Rhode Island College

M.Ed. In TESL Program

Language Group Specific Informational Reports

Produced by Graduate Students in the M.Ed. In TESL Program

In the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development

Language Group: Thai

Author: Alexander Nanni

Program Contact Person: Nancy Cloud (ncloud@ric.edu)

Alexander Nanni

TESL 539

Spring 2009

Language Group Specific

Informational Report : Thai

http://www.flags.net/THAL.htm

ภาษาไทย – Thai Language Family : Tai-Kadai

Tonal Language

SVO Language

Isolating Language

Alphabet

Based on Old Khmer

Devised in 1283 A.D.

44 Consonants (21 Phonemes)

15 Vowel Symbols

Written LR, No Spaces http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2011/10/from-

neolithic-to-modern-times-in.html

Major Dialects Central Thai

High Prestige

Medium of Education and Media

About 65m Speakers

Northeastern (Isaan) Dialect

Almost Identical to Lao

About 15m Speakers

Southern Dialect

About 5m Speakers

Northern (Lanna) Dialect

About 6m Speakers

http://maps.nationmaster.com/country/th/1

Registers Informal/Spoken

Formal/Written

Rhetorical

Religious (Pali, Sanskrit)

Royal (Khmer)

Function words, pronouns, and grammar vary from

register to register.

(Swan, 2001, p. 345)

Pronunciation: Single Consonants

The shaded phonemes above occur in Thai. The unshaded phonemes are problematic.

The phonemic changes in the box to the right are often transferred into English. (James, 2001, p. 153)

Pronunciation: Consonant Clusters

Deletion

[l] and [r] are often dropped

from initial consonant clusters.

Only the first phoneme of a

final consonant cluster is

pronounced.

Epenthesis

[a] is often added to split

consonant clusters that do

not occur in Thai.

(James, 2001, p. 149)

Other Phonological Issues

When speaking English, Thai

speakers often make errors

related to:

Syllabic Stress

Vowel Length

Vowel Reduction

Replacement of [r] by [l]

Epenthesis of Glottal Stops

Before Initial Vowels http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2011/05/effed-up-ronald-mcdonald-pics-of-day.html

Thai is an isolating

language. English inflectional

affixes are difficult for Thai

speakers to use correctly.

Thai speakers commonly

confuse:

Adjectives and Verbs

Adjectives and Adverbs

Morphological Issues

(O’Grady & Archibald, 2005, p. 127)

Syntactical Issues in English Tenses - Thai verbs are never inflected. Separate words mark tense.

Articles – There are no articles in the Thai language.

Question Formation – Thai uses more tag questions than English.

Omission of Subject In Thai, the subject may be omitted. This is often transferred into English. Example:

พอใจแลว้แค่นั้น por jai laew kae nan

happy already just that

(I'm) happy with just that.

Semantic Issues English does not have precise equivalents of Thai pronouns.

เธอ (pronoun) you, she

เขา (pronoun) he / she (not gender specific), they

Thai uses untranslatable particles to indicate degrees of formality and intent. In English, Thai speakers may have difficulty conveying shades of meaning.

ครับ / ค่ะ (particles) indicate respect

วะ (particle) indicates informality / disrespect

Pragmatics Beliefs about the Body

Head – sacred, do not touch or reach over

Hands – use the right hand to give and receive

Feet – never point with the feet or step over someone

Eye Contact

It is impolite to make prolonged eye contact with

someone of higher social rank.

Names and Titles

Thais tend to use a title followed by a first name.

Proximity

Thais are more comfortable than Americans being

close to members of the same sex and less comfortable

being close to members of the opposite sex.

Significant Cultural Differences

เกรงใจ Respect, especially for elders

Uncomfortable denying requests

ใจเยน็ๆ Negative emotions not shown

Nonconfrontational

References Books

Burusphat, S. (2006). Reading and writing Thai. Bangkok, Thailand: Ekphimthai.

Ember, M. & Ember, C. R. (Eds.).(2001). Countries and their cultures. New York: Macmillan Reference

USA.

Higbie, J. & Thinsan, S. (2003). Thai reference grammar: The structure of spoken Thai. Bangkok, Thailand:

Orchid Press.

James, H. (2001). Thai reference grammar. Bangkok, Thailand: Editions Duang Kamol, Ltd.

O’Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M., & Rees-Miller, J. (2005). Contemporary linguistics: An introduction

(5th ed.). New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Smyth, D. (1987). Thai speakers. In: Swan, Michael and Smith, Bernard, (eds.), Learner English: a

teacher's guide to interference and other problems (pp. 252-263). Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Thiengburanathum, W. (1998). Se-Ed’s modern English-Thai dictionary. Bangkok, Thailand: Se-Education

Public Company Limited.

Internet Resources Internet Sites

Ager, S. (2008). Thai. Omniglot: Writing systems & languages of the world. from:

http://www.omniglot.com

Learningthai.com. (n.d.). Learning Thai the easy way. Retrieved from: www.learningthai.com

SMF. (2009). English Thai dictionary is a bilingual online dictionary search service.

English Thai dictionary. Retrieved from: http://english-thai-dictionary.com/

Thailanguage.com. (2012). Internet resource for the Thai language. Retrieved from: http://www.thai-

language.com/

UCLA International Institute. (n.d.) Thai. UCLA language materials project: Teaching resources for less

commonly taught languages. Retrieved from:

http://lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=80&menu=004

Internet Resources Maps & Images

Atom. (2011, May 16). Ronald McDonald praying [Photograph], Retrieved from:

http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2011/05/effed-up-ronald-mcdonald-pics-of-day.html

Bartram, G. (2011). The world flag database & Graham Bartram. Thai National Flag [Image], Retrieved

from: http://www.flags.net/THAL.htm

Frontiers of Anthropology. (n.d.) Map of Tai-Kradai languages [Map], Retrieved from:

http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2011/10/from-neolithic-to-modern-times-

in.html

Nationmaster.com. (2012). Maps of Thailand [Map], Retrieved from:

http://maps.nationmaster.com/country/th/1

M.Ed. in TESL Program Nancy Cloud, Director

Educational Studies Department Rhode Island College, HBS 206 #5

600 Mt. Pleasant Avenue Providence, RI 02908 Phone (401) 456-8789

Fax (401) 456-8284 ncloud@ric.edu

The M.Ed. in TESL Program at Rhode Island College

is Nationally Recognized by TESOL and NCATE