Features
Prominent features of the Royal Thai General System include:
- uses only unmodified letters from the Latin alphabet; no diacritics
- spells all vowels and diphthongs using only vowel letters: ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩
- single letters ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩ are simple vowels with the same value as in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
- digraphs with trailing ⟨e⟩ are simple vowels, ⟨ae⟩, ⟨oe⟩, ⟨ue⟩ sound like /ɛ, ɤ, ɯ/ respectively (and are perhaps chosen for their similarity to IPA ligatures: /æ, œ, ɯ/)
- digraphs with trailing ⟨a⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩ are diphthongs, indicated by /a, j, w/ respectively in IPA
- uses consonants as in IPA, except:
- digraphs with ⟨h⟩ (⟨ph⟩, ⟨th⟩, ⟨kh⟩) are aspirated /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/ consonants, to distinguish them from the separate unaspirated ⟨p⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨k⟩
- uses ⟨ng⟩ for /ŋ/, as in English
- uses ⟨ch⟩ for /tɕʰ/ and /tɕ/, with some similarity to English
- uses ⟨y⟩ for /j/, as in English.
Transcription of consonants in final position is according to pronunciation, not Thai orthography. Vowels are transcribed in sequence as pronounced, not as in the Thai orthography. Implied vowels, which are not written in Thai orthography, are inserted as pronounced.
Read more about this topic: Royal Thai General System Of Transcription
Famous quotes containing the word features:
“Each reader discovers for himself that, with respect to the simpler features of nature, succeeding poets have done little else than copy his similes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, the undoubted deed—there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask!”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Art is the child of Nature; yes,
Her darling child, in whom we trace
The features of the mother’s face,
Her aspect and her attitude.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)