Thai Tones for Information Architects

I moved to Bangkok, Thailand, in late 2009, and it wasn’t long before I became enamored with the written language. Thai script is beautiful and wonderfully complex, and I quickly decided I wanted to learn more.

Thai is also a tonal language, which means that the meaning of words change depending on the tones in which they are spoken. A popular example is the rather nonsensical phrase “mái mài mâi mâi măi” which translates into “New wood doesn’t burn, does it?”

Like most Thai learners, I’ve found tones to be more than a little challenging (imagine that!). But I was told that learning to write early could be a boon to pronunciation. And since I wanted to learn to write anyway, I decided to make that my starting point.

A year or so later and I’ve made some headway in terms of reading and writing. My spoken Thai still needs truckloads of work, but at least now I feel a bit more confident that I’ve got a foundation to build upon.

I thought I’d share that foundation. But first, a word of caution.

Information Architects relate to the world in their own special kind of way. We connect, interrelate, structure, and organize our way through the world. And we mold information into shapes that can be readily analyzed—regardless of type or topic.

I am no exception. And as the title of this blog suggests, I build to think. What you’ll find here is a rough-cut work-in-progress. Clearly, it’s not for everyone. But if you, like me, prefer to approach things systematically, then I think you might find it useful.

And so, without further ado: Thai Tones for Information Architects.

The System

There are five tones in Thai: mid, low, rising, falling and high. Finding the right one for any particular word can be a source of frustration. Unless, that is, you have a system to go by. The diagram you see here is my attempt to create such a system.

I’ve yet to find a single word for which this system does not provide the right answer. I’d even label it “foolproof” if not for the number of steps involved. Tone identifications is, as you can see, often a three or even four-step process.

Each step involve answering one of four possible questions: “Is there a tone mark?”, “Is there a final consonant and, if so, what type is it?”, “What is the class of the initial consonant”, and, finally, “Is the vowel short of long?”.

Identifying the right tone is a matter of moving from left to right—answering the questions that pop up along the way. This, however, is no small feat for us beginners, which is why I’ve also created an armory of supporting mindmaps.

The Armoury

There are three mindmaps in the arsenal—each one created to help answer one of the four questions posed in the above-mentioned system (there is no mindmap for tone marks). You’d do well to keep them close by until you’ve manage to commit their contents to memory.

Tone marks
There are four tone marks in Thai. Mid tone is the default option and does not have a tone mark. You’d be forgiven to think that a word without a tone mark would therefore be pronounced with a mid tone. Sadly, this is not the case. But as the system suggests, tone marks do make it easier to find the right tone.

Initial consonants

There are 44 consonants in Thai, each belonging to one of three classes: low, mid, high. Contrary to what these names might have you believe, they do not correspond to specific tones. Low consonants can be pronounced in a high tones etc. Identifying the correct consonant class is a means to the end.

Final consonants

These same 44 consonants can also be used at the end of syllables. “Final consonants”, as they are then called, are pronounced and categorized differently from their “Initial” counterparts. Categorization is again a means to an end: identifying “Sonorant finals” vs. “Stop finals” takes us one step closer to the correct tone.

Vowels

Thai vowels come in two forms: short and long. And apart from some special cases that are always classified as long, it’s often quite easy to hear the difference. One thing though: for reasons I’ve yet to understand, writing short vowels often involve a larger number of glyphs than writing their longer counterparts (go figure!)

NOTE: In the case of initial and final consonants, it is sometimes necessary to also familiarize oneself with so-called “consonant clusters”. I won’t go into that here, but I’d recommend you check out www.thai-learning.com if you’d like to learn more.

Download System + Armory (PDF).

Examples

A few examples to get you startet.

The word “เขียน” means “to write” in Thai:
1. No, there is no tone mark
2. Yes, the word does end with the consonant “น”
3. Yes, “น” is indeed “Sonorant”
4. Yes, the initial consonant “ข” is classified as “High”
5. “เขียน” is pronounced “kĭan” (rising tone)

The word “อ่าน” means “to read” in Thai:
1. Yes, there is a tone mark
2. Yes, the initial consonants is “Low”
3. “อ่าน” is pronounced “àan” (low tone)

The word “พูด” means “to speak” in Thai:
1. No, there is no tone mark
2. Yes, the word does end with the consonant “ด”
3. No, “ด” is not a “Sonorant”
4. Yes, the vowel “ ู” is long
5. Yes, the initial consonant “พ” is classified as “Low”
6. “พูด”is pronounced “pŭut” (rising tone)