Southern Thai language

Southern Thai (Thai: ภาษาไทยใต้ [pʰaːsǎː tʰajtâːj]), also known as Pak Thai or Dambro (Thai: ภาษาตามโพร [pʰaːsǎː taːmpʰroː]), is a Tai language spoken in the 14 changwat of Southern Thailand as well as by small communities in the northernmost Malaysian states. It is spoken by roughly five million people, and as a second language by the 1.5 million speakers of Patani Malay and other ethnic groups such as the local Thai Chinese communities, Negritos, and other tribal groups. Most speakers are also fluent or understand the Central Thai dialects.

Distribution

In Thailand, speakers of Southern Thai can be found from as far north as Prachuap Khiri Khan Province down to the border with Malaysia. Small numbers of speakers can be found in the Malaysian border states, especially Kedah, Kelantan, Penang, Perlis, and Perak. It is the primary language of Thais as well as of the ethnically Malay people on both sides of the Thai-Malaysian border in Satun and Songkhla provinces. Although numerous regional variations exist and there is no one standard, the language is most distinct near the Malaysian border, but all varieties remain mutually intelligible to each other. For economic reasons, many speakers of Southern Thai have moved to Bangkok and other Thai cities or to the Middle East, where many speakers share Islam as a professed religion.

History

Malay kingdoms ruled much of the Malay Peninsula, such as the Pattani Kingdom and Tambralinga, but most of the area fell under the rule of Srivijaya. The area was heavily influenced by the culture of Indian traders, and numerous Buddhist and Hindu shrines attest to the diffusion of culture. The collapse of Srivijaya was filled by the growth of the Kingdom of Nakhon Sri Thammarat, which subsequently became a vassal of Sukhothai. The area has been a frontier between the northern Tai peoples and the southern Malay peoples as well as between Buddhism and Islam.

Phonology

Dialects

• Ligor dialect, spoken in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Trang, Satun provinces and Mueang Pattani, Mae Lan, Khok Pho and Nong Chik Districts of Pattani Province.
• Chaiya dialect, spoken in Krabi, Phang Nga, Phuket, Ranong, Surat Thani and Chumphon Provinces.
• Singora dialect, spoken in Songkhla, Yala and mostly part of Pattani Provinces.
• Tak Bai dialect, spoken in Kelantan state, Narathiwat Province and Yaring, Panare, Sai Buri districts of Pattani Province.

Tones

There are five phonemic tones in the Nakohn Si Thammarat dialect: high, mid rising-falling, low-rising, mid-high, and low.^[2]

Consonants

^* Implied before any vowel without an initial and after a short vowel without a final.

Differences from Standard Thai

Although the most similar in lexicon and grammar to Central Thai of the major regional languages of Thailand, Southern Thai is sufficiently different that mutual intelligibility between the two can be problematic. Southern Thai represents a diglossic situation from the formal Thai spoken with Southern Thai tones and accent to the common language, which utilises more local vocabulary and incorporates more words from Patani Malay. The Thai language was introduced with Siamese incursions into the Malay Peninsula allegedly starting as early as the Sukhothai Kingdom, and the area in which Southern Thai is spoken was a frontier zone between Thailand and the Malay Sultanates. Malay vocabulary is an integral part of the vocabulary, as Malay was formerly spoken throughout the region and many speakers of the language still speak the Patani dialect of Malay.

Southern Thai is mainly a spoken language, although the Thai alphabet is often used in the informal situations when it is written.

The words used that are etymologically Thai are often spoken in a reduced and rapid manner, making comprehension difficult. Also, the tonal distribution is different, with Southern Thai using up to seven tones in certain provinces. In contrast to Northern Thai, the Lao based Isan language, and informal registers of Standard Thai, Southern Thai speakers almost always preserve ร as /r/ and not as /l/.

References

↑ Southern Thai reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
↑ Gedney, William J., and Thomas J. Hudak. William J. Gedney's Tai Dialect Studies: Glossaries, Texts, and Translations. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, The University of Michigan, 1997. Print.

• Bradley, David. (1992). "Southwestern Dai as a lingua franca." Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas. Vol. II.I:13, pp. 780–781.
• Levinson, David. Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISPN: 1573560197.
• Miyaoka, Osahito. (2007). The Vanishing Languages of the Pacific Rim. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926662-X.
• Taher, Mohamed. (1998). Encylopaedic Survey of Islamic Culture. Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 81-261-0403-1.
• Yegar, Moshe. Between Integration and Secession: The Muslim Communities of the Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand, and Western Burma/Myanmar. Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-0356-3.
• Diller, A. Van Nostrand. (1976). Toward a Model of Southern Thai Diglossic Speech Variation. Cornell University Publishers.
• Li, Fang Kuei. (1977). A Handbook of Comparative Tai. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-0540-2.

External links

Southern Thai language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator