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Language

Thai

pah-SAH tai
Also Known As Siamese Historical exonym, now largely superseded by Thai.
Other Language Families of Asia

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
th 2
Speaker Count
27,000,000 2
Native (L1) speakers, 2024 estimate; total speakers including L2 use run to roughly 71 million.
Status
Living 2
Attested From (Year)
from 1292 3
Region
Thailand (official); minority communities in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia 2
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Official Language 2
Connections

Associated With

Mary Haas, Linguists

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

Kra-Dai, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: Thai Language

Written In

Thai Script, Scripts
Source Wikipedia: Thai Language
In the Other Atlases

Same As

Thai

Also in Divinity Atlas: the same subject.

Original Language Of

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a work originally in this language.

Found In

Asia

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Glottolog: Thai (Glottolog languoid thai1261)
GlottologEndangerment, AES status
Quote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Thai Language
Wikipedia
  • Article text
    Standard Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages, the others being Northern Thai, Southern Thai and numerous smaller languages, which together with the Northwestern Tai and Lao-Phutai languages, form the Southwestern branch of Tai languages.
  • Geographic distribution section
  • infobox IPA
    Phasa Thai
  • Pronunciation
    [pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]
  • Lead section
    Thai, or Central Thai (historically Siamese; Thai: ภาษาไทย), is a Tai language of the Kra-Dai language family.
  • Written In: Thai Script, Writing system section
View the Source
3. Omniglot: Thai language, alphabet and pronunciation
OmniglotLanguage at a glance
Quote, Language at a glance
First written : c. 1292
View the Source
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