Know Your Dictionary: Symbols in RID99

[Note: See also in this series introduction, sorting, orthography, pronunciation guides, and word senses. Forthcoming: etymology and list of abbreviations.]

Lest you, dear reader, should run out reading material, let's plow ahead with part four of the Know Your Dictionary series (the original Thai can be found here):

Part 3: Symbols

1. Comma ( , )

A. Used between similar senses of a word within a definition, e.g. กระตือรือร้น ก. รีบร้อน, เร่งรีบ, ขมีขมัน, มีใจฝักใฝ่เร่งร้อน.
a. Separates the definition from synonyms, e.g. เข้าโกศ ก. บรรจุศพลงในโกศ, ลงโกศ ก็ว่า.
b. When a synonym comes after a sense followed by a semicolon (;), it means that synonym applies only to the sense after the semicolon, e.g. ไข่ข้าว น. ไข่ที่ฟักไม่เป็นตัว ต้มแล้วแข็งและเหนียวผิดปรกติ; ไข่ปอกเสียบ ไม้ปักไว้บนยอดบายศรี, ไข่ขวัญ ก็เรียก. (ดู ขวัญ).

B. Used after the last sense before an illustrative example to show that the example applies to all preceding senses, e.g. ขวย ก. กระดาก, อาย, เช่น แก้ขวย ขวยใจ. If there is no comma, it shows that the example applies only the immediately preceding sense, e.g. ขีดคั่น ก. ขีดกั้นไว้, กำหนดไว้โดยเฉพาะ เช่น อ่านหนังสือไปถึงไหนแล้ว ให้ทำเครื่องหมายขีดคั่นไว้.

C. Used after the last definition before more details about the headword, e.g. ถลอก [ถะหฺลอก] ก. ลอกออกไป, ปอกออกไป, เปิดออกไป, (มักใช้แก่สิ่งที่มีผิว) เช่น หนังถลอก สีถลอก.

D. Used between etymological abbreviations, particularly those from Pali and Sanskrit whose orthography is the same as the headword, e.g. ทวิ has parentheses giving the etymology as (ป., ส.).

2. Semi-colon ( ; )

A. Used between each definition that has many senses, and those senses are different but are still related to the original sense, e.g กิ่ง น. ส่วนที่แยกออกจากต้น, แขนง; ใช้เรียกส่วนย่อยที่แยกออกไปจากส่วนใหญ่ แต่ยังขึ้นอยู่กับส่วนใหญ่ เช่น กิ่งอำเภอ กิ่งสถานีตำรวจ; ลักษณนามเรียกงาช้างว่ากิ่ง; ชื่อเรือชนิดหนึ่งในกระบวนพยุหยาตรา.

B. Used between definitions of a word with unrelated meanings, e.g. เจริญ [จะเริน] ก. เติบโต, งอกงาม, ทำให้งอกงาม, เช่น เจริญทางพระราชไมตรี เจริญสัมพันธไมตรี, มากขึ้น; ทิ้ง เช่น เจริญยา, จำเริญยา ก็ว่า; ตัด เช่น เจริญเกศา, จำเริญเกศา ก็ว่า; สาธยาย, สวด, (ในงานมงคล) เช่น เจริญพระพุทธมนต์.

C. Used at the end of a definition, before the synonyms, for headwords with various definitions, to show that those synonyms apply to all senses of the headword, e.g. ปทัสถาน น. แบบแผนสำหรับยึดถือเป็นแนวทางปฏิบัติ; เหตุที่ตั้งเป็นเครื่องถึง, เหตุอันใกล้ที่สุด; บรรทัดฐาน หรือ ปทัฏฐาน ก็ว่า. (ส.; ป. ปทฏฺ?าน).

D. Used between etymological abbreviations, particularly those form Pali and Sanskrit whose orthography is different from the headword, e.g. ศีรษะ has parentheses giving the etymology as (ส.; ป. สีส), and เขม-, เขมา has the etymology (ป.; ส. เกฺษม).

3. Hyphen ( - )

A. Used in place of the omitted first part of a double, e.g. –กระส่าย ใช้เข้าคู่กับคำ กระสับ เป็น กระสับกระส่าย. –กระเฟียด ใช้เข้าคู่กับคำ กระฟัด เป็น กระฟัดกระเฟียด.

B. Used after Pali or Sanskrit words to show that other words can be affixed to them, e.g. อัคร- สม- ศาสตร-

C. Used in place of unambiguous syllables of a pronunciation guide, e.g. ชบา [ชะ-] or ยี่หร่า [–หฺร่า]

D. Used between each syllable of a pronunciation guide for words with ambiguous pronunciation, e.g. เพลา [เพ-ลา] or เสมา [เส-มา]

4. Period ( . )

A. Used at the end of a definition, e.g. กำแหง [–แหง] ว. แข็งแรง, กล้าแข็ง, เข้มแข็ง. ก. อวดดี.

B. Used after parentheses which give the etymology of a word or source of a citation, e.g. กำจาย ๑ ก. กระจาย. (ข. ขฺจาย). กระโสง (กลอน) น. ปลากระสง เช่น กระโสงสังควาดหว้าย ชลา. (สรรพสิทธิ์).

And the commentary:

Insofar as these rules are consistently followed in the dictionary, these symbols are very important to understand for making fine distinctions within the dictionary entry. There are still some unfortunate ambiguities, like points A and B under the semi-colon section (it would be nice if they distinguished these).

Also, the use of the hyphen in headwords is extremely important and one of the things RID does very well, compared with many or most other dictionaries.

If a complex dictionary like this one, complete with this explanation, isn't an argument for the introduction of more Western-style punctuation into Thai, I don't know what is. Thai would lose some of its mystique, perhaps, and no doubt some would claim its "Thainess", but communication would certainly be improved. Reading flowing Thai text without tripping up is hard! So, good thing the Royal Institute took the time to think through and decide to use punctuation.

Know Your Dictionary: Orthography in RID99

[Note: See also in this series introduction, sorting, symbols, pronunciation guides, and word senses. Forthcoming: etymology and list of abbreviations.]

In part three of this series I present my translation of the Royal Institute's rules for Thai orthography from the introduction to RID99 (พจนานุกรม ฉบับราชบัณฑิตยสถาน พ.ศ. 2542). The original Thai can be found here.

Part 2: Orthography

1. The following new rules apply to reduplicated and repetitive final consonants:

A. For final consonants which are reduplicated, e.g. กิจจ, เขตต, จิตต, in the case that the final consonant has no accompanying vowel, cut off one of the consonants, leaving กิจ, เขต, จิต. Even if it is the prefix of a samasa compound, the final consonant can be pronounced a little bit without reduplication the letter, e.g. กิจกรรม, นิจศีล, จิตวิทยา. The final consonant is to be reduplicated only when accompanied by a vowel or other consonant, e.g. วักกะ, กิจจา, อัคคี, รัชชูปการ, บุคคล, ประภัสสร.

B. For final consonants with repetitive consonants from the final consonant group ฏ, e.g. รัฏฐ, อัฑฒ, in the case that the last consonant has no accompanying vowel, cut off the first of the two final consonants, leaving only the last consonant, e.g. รัฐ, อัฒ. Even if it is the prefix of a samasa compound, the final consonant can be pronounced without repetition, e.g. รัฐบาล, อัฒจันทร์. The final consonant is to be repeated only when accompanied by a vowel or other consonant, e.g. รัฏฐาภิปาลโนบาย, กุฏฐัง, unless the vowel on the last consonant is ิ, e.g. วุฑฒิ, อัฏฐิ, ทิฏฐิ, in which case cut off the first of the two final consonants, using only the last consonant, e.g. วุฒิ, อัฐิ, ทิฐิ. The full form from the original language is given for words of this type in parentheses after the word. When you find a word written differently from these rules, compare how the word would be written according to these rules, how it would be spelled, and look up that word, e.g. for the word จิตต์ or ทิฏฐิ, look up จิต or ทิฐิ.

2. The following rules apply to use of the vowel symbol ะ:

A. Words which in the original language have two consecutive initial consonants, but in Thai an extra อะ vowel is pronounced, are not to use ะ, e.g. ผจญ, ผทม.

B. Words from Pali and Sanskrit, for which the final syllable is to be pronounced with an อะ vowel, are to use ะ, e.g. ลักษณะ, ศิลปะ, สาธารณะ, หิมะ.

C. Words from other languages which have customarily been written with ะ will continue to be written with ะ, e.g. ระเบียบ is not written รเบียบ after the Khmer. Words which are of uncertain origin, if pronounced with the vowel อะ, are to use ะ in keeping the traditional Thai spelling.

D. Words beginning with the letter ส which has been altered to ตะ or กระ, even if not written with ะ in the original language, in Thai are to be written with ะ, e.g. สะพาน = ตะพาน, สะเทือน = กระเทือน.

E. Various words with an added ร, which are mostly used in poetry, if the original word uses ะ, are to use ะ after adding ร as well, e.g. จะเข้ = จระเข้, ทะนง = ทระนง. If the original word does not use ะ, it is not necessary to use ะ after adding ร, e.g. จมูก = จรมูก.

Therefore, for words that have previously been written with ะ, if not found, look them up without ะ.

3. The following rules apply to use of ไม้ไต่คู้:

A. Do not use ไม้ไต่คู้ for words which are modified from Pali and Sanskrit, e.g. เบญจ, เพชร.

B. Use ไม้ไต่คู้ for words which are pronounced short.

4. For words which have an initial consonant or consonant cluster, when expanded to two syllables, the second syllable will have the same tone as the original word, thus no silent ห is necessary, e.g. กลับ = กระลับ, กวัด = กระวัด, ตรวจ = ตำรวจ. Even if the word is borrowed from Pali and altered along these lines, no silent ห is used, e.g. กนก = กระนก.

5. For words from Pali and and Sanskrit which have several pronunciations and are commonly compounded with other words, several forms are given for convenience, e.g. ศิลป gives three forms: ศิลปะ-, ศิลป์, ศิลปะ. The form ศิลป- is used for compounding with other words, e.g. ศิลปกรรม, ศิลปศาสตร์; the form ศิลป์ is used for the pronunciation “สิน”, e.g. นาฏศิลป์; and the form ศิลปะ is used for standalone use, and for the desired pronunciation “สินละปะ”, e.g. ศิลปะการแสดง, งานศิลปะ.

6. For words written according to ancient orthography, e.g. วงง, วยง, อนน, เกรอก, which nowadays are written as วัง, เวียง, อัน, เกริก, if not found under the archaic spelling, look them up under the modern spelling.

And a bit of commentary:

These guidelines are particularly interesting and significant insofar as they do not simply apply to the organization of the dictionary. As the official dictionary of the Thai language, RID also functions as a standardizing, normative dictionary. If a word's spelling is changed in RID, the new spelling is supposed to be followed. By whom? Everyone, although in reality this is not the case. Several competing spellings may co-exist. But the Royal Institute doesn't generally go changing common spellings. In fact, perhaps the most significant spelling policy change between RID82 and RID99 is the explication of all word-final short /a/ vowels, in Indic-derived words. Whereas RID82 would, say, have the headword ภว with the pronunciation [พะวะ], RID99 would simply have the headword ภวะ, with no pronunciation, since the new spelling's pronunciation is transparent.

Another thing that occurs to me is that since people often take license with them, or because they may have been designated when a different spelling was in use, proper nouns (particularly surnames) are both a historical spelling record and a rich source of former or alternate spellings. For example, in rule 3A for ไม้ไต่คู้ above, เพชร is given as an example. It was once alternately spelled เพ็ชร, and is still pronounced as if it were spelled that way. But that spelling hasn't been common for decades. So why does it turn up so darn many hits on Google? Take a look for yourself and you'll see all the proper nouns.

This also reminds me: In another post for another day, I'll discuss the Royal Institute's rules for transcribing English loanwords, and how these are reflected (or not) in the recent Dictionary of New Words. (Sneak preview: In their attempt to impose new systematic spellings for words that already have de facto standards in the media, the Royal Institute is really only confusing the situation and undermining standardization.)

Old News: The original Siamese twins

I think everyone knows (or at least figured) that the expression Siamese twins comes from a pair of actual conjoined twins from Siam. There are quite a few books written about them (in English and Thai, among other languages, no doubt). From the same issue as my previous post from the Bangkok Recorder comes another interesting piece of news from America.

[Click for a larger scan of the original]

First published November 3, 1865:

อนึ่งมีข่าวมาใหม่ว่า, คนสองคนที่เปนฝาแฝดที่เกิดในเมืองสยามนี้, ที่ไปอยู่เมืองอเมริกานั้น. แต่ก่อนเขาก็ได้ทรัพย์สมบัติมาก, เพราะเที่ยวสำแดงตัวให้คนทั้งปวงเหน, เขาก็ได้เมียทั้งสองคนเกิดลูกทั้งสองฝ่าย. ลงไปอยู่เมืองอเมริกาฝ่ายใต้, ทำบ้านทำสวนสบายอยู่. แต่เมื่อเกิดศึกสงครามนั้น, ทรัพย์สมบัติเขาก็หายไปหมด. เขาหมายใจว่าจะเที่ยวไปสำแดงตัวเหมือนอย่างก่อน, แต่จะเอาลูกเมียไปด้วยเพื่อจะหาทรัพย์อีก.

Which translates to:

Furthermore, news has arrived on the two people who are twins born in Siam, who went to live in America. Before, they got very wealthy, because they toured around showing themselves for everyone to see. They both got married, and they both had children. They went to live in the south of America, built comfortable homes and gardens. But when the war broke out, their wealth all disappeared. They intend to tour around showing themselves as before, but they will take their wives and children with them, in order to earn more money.

Their names were Chang and Eng Bunker, and they were discovered in Siam by British businessman Robert Hunter in 1829. At the time of this article, they would have been 54 years old, and living as naturalized citizens in Wilkesboro, North Carolina for more than two decades already. The war mentioned is, of course, the American Civil War. General Lee surrendered in April of that year, and interestingly, the last of the Confederate forces to surrender finally did so on November 4, just one day after this issue of the Bangkok Recorder went to press.

For those who haven't read about the life stories of Chang and Eng, Wikipedia is a serviceable introduction. The twins had 22 children between them (with separate wives--sisters Adelaide and Sarah Anne Yates), they owned a plantation complete with slaves, their sons fought for the Confederacy, and they eventually expired a few hours apart on January 17, 1874, four months short of their 63rd birthday. And despite being rather curious celebrities, and spawning an idiom which has been translated back into Thai (แฝดสยาม) and is still used both in their homeland and adopted land, they wanted to have a normal life. This is why they settled down, and why they chose the last name Bunker, and from this piece in the Bangkok Recorder we learn just how normal a life they achieved, complete with financial pitfalls. And somehow I find this surprising mundaneness to their life just as fascinating as their "Siamese twin-ness". It makes me glad that even a presumably austere Christian missionary like Dan Beach Bradley wasn't above a little celebrity gossip in his newspaper.

Old News: Siam's first newspaper

As with several Western innovations, the first Thai printing press in the Kingdom of Siam* was brought over by Christian missionaries. And with the printing press, along with techniques of Western medicine, Dr. Dan Beach Bradley, a native of New York state, managed to revolutionize life in Thailand in many ways, despite his failure to convert the natives to Christianity. Known popularly to this day as หมอบรัดเลย์ (or one of several spelling variations**), Dr. Bradley performed the first modern surgery, published the first newspaper, and other publishing firsts, including the first printed Thai-Thai Dictionary.

Bradley's printing press arrived in Siam in 1836, the year after he did, and promptly was put to work. His newspaper, the Bangkok Recorder, had two printing runs. One in the 1840s, and then again in the 1860s, eventually being shut down because it couldn't break even. Recently I've acquired a scan of the entirety of the 1865-1866 year, or the first year of the newspaper's second run. It's truly fascinating. The range is broad, with everything from local and foreign news to translations of selections from the U.S. constitution to explanations of anatomy or other scientific principles--even the occasional joke. Naturally, then, I can't keep it to myself. So I will periodically post interesting articles or tidbits from the Bangkok Recorder, known in Thai as หนังสือจดหมายเหตุ (which means, essentially, "newspaper", though that term has long been supplanted by หนังสือพิมพ์, and is now used to mean "record of events", which is another literal interpretation of the term), or by the transliteration of its English name, บางกอกรีคอเดอ. Here's my first selection, an explanation of advertising, published November 3, 1865:

[Click for a larger scan of the original]

In modern type with extra spaces between words removed:

ข้าพเจ้าผู้เจ้าของจตหมายเหตุนี้ได้ยินข่าวว่า, คนที่ซื้อบางกอกรีคอเดอสงไสว่า, เหตุไรได้เอาความลงซ้ำนัก. เหมือนอย่างที่ว่าด้วยอู่ใหม่นั้นได้ลง ๒ หน ๓ หนแล้ว. ข้ออื่นก็มีหลายข้อที่ลงซ้ำหลายครั้ง. เหตุผลประการใดจึงเปนอย่างนี้. หาความใหม่ ๆ ไม่ได้ฤๅ. เขาสงไสบ่นเพ้อไปอย่างนี้, เพราะเขาไม่รู้ธรรมเนียมจตหมายเหตุ. ข้อที่ลงซ้ำอย่างนั้นเปนความอย่างหนึ่ง, ที่เจ้าของเนื้อความนั้นปราถนาจะให้คนทั้งปวงดูทุกทีทุกครั้งไม่ลืม. เหมือนเรื่องอู่ใหม่นั้นเขาก็จ้างให้ลงพิมพ์ทุก ๆ ครั้ง, ด้วยให้ค่าจ้างราคาครั้งละ ๒ เหรียน. ข้อความที่ลงซ้ำ ๆ อย่างนี้, อังกฤษเรียกว่าแอดเวอไตศเม็นต์. ใคร ๆ ปราถนาจะให้ลงซ้ำก็จำเปนให้ลงตามธรรมเนียม, ที่จะปัดเสียไม่เอาก็ไม่ได้. บางทีข้อความที่ลงซ้ำ ๆ เช่นนี้, ในจตหมายเหตุฉบับหนึ่งมีถึง ๓ น่า ๔ น่าก็มี, เนื้อความใหม่ ๆ มีแต่ ๒ น่า. แต่แรกข้าพเจ้าหมายว่าจะทำเนื้อความใหม่ ๆ ลงในจตหมายเหตุให้ได้ ๔ ใบทุกที ๆ. เหนคนชอบใจได้มากจึงได้จัดแจงให้มี ๖ ใบ. แต่ในใบที่ ๕ ที่ ๖ นั้น, ก็คงจะมีเนื้อความซ้ำต่อไปบ้างเล๊กน้อย. อย่าให้ผู้ซื้อว่ากะไรเลย, ด้วยให้เกินไปมากกว่า ๔ ใบที่ได้สัญญาไว้แล้ว.

And a translation:

I, the owner of this newspaper, have heard that those who purchase the Bangkok Recorder wonder, "Why are so many things reprinted? Like the article about the new dock, it's run 2 or 3 times already. There are many other items which have been reprinted many times. What is the reason for this? Can't they find new material?"
They wonder and complain ramblingly like this, because they don't know the customs of newspapers. Those items which are reprinted are a type of article, the owner of which wants everyone to read and remember. Like with the story about the new dock, they pay for it to be printed every time, paying 2 dollars per time. An article that is repeated like this, in English is called 'advertisement'. Whoever wants to reprint something must be allowed according to the custom, and can't be rejected. Sometimes in an issue of the newspaper there are up to 3 or 4 pages of reprinted articles like this, with only 2 pages of new material. From the start I intended to publish 4 sheets of new material in the paper every time. I saw that a lot of people liked it so I arranged for 6 sheets. But in sheets 5 and 6, there will likely be some of these repeated articles. No one should criticize, because I'm already giving more than the promised 4 sheets.

In this day and age it's rather bizarre to imagine when--just a century and a half ago!--anyone would have been puzzled by advertising. Times have changed.

From a language perspective, it's interesting to see the differences in spelling. In this brief piece we see สงไส, น่า in the sense "page", ฤๅ meaning หรือ, and เปน and เหน without ไม้ไต่คู้, among other things. We also see that spelling English as อังกฤษ dates back at least this far. Overall, quite comprehensible for the modern reader.

If you have a particular request for what feature from this newspaper you want to see, drop me an email.

---

* The actual first printing in Thai script was done out of the country, also by missionaries. Bradley's press was the first physically in Thailand.
** I've also seen หมอบรัดเล, หมอบลัดเล, หมอปลัดเล, and หมอปรัดเล, among other possible permutations.

Know Your Dictionary: Sorting in RID99

[Note: See also in this series introduction, orthography, symbols, pronunciation guides, and word senses. Forthcoming: etymology and list of abbreviations.]

Today, in part two of this series, is my English translation of the first part of RID99's introductory material. I'm happy to entertain questions about my translation (the original Thai is here). It is, for the most part, strict. I haven't generally attempted to revise the material to make it clearer, though I have occasionally translated loosely where I thought Thai structure or word choice unnecessarily obscure the meaning.

Part 1: Sorting and word collection method

1. Consonants are ordered by letter, i.e. ก ข ฃ ค up through อ ฮ. They are not ordered by sound, i.e. if you look up the word ทราบ, you must look in the ท section; if you look up the word เหมา, you must look in the ห section. ฤ ฤๅ are ordered after ร and ฦ ฦๅ are ordered after ล.

2. Vowels are not ordered by sound, but are ordered by symbol as follows: -ะ - ั -า - ิ - ี -ึ - ื -ุ -ู เ- แ- โ- ใ- ไ-. The many combined vowel symbols are sorted by the linear vowel symbol order as given above, resulting in the following order:

-ะ
-ั (กัน)
-ั
-ะ (ผัวะ)
-า
-ำ
- ิ
- ี
- ึ
- ื
-ุ
-ู
เ-
เ-ะ (เกะ)
เ-า (เขา)
เ-าะ (เจาะ)
เ- ิ(เกิน)
เ- ี (เสีย)
เ- ีะ (เดียะ)
เ- ื (เสือ)
เ- ืะ (เกือะ)
แ-
แ-ะ (แพะ)
โ-
โ-ะ (โป๊ะ)
ใ-
ไ-

The letters ย ว อ are always sorted as consonants.

3. Word sorting is ordered foremost by initial consonant, and then by vowel symbol. Words without a vowel symbol thus come first, e.g. กก comes before กะ, or ขลา comes before ขะข่ำ. Words which have both consonants and vowel symbols are sorted by the same method as above, e.g. จริก จริม จรี จรึง จรุก, and normally are not sorted by tone marker, e.g. ไต้ก๋ง ไต้ฝุ่น ไต่ไม้; tone markers is counted in sorting order only for words which otherwise are spelled the same, e.g. ไต ไต่ ไต้ ไต๋, or กระตุ่น กระตุ้น. Words with the symbol -็ (ไม้ไต่คู้) are ordered before tone markers, e.g. เก็ง เก่ง เก้ง เก๋ง.

4. Among words which begin with กระ-, some words can only be spelled with กระ-, but others can also be spelled with กะ-. Those which can alternately be spelled with กะ- are also collected under กะ-, but only the words are given, without definitions. Therefore, for a word beginning with กะ in that section, see the definition under กระ-, e.g. กระทะ กระเปาะ, except for those which are spelled both ways with different definitions, e.g. กระแจะ-กะแจะ กระด้าง-กะด้าง, in which case definitions are given for both words.

5. There are words with an extra prefixed syllable as used in ancient compositions, e.g. มี่ as มะมี่, ริก as ระริก, ครื้น as คะครื้น or คระครื้น, แย้ม as ยะแย้ม, etc., according to the method called in Pali อัพภาส, and in Sanskrit อัภยาส, which translates as "method of overlapping letters", e.g. ททาติ or ททามิ. There are large numbers of these words, in some cases they are included under the prefix, e.g. คะครื้น is included under คะ, which states "prefixed to words which begin with the letter ค, with the same meaning as the original word". In other cases they are included according to their spelling, e.g. มะมี่, but all instances are probably not included, therefore if a word cannot be found under its spelling, see the original word, e.g. ยะแย้ม see แย้ม.

6. Some regional dialects truncate their speech, e.g. กะดะ shortened to ดะ (without กะ), กะง้อนกะแง้น shortened to ง้อนแง้น (without กะ), but the meaning is the same as the full word with กะ. Such words are kept only under กะ.

7. Words with reversed pronunciations, e.g. ตะกรุด as กะตรุด, ตะกร้อ as กะตร้อ, and ตะกรับ as กะตรับ, are normally kept in both ก and ต, but if not found in ก, look in ต.

8. The follow words are used often in poetry:

A. Words which append อา, อี or อิน to the end, e.g. กายา, กายี, กายิน.

B. Words with append เอศ to the end (in poetry terms this is called ศ เข้าลิลิต, making the word called a "toneless word" into a "first tone word" according to khlong poetry rules), e.g. กมเลศ, มยุเรศ.

C. Words which append อาการ to the end, e.g. จินตนาการ, คมนาการ, ทัศนาการ.

D. Words which append ชาติ to the end, e.g. กิมิชาติ, คชาชาติ.

These words typically have the same meaning as the original, and are collected in this dictionary, but perhaps incompletely, because there are so many. If not found under a given spelling, look under the spelling of the original, e.g. กายา, กายี, if not found under กายา or กายี, look under กาย. Whatever the meaning of กาย is, กายา and กายี have the same meaning. Look up other words after this same pattern.

9. Words with the same root that can take many forms, e.g. หิมวัต can can take the forms หิมวันต์, หิมวา, หิมวาต, หิมวาน, and หิมพาน without a change in meaning, are defined only under the original word, in this case หิมวัต. Words which have changed form from the original word are collected separately, but include a note to see the original word, e.g. หิมวันต์, หิมวา, หิมวาต, หิมวาน [หิมมะ]- น. หิมวัต.

10. Words which are subordinate names, e.g. ตะนอย, ช่อน, คา, are not included with the corresponding common noun as used in speech, e.g. มดตะนอย, ปลาช่อน, หญ้าคา, but rather the common nouns มด, ปลา, หญ้า are included according to their spelling, and subordinate names ตะนอย, ช่อน, and คา are included separately according to their spellings, except for words cannot be separated, because the whole word is the name of something, e.g. แมลงภู่, which is types of mussel or fish, and thus it is included whole under the letter ม; or, ปลากริม, which is a type of sweet, not a fish, is included whole under the letter ป. Nevertheless, there are some words which cannot be sorted according to these rules, therefore if a word after this pattern after this pattern is not found under the subordinate name, look it up under the common name, e.g. น้ำตาลกรวด is not found under กรวด, so see น้ำตาล.

11. When two words are compounded, with the first word the same as the headword, and has a meaning related to the headword, it is a subhead of that headword, e.g. กดขี่, กดคอ, กดหัว, are subheads of กด, except for compound words which have an independent meaning or a different meaning from the headword, in which case they are included as separate headwords, e.g. ขวัญอ่อน, meaning an easily startled person, i.e. a child or woman who tends to become frightened frequently, is included as a subhead of ขวัญ; whereas ขวัญอ่อน, referring to a type of dancing song, is a separate headword, because it has a different meaning. Words of this type are also numbered, e.g. ขวัญอ่อน ๑ and ขวัญอ่อน ๒. Compound words which have the same word-for-word meaning as the original words are not included, e.g. ข้าวผัด is not a subhead of ข้าว, because its meaning is the sum of its parts.

12. For words which can be compounded to either the beginning or end of other words, e.g. น้ำ, are compounded in various words, e.g. แม่น้ำ, ลูกน้ำ, น้ำใจ, น้ำต้อย, if the word that comes before the word น้ำ is spelled differently, it is ordered by spelling. For example, the word แม่น้ำ is ordered under ม; ลูกน้ำ is ordered under ล; they are not ordered under น. But if the word น้ำ comes first, it is ordered under น, as a subhead of the word น้ำ, e.g. น้ำกรด, น้ำแข็ง, น้ำย่อย.

[Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the Royal Institute, nor have I made them aware of my translations. This is intended for educational and research purposes.]

Know Your Dictionary: RID99

[Note: See also in this series sorting, orthography, symbols, pronunciation guides, and word senses. Forthcoming: etymology and list of abbreviations.]

Today I'm kicking off a series of posts about what I often refer to on this blog as RID99. That's right, once again I'm talking about the venerable Royal Institute Dictionary. The most recent edition is the 2542 edition, which corresponds to the year 1999.* As the official standard dictionary of Thai, it is a must own for any serious student of the language. That is, unless, the somewhat flawed online edition is sufficient for you.**

It's known in Thai as พจนานุกรม ฉบับราชบัณฑิตยสถาน พ.ศ. ๒๕๔๒.*** And while the print version has plenty of flaws of its own, it's the best monolingual dictionary out there (although I'm fond of Matichon's dictionary, too).

I dont' know about you, but I had been using the dictionary a long time before I ever took the time to carefully read the introductory material. And as it turns out, there's quite a bit of good stuff to learn in those introductory pages. You can find them in the original Thai linked from the main page of RID99 online, underneath the headings for all the letters of the alphabet. It includes these sections:

• การเรียงลำดับคำและวิธีเก็บคำ (Sorting and word collection method)
• อักขรวิธี (Orthography)
• เครื่องหมายต่าง ๆ (Symbols)
• การบอกคำอ่าน (Pronunciation guides)
• ความหมาย (Senses)
• ประวัติของคำ (Etymology)
• บัญชีอักษรย่อและคำย่อที่ใช้ในพจนานุกรมนี้ (List of abbreviations used in the dictionary)

My small contribution is that I have translated these into English for personal use, and I'm going to post my translations here, in hopes that they help you to get more out of your dictionary experience, as they did me. These explanations provide a better understanding of the thought process and effort that has gone into the structure and contents of the Royal Institute Dictionary, and the structure of the Thai language in general. As I have said, RID is not without its flaws, but see if you don't just learn a thing or two from it. Stay tuned.

---

*It was actually first published in 2003, but is still branded as such so as to associate itself with the auspicious year of H.M. The King's sixth cycle--72nd--birthday in that year, and to honor him.
**See my previous posts about RID99 online and its problems here, here, here and here.
***You can read a bit about the Royal Institute on Wikipedia, but be warned--I wrote most of the article, so you only have my word to take for it. Feel free to add to the article.

Improve Your Accent: How to pronounce ง.งู

[I've revised the following from a post I made on a message board quite a while ago, after someone asked for help figuring out how to pronounce ง.งู, that pesky little consonant. I recently ran across it again, and it's actually a pretty good explanation. Enjoy.]

In pronouncing ง (or any sound), consider two important pieces of information:

Place of articulation
Manner of articulation

The sound of ง is pronounced with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate (that is the place of articulation), and it is pronounced by expelling air through the nasal cavity (that's the manner of articulation).

I would guess that tongue position is the problem for most people. To help you pronounce ง correctly, compare it with other sounds that have the exact same place of articulation. In English, these are /g/ and /k/. In Thai, it's ก, ค, etc. Move your tongue back as if you were going to so say a word like "go". When you prepare to say "go," you should notice that your tongue forms a seal so that no air comes out until you expel it in a sudden burst. So /g/ has the identical *place* of articulation as ง, but has a different manner of articulation of articulation. So prepare to say /g/ again, but this time, instead of letting air come out through your mouth, relax your throat so that the air comes out through your nose instead. It's critical here that your tongue *does not move* from where you first positioned it. You'll know your doing it right if while you are saying the sound ง, and you plug your nose, no air comes out of your mouth. That is, the air is blocked.

So ง shares the same manner of articulation with น and ม, but they each have different places of articulation. That is, for each different nasal sound ง น ม, you form a seal, blocking air from flowing out of your mouth, and let it flow through your nose instead. So the trick is to form the seal in the right place. If you form it with your lips, the sound is ม. If you form it with your tongue right behind your top teeth, the sound will be น. And if you form the seal against the soft palate at the back of your mouth, the sound will be ง. If you're not moving your tongue far enough back, and forming the seal at the hard palate, the sound will be like "ny", like the Spanish ñ in word like "año".

Good luck, and keep it up. You'll get it. :)