Thai spelling reform of 1942
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An attempted spelling reform of the Thai language was promoted by the government of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram in 1942. The Phibun's Prime minister's office announcement on improving the Thai alphabet is dated May 29, 1942, and was published in the Royal Gazette on June 1, 1942."[1]
Redundancy of the Thai writing system
The redundancy of the Thai writing system is retained, especially similar to Lao Language. the policy changes in simplified Thai:
- All of วรรค ฎ (i.e. ฎ ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ), the section of the alphabet corresponding to the Indic retroflex consonants, is gone, being replaced by their corresponding consonants in วรรค ด (ด ต ถ ท ธ น).
- ใ is uniformly replaced with ไ.
- ญ is replaced with ย in initial position (e.g. ใหญ่ > ไหย่), but retained in final position without its 'base' (ฐาน), as seen on the title page in the word สามัญ.
Of the three high /s/ consonants, ศ ษ ส, only ส is retained (e.g. ศึกษา > สึกสา).
- Initial /s/ cluster ทร is replaced by ซ (e.g. กระทรวง > กะซวง).
- The leading อ in the four words อยาก อย่า อย่าง อยู่ is replaced by ห.
- Many consonants that don't add to the pronunciation are eliminated (e.g. จริง > จิง, ศาสตร์ > สาตร).
- Some clusters are reduced (e.g. กระทรวง > กะซวง).
See also
References
- ^ The Royal Gazette, Vol. 59..Retrieved on October 27, 2015.
Further reading
- Thomas John Hudak, "Spelling Reforms of Field Marshall Pibulsongkram", Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 3, 1 (1986): 123–33.