Obsolete Tones?

[kokesaat]

My wife tells me that her teachers taught her (some 50 years ago) another tone mark besides the 4 standard ones ไม้เอก ไม้โท ไม้จัตวา ไม้ตรี. Unlike the common four marks, the fifth mark wasn't over a word, but over the hand or over the butt. Known as the ไม้เรียว. She says that was plenty incentive to learn the proper spelling/pronunciation of words in her early primary school days. If I'm not mistaken, the ไม้เรียว is no longer used in Thai schools.

Okay, back to more serious Thai studying.

[Peppy]

ไม้เรียว is actually still widely employed as part of the curriculum at most schools, especially those upcountry. The sound is best described as a "whooshing", followed by a short, sharp "crack" at the end, and it serves to intensify the meaning of words so that they may not be easily forgotten.