Thai (also called Central Thai or, historically, Siamese) is the sole official language of Thailand, belonging to the Southwestern branch of the Kra-Dai family. It has about 27 million native speakers and roughly 71 million total speakers counting second-language use, and it is written in its own Thai script, an abugida whose old and modern forms are distinguished chiefly by a lost voicing distinction that produced the language's own tone split.
Facts
ISO 639-3 Code Speaker CountNative (L1) speakers, 2024 estimate; total speakers including L2 use run to roughly 71 million. RegionThailand (official); minority communities in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia 1 Classification
Official Status Connections
Associated With
A leading specialist in Thai alongside her documentation of endangered Native American languages such as Tunica and Natchez; her Thai-English Student Dictionary became a standard reference.
In Family
Source Wikipedia: Thai Language
Written In
Source Wikipedia: Thai Language
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Thai Language
WikipediaClassification section
Standard Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages, others being Northern Thai, Southern Thai and numerous smaller languages.
- Geographic distribution section
infobox IPA
Phasa Thai
Pronunciation
[pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]
Official status, Thai entity page
Thai (also called Central Thai or, historically, Siamese) is the sole official language of Thailand, belonging to the Southwestern branch of the Kra-Dai family.
- Written In: Thai Script, Writing system section
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