Thai is a tonal language which makes it
very different to Westerrn languages.
Each syllable has a choice between five distinct tones:
low, mid, rising, high and falling. To a foreign
student, it would seem that the Thai language is made up
of groups of words that change in meaning depending on their
tone. A famous
tongue twister which illustrates this very well is "new
wood doesn't burn, does it?" or "mai mai mai
mai mai" in Thai.
äÁé
ãËÁè
äÁè
äËÁé
äËÁ
mai
- mai - mai - mai - mai
high
- low - falling - falling - high
To a foreigner
studying Thai for the first time, there is only one word
in the above example, "mai", and its
meaning changes with different tones. However, to a Thai
person, these are five distinct words that are not only
spelled differently but are pronounced differently. Most
foreign students make the mistake of relying too much on
transliteration when learning Thai. If you are to master
the tones, you must put this behind you and learn how to
read properly. (See Learn
to Read Thai with Manee and Friends)
The five
tones are:
THE
HIGH TONE -
àÊÕ§µÃÕ
This is a uniform
tone pitched well above the level of the speaker’s normal
voice and is similar to the tone used in English to denote
alarm.
e.g. “keep away”
¹¡
nok
A
bird
ÃÑ¡
ruk
To
love
àÅç¡
lek
Small
THE
RISING TONE -
àÊÕ§¨ÑµÇÒ
This as the name
implies has a rising inflection and is something like the
tone used in English to denote surprise or a question.
e.g. “Are you
going home now?”
äËÁ
mai
A
question word
ÊÒÁ
saam
Three
ËÔ¹
hin
A
Stone
THE
MID TONE
-
àÊÕ§ÊÒÁÑ
This is spoken
in the speaker’s ordinary tone of voice without any inflection.
It is the tone used in English for ordinary conversation.
ÁÒ
maa
Come
ä»
bpai
Go
¡Ô¹
gin
To
eat
THE
LOW TONE - àÊÕ§àÍ¡
This is a level
tone with no inflection but lower in pitch than common tone.
´Í¡
dork
Flower
ËÕº
heep
A
box
à¡çº
gep
To
keep
THE
FALLING TONE -
àÊÕ§â·
This is an emphatic
and heavily accented tone with a falling inflection and
is similar to the tone used in English to denote emphasis.
e.g. “I told
you not to go there”
¢éÒÇ
kao
Rice
ËéÒ
haa
Five
äÁè
mai
Not
It should be
noted that the tone applies to a syllable only so that in
a polysyllabic word each syllable may and often does have
a different tone.
¡ØËÅÒº
goo-laap
low-low
Á¹ØÉÂì
ma-noot
high-high
ÁÐÅСÍ
ma-la-gor
high-high-mid
ÀҾ¹µÃì
pa-pa-yon
falling-high-mid
ÃÑ°ºÒÅ
rut-ta-baan
high-low-mid
You may find
it difficult at first to pronounce all of the syllables
of a polysyllabic word in the correct tone but luckily there
are very few words of more than two syllables where tonal
values of the syllables vary.
By far the best
way to learn the tones at the beginning is the way a Thai
child does, i.e. by copying a natural Thai speaker. You
can do this by listening to us on this web site.
In Thai writing
the tones are quite clearly indicated by the use of Tone
Marks coupled with a rather complicated set of rules. If
you are ready, we will now proceed to teach you these rules.
Information
based on: "The Fundamentals of the Thai Language"
by Campbell and Shaweevongs. Additional material by: Ajarn Richard,
Head of Computer Dept.
Thai Language Advisor: Ajarn Acharawan, Head of
Thai Dept.
Sound by: Ajarn Lawan, Head of English Dept. Sound Edited by: Khru Dok-or, Computer
teacher Concept by: Sriwittayapaknam School
es.
Each syllable has a choice between five distinct tones:
low, mid, rising, high and falling. To a foreign
student, it would seem that the Thai language is made up
of groups of words that change in meaning depending on their
tone. A famous
tongue twister which illustrates this very well is "new
wood doesn't burn, does it?" or "mai mai mai
mai mai" in Thai.
ãËÁè