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This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Thai on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Thai in popflock.com resource articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or its value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

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H:IPA-TH

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard Thai pronunciations in popflock.com resource articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to popflock.com resource articles, see {{IPA-th}}, and popflock.com Resource: Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants
IPA	Thai script	RTGS	Examples	English approximation
Syllable-initial consonants
b	?	b	??? / bambat	boom
d	?, ?, ?	d	/ dika, ?? / mondop, ? / dao	doom
f	?, ?	f	? / fuean, ?? / faifa	food
h	?, ?	h	? / hap, / hoicho	head
j	?, ?, , ,	y	?? / yoei, ? / ying, / yakyai	yak
k	?	k	??? / kangkeng	scan
k?	?, ?, ?, ?, ?	kh	? / khua, / akkhi, ? / rakhang	can
l	?, , ?	l	? / laliat, ?? / lole, / nalika	leaf
m	?,	m	??? / mommaem, / mat	much
n	?, ?,	n	??? / nen, ? / noina	not
?	?,	ng	?? / ngong, ? / ma-ngek	bringing
p	?	p	? / pan	span
p?	?, ?, ?	ph	? / phueng, ? / phan, ? / phiphop	pan
r^[1]	?,	r	?? / raroeng, ? / rura	trilled r
s	?, , , ?, , ?, ?,	s	??? / saeng, / si, ? / sio	soup
t	?, ?	t	?? / patibat, ?? / tamruat	stable
t?	?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?	th	/ watthu, ?? / thapthim, ??? / athitthan	table
t?	?,	ch	??? / charachon, ? / ching	question
t	?, ?, ?	ch	?? / choet, ?? / chingcha, ?? / atcha	cheese
w	?,	w	? / wao, ?? / wiang	way
?	?		?? / aroi [?à?.rj] > [??.rj],^[2] ?? / sip et [sìp ?èt]	the catch in uh-oh
Syllable-final consonants
j	?	i	? / yoei, ? / khayai	boy
k^[3]	?, , ?, ?, , ?	k	? / krok, / samak, ? / mek	doctor
m	?	m	?? / mommaem	jam
n	?, ?, ?, ?, , ?, ?	n	?? / winyan, ?? / sandon, ? / nen	can
?	?	ng	?? / ngong	sang
p^[3]	?, ?, ?, ?, ?	p	? / prap, ? / thawip, ? / phap	apt
t^[3]	?, ?, , ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, , ?, ?, , , , ?, ?, , ?, , , , ?, ?, ?	t	?? / tamruat, ? / daet, ? / watthu, / met, ??? / botbat, ? / samat, ? / prathet	catnip
w	?	o	? / wao, ? / kaeo	wow
?^[3]	?, -		? / mana [m?:.ná?], / khati [k?á?.tì?] > [k.tì?],^[2] / kia [kía?]	flat (Cockney)

Vowels
IPA	Thai script	RTGS	Examples	English approximation
Short monophthongs
a	?, ,	a	/ phayang ????? / chalamet ? / banlang	cut
e	, ?	e	? / phet, ? / seng	mate (Scottish)
?	, ?	ae	? / waen, ??? / yaem	bat
i	,	i	? / boriwen, ?? / likkhasit	happy
o	,	o	/ lom, / krot	boat (Scottish)
?	?, ?	o	?? / krathom, ? / lok	lot
u	,	u	? / buri, ? / khunnawut	shoot
?		ue	? / huet, ?? / uekkathuek	goose (Australian)
?	?	oe	? / ngoen	the
Long monophthongs
a:	,	a	? / kla, ??? / rap	bra
e:	,	e	?? / thale, ? / kreng	play (Scottish)
?:	,	ae	?? / phae, ?? / khwaen	man
i:	,	i	/ ni, ? / pin	green
o:	,	o	? / ho, ? / lok	go (Scottish)
?:	?, ,	o	? / thorani, ??? / tomo, ?? / klong	lawn
u:	,	u	/ su, ? / but	moon
?:	,	ue	? / nangsue ?? / khluen	who'd (Australian)
?:	, ?	oe	???? / phoeroe ? / koet	fur
Diphthongs
ia	?,	ia	?? / phlia, ?? / ngiap	media
ua	,	ua	? / chua, ??? / huat	gruel
?a	?,	uea	?? / khruea, ?? / mueang

Vowels + syllable-final /j, w/
IPA	Thai script	RTGS	Examples	English approximation
aj	, ,	ai	/ wai, ? / yai, ? / mai	tight
aw		ao	??? / ao	house
ew	, ?	eo	?? / reo, ? / reo
?w	, ?	aeo	??? / thaeo, ?? / phlaeo	house (Australian)
iw		io	/ hio	hue
?j	, ?	oi	/ boi, ?? / yoi	Boyce
uj		ui	/ khui	chewy
a:j		ai	? / tai	Thai
a:w		ao	? / dao	cow
e:w		eo	/ leo
?:w		aeo	?? / laeo	cow (Australian)
o:j		oi	??? / doi	boy (Australian)
?:j		oi	/ roi	boy
?:j		oei	/ noei	millefeuille (British)^[4]
iaw		iao	?? / priao	meow
uaj		uai	/ thuai	Paraguay
?aj		ueai	/ fueai

Tones
IPA	Description	Thai script	RTGS	Examples
?:	Mid	-		? [w?:.l?:], [krà?.d?m] > [kr?.d?m]^[2]
à:	Low	-,		[bù:t], ? [sàj]
â:	Falling	-, ,		[n:p], ?? [np], [pl:]
á:	High	-, ,		[p?át], ?? [nó:t], [t?úa?]
?:	Rising	-,		[k??a?], ?? [k?w]

Other symbols
IPA	Description	RTGS	Examples
.	Syllable break	- ^[5]	/ dipli [d?:.pl?:], ? / maphrao [má?.p?rá:w] > [m?.p?rá:w],^[2] / sam-ang [s?m.:?]

Notes and references

^ The consonant /r/ is realized most frequently as , but also as , in standard or deliberate pronunciation. In other contexts, however, both of them tend to merge into the lateral approximant , as the clear distinction between the phonemes /r/ and /l/ is consistently maintained only by some speakers.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:26): "In plurisyllabic words, the low tone and the high tone on syllables containing the short vowel /a/ followed by the glottal stop in deliberate speech, become the mid tone when unstressed, with loss of the glottal stop."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d In syllable-final position, /p, t, k, ?/ have no audible release: [p?, t?, k?, ].
^ "millefeuille". Lexico UK Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
^ The RTGS uses a hyphen to indicate a syllable break where ambiguity would otherwise arise.

Bibliography

Tingsabadh, M. R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur S. (1993). "Thai" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 23 (1): 24-28. doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746.

[1] The consonant /r/ is realized most frequently as , but also as , in standard or deliberate pronunciation. In other contexts, however, both of them tend to merge into the lateral approximant , as the clear distinction between the phonemes /r/ and /l/ is consistently maintained only by some speakers.

[neutralization-2] Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:26): "In plurisyllabic words, the low tone and the high tone on syllables containing the short vowel /a/ followed by the glottal stop in deliberate speech, become the mid tone when unstressed, with loss of the glottal stop."

[no_audible_release-3] In syllable-final position, /p, t, k, ?/ have no audible release: [p?, t?, k?, ].

[4] "millefeuille". Lexico UK Dictionary. Oxford University Press.

[hyphen-5] The RTGS uses a hyphen to indicate a syllable break where ambiguity would otherwise arise.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]