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 ([email protected])

Language Group Specific Informational Report : Thai

http://www.flags.net/THAL.htm Alexander Nanni TESL 539 Spring 2009 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 LR, 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.

Pronunciation: Single Consonants

(Swan, 2001, p. 345)  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

Morphological Issues  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

(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: พอใจแล้วแค่นั้น 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 ใจเย็นๆ  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 [email protected]

The M.Ed. in TESL Program at Rhode Island College is Nationally Recognized by TESOL and NCATE