ==== Although the overall 44 Thai consonant letters provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. For finals, only eight sounds, as well as no sound, called ''mātrā'' ({{Wikt-lang|th|มาตรา}}) are used. To demonstrate, at the end of a syllable, บ ({{IPA|/b/}}) and ด ({{IPA|/d/}}) are devoiced, becoming pronounced as {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/t/}} respectively. Additionally, all plosive sounds are [[Unreleased stop|unreleased]]. Hence, final {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} sounds are pronounced as {{IPA|[p̚]}}, {{IPA|[t̚]}}, and {{IPA|[k̚]}} respectively. Of the consonant letters, excluding the disused ฃ and ฅ, six (ฉ ผ ฝ ห อ ฮ) cannot be used as a final and the other 36 are grouped as following. {|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! ! [[Labial consonant|Labial]] ! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] ! [[Velar consonant|Velar]] ! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- ! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] | style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|m}}<br />ม | style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|n}}<br />ญ, ณ, น, ร, ล, ฬ | | style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|ŋ}}<br />ง | |- ! [[Stop consonant|Plosive]] | style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|p}}<br />บ, ป, พ, ฟ, ภ | style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|t}}<br />จ, ช, ซ, ฌ, ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ,<br />ฒ, ด, ต, ถ, ท, ธ, ศ, ษ, ส | | style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|k}}<br />ก, ข, ค, ฆ | style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|ʔ}}{{efn|The glottal plosive appears at the end when no final follows a short vowel}} |- ! [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]] | style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|w}}<br />ว | | style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|j}}<br />ย | | |} ==== Clusters ==== In Thai, each syllable in a word is articulated independently, so consonants from adjacent syllables (i.e. heterosyllabic) show no sign of articulation as a cluster. Thai has specific [[Phonotactics|phonotactical patterns]] that describe its syllable structure, including tautosyllabic [[consonant cluster]]s, and vowel sequences. In core Thai words (i.e. excluding loanwords), only clusters of two consonants occur, of which there are 11 combinations: * {{IPA|/kr/}} (กร), {{IPA|/kl/}} (กล), {{IPA|/kw/}} (กว) * {{IPA|/kʰr/}} (ขร, คร), {{IPA|/kʰl/}} (ขล, คล), {{IPA|/kʰw/}} (ขว, คว) * {{IPA|/pr/}} (ปร), {{IPA|/pl/}} (ปล) * {{IPA|/pʰr/}} (พร), {{IPA|/pʰl/}} (ผล, พล) * {{IPA|/tr/}} (ตร) The number of clusters increases in loanwords such as {{IPA|/tʰr/}} (ทร) in {{Wikt-lang|th|อินทรา}} ({{IPA|/ʔīn.tʰrāː/}}, from Sanskrit ''indrā'') or {{IPA|/fr/}} (ฟร) in {{Wikt-lang|th|ฟรี}} ({{IPA|/frīː/}}, from English ''free''); however, these usually only occur in initial position, with either {{IPA|/r/}}, {{IPA|/l/}}, or {{IPA|/w/}} as the second consonant sound and not more than two sounds at a time. In addition, ก may be Romanized as "g" and ป as "b" in those specific clusters to distinguish them from the corresponded aspirated stops. === Vowels === The vowel nuclei of the Thai language are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from the [[help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]], the second entry gives the spelling in the [[Thai script]], where a dash (–) indicates the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates that a final consonant follows. [[File:Thai vowel chart (monophthongs).svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Monophthongs of Thai. From {{Harvcoltxt|Tingsabadh|Abramson|1993|p=25}}]] [[File:Thai vowel chart (diphthongs).png|thumb|upright=1.15|Diphthongs of Thai. From {{Harvcoltxt|Tingsabadh|Abramson|1993|p=25}}]] {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- !rowspan="2" | !colspan=2|[[Front vowel|Front]] !colspan=2|[[Central vowel|Central]] !colspan=2|[[Back vowel|Back]] |- class=small ! short || long ||short || long ||short || long |- ![[Close vowel|Close]] |{{IPAslink|i}}<br /> -ิ <!-- the is necessary for visibility under Opera --> |{{IPAslink|iː}}<br /> -ี |{{IPAslink|ɯ}}<br /> -ึ |{{IPAslink|ɯː}}<br /> -ื- |{{IPAslink|u}}<br /> -ุ |{{IPAslink|uː}}<br /> -ู |- ![[Mid vowel|Mid]] |{{IPAslink|e̞|e}}<br />เ-ะ |{{IPAslink|e̞|eː}}<br />เ- |{{IPAslink|ɤ}}<br />เ-อะ |{{IPAslink|ɤː}}<br />เ-อ |{{IPAslink|o̞|o}}<br />โ-ะ |{{IPAslink|o̞|oː}}<br />โ- |- ![[Open vowel|Open]] |{{IPAslink|ɛ}}<br />แ-ะ |{{IPAslink|ɛː}}<br />แ- |{{IPAslink|ä|a}}<br />-ะ, -ั- |{{IPAslink|ä|aː}}<br />-า |{{IPAslink|ɔ}}<br />เ-าะ |{{IPAslink|ɔː}}<br />-อ |} Each vowel quality occurs in [[vowel length|long-short pairs]]: these are distinct [[phoneme]]s forming distinct words in Thai.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Tingsabadh|Abramson|1993|p=25}}</ref> The long-short pairs are as follows: {|class="wikitable" |- !colspan="5"|Long !colspan="5"|Short |- !Thai !IPA !colspan=3|Example !Thai !IPA !colspan=3|Example |- |–า || {{IPA|/aː/}} || {{Wikt-lang|th|ฝาน}} ||{{IPA|/fǎːn/}} || 'to slice' |–ะ || {{IPA|/a/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|ฝัน}} || {{IPA|/fǎn/}} || 'to dream' |- |–ี || {{IPA|/iː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|กรีด}} || {{IPA|/krìːt/}} || 'to cut' |–ิ || {{IPA|/i/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|กริช}} || {{IPA|/krìt/}} || '[[kris]]' |- |–ู || {{IPA|/uː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|สูด}} || {{IPA|/sùːt/}} || 'to inhale' |–ุ || {{IPA|/u/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|สุด}} || {{IPA|/sùt/}} || 'rearmost' |- |เ– || {{IPA|/eː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|เอน}} || {{IPA|/ʔēːn/}} || 'to recline' |เ–ะ || {{IPA|/e/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|เอ็น}} || {{IPA|/ʔēn/}} || 'tendon, ligament' |- |แ–|| {{IPA|/ɛː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|แพ้}} || {{IPA|/pʰɛ́ː/}} || 'to be defeated' |แ–ะ|| {{IPA|/ɛ/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|แพะ}} || {{IPA|/pʰɛ́ʔ/}} || 'goat' |- |–ื-|| {{IPA|/ɯː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|คลื่น}} || {{IPA|/kʰlɯ̂ːn/}} || 'wave' |–ึ || {{IPA|/ɯ/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|ขึ้น}} || {{IPA|/kʰɯ̂n/}} || 'to go up' |- |เ–อ || {{IPA|/ɤː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|เดิน}} || {{IPA|/dɤ̄ːn/}} || 'to walk' |เ–อะ || {{IPA|/ɤ/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|เงิน}} || {{IPA|/ŋɤ̄n/}} || 'silver' |- |โ– || {{IPA|/oː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|โค่น}} || {{IPA|/kʰôːn/}} || 'to fell' |โ–ะ || {{IPA|/o/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|ข้น}} || {{IPA|/kʰôn/}} || 'thick (soup)' |- |–อ || {{IPA|/ɔː/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|กลอง}} || {{IPA|/klɔ̄ːŋ/}} || 'drum' |เ–าะ || {{IPA|/ɔ/}}|| {{Wikt-lang|th|กล่อง}} || {{IPA|/klɔ̀ŋ/}} || 'box' |} There are also opening and closing [[diphthong]]s in Thai, which {{Harvcoltxt|Tingsabadh|Abramson|1993}} analyze as {{IPA|/Vj/}} and {{IPA|/Vw/}}. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- !colspan="2"|Long !colspan="2"|Short |- !Thai script !IPA !Thai script !IPA |- |–าย |{{IPA|/aːj/}} |ไ–<sup>*</sup>, ใ–<sup>*</sup>, ไ–ย, -ัย |{{IPA|/aj/}} |- |–าว |{{IPA|/aːw/}} |เ–า<sup>*</sup> |{{IPA|/aw/}} |- |เ–ีย |{{IPA|/ia/}} |เ–ียะ |{{IPA|/iaʔ/}} |- |– |– |–ิว |{{IPA|/iw/}} |- |–ัว |{{IPA|/ua/}} |–ัวะ |{{IPA|/uaʔ/}} |- |–ูย |{{IPA|/uːj/}} |–ุย |{{IPA|/uj/}} |- |เ–ว |{{IPA|/eːw/}} |เ–็ว |{{IPA|/ew/}} |- |แ–ว |{{IPA|/ɛːw/}} |– |– |- |เ–ือ |{{IPA|/ɯa/}} |เ–ือะ |{{IPA|/ɯaʔ/}} |- |เ–ย |{{IPA|/ɤːj/}} |– |– |- |–อย |{{IPA|/ɔːj/}} |– |– |- |โ–ย |{{IPA|/oːj/}} |– |– |} Additionally, there are three [[triphthongs]]. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- !Thai script !IPA |- |เ–ียว* |{{IPA|/iaw/}} |- |–วย* |{{IPA|/uaj/}} |- |เ–ือย* |{{IPA|/ɯaj/}} |} === Tones === {{multiple image|total_width=250 |width1=340 |height1=400 |image1=Mid tone (Thai).svg |width2=340 |height2=400 |image2=Low tone (Thai).svg |width3=340 |height3=400 |image3=Falling tone (Thai).svg |width4=340 |height4=400 |image4=High tone (Thai).svg |width5=340 |height5=400 |image5=Rising tone (Thai).svg |footer=The five phonemic tones of Standard Thai pronounced with the syllable '/naː/': {{paragraph break}} [[File:Th-Thai tones marked with IPA with na.ogg|center]] }} There are five phonemic [[tone (linguistics)|tones]]: mid, low, falling, high, and rising, sometimes referred to in older reference works as ''rectus, gravis, circumflexus, altus,'' and ''demissus,'' respectively.<ref>Frankfurter, Oscar. Elements of Siamese grammar with appendices. American Presbyterian mission press, 1900 [https://books.google.com/books?id=h6U6AAAAMAAJ] (Full text available on Google Books)</ref> The table shows an example of both the [[phoneme|phonemic]] tones and their [[phonetics|phonetic]] realization, in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]. Moren & [[Elizabeth Zsiga|Zsiga]] (2006)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Morén |first1=Bruce |last2=Zsiga |first2=Elizabeth |date=2006 |title=The Lexical and Post-Lexical Phonology of Thai Tones* |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11049-004-5454-y |journal=Natural Language & Linguistic Theory |language=en |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=113–178 |doi=10.1007/s11049-004-5454-y |s2cid=170764533 |issn=0167-806X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and Zsiga & Nitisaroj (2007)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zsiga |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Nitisaroj |first2=Rattima |date=2007 |title=Tone Features, Tone Perception, and Peak Alignment in Thai |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00238309070500030301 |journal=Language and Speech |language=en |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=343–383 |doi=10.1177/00238309070500030301 |pmid=17974323 |s2cid=18595049 |issn=0023-8309|url-access=subscription }}</ref> provide phonetic and phonological analyses of Thai tone realization. <!-- The whole point of this table is to illustrate phonetic detail of the tones. This doesn't occur anywhere else, and is from the IPA Handbook. --> [[File:Thai tones.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Thai language tone chart]] Notes: #Five-level tone value: Mid [33], Low [21], Falling [41], High [45], Rising [214]. Traditionally, the high tone was recorded as either [44] or [45]. This remains true for the older generation, but the high tone is changing to [334] among youngsters.<ref>Teeranon, Phanintra. (2007). [http://www.skase.sk/Volumes/JTL10/pdf_doc/1.pdf "The change of Standard Thai high tone: An acoustic study and a perceptual experiment"]. ''SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 4''(3), 1–16.</ref><ref>Thepboriruk, Kanjana. (2010). [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzZWFsc2pvdXJuYWx8Z3g6NDljZWJlMjUzMGE0NGYyMw "Bangkok Thai Tones Revisited"]. ''Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 3''(1), 86–105.</ref> #For the diachronic changes of tone value, see Pittayaporn (2007).<ref>Pittayaporn, Pittayawat. (2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20191204144531/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4b67/bdd99e7a42c241f4fee6edc93f4f17e54ce8.pdf "Directionality of Tone Change"]. ''Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVI)''.</ref> #The full complement of tones exists only in so-called "live syllables", those that end in a long vowel or a [[sonorant]] ({{IPA|/m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /j/, /w/}}). #For "dead syllables", those that end in a plosive ({{IPA|/p/, /t/, /k/}}) or in a short vowel, only three tonal distinctions are possible: low, high, and falling. Because syllables analyzed as ending in a short vowel may have a final [[glottal stop]] (especially in slower speech), all "dead syllables" are phonetically [[Checked tone|checked]], and have the reduced tonal inventory characteristic of checked syllables. ==== Unchecked syllables ==== {| class=wikitable |- ! scope="col" | Tone ! scope="col" | Thai ! scope="col" | Example ! scope="col" | Phonemic ! scope="col" | Phonetic ! scope="col" | Gloss |- | Mid | {{lang|th|สามัญ}} | {{lang|th|คา}} | {{IPA|/kʰāː/}} | {{IPA|[kʰäː˧]}} | 'stick' |- | Low | {{lang|th|เอก}} | {{lang|th|ข่า}} | {{IPA|/kʰàː/}} | {{IPA|[kʰäː˨˩]}} or {{IPA|[kʰäː˩]}} | '[[galangal]]' |- | Falling | {{lang|th|โท}} | {{lang|th|ค่า}} | {{IPA|/kʰâː/}} | {{IPA|[kʰäː˦˩]}} | 'value' |- | High | {{lang|th|ตรี}} | {{lang|th|ค้า}} | {{IPA|/kʰáː/}} | {{IPA|[kʰäː˦˥]}} or {{IPA|[kʰäː˥]}} | 'to trade' |- | Rising | {{lang|th|จัตวา}} | {{lang|th|ขา}} | {{IPA|/kʰǎː/}} | {{IPA|[kʰäː˨˩˦]}} or {{IPA|[kʰäː˨˦]}} | 'leg' |} ==== Checked syllables ==== {| class=wikitable |- ! scope="col" | Tone ! scope="col" | Thai ! scope="col" | Example ! scope="col" | Phonemic ! scope="col" | Phonetic ! scope="col" | Gloss |- | Low (short vowel) | {{lang|th|เอก}} | {{lang|th|หมัก}} | {{IPA|/màk/}} | {{IPA|[mäk̚˨˩]}} | 'marinate' |- | Low (long vowel) | {{lang|th|เอก}} | {{lang|th|หมาก}} | {{IPA|/màːk/}} | {{IPA|[mäːk̚˨˩]}} | '[[areca]] nut, areca palm, [[betel]], fruit' |- | High | {{lang|th|ตรี}} | {{lang|th|มัก}} | {{IPA|/mák/}} | {{IPA|[mäk̚˦˥]}} | 'habitually, likely to' |- | Falling | {{lang|th|โท}} | {{lang|th|มาก}} | {{IPA|/mâːk/}} | {{IPA|[mäːk̚˦˩]}} | 'a lot, abundance, many' |} In some English [[loanword]]s, closed syllables with a long vowel ending in an obstruent sound have a high tone, and closed syllables with a short vowel ending in an obstruent sound have a falling tone. {| class=wikitable |- ! scope="col" | Tone ! scope="col" | Thai ! scope="col" | Example ! scope="col" | Phonemic ! scope="col" | Phonetic ! scope="col" | Gloss |- | High | {{lang|th|ตรี}} | {{lang|th|มาร์ก}} | {{IPA|/máːk/}} | {{IPA|[mäːk̚˦˥]}} | 'Marc, Mark' |- | High | {{lang|th|ตรี}} | {{lang|th|ชาร์จ}} | {{IPA|/tɕʰáːt/}} | {{IPA|[tɕʰäːt̚˦˥]}} | 'charge' |- | Falling | {{lang|th|โท}} | {{lang|th|เมกอัป}} | {{IPA|/méːk.ʔâp/}} | {{IPA|[meːk̚˦˥.ʔäp̚˦˩]}} | 'make-up' |- | Falling | {{lang|th|โท}} | {{lang|th|แร็กเกต}} | {{IPA|/rɛ́k.kêt/}} | {{IPA|[rɛk̚˦˥.ket̚˦˩]}} | 'racket' |}
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