One reason for learning Thai script is of course to fully appreciate its beauty and function as Abugida - its inherent vowel properties, how the words should be read in the absence of vowel marking. This will go unnoticed if learners just stick to phonetic transcription. One of the most beautiful words I see is in relation between July and Cancer. In Phonetic Transcription: July: ka - ra- ka - da: Cancer: kɔ: - ra - kod It is not so obvious. But if in Thai script. July: กรกฎา Cancer: กรกฎ By removing long vowel -a:, the way it is read changes differently, due to the complex inherent vowels rules involved. (In my opinion, Thai inherent vowel rule is even more sophisticated than its predecessor Sanskrit language.) General Rules of Thumb that I have observed: 2 consonants (or the last 2 consonants of the words): There is a hidden o between 2 consonants, unless the second one is ร ย ว อ. If the second consonant is ร, the inherent vowel is -ɔ: instead of -a. (Of course, we know -ย -ว do not exist, we cant read the combination ดย ปว for instance, while -อ is obviously a vowel -ɔ: like รอ คอ ขอ จอ) 3 or more consonants in a row. *Note if the first two consonants are true clusters like กร กล ปล ปร ตร คร etc, the previous rule applies, with these clusters treated as 1 consonant unit: eg, กรง (krong) กลม (klom) ปลด (plod) ปรบ (prob) ตรง (trong) ครบ (khrob) Otherwise, starting backward from the 3rd consonant on, the consonant is usually read with short -a, with exception for letter coming before ร which will be read with vowel -ɔ:.* Applying the rule to the word กรกฎ, the first ก comes before ร and therefore is read as กอ, ร is the third last letter and therefore is read as ระ, and with ultimate rules, the final two consonants are read as กฎ (กด) - kod. Hence, together we read the word กรกฎ as กอ ระ กด kɔ: - ra - kod. But when there is a vowel attached to the consonant chain, this system is somehow a little disturbed. The short o rule no longer applies, and the all the unvocalized consonants before vowelized consonant will all be read with -a. Therefore กรกฎา (กะ ระ กะ ฎา) ka - ra- ka - da: Sanskrit is simpler in a sense that every consonant without vowel is read with -a. Thai inherent rule made some Sanskrit loans sound very distinct from their origins. शव - shava vs. ศพ sop corpse फल - phala vs. ผล phon result, fruit बल - bala vs. พล phon power, force, strength (But जय - jaya becomes ชัย chai victory instead of ชย choy short counterpart of โชย cho:y doesnt exist in Thai. Sanskrit words with second letter as y will be rendered to Thai as -ay with mai han a:-ka:d on the first consonant.) नरक - naraka vs. นรก na - rok Hell नगर - nagara vs. นคร na -khɔ:n City Another interesting word is พล, a word relating to power, strength or energy, from which many words are derived. Standing alone, or used as a last syllable, it is read as phon. Many names, including the kings, contain this as the last syllable. ภูมิพล (phumi-phon) อิทธิพล (itthi-phon). By adding -ang to this word, พลัง energy is read as pha - lang. When this word is used at the front of other elements in a compound word พล- , it is read as pha-la-, for example พลศึกษา pha-la-suek-sa: or in short พละ pha-la, meaning physical education, a subject in school where students exercise in the field. There is also this Thai singer named พลพล, and people were making fun of his name, discussing how it should be read. Hence, applying the rules explained earlier, the consonants before the last two will be read with -a, and therefore his name is Pha-la-phon.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 02:15:40 +0000
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