Grapheme phoneme digraph trigraph consonant cluster tricky word Phonics: Quickstart Guide.
Rhode Island College · Pronunciation: Consonant Clusters Deletion [l] and [r] are often dropped...
Transcript of Rhode Island College · Pronunciation: Consonant Clusters Deletion [l] and [r] are often dropped...
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])
Alexander Nanni
TESL 539
Spring 2009
Language Group Specific
Informational Report : Thai
http://www.flags.net/THAL.htm
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 LR, 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.
(Swan, 2001, p. 345)
Pronunciation: Single Consonants
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
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
Morphological Issues
(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:
พอใจแลว้แค่นั้น 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
ใจเยน็ๆ 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