Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: What is the language of Thailand?
Thai is the official language of Thailand, natively spoken by, according to Ethnologue, over 20 million people (2000). In reality, the number of native Thai speakers is likely to be much higher, since the Thai people of ethnic Chinese origins throughout the country learn it as their first language. The populations of western and eastern parts of Thailand, which had since ancient time formed the core territory of Siam, also speak central Thai as their first language. Moreover, most Thais in the northern and the northeastern (Isaan) parts of the country today are bilingual speakers of Central Thai and their respective regional dialects due to the fact that (Central) Thai is the language of television, education, news reporting, and all forms of media. A recent research finds that the speakers of Northern Thai language (or Kham Mueang) have become so few, as most people in northern Thailand now invariably speak standard Thai, such that they are now using mostly central Thai words and seasoning their speech only with "kham mueang" accent. Standard Thai is based on Ayutthaya dialect, and register in the educated classes.
In addition to Central Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages. Although some linguists classify these dialects as related but distinct languages, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between these regional dialects/languages. Nonetheless, it is often claimed that the language policy of the Thai government has shaped the dominant view that these languages are only regional variants or dialects of the "same" Thai language, or as "different kinds of Thai".
Central Thai is composed of several distinct registers, forms for different social contexts:
Thai Sign Language (TSL) or Modern Standard Thai Sign Language (MSTSL), is the national sign language of Thailand's deaf community and is used in most parts of the country by the 20 percent of the estimated 56,000 pre-linguistically deaf people who go to school. Thai Sign Language was acknowledged as "the national language of deaf people in Thailand" in August 1999, in a resolution signed by the Minister of Education on behalf of the Royal Thai Government. As with many sign languages, the means of transmission to children occurs within families with signing deaf parents and in schools for the deaf. A robust process of language teaching and acculturation among deaf children has been documented and photographed in the Thai residential schools for the deaf.
There are over 90 distinct native languages spoken by the different ethnic populations of Laos. Lao, the official language of Laos, is a monosyllabic tone based language from the Tai-Kadai family as spoken in Vientiane. There are 19 million Lao speakers in Thailand and 3 million in Laos, a reflection of geopolitical history. Lao can be further divided according to regional dialects including Vientiane, northern, northeastern, central and southern. Northern dialects are spoken in Sainyabuli, Bokeo, Phongsali, Luang Nam Tha, Udomxai, and Luang Prabang. Northeastern Lao is spoken mainly in Xiang Khoang and Houa Phan. Central Lao is found in Khammuan and Bolikhamsai. The Southern dialect is used in Champasak, Salavan, Savannakhet, Attapeu, and Sekong.
As part of the Tai-Kadai language family spoken Thai is similar to Lao, with some distinctions. Lao has six tones, whereas Bangkok Thai has five, the standard lexicon, grammar, usage and pronunciations are also different. The two languages are not mutually intelligible, although Lao speakers tend to have an easier time understanding Thai because of the prevalence of Thai radio and media in and around Laos.
The vast majority of the Thai people live in Thailand, although some Thais can also be found in other parts of Southeast Asia. About 51–57 million live in Thailand alone, while large communities can also be found in the United States, China, Laos, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Burma, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Libya, and the United Arab Emirates.
The population of Thailand was estimated to be .
Thailand is home to about 63 million people, 95% of these people follow Theravada Buddhism and it has become central to the culture and identity of Thailand. It has been observed that few Buddhist monks and authorities have taken action against the death penalty. Many monks in Thailand have been surprisingly tolerant. This might be because they come from rural areas of the country where the death penalty is strongly supported, they lack information because it is not a pressing issue and not widely debated, or they simply have no power and are forbidden from making political statements because political authorities are exclusively in control of the government in Thailand. Thailand's war on drugs may potentially explain its current retention of the death penalty. The manufacture and distribution of drugs is considered an offense in which the death penalty is mandatory. There were no executions in Thailand, however, between the years of 1988-1995 and 2004-2007.
The Lao language () is the official language of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and its official script is the Lao alphabet. As the dominant language of most of the Lao Loum and therefore most of the Lao population, the language is enshrined as the dominant language of education, government, and official use. Numerous minority languages are spoken by roughly half the population, and include languages of the Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Austronesian and Hmong–Mien language families. Although spelling is not fully uniform, despite several reforms to move the language closer to phonetical systems, it has helped stabilise the language. No official standard exists, but the dialect of Vientiane is considered de facto official.
The elephant has been a contributor to Thai society and its icon for many centuries. The elephant has had a considerable impact on Thai culture. The Thai elephant (, "chang Thai") is the official national animal of Thailand. The elephant found in Thailand is the Indian elephant ("Elephas maximus indicus"), a subspecies of the Asian elephant. In the early-1900s there were an estimated 100,000 domesticated or captive elephants in Thailand. In mid-2007 there were an estimated 3,456 domesticated elephants left in Thailand and roughly a thousand wild elephants. It became an endangered species in 1986.
Tamil (; "" , ) is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is an official language of two countries: Sri Lanka and Singapore and official language of the Indian state Tamil Nadu. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. It is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.
National symbols of Thailand - The national emblem featuring the garuda and the national flag. There are also three other national symbols, which were proclaimed in a declaration of the Office of the Prime Minister dated 26 October 2001. They are the Thai elephant (of the "Elephas maximus" species) as the national animal, the flower of the "Ratchaphruek" or golden shower tree ("Cassia fistula") as the national flower, and the Thai pavilion or "Sala Thai" as national architectural element.
The birds of Thailand are mainly typical of the Indomalaya ecozone, with affinities to the Indian subcontinent to the west, and, particularly in Southern Thailand, with the Sundaic fauna to the southeast. The northern mountains are outliers of the Tibetan Plateau, with many species of montane birds, and in winter the avifauna is augmented by migrants from the eastern Palearctic and Himalayas. That Thailand's habitats are contiguous with those of neighbouring countries explains the low number of endemic species.
Thai people have had a close-knit relationship with elephants since ancient times, with the elephant playing a significant role in transportation, labor and battle. Considered the national animal of Thailand, the elephant faced threats to its existence because of habitat invasion by humans and climate changes, amongst the other factors. The number of Thai elephants has been reduced from 100,000 to 2,000–3,000 wild elephants and about 2,700 domesticated elephants over the past 100 years. In Thailand, white elephants (ช้างเผือก, "chang phueak") are considered sacred and are a symbol of royal power.
The birds of Thailand included 1057 species as of early 2018. Of them, more than 100 are rare or accidental, two have been introduced by humans, and nine have been extirpated. Sixty-four of the country's species are globally threatened.
The Malay language is one of the major languages of the world and of the Austronesian family. Variants and dialects of Malay are used as an official language in Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. The language is also spoken in Thailand, Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka. It is spoken natively by approximately 33 million people throughout the Malay Archipelago and is used as a second language by an estimated 220 million.
Tamil is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the 22 languages under schedule 8 of the constitution of India. It is one of the official languages of the union territory of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Tamil is also one of the official languages of Singapore. Tamil is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, along with Sinhala. It was once given nominal official status in the Indian state of Haryana, purportedly as a rebuff to Punjab, though there was no attested Tamil-speaking population in the state, and was later replaced by Punjabi, in 2010. In Malaysia, 543 primary education government schools are available fully in Tamil medium. The establishments of Tamil medium schools have been currently in process in Myanmar to provide education completely in Tamil language by the Tamils who settled there 200 years ago. Tamil is taught in Canada for the local Tamil minority populations and the month of January has been declared "Tamil Heritage Month" by the Parliament of Canada. Tamil enjoys a special status of protection under Article 6(b), Chapter 1 of the Constitution of South Africa and is taught as a subject in schools in KwaZulu-Natal province. Recently, it has been rolled out as a subject of study in schools in the French overseas department of Réunion.
The Chinese population in Thailand had risen to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2 percent of the population was ethnic Chinese. The corruption of the Qing dynasty and the massive population increase in China, combined with high taxes, caused many families to leave for Thailand in search of work and a better life. Those who came before the First World War came overland or by sailboats called sampams, while after World War II most arrived by steam ship. The earlier tradition of Chinese-Thai intermarriage declined once large numbers of Chinese women immigrated in the early-20th century. New arrivals frequently came as families and resisted assimilation, retaining their Chinese culture and living in all-Chinese areas.
Approximately 242 languages are spoken in the country, but only four have the status of national languages: Kituba ("Kikongo ya leta"), Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili. Although some people speak these regional, or trade languages as first languages, most of the population speak them as a second language after their own tribal language. Lingala was the official language of the colonial army, the "Force Publique", under Belgian colonial rule, and remains to this day the predominant language in the armed forces. Since the recent rebellions, a good part of the army in the East also uses Swahili where it is prevalent.
Thailand's successful government-sponsored family planning program has resulted in a decline in population growth from 3.1 percent in 1960 to around 0.4 percent in 2015. The World Bank forecasts a contraction of the working-age population of about 10 percent between 2010 and 2040. In 1970, an average of 5.7 people lived in a Thai household. At the time of the 2010 census, the figure was down to 3.2. Even though Thailand has one of the better social security systems in Asia, the increasing population of elderly people is a challenge for the country.
Over 100 different languages are spoken in Tanzania, making it the most linguistically diverse country in East Africa. Among the languages spoken in Tanzania are all four of Africa's language families: Bantu, Cushitic, Nilotic, and Khoisan. Swahili and English are Tanzania's official languages. Swahili belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo family. The Sandawe people speak a language that may be related to the Khoe languages of Botswana and Namibia, while the language of the Hadzabe people, although it has similar click consonants, is arguably a language isolate. The language of the Iraqw people is Cushitic. Other languages are Indian languages and Portuguese (spoken by Goans and Mozambicans).
Tamils have strong attachment to the Tamil language, which is often venerated in literature as ""Tamil̲an̲n̲ai"", "the Tamil mother". It has historically been, and to large extent still is, central to the Tamil identity. Like the other languages of South India, it is a Dravidian language, unrelated to the Indo-European languages of northern India. The Tamil language preserves many features of Proto-Dravidian, though modern-day spoken Tamil in Tamil Nadu freely uses loanwords from Sanskrit and English and vice versa. Tamil literature is of considerable antiquity, and is recognised as a classical language by the government of India. Classical Tamil literature, which ranges from lyric poetry to works on poetics and ethical philosophy, is remarkably different from contemporary and later literature in other Indian languages, and represents the oldest body of secular literature in South-east Asia.
Thailand receives reliability, creditability and confidence by the OCA member countries, once again, to host the 1st Asian Indoor Games in 2005. For the Games mascot, the Organizing Committee agrees to use “Elephant” as it foresees that it is a national treasure of Thailand. Besides being a mighty animal, it is an intelligent animal capable of using it in various occasions even during our natural disaster.
The Lao (Isan) language in Thailand is classified by "Ethnologue" as a ""de facto" language of provincial identity" which is defined as a language that "is the language of identity for citizens of the province, but this is not mandated by law. Neither is it developed enough or known enough to function as the language of government business." It continues to be an important regional language for the ethnic Lao and other minorities that live beside them, but it does not have any official status in Thailand. Although the population of Lao speakers is much smaller in Laos, the language there enjoys official status, and it is the primary language of government, business, education, and inter-ethnic communication. Even with close proximity to Laos, Isan speakers must master Thai and very few Isan people can read the Lao script due to lack of exposure.
The Thai hill tribes speak numerous small languages, many Chinese retain varieties of Chinese, and there are half a dozen sign languages. The Ethnologue reports 73 living languages are used in Thailand. The Royal Thai Government's 2011 Country Report to the Committee Responsible for the "International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination", relying mainly on the 2005 Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data, lists 62 languages.
The Isan language is spoken in the 20 provinces that make up the Isan region of north-eastern Thailand, approximately the size of England and Wales combined. It is also the native language of large portions of Uttaradit and Phitsanulok provinces of Northern Thailand and northern areas of most provinces of Eastern Thailand that border the Isan region. The preservation of the Lao language in Isan was aided by its isolation, as the region was separated from Thai speakers by the Phetchabun and Dong Phaya Yen mountain ranges to the west and the Sankamphaeng Range to the south-west of Isan. Lao speakers, as well as speakers of the archaic Northern Khmer language, were separated from Khmer speakers by the Dângrêk Mountains to the south. To the north and east of the region, the Mekong River serves as the 'boundary' with the Lao language proper as spoken in Laos, although the border has always been fairly porous with thousands of people crossing to the river every day for trade, travel and business.
An ethnolinguistic map of Thailand. Thailand, and its neighbor Laos, are dominated by languages of the Southwestern Tai family. Karen languages are spoken along the border with Burma, Khmer is spoken near Cambodia and Malay in the south near Malaysia. The following table comprises all 62 ethnic groups recognised by the Royal Thai Government in the 2011 Country Report to the UN Committee responsible for the "International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination", available from the Department of Rights and Liberties Promotion of the Thai Ministry of Justice.