Editing Thai language (section)

=== Consonants ===

==== Initials ====
Standard Thai distinguishes three [[voice-onset time]]s among plosive and affricate consonants:
*[[voiced consonant|voiced]]
*[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]] (unvoiced, unaspirated)
*[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]

Where English makes a distinction between voiced {{IPA|/b/}} and unvoiced aspirated {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, Thai distinguishes a third sound – the unvoiced, unaspirated {{IPA|/p/}} that occurs in English only as an allophone of {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, for example after an {{IPA|/s/}} as in the sound of the ''p'' in "spin". There is similarly a laminal denti-alveolar{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/tʰ/}} triplet in Thai. In the velar series there is a {{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/kʰ/}} pair and in the postalveolar series a {{IPA|/tɕ/}}, {{IPA|/tɕʰ/}} pair, without the corresponding voiced sounds {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and {{IPA|/dʑ/}}. (In loanwords from English, English {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} are borrowed as the tenuis stops {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/tɕ/}}.)

In each cell below, the first line indicates [[help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA), the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position. Note that several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation. In such cases, one of the letters may serve as the "default", being more common and/or preferred for borrowings from English and such; for example, น in the case of "n" and ส for "s". The letter ห, the default "h" letter, is also used to help write certain tones (described below).

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! colspan=2|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/ <br> [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! ([[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolo-]]) <br> [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|m}}<br />ม
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|n}}<br />ณ, น
|
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|ŋ}}<br />ง
|
|-
! rowspan=3| [[Plosive]]/<br />[[Affricate]]
! <small>[[voiced consonant|voiced]]</small>
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|b}}<br />บ
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|d̪|d}}<br />ฎ, ด
|
|
|
|-
! <small>[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]</small>
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|p}}<br />ป
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|t̪|t}}<br />ฏ, ต
| style="background-color: #fcf" | {{IPAslink|tɕ}}<br />จ
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|k}}<br />ก
| style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|ʔ}}<br />อ{{efn|Initial อ is silent and therefore considered as a [[glottal stop]].}}
|-
! <small>[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|pʰ}}<br />ผ, พ, ภ
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|tʰ}}<br />ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ
| style="background-color: #fcf" | {{IPAslink|tɕʰ}}<br />ฉ, ช, ฌ
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|kʰ}}<br />ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ{{efn|ฃ and ฅ are no longer used. Thus, modern Thai is said to have 42 consonant letters.}}
|
|-
! colspan=2| [[Fricative]]
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|f}}<br />ฝ, ฟ
| style="background-color: #ffc" | {{IPAslink|s}}<br />ซ, ศ, ษ, ส
|
|
| style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|h}}<br />ห, ฮ
|-

! colspan=2| [[Approximant]]
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|w}}<br />ว
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|l}}<br />ล, ฬ
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|j}}<br />ญ, ย
|
|
|-
! colspan=2| [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]/[[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
|
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|r}}<br />ร
|
|
|
|}

==== Finals ====
Although the overall 44 Thai consonant letters provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. For finals, only eight sounds, as well as no sound, called ''mātrā'' ({{Wikt-lang|th|มาตรา}}) are used. To demonstrate, at the end of a syllable, บ ({{IPA|/b/}}) and ด ({{IPA|/d/}}) are devoiced, becoming pronounced as {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/t/}} respectively. Additionally, all plosive sounds are [[Unreleased stop|unreleased]]. Hence, final {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} sounds are pronounced as {{IPA|[p̚]}}, {{IPA|[t̚]}}, and {{IPA|[k̚]}} respectively.

Of the consonant letters, excluding the disused ฃ and ฅ, six (ฉ ผ ฝ ห อ ฮ) cannot be used as a final and the other 36 are grouped as following.

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
!
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|m}}<br />ม
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|n}}<br />ญ, ณ, น, ร, ล, ฬ
|
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|ŋ}}<br />ง
|
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|p}}<br />บ, ป, พ, ฟ, ภ
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|t}}<br />จ, ช, ซ, ฌ, ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ,<br />ฒ, ด, ต, ถ, ท, ธ, ศ, ษ, ส
|
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|k}}<br />ก, ข, ค, ฆ
| style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|ʔ}}{{efn|The glottal plosive appears at the end when no final follows a short vowel}}
|-
! [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|w}}<br />ว
|
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|j}}<br />ย
|
|
|}

==== Clusters ====
In Thai, each syllable in a word is articulated independently, so consonants from adjacent syllables (i.e. heterosyllabic) show no sign of articulation as a cluster. Thai has specific [[Phonotactics|phonotactical patterns]] that describe its syllable structure, including tautosyllabic [[consonant cluster]]s, and vowel sequences. In core Thai words (i.e. excluding loanwords), only clusters of two consonants occur, of which there are 11 combinations:
* {{IPA|/kr/}} (กร), {{IPA|/kl/}} (กล), {{IPA|/kw/}} (กว)
* {{IPA|/kʰr/}} (ขร, คร), {{IPA|/kʰl/}} (ขล, คล), {{IPA|/kʰw/}} (ขว, คว)
* {{IPA|/pr/}} (ปร), {{IPA|/pl/}} (ปล)
* {{IPA|/pʰr/}} (พร), {{IPA|/pʰl/}} (ผล, พล)
* {{IPA|/tr/}} (ตร)

The number of clusters increases in loanwords such as {{IPA|/tʰr/}} (ทร) in {{Wikt-lang|th|อินทรา}} ({{IPA|/ʔīn.tʰrāː/}}, from Sanskrit ''indrā'') or {{IPA|/fr/}} (ฟร) in {{Wikt-lang|th|ฟรี}} ({{IPA|/frīː/}}, from English ''free''); however, these usually only occur in initial position, with either {{IPA|/r/}}, {{IPA|/l/}}, or {{IPA|/w/}} as the second consonant sound and not more than two sounds at a time. In addition, ก may be Romanized as "g" and ป as "b" in those specific clusters to distinguish them from the corresponded aspirated stops.