I.

The context of the country

(official languages, the status and/or domains of use of English)
- Its sole official language is Central Thai (Siamese), belonging to the Tai language
family of Southeast Asia.
- The status or/and the domain of use of English:
- According to the latest EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI), Thailand ranks 74th
out of 100 countries in the Very Low Proficiency group. Thus, only about 27% of
the population speaks English and only at a basic level. Although eng is taught at
schools, it is not often used as a language for communication; therefore, it is hard
for Thai people to be fluent or proficient in it.
=> Many foreigners struggle to engage with Thai people to buy stuff and
order food. This causes significant negative perceptions towards the tourism
industry.
However, in some metropolitan areas like Bangkok, the prevalence of
English fluency can be found since they are dealing with English speakers a lot.
Contrastingly, English proficiency can drop to nearly zero in rural areas.
Therefore, it depends on where visitors go so that they can comfortably
communicate in English. (howwidelyspoken.com)

II. Features of Thailish

I. Some characteristics:
- omission of pronouns
- zero copula
- non-standard use or omissions of articles, declension, prepositions, and
conjugation.
- addition of Thai final particles, e.g., I don’t know na
- any and every are used interchangeably
- no use of double negatives
- moving "S" on singular verbs to the subject, for instance, "He's talk too much"
instead of "He talks too much"
- omission of prepositions, for instance, "I wait for you" instead of "I'll wait for you"
or "I listen to him" for "I listened to him".
- "very" and "very much" are used interchangeably, for instance, "I very love my
daughter" and "She beautiful very much".
ii. Transfer of Thainess into Thai English: (elaberate later)
 iii. Lexical borrowing
1. Introduction
- During the last century, it has been noticed that English loanwords have played
an important role in the Thai lexicon. English, instead of the long-used Sanskritic
languages, has become the most-favored source for new vocabulary.
2/ types
The data of about 1000 words collected from articles written before 1910 A.D.
produces at least 11 groups of vocabulary as follows:

3/General characteristics and examples

( print separately )
Iv. Thai - English Phonology:
- Thai + English = Tinglish, By-product of the efforts of Thai speakers to learn
English
- Not really a dialect: varies greatly from different learner
Context-Free Mappings:
Q: How do English sounds map onto Thai phonology?
- Most of the time, sounds correspond straightforwardly:

- But sometimes not:

 Phonotactics:
Initial sC clusters

Final consonant clusters

III. The difference between the English language
we've learned at school and other kinds of
English
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THAI ENGLISH AND STANDARD ENGLISH

A. OVERVIEW ABOUT THE ENGLISH WE LEARN AT SCHOOL (STANDARD ENGLISH)

a. STRUCTURE OF STANDARD ENGLISH
i. Pronunciation and Phonetics
1. English used/ taught at school has constants and vowels that are
neutral and clear. In other words, they follow exactly the
pronunciation given in dictionaries.
2. Avoid regional words and accents to make the language
understandable and easily learned by the public.
ii. Grammar
1. Strictly follow the grammatical rules and conventions (sentence
structure, verb conjugation, tense usage, word order,...)
2. No colloquialisms, slang, and non-standard grammar
iii. Vocabulary
1. Various but sorted in topics, units for teaching purposes
2. Avoid regional terminology, jargon, and expressions that are not
suitable for Standard English
iv. Punctuality
1. Strictly follow the conventional punctuality; rules and sets
b. WHY STANDARD ENGLISH IS USED
i. FORMALITY
1. Usually used in academic writing, official documents, business
communication, and public speaking,...
ii. EDUCATION
1. Accessible for the majority of the population/ learners/…
2. Used and taught in the English curriculum
3. Standardization in English teaching and learning (create a model
for others to follow properly to achieve fluency in English)
4.
B. COMPARISON
 TINGLISH (THAI ENGLISH)
1. Pronunciation
- Some English consonants having
corresponding sounds with Thai are
simply transferred, while others are
adapted to a similar-sounding
consonant.
- For example:
+ Initial /v/ is replaced by /w/, but final
/v/ is replaced by /p/: "level" →
/lēː.wêw/, "serve" → /sɤ̀ːp/
+ Separate letters for ‘r’ and ‘l’ sound
different but they have the same
meaning ("very" is sometimes
pronounced like "wely".)
- There are 5 tones that all Thai
syllables are required to have: mid,
low, falling, high, rising. Tinglish words
are systematically given these tones
according to certain rules.
2. Grammar
- Tinglish has no verb conjugations( no
tenses), no noun declensions, no
articles, and indefinite pronouns(
some, any ).
3. Vocabulary
- As various as English vocabulary but
with different pronunciation.
STANDARD ENGLISH
1. Pronunciation
- English used/ taught at school has
constants and vowels that are neutral
and clear. In other words, they follow
exactly the pronunciation given in
dictionaries.
- Avoid regional words and accents to
make the language understandable
and easily learned by the public.
2. Grammar
- Strictly follow the grammatical rules
and conventions (sentence structure,
verb conjugation, tense usage, word
order,...)
- No colloquialisms, slang, and
non-standard grammar.
3. Vocabulary
- Various but sorted in topics, units for
teaching purposes.

Source:
● Thompson, S., and Peter Trudgill. Language in Thailand. Routledge, 1991.
● Hudak, R. S. "Thai English: The Influence of Thai on English Language Use in
Thailand." In Language in the Philippines and Indonesia, edited by R. S. Hudak,
206-223. Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1987.
● McTaggart, J. M. E. The Nature of Existence. Cambridge University Press, 1908.
● Smalley, William A. "Linguistic Diversity and National Integration: An
Introduction." Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 13th ed., SIL International,
1994.
● The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
● Crystal, David. English as a Global Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge University
Press, 2006.
IV. Attitudes towards Thailish
(with specific examples through research papers, social media platforms,...)

The report Thai Tertiary Learners’ Attitudes towards Their Thai English Accent gives
information on:

1) An ability or a class?
A study conducted by Akkakoson in 2019 revealed that Thai learners (postgraduates)
do not value their Thailish as much as English, such as British or American. An English
accent appears in Thailand not just to be a sign of one’s personality but also a symbol
of one’s social class, and it also has become a key to distinguishing the social type
(higher or lower) of a person. So many Thai people try to pronounce English words like
English native speakers to avoid losing face or being discriminated against by others.

2) Students:
In one questionnaire finding, some students were asked to give adjectives to describe
their Thailish accent.
o Many students use words like “comprehensible”, “intelligible”, “natural”,
“legitimate variety”, “Thai style”, “comfortable”, “clear”, “acceptable” and “sexy”.
o However, other students (around 21%) felt otherwise, they felt unsatisfied with
their Thai-English accent. Such descriptive adjectives that they used included:
“local style”, “primitive”, “non-standard”, “non-American”, “non-British”,
“broken”, “bad”, “unintelligible” and “shameful”.
o The rest of the students used neutral descriptions to describe their accents
such as “so-so” and “normal”.
 Figure 1: The students were asked to rate their attitudes towards Thai-English
accent based on their degree of satisfaction in learning English.

o About 81% felt positively satisfied.

o Around 18% thought they should improve their accent to be more
native-like.
o Around 1% showed a neutral attitude towards their Thai-English accent.
ð It can be seen that even though many students describe their Thai-English
accent to be “bad”, “or normal”, …, they still have positive attitudes towards
their Thai-English accent, and they hope to keep it.

Overall:
A. The report indicates some participants expressed feelings of their
Thai-English accent, most of them did not see it as something to be ashamed
of, they felt proud and perceived it as a symbol that represents their unique
identities.
B. The report also reveals some students answering about their experience with
using their Thailish accent. Most of the participants portray a very positive
attitude towards their experiences in using their accents in Thailand. They did
 not feel annoyed or look down on their friends who spoke English using a
Thai-English accent.
C. In addition, Thai English is one of the English varieties that native speakers find
interesting, and they are happy to embrace it, especially living and working in
Thailand.

V. Should Thailish be introduced to the English

subject at school? Why? If yes, how?
Yes and No.
a. The “No” aspect
- Not suitable for students whose career path does not relate to the Humanities:
These individuals will most likely find the topic useless and, thus, a waste of their
time.
- Thailish is only used amongst Thai people, therefore, when introduced as a
subject, it may not be practical for students in the short and long term.
b. The “Yes” aspect and how it should be taught at (Vietnamese) schools
- Thailish should not be taught as a subject though the language (along with
other varieties of English) should be considered to be taught as a topic in the
syllabus.
- Reasons/Benefits are listed below:
- It boosts the cultural awareness of the students and develops their
interpersonal skills: As we know, language is the basis of culture. It is
through language that people get to know people from different parts
of the world, it also helps the students to see the world from the
perspectives of other speakers of the same language and increases
background knowledge as the more cultures they socialize with the
richer their understanding of the world.
- It helps to ease language acquisition: Knowing which variety he or she is
learning will help them assimilate the rules of the language easier and
faster through comparison and contrast.
- It will prepare the student for different usages of the language as they
progress through life: It will be very helpful for them when starting to
work with international colleagues, companies, etc. It is not a secret that
people struggle with some accents and find it hard to communicate their
 ideas or understand the interlocutor when they are using a different
variety of the same language.
- Additional benefits: (For English major students) By introducing English’s
variation to this type of students, they are exposed to more fields in the
language career path; therefore, helps them find out which university
subject they would want to major in.
-> How it should be taught: Include the topic as part of a thematic lecture (not
as an optional one due to the student not likely to research the topic, this leads to the
topic not being introduced properly), a research project ( just like what the class is doing
now), or a part of a cultural awareness day (if there is).

Source:
- Siemund, Peter (2013) Varieties of English. A Typological Approach.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 308 pp. (Hardback/Paperback).
- Varieties of English: why is it important for students to know that |
Skyteach.
- Why is it important to know the different varieties of English? - Justlearn.
- Varieties of English in current English language teaching | Stellenbosch
Papers in Linguistics