Are there different types of Thai language?
Two major dialects of Thais, the national language, are spoken in Thailand: Central Thai and Southern Thai. Northern Thai is spoken in the northern provinces that were formerly part of the independent kingdom of Lan Na while Isan, a Lao dialect, is the native language of the northeast.
How many Tai languages are there?
70% of the 76 Tai-Kadai languages are spoken by fewer than 100,000 speakers. Of these, many are on the verge of extinction or are seriously endangered. A few are already extinct. Only 22 of the 76 languages have over 100,000 speakers, and only 9 have over 1 million speakers.
What is Thai writing called?
The Thai script
The Thai script (Thai: อักษรไทย, RTGS: akson thai) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand.
Is Tai and Thai language same?
As a linguistic and historical term, ‘Tai’ refers to a branch of the Tai-Kadai family, while ‘Thai’ refers specifically to the language of Thailand. Widespread as the Tai-Kadai family is, only two languages have official status as national languages: Thai in Thailand and Lao in Laos.
What language group is Thai?
Tai language family
Thai language, also called Siamese, the standard spoken and literary language of Thailand, belonging to the Tai language family of Southeast Asia.
Is the H silent in Thailand?
Silent ห in Thai Now let’s learn when ห IS used as a tone modifier and hence the “h” sound is NOT pronounced. The ห is a high class consonant. When it is placed before another consonant it becomes silent and modifies the tone of the syllable to follow high class consonant rules. Hence หลาย is rising tone.
Is Thai left to right?
Thai is written across the page from left to right, with no spaces between words, for example: You are trying to view Flash content, but you have no Flash plugin installed. To find out how to install a Flash plugin, go to the WebWise Flash install guide. Noi has been working here for almost 20 years.
What are the two national languages of Thailand?
The two national languages of the group, Thai and Lao, account for well over half the total of Tai-Kadai speakers. The spelling “Thai” is used for the national language of Thailand and for some regional varieties in that country.
How is the Tai language used in Thailand?
In the institutional context in Thailand, and occasionally elsewhere, sometimes Tai (and its corresponding Thai-script spelling, without a final -y symbol) is used to indicate varieties in the language family not spoken in Thailand or spoken there only as the result of recent immigration.
Are there spaces between words in Thai language?
There are no spaces between words in Thai sentences. However, to learn Thai language here, we put a space between words to understand well, not all sentences, though. (In English, “I woke up at eight o’clock this morning.”
Which is the generic name for the Tai language?
Cognates with the name Tai (Thai, Dai, etc.) are used by speakers of many Tai languages. The term Tai is now well-established as the generic name in English. In his book The Tai-Kadai Languages Anthony Diller claims that Lao scholars he has met are not pleased with Lao being regarded as a Tai language.