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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > Thailand > Thai

Thai

A language of Thailand

ISO 639-3tha

Population  20,200,000 in Thailand (2000). 400,000 Khorat (1984). 4,704,000 mother-tongue Thai are ethnic Chinese, or 80% of the Chinese (1984). Population total all countries: 20,362,390.
Region  Central, centered in Bangkok. Khorat in Ratchasima. Also in Canada, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United States.
Language maps  Northern Thailand, reference number 52
Northern Thailand, reference number 52
Southern Thailand, reference number 52
Alternate names   Central Tai, Siamese, Standard Thai, Thaiklang
Dialects  Khorat Thai (Korat, Thaikorat).
Classification  Tai-Kadai, Kam-Tai, Be-Tai, Tai-Sek, Tai, Southwestern, East Central, Chiang Saeng
Language use  Official language of the country, medium of education, and most mass communication. 40,000,000 L2 speakers in Thailand (2001 A. Diller).
Language development  Fully developed. Bible: 1883–2000.
Writing system  Thai script.
Comments  People sometimes called ‘Siamese’. SVO. Buddhist, Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

AMARA Prasithrathsint; NATCHANAN Yaowapat, authors. 2009. "A typology of relative clauses in Mainland Southeast Asian languages."  Available online

BENNETT, J. Fraser, author. 1994. "Iambicity in Thai."

BENNETT, J. Fraser, author. 1995. Metrical foot structure in Thai and Kayah Li: Optimality-theoretic studies in the prosody of two southeast Asian languages.

BENNETT, J. Fraser, author. 2005. Reanalyzing Thai glottal codas: probability, perception, and displaced contrast.  Available online

DOTY, Stephen, author. 2007. The paradigm shift in Bible translation in the modern era, with special focus on Thai.

DOTY, Steve, author. Available: 2012; Created: 2004-06-06. Learning to Read Thai.

HANNA, William J., author. 1983. "700 years of Thai writing."

HARRIS, Jimmy G., author. 1992. "The consonant sounds of 17th century Siamese."  Available online

HOPPLE, Paulette, author. 2001. Historical linguistics in Southeast Asian language programs.

KAPPER, James, author. 1992. English borrowing in Thai as reflected in Thai journalistic texts.

MOREV, Lev N., author. 2006. "Cognitive and structural aspects of abstract nominalization in Tai and some other isolating languages of Southeast Asia."  Available online

NOMURA, Naomitsu Mikami, author. 1992. "A semantic analysis of the so-called passive verbs in some Indochinese languages."  Available online

ORAWAN Boonyarith, author. 2009. "Derivatives in Khmer compound words."  Available online

PERSON, Kirk R., author. 1996. "Thailand's "straight-talking" monk: a discourse analysis of the hortatory speech of Phra Phayom Kalayano."

PERSON, Kirk R., author. 1996. "The language of preaching in the style of Phra Phayon Kalayaro: an analysis of dhamma proclamation."

PERSON, Kirk R.; PERSON, Suzanne R., authors. 1996. "Write that tone! language preservation issues in everyday attempts to write Northern Thai tones using Central Thai script."

PETERSON, Mary M., author. 1991. Miscommunication in the classroom: Discourse level considerations.

PHAIBOON, Duangchan, author. 2006. "Glossary of Aslian languages: the northern Aslian languages of southern Thailand."  Available online

PHILLIPS, Audra, author; PRANG Thiengburanathum, consultant. 2007. "Verb classes in Thai."  Available online

PRACHAKITCHAKONRACHAK Phraya; SOPHANA Srichampa; THOMAS, David D., authors. 1995. Some languages of Siam.

PRANEE Kullavanijaya, author. 1997. "Village names in Guangxi Province and northeastern Thailand."

PUTTACHART Dhananjayananda, author. 1997. "The emergence of the length distinction in the mid-front vowels ‘e-ee’ in Thai."

SAURMAN, Mary E., author. 1996. "Thai speech tones and melodic pitches: How they work together or collide."

SAURMAN, Mary E., author. 1999. The agreement of Thai speech tones and melodic pitches.

SAURMAN, Todd, author. 1996. "Exploring Thai music in Bangkok."

SAURMAN, Todd, author. 2000. Exploring Thai music in Bangkok.

SIL MSEAG, compiler. Available: 2006; Created: 2002-11. Southeast Asia 436 word list.  Available online

SOLNIT, David B., author. 1992. Review of: a Thai-Sgaw Karen dictionary, by Suriya Ratanakul, compiler.  Available online

SOLOT Sirisai, author. 2007. "Turn taking management techniques used by Thai TV interviewers."  Available online

SOMSONGE Burusphat, author. 1992. "The identification of storyline in Thai narrative discourse."  Available online

SOMSONGE Burusphat, author. 2007. "A comparison of general classifiers in Tai-Kadai languages."  Available online

SOPHANA Srichampa, author. 2006. "Thai and Vietnamese proverbs and common expressions: the influence of Buddhist and local beliefs."  Available online

THOMAS, David D., author. 1979. "Coordinate conjunctions in Thai."

TUMTAVITIKUL, Apiluck, author. 1994. "Perhaps, the tones are in the consonants?."  Available online

TUMTAVITIKUL, Apiluck, author. 1996. "The mid central vowel [ə] in Thai."  Available online

TUMTAVITIKUL, Apiluck, author. 1997. "Reflection on the Xʼ category in Thai."  Available online

UKOSAKUL, Margaret, author. 2000. Don’t "lose your face"!: conceptual metaphors motivating the use of Thai "face".

WAROTAMASIKKHADIT, Udom, author. 1997. "Fronting and backing topicalization in Thai."  Available online