Origin of Thai language

Introduction

The historical development of standard Thai language can be summarised in the chart below.

Proto-Central Tai language

Before the Han Chinese came to southern China, the ancestors of the Tai people in Guangxi province spoke a proto-Central Tai language of the Tai-Kadai language family.

Proto-Southwestern Tai language

Proto-Southwestern Tai language started to form in the eighth century AD (Tang dynasty) when the Tai people began to move into various parts of South East Asia.

By this time, various layers of Chinese loanwords from Nam Viet kingdom (Old Chinese) until the Tang dynasty (Late Middle Chinese) had entered the proto-Southwestern Tai language.

When their ancestors were in Guangxi and in the earliest Tai kingdoms in Thailand, they used a Han Chinese derived characters for their writing system which is called Sawndip.

Old Khmer language

Around 1279-1292 AD, King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai kingdom adopted and modified the Khmer script of the natives to write the Tai language. The Khmer script was in turn based on an Indian Pallava script.

King Ramkhamhaeng

The ancient Chinese characters were abandoned by adopting this newly written language which facilitated communication between the Tai rulers and the Khmer natives.

Chinese characters are monosyllabic which is suitable for native Tai words but not suitable for a proper transliteration of polysyllabic languages like Khmer and Sanskrit.

In the process of interaction between Tai and Khmer people, the standard Thai language incorporated many words from Old Khmer language along with its existing Indian (Sanskrit and Pali) sub-component.

Before this, many Sanskrit words were already incorporated into Old Khmer language through the Khmer people's religion which is Theravada Buddhism.

Southwestern Tai branch

The Tai languages in Thailand and Laos belong to the Southwestern Tai branch. These languages can be grouped into three main groups which are Northern, Northeast and Southern.

Northern
Another name for Northern subgroup is Chiang Saen named after the first Tai kingdom in Northern Thailand. This language is spoken in Northern Thailand today and it was also the language used by the ancient Ayutthaya kingdom.

Northeast
Another name for Northeast subgroup is Lao-Phuthai and is spoken in Northeast Thailand and Laos.

Southern
Another name for Southern subgroup is Sukhothai named after the ancient Sukhothai kingdom whose people spoke the language. This language is spoken in Southern Thailand. The trilled 'r' consonant e.g. reua (เรือ) for boat is typical of this branch.

There are some loanwords from the Malay language in Southern Thai such as Jambu (Guava), Nanas (Pineapple).

Standard Thai
Standard Thai language is based on the Sukhotai branch but with many Chinese loanwords due to the influx of Chinese immigrants. Refer the another article on Chinese loanwords.

Language components

As a result of the historical development of standard Thai language, there exists three other huge components besides native Tai words, these are Chinese, Khmer and Indian (Sanskrit/Pali) components.

Chinese component

There are many Chinese cognates that are not obvious to Mandarin speakers because these words are closer in sound to Old or Middle Chinese. Besides the Sinitic numbers 2-99 and 10000, other examples can be seen from the PDF file referenced in the sources section below.

English	Thai	Old Chinese
money	ngən	ngin (銀)
pus	nɔng	nong (膿)
salty	k'em	kem (鹹)

With the migration of Teochiu speakers to Thailand, standard Thai language has also absorbed some Teochiu words mainly related to Chinese food such as Kuei Tiau (粿條) for noodle.

Khmer component

There are about 1300 Khmer loanwords in standard Thai which includes many basic words such as 'to read' - aan, 'to study' - rian. The northern Thai dialect have kept some of the original Tai words.

English	Northern Thai	Standard Thai (Khmer)
nose	dang	ja mook
walk	tiau	dern
fun	muan	sa-nuk

The 'trilled r' initial consonant ร is most probably an influence from Khmer language consonant រ as it is absent in all other Southwestern Tai languages and also the Tai languages (eg. Zhuang) in China.

IPA	Standard Thai	Khmer
r	ร	រ

Indian component
Whenever there is a formal-informal pair, the formal words are usually Indian (Sanskrit/Pali) words whereas the informal words are usually Thai words.

English	Thai (informal)	Indian (formal)
wife	mia	phan-ra-yaa
husband	phua	saa-mee
country	meuang	pra-theet
eat	kin	thaan

Some native Tai words are demoted to low-status especially the pronouns while the Sanskrit/Pali equivalent are promoted to higher-status.

English	Thai (informal)	Indian (formal)	Indian–short form
I (male)	kuu	kra-phom (กระผม)	phom
I (female)	kuu	di-chan	chan
You	meung	khun (kuna)	khun

Comparison of different Tai branches

English	Central Thai	Lanna Thai	Lao
Do not	mai (ไม่)	bor	bor (ບໍ່)

Conclusion

The Thai language in Thailand is not a pure Tai language but a mixture of monosyllabic Tai words and polysyllabic Indic words imported via Old Khmer language.

Original Tai words are present in most basic words and used informally while the Sanskrit/Pali words are present in most formal words used in official events and public media.

Sources

Layers of Chinese loanwords in proto-southwestern Tai. Author: Pittayawat Pittayaporn

http://www.manusya.journals.chula.ac.th/files/essay/Pittayawat%2047-68.pdf

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/guangxi/chongzuo/huashan-rock-painting.htm

"It is recorded that the masterpieces were painted over 2,000 years ago by the Luoyue Tribe, ancestors of Zhuang People."

Harald Haarmann Language in Ethnicity: A View of Basic Ecological Relations 1986- Page 165

"In Thailand, for instance, where the Chinese influence was strong until the Middle Ages, Chinese characters were abandoned in written Thai in the course of the thirteenth century."

The Coda in Khmer Loanwords in Thai: An Optimality Theory Perspective. Author: Chom Sonnang.

https://mekongjournal.kku.ac.th/Vol11/Issue03/04.pdf

Paul A. Leppert Doing Business With Thailand -1992 Page 13

"At an early time the Thais used Chinese characters. But, under the influence of Indian traders and monks, they soon dropped Chinese characters in favor of Sanskrit and Pali scripts."

Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2018). Subgroup structure of Southwestern Tai based on early phonological innovations. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, held May 17-19, 2018 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Some historical background of Thai language. https://thaiarc.tu.ac.th/thai/thai.htm
Hatfield, Sudarat Leerabhandh. 2005. Lexical variation of Chiang Mai dialect in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. Ph.D dissertation. University of Georgia.

East Asian origin, history, language, culture

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