Hi,

Just learning, here. Ok, here is whats bothering me. äÁè It looks like it has the symbol for low tone, but its rising. So how do they come up with that?

Thanks

Jim

Hi,

Just learning, here. Ok, here is whats bothering me. äÁè It looks like it has the symbol for low tone, but its rising. So how do they come up with that?

Thanks

Jim

Hi,

First, we're actually looking at a couple words pronounced "mai" with different tones here. äÁè is the word used to make a negative.

äÁèàÍÇ "mai aow" I don't want (it).

äÁèÍÂÒ¡¡Ô¹ "mai yak gin" I don't want to eat (it).

äÁè has a falling tone because it is in the low consonant group and has a ( è ) mai ake äÁéàÍ¡ tone marker which makes it a falling tone.

If Á were in the middle consonant group (¡ ¨ ´ ® µ ¯ º ») instead of the low consonant group then you would be correct in noting that with a mai ake-äÁéàÍ¡ ( è ) it is a low tone.

Now the word "why," which you asked about in the description of the topic, is actually spelled ·ÓäÁ without a tone marker, which makes it a flat tone.

mai with a rising tone is äËÁ which is used at the end of a sentence to make it a question. ¡Ô¹äËÁ (gin mai)-Would you like to eat this? äÁè¡Ô¹ (mai gin)-No thanks/no I don't want to eat it.

äËÁ can also mean silk.

äËÁ however is often "shortened" or changed in common speech to ÁÑéÂ, saying it as a high tone.

I hope this helps a little.

Edited March 22, 200719 yr by CSS

Nice explanation by CGG.

To answer the question a bit shorter, the tone is determined by a number of different factors - to read the tone correctly, all have to be factored in. It would be nice and easy if one tone mark always represented the same actual tone, but it does not.

Ok,

Thanks a lot. I think I get it now. My hang up was that I read in my book that äÁéàÍ¡ means low tone, but now I see that it says with middle consonants. I had it in my mind it should always mean low. Lets see if I have this correct then. For now I should remember that the äÁéàÍ¡ means falling when with a low consonant. I am sure I will have some more questions for you guys. Thanks a lot.

Jim

The tone mark is essential, especially for the word "mai". The tone determines the meaning of the word. Here are 8 examples of the same pronunciation.

ไหม (short, rising) = particle for a question "or not?"

ไมล์ (long, mid) = mile

ไม่ (short, falling) = no, not

ใหม่ (short, low) = new

ไหม้ (short, falling) = burn

ไม้ (long, high) = wood, wooden

ม่าย (long, falling) = overlook, widow, divorced

หมาย (long, rising) = summons

As far as I know, any ambiguities in tone and vowel length can only be resolved by the context of the sentence.

Kao is another interesting articulation.

เค้า (short, high) = clue

เขา (short, rising) = horn

เข้า (short, falling) = enter

เข่า (short, low) = knee

ขาว (long, rising) = white

คาว (long, mid) = stench

ข้าว (long, falling) = rice

ข่าว (long, low) = news

First, we're actually looking at a couple words pronounced "mai" with different tones here.

For Yqq and CSS's posts, the Thai symbols are unreadable, but for LonelyAmerican's the Thai symbols are clear.

Can anyone tell me why? Occasionally I encounter Thai script I cannot read even though I have enabled Thai on my Windows and download many fonts. Am I missing a certain kind of font perhaps? If so, please tell me where i can get the font Yqq and CSS used.

Cheers!

For Yqq and CSS's posts, the Thai symbols are unreadable, but for LonelyAmerican's the Thai symbols are clear.

Can anyone tell me why? Occasionally I encounter Thai script I cannot read even though I have enabled Thai on my Windows and download many fonts. Am I missing a certain kind of font perhaps? If so, please tell me where i can get the font Yqq and CSS used.

Cheers!

In Firefox go to View>>character encoding>>thai

totster

I posted some detailed information about character encodings at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=64767. It explains how you can convert those garbled messages into nice readable Thai.

For Yqq and CSS's posts, the Thai symbols are unreadable, but for LonelyAmerican's the Thai symbols are clear.

Can anyone tell me why? Occasionally I encounter Thai script I cannot read even though I have enabled Thai on my Windows and download many fonts. Am I missing a certain kind of font perhaps? If so, please tell me where i can get the font Yqq and CSS used.

Cheers!