Southern Thai Language - Differences From Standard Thai

Differences From Standard Thai

Although the most similar in lexicon and grammar to Central Thai of the major regional languages of Thailand, Southern Thai is sufficiently different that mutual intelligibility between the two can be problematic. Southern Thai represents a diglossic situation from the formal Thai spoken with Southern Thai tones and accent to the common language, which utilises more local vocabulary and incorporates more words from Patani Malay. The Thai language was introduced with Siamese incursions into the Malay Peninsula allegedly starting as early as the Sukhothai Kingdom, and the area in which Southern Thai is spoken was a frontier zone between Thailand and the Malay Sultanates. Malay vocabulary is an integral part of the vocabulary, as Malay was formerly spoken throughout the region and many speakers of the language still speak the Patani dialect of Malay.

Southern Thai is mainly a spoken language, although the Thai alphabet is often used in the informal situations when it is written.

The words used that are etymologically Thai are often spoken in a reduced and rapid manner, making comprehension difficult. Also, the tonal distribution is different, with Southern Thai using up to seven tones in certain provinces. In contrast to Northern Thai, the Lao based Isan language, and informal registers of Standard Thai, Southern Thai speakers almost always preserve ร as /r/ and not as /l/.