Gaa-Ran การันต์ Confuses Me.

[Delight]

The use of the symbol อ์ gaa-ran การันต์ confuses me.

I understand it's use IE it is placed above a letter to indicate that it is silent.

I cannot understand its purpose in the Thai language –except as to

give more spelling options to words with one sound and many meanings.

Or as a signal , when farang words are written using Thai symbols , that the regular rules in the Thai writing system are relaxed.

So syllables can end with sounds 'S' or a 'F' or 'B' etc .

Anybody know the definitive position?

[Rikker]

It's only used in foreign words. Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic, English, you name it.

[kriswillems]

If I understand correctly you're wondering why we just don't leave the letter with the garan out...

The purpose is to give you an indication of the origin of the word and to distinct between words that sound the same but have different origins and meanings.

I think you more or less already answered your own question.

Edited September 23, 2010 by kriswillems

[Delight]

It's only used in foreign words. Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic, English, you name it.

If I understand correctly ,then the word GAA RAN is itself a foreign word การันต์

[Rikker]

That's right. การันต์ comes from Sanskrit.

kāranta = kāra 'letter' + anta 'end', thus 'the end of the letter', a silenced letter.

[Delight]

That's right. การันต์ comes from Sanskrit.

kāranta = kāra 'letter' + anta 'end', thus 'the end of the letter', a silenced letter.

[/quote]

Thanks

All is understood

[Delight]

Thanks

All is understood

I've slept on it.

All is not understood.

If the symbol การันต์ is just a code to indicate that the word is loaned ,then does the letter beneath the symbol have significance?

[Rikker]

It's not that it's a code to indicate the word is loaned--that's simply a by-product of its function.

It silences the letter in order to help fit the pronunciation of the foreign word within Thai phonology. But the silenced letters are kept to help indicate the word's origin and to disambiguate the meanings of homophones (e.g. การ การณ์ กานต์ กานท์ การย์).

[eric67]

I've also noticed that some words that end with a Gaa-ran, when they're combined with another word, the Gaa-ran disappears and the silent letter becomes "active" and thus significant.

For instance:

สิงห์ -> สิงหาคม

I would be interested to know if there is some general rule for this, or if it just applies to some incidental cases....