Not to be confused with Tai languages or Central Tai languages.
Thai
Central Thai, Siamese
ภาษาไทย, Phasa Thai
"Phasa Thai" (literally meaning "Thai language") written in Thai script
Pronunciation
[pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]
Region
Thailand (Central Thailand and Thai Chinese enclaves throughout country)
Cambodia (Koh Kong province)
Ethnicity
Central Thai, Thai Chinese, Mon
Native speakers
L1: 21 million (2000)[1] L2: 40 million (2001)[1] Total: 61 million (2000–2001)[1]
Language family
Kra–Dai
Tai
Southwestern Tai
Chiang Saen
Sukhothai
Thai
Writing system
Thai script
Thai Braille
Khom Thai (religious use)
Official status
Official language in
Thailand
Recognised minority language in
Cambodia Laos Malaysia Myanmar
Regulated by
Royal Society of Thailand
Language codes
ISO 639-1
th
ISO 639-2
tha
ISO 639-3
tha
Glottolog
thai1261
Linguasphere
47-AAA-b
Dark Blue: Majority
Light Blue: Minority
Thai,[a] or Central Thai[b] (historically Siamese;[c][d] Thai: ภาษาไทย), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai, Mon people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout the country. It is the sole official language of Thailand.[2][3]
Thai is the most spoken of over 60 languages of Thailand by both number of native and overall speakers. Over half of its vocabulary is derived from or borrowed from Pali, Sanskrit, Mon[4] and Old Khmer. It is a tonal and analytic language. Thai has a complex orthography and system of relational markers. Spoken Thai, depending on standard sociolinguistic factors such as age, gender, class, spatial proximity, and the urban/rural divide, is partly mutually intelligible with Lao, Isan, and some fellow Thai topolects. These languages are written with slightly different scripts, but are linguistically similar and effectively form a dialect continuum.[5]
Thai language is spoken by over 69 million people (2020.) Moreover, most Thais in the northern (Lanna) and the northeastern (Isan) parts of the country today are bilingual speakers of Central Thai and their respective regional dialects because (Central) Thai is the language of television, education, news reporting, and all forms of media.[6] A recent research found that the speakers of the Northern Thai language (also known as Phasa Mueang or Kham Mueang) have become so few, as most people in northern Thailand now invariably speak Standard Thai, so that they are now using mostly Central Thai words and only seasoning their speech with the "Kham Mueang" accent.[7] Standard Thai is based on the register of the educated classes by Central Thai and Mon people in the area along the ring surrounding the Metropolis.[8][9]
In addition to Central Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages. Although most of linguists classify these dialects as related but distinct languages, native speakers often identify them as regional variants or dialects of the "same" Thai language, or as "different kinds of Thai".[10] As a dominant language in all aspects of society in Thailand, Thai initially saw gradual and later widespread adoption as a second language among the country's minority ethnic groups from the mid-late Ayutthaya period onward.[11][12] Ethnic minorities today are predominantly bilingual, speaking Thai alongside their native language or dialect.
^ abcThai at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^Diller, A.; Reynolds, Craig J. (2002). "What makes central Thai a national language?". In Reynolds (ed.). National identity and its defenders : Thailand today. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. ISBN 974-7551-88-8. OCLC 54373362.
^Draper, John (2019), "Language education policy in Thailand", The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 229–242, doi:10.4324/9781315666235-16, ISBN 978-1-315-66623-5, S2CID 159127015
^Baker, Christopher (2014). A history of Thailand. Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-1-316-00733-4.
^Enfield, N.J. "How to define 'Lao', 'Thai', and 'Isan' language? A view from linguistic science". Tai Culture. 3 (1): 62–67.
^Peansiri Vongvipanond (Summer 1994). "Linguistic Perspectives of Thai Culture". paper presented to a workshop of teachers of social science. University of New Orleans. p. 2. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2011. The dialect one hears on radio and television is the Bangkok dialect, considered the standard dialect.
^Kemasingki, Pim; Prateepkoh, Pariyakorn (1 August 2017). "Kham Mueang: the slow death of a language". Chiang Mai City Life: 8. there are still many people speaking kham mueang, but as an accent, not as a language. Because we now share the written language with Bangkok, we are beginning to use its vocabulary as well
^Andrew Simpson (2007). Language and national identity in Asia. Oxford University Press. Standard Thai is a form of Central Thai based on the variety of Thai spoken earlier by the elite of the court, and now by the educated middle and upper classes of Bangkok. It ... was standardized in grammar books in the nineteenth century, and spread dramatically from the 1930s onwards, when public education became much more widespread
^Thepboriruk, Kanjana (2010). "Bangkok Thai tones revisited". Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society. 3 (1). University of Hawaii Press: 86–105. Linguists generally consider Bangkok Thai and Standard Thai, the Kingdom's national language, to be one and the same.
^Antonio L. Rappa; Lionel Wee (2006), Language Policy and Modernity in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, Springer, pp. 114–115
^Lieberman, Victor (2003). Strange Parallels: Volume 1, Integration on the Mainland: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c.800–1830. Studies in Comparative World History (Kindle ed.). ISBN 978-0-521-80086-0.
^Wyatt, David K. (2003). Thailand: A Short History. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08475-7.
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Thai, or Central Thai (historically Siamese; Thai: ภาษาไทย), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai, Mon people in...
Central Thai dialects. Southern Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages—others being Thai, Northern Thai and numerous smaller languages, which...
(Northern Thai: ᨣᩴᩤᨾᩮᩬᩥᨦ, กำเมือง ) or Northern Thailanguage (Thai: ภาษาไทยถิ่นเหนือ) is the language of the Northern Thai people of Lanna, Thailand. It is...
as 'Northeastern Thai', following Thai government practice until the 2011 Country Report. Languages by number of speakers in Thailand with more than 400...
Northeastern Thai (autonym: ภาษาลาว/ພາສາລາວ, IPA: [pʰáː săː láːw]; Thai: ภาษาอีสาน, romanized: Phasa Isan) refers to the local development of the Lao language in...
Phu Thai (Phuu Thai; Thai, Phu Thai: Phasa Phuthai, ภาษาผู้ไท or ภูไท) is a Southwestern Tai language spoken in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Although it...
also domestically), Southern Thai people (Southern Thai: คนใต้; exonym and also domestically), Siamese, ThaiSiam (Thai: ไทยสยาม; historical exonym and...
Thai Sign Language (TSL), or Modern Standard Thai Sign Language (MSTSL), is the national sign language of Thailand's deaf community and is used in most...
Look up thai, Thai, Thái, thaï, Thaï, þai, Thai., or thài in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Thai or THAI may refer to: Of or from Thailand, a country...
Thai script (Thai: อักษรไทย, RTGS: akson thai) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai...
Thai Song, or Lao Song, is a Tai language of Thailand. The Tai Song originally settled in Phetchaburi Province, and from there went to settle in various...
prior to 1939 as Siam. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai (ไทย) means 'free man' in the Thailanguage, "differentiating the Thai from the natives...
Tai languages Khamti language Tai Lue language Shan language others Chiang Saen languages Northern Thailanguage Sukhothai languageThailanguage Southern...
Asian countries. Thai names (given and family) are diverse and often long. The diversity of family names is due to the fact that Thai surnames are a recent...
Idioms in the Thailanguage are usually derived from various natural or cultural references. Many include rhyming and/or alliteration, and their distinction...
all social situations as a Thai, speaks Thailanguage habitually and with native fluency, and interacts by choice with Thai more often than with Chinese...
Thai literature is the literature of the Thai people, almost exclusively written in the Thailanguage (although different scripts other than Thai may...
Although Central Thai is the sole official language in Thailand and most people are able to communicate in Central Thai, the language is only the third...
Thai tea (Thai: ชาไทย, RTGS: cha thai, pronounced [t͡ɕʰāː tʰāj]) is usually known as a Thai drink made from Ceylon black tea, milk, and sugar. Thai tea...
Tai, Zhuang–Tai, or Daic languages (Thai: ภาษาไท or ภาษาไต, transliteration: p̣hās̛̄āthay or p̣hās̛̄ātay, RTGS: phasa thai or phasa tai; Lao: ພາສາໄຕ...
Northern Thai, Lanna or Kham Mueang. Central Thai may call northern Thai people and their languageThai Yuan, probably derived from Sanskrit yavana meaning...
Thai numerals (Thai: เลขไทย, RTGS: lek thai, pronounced [lêːk tʰāj]) are a set of numerals traditionally used in Thailand, although the Arabic numerals...
yoga postures. In the Thailanguage, it is usually called nuat phaen thai (Thai: นวดแผนไทย, pronounced [nûa̯t pʰɛ̌ːn tʰāj]; lit. 'Thai-style massage') or...
Muay Thai (Thai: มวยไทย, RTGS: muai thai, pronounced [mūa̯j tʰāj] ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat...
She-Movie (in Thai). 2012. Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2018. "She เรื่องรักระหว่างเธอ". Thai Cinema (in Thai). 2012. Retrieved...
referents. Honorific phenomena in Thai include honorific registers, honorific pronominals, and honorific particles. Thai honorifics date back to the Sukhothai...
believed to be a Burmese derivative of "Siam" (an old term for Thailand). In Thai and Southern Thai, it is called phasa thai yai (ภาษาไทใหญ่, [pʰāː.sǎː.tʰāj.jàj]...