The basic vowels of the Thai language, from front to back and close to open, are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet, the second entry gives the spelling in the Thai alphabet, where a dash (–) indicates the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates that a final consonant must follow.
| Front | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | unrounded | rounded | ||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | /i/ -ิ | /iː/ -ี | /ɯ/ -ึ | /ɯː/ -ื | /u/ -ุ | /uː/ -ู |
| Close-mid | /e/ เ-ะ | /eː/ เ- | /ɤ/ เ-อะ | /ɤː/ เ-อ | /o/ โ-ะ | /oː/ โ- |
| Open-mid | /ɛ/ แ-ะ | /ɛː/ แ- | /ɔ/ เ-าะ | /ɔː/ -อ | ||
| Open | /a/ -ะ, -ั | /aː/ -า | ||||
The vowels each exist in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes forming unrelated words in Thai,[1] but usually transliterated the same: เขา (khao) means he or she, while ขาว (khao) means white.
The long-short pairs are as follows:
| Long | Short | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thai script | IPA | Gloss | Thai script | IPA | Gloss | ||||
| –า | /aː/ | /fǎːn/ | 'to slice' | –ะ | /a/ | /fǎn/ | 'to dream' | ||
| –ี | /iː/ | /krìːt/ | 'to cut' | –ิ | /i/ | /krìt/ | 'dagger' | ||
| –ู | /uː/ | /sùːt/ | 'to inhale' | –ุ | /u/ | /sùt/ | 'rearmost' | ||
| เ– | /eː/ | /ʔēːn/ | 'to recline' | เ–ะ | /e/ | /ʔēn/ | 'ligament' | ||
| แ– | /ɛː/ | /pʰɛ́ː/ | 'to be defeated' | แ–ะ | /ɛ/ | /pʰɛ́ʔ/ | 'goat' | ||
| –ื | /ɯː/ | /kʰlɯ̂ːn/ | 'wave' | –ึ | /ɯ/ | /kʰɯ̂n/ | 'to go up' | ||
| เ–อ | /ɤː/ | /dɤ̄ːn/ | 'to walk' | เ–อะ | /ɤ/ | /ŋɤ̄n/ | 'silver' | ||
| โ– | /oː/ | /kʰôːn/ | 'to fell' | โ–ะ | /o/ | /kʰôn/ | 'thick (soup)' | ||
| –อ | /ɔː/ | /klɔːŋ/ | 'drum' | เ–าะ | /ɔ/ | /klɔ̀ŋ/ | 'box' | ||
The basic vowels can be combined into diphthongs. Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993) analyze those ending in high vocoids as underlyingly /Vj/ and /Vw/. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are also classified as long:
| Long | Short | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Thai | IPA | Thai | IPA |
| –าย | /aːj/ | ไ–*, ใ–*, ไ–ย | /aj/ |
| –าว | /aːw/ | เ–า* | /aw/ |
| เ–ีย | /iːa/ | เ–ียะ | /ia/ |
| – | – | –ิว | /iw/ |
| –ัว | /uːa/ | –ัวะ | /ua/ |
| –ูย | /uːj/ | –ุย | /uj/ |
| เ–ว | /eːw/ | เ–็ว | /ew/ |
| แ–ว | /ɛːw/ | – | – |
| เ–ือ | /ɯːa/ | – | – |
| เ–ย | /ɤːj/ | – | – |
| –อย | /ɔːj/ | – | – |
| โ–ย | /oːj/ | – | – |
Additionally, there are three triphthongs, all of which are long:
| Thai | IPA |
|---|---|
| เ–ียว | /iow/ |
| –วย | /uɛj/ |
| เ–ือย | /ɯɛj/ |
For a guide to written vowels, see the Thai alphabet page.
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