Languages in Thailand
The Thai language is spoken by approximately 50 million people worldwide and almost 85% of the Thai population. The language is also spoken by limited number of people in USA, UAE and Singapore.
The language was considered as an uninflected, monosyllabic tonal language belonging to the Ka-Tai group. The origin of the articulation can be traced back to the present borders of China and Vietnam. The Tai language family from which the Siamese language has been derived is a division of the much larger Austric language group.
The language shows streaks of similarity with the spoken discourse of Eastern Burma, Northern Vietnam and Yunnan.
The third Royal descendant in the Sukhothai dynasty-King Ramkamhaeng-is said to be the introducer of the Thai language and also the inventor of the Sukhothai script. He was an independent lord with strong national feelings who wanted to form the new official Thai script free from any Mon or Khmer influence. The Sukhothai script can be linked to Grantha – a form of the ancient Brahmi script from South India that transcended the Indo-China border with the spread of Buddhism and trade contacts to be blended with the Pali and Sanskrit. Used till 1357, the script was released by ‘King LI Thai Script’, the grandson of King Ramkamhaeng. However, the alterations in the new script have been so insignificant that the inscriptions from the Sukhothai period can be easily deciphered by the contemporary Thai readers.
