Tai Tham script

The Tai Tham script (Tham meaning "scripture"), also known as Lanna script (Thai: อักษรธรรมล้านนา RTGS: Akson Tham Lan Na; Burmese: လန်နအက္ခရာ RTGS: Lanna Akara ) or Tua Mueang (Northern Thai: ᨲ᩠ᩅᩫᨾᩮᩥᩬᨦ, Northern Thai pronunciation: [tǔa.mɯ̄aŋ] listen, Tai Lü: ᨲ᩠ᩅᩫᨵᨾ᩠ᨾ᩼), is a writing system used for Northern Thai (i.e., Kham Mueang), Tai Lü, and Khün, all three belonging to the group of Southwestern Tai languages. In addition, the Lanna script is used for Lao Tham (or Old Lao) and other dialect variants in Buddhist palm-leaf manuscripts and notebooks. The script is also known as Tham or Yuan script.[5]

For the Unicode block, see Tai Tham (Unicode block).
Tai Tham
Lanna
Type
LanguagesNorthern Thai, Tai Lü, Khün, Isan and Lao
Time period
c. 1300–present
Parent systems
Proto-Sinaitic alphabet[a]
Child systems
New Tai Lue
DirectionLeft-to-right
ISO 15924Lana, 351
Unicode alias
Tai Tham
Unicode range
U+1A20–U+1AAF
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon.

The Northern Thai language is a close relative of (standard) Thai. It is spoken by nearly 6 million people in Northern Thailand and several thousand in Laos of whom few are literate in Lanna script. The script is still read by older monks. Northern Thai has six linguistic tones and Thai only five, making transcription into the Thai alphabet problematic. There is some resurgent interest in the script among younger people, but an added complication is that the modern spoken form, called Kammuang, differs in pronunciation from the older form.[6]

There are 670,000 speakers of Tai Lü, some of those born before 1950 are literate in Tham, also known as Old Tai Lue. The script has also continued to be taught in the monasteries. The New Tai Lue script is derived from Tham. There are 120,000 speakers of Khün for which Lanna is the only script.

Name board outside a Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai written with Lanna characters: Wat Mokhamtuang (and street number 119 in Thai)

Consonants

Consonants are divided into two groups: main consonants (พยัญชนะหลัก) and added consonants (พยัญชนะเติม). There are 33 main consonants, and there are 15 added consonants. The main consonants are those from Pali. The main consonant group is further divided into two groups: categorized (พยัญชนะวัคค์, vagga) and uncategorized consonants (พยัญชนะอวัคค์, avagga). There are 25 categorized consonants, and there are 8 uncategorized consonants. The added consonant group consists of consonants that have been added to write Tai sounds that do not occur in Pali.

Categorized
ObstruentsNasals
mainaddedmainaddedmainaddedmain

kǎ
/k/
high
khǎ
/x/
high
khǎ
/x/
high
ka᷇
/k/
low
kha᷇
/x/
low
kha᷇
/x/
low
nga᷇
/ŋ/
low

chǎ
/t͡ɕ/
high
sǎ
/s/
high
cha᷇
/t͡ɕ/
low
sa᷇
/s/
low		,
sa᷇
/s/
low
nya᷇
/ɲ/
low

la tǎ
/t/
high		,
la thǎ
/tʰ/
high
dǎ
/d/
mid
la tha᷇
/tʰ/
low
la na᷇
/n/
low

tǎ
/t/
high
thǎ
/tʰ/
high
ta᷇
/t/
low
tha᷇
/tʰ/
low
na᷇
/n/
low

bǎ
/b/
mid
pǎ
/p/
high
phǎ
/pʰ/
high
fǎ
/f/
high
pa᷇
/p/
low
fa᷇
/f/
low
pha᷇
/pʰ/
low
ma᷇
/m/
low
Uncategorized

nya᷇
/ɲ/
low
yǎ
/j/
mid
ha᷇
/h/
low
la᷇
/l/
low
wa᷇
/w/
low

sǎ
/s/
high
sǎ
/s/
high
sǎ
/s/
high

hǎ
/h/
high
la᷇
/l/
low		,
ǎ
/ʔ/
mid
ha᷇
/h/
low
,
lāe
/lɛ̄ː/
nā
/nāː/
sǒr sǒng ho᷇ng
/sɔ̌ː sɔ̌ːŋ hɔ᷇ːŋ/
nya᷇ nya᷇
/ɲa᷇ʔ ɲa᷇ʔ/
ra rōng
/la᷇.hōːŋ/

lu᷇e
/lɯ᷇ʔ/
lūe
/lɯ̄ː/

Vowels
Northern Thai language written in Tai Tham script in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Vowels are written at various locations around their consonant, like Thai.[7] There are special letters for initial vowels (some are shown below), and many vowel combinations.[8]

Pali vowels
Tai Tham- -
ᩋ-ᩣᩍᩎᩏᩐᩑ-ᩮᩣ,-ᩮᩤ, ᩒ
IPA/ʔáʔ//ʔāː//ʔíʔ//ʔīː//ʔúʔ//ʔūː//ʔēː//ʔōː/

Tonal markers

mai yo
/máj.jɔ́ʔ/
mai kho chang
/máj.xɔ̌ː.t͡ɕáːŋ/

Tai Tham and Other Scripts

Consonants in Lanna have two sets of glyphs: the base form and the subjoined form. The sakot is used to trigger the subjoined forms.[5][9]

Categorized letters
Tai Tham New Tai Lue Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/ká/ ᨠ-᩠ᨠᦂกກကក
/xá/ ᨡ-᩠ᨡᦃขຂခខ
/xá/ ᨢ--ฃ
/ka᷇/ ᨣ-᩠ᨣᦅคຄဂគ
/xa᷇/ ᨤ-ᦆฅ
/xa᷇/ ᨥ-᩠ᨥ-ฆဃឃ
/ŋa᷇/ ᨦ-᩠ᨦᦇงງငង
Tai Tham New Tai Lue Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/t͡ɕá/ ᨧ-᩠ᨧᦈจຈစច
/sá/ ᨨ-᩠ᨨ-ฉဆឆ
/t͡ɕa᷇/ ᨩ-᩠ᨩᦋชຊဇជ
/sa᷇/ ᨪ-ᦌซ
/sa᷇/ ᨫ-᩠ᨫ-ฌဈឈ
/ɲa᷇/
/ja᷇/[10]		 ᨬ-᩠ᨬ-ญညញ
Tai Tham New Tai Lue Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/tá/ ᨭ-᩠ᨭ-ฏဋដ
/tʰá/ ᨮ-᩠ᨮ-ฐဌឋ
/dá/ ᨯ-᩠ᨯᦡฑ,ด,ດဍឌ
/tʰa᷇/ ᨰ-᩠ᨰ-ฒဎឍ
/na᷇/ ᨱ-᩠ᨱ-ณဏណ
Tai Tham New Tai Lue Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/tá/ ᨲ-᩠ᨲᦎตຕတត
/tʰá/ ᨳ-᩠ᨳᦏถຖထថ
/ta᷇/ ᨴ-᩠ᨴᦑทທဒទ
/tʰa᷇/ ᨵ-᩠ᨵᦒธဓធ
/na᷇/ ᨶ-᩠ᨶᦓนນနន
Tai Tham New Tai Lue Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/bá/ ᨷ-᩠ᨷᦢบບပប
/pá/ ᨸ-ᦔปປ
/pʰá/ ᨹ-᩠ᨹᦕผຜဖផ
/fá/ ᨺ-ᦚฝຝ
/pa᷇/ ᨻ-᩠ᨻᦗพພဗព
/fa᷇/ ᨼ-ᦝฟຟ
/pʰa᷇/ ᨽ-᩠ᨽᦘภဘភ
/ma᷇/ ᨾ-᩠ᨾᦙมມမម

Uncategorized letters
Tai Tham New Tai Lue Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/ɲa᷇/
/ja᷇/[10]		 ᨿ-᩠ᨿᦍย ต่ำຍယយ
/já/ ᩀ-ᦊย กลาง, อยຢ
/ha᷇/
/la᷇/		 ᩁ-᩠ᩁᦣรຣရរ
/lɯ́ʔ/ ᩂ--ฤၒឫ
/la᷇/ ᩃ-᩠ᩃᦟลລလល
/lɯ̄ː/ ᩄ--ฦၔឭ
/wa᷇/ ᩅ-᩠ᩅᦞวວဝវ
Tai Tham New Tai Lue Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/sá/ ᩆ-᩠ᩆ-ศၐឝ
/sá/ ᩇ-᩠ᩇ-ษၑឞ
/sá/ ᩈ-᩠ᩈᦉสສသស
/há/ ᩉ-᩠ᩉᦠหຫဟហ
/la᷇/ ᩊ-᩠ᩊ-ฬဠឡ
/ʔá/ ᩋ-᩠ᩋᦀอອအអ
/ha᷇/ ᩌ--ฮຮ

Numerals

Lanna has two sets of numerals. The first set, Lek Nai Tam, is reserved for liturgical purposes. The other set, Lek Hora, is used in everyday life.[11]

Arabic numerals 01234 56789
Hora digits ᪀᪁᪂᪃᪄᪅᪆᪇᪈᪉
Tham digits ᪐᪑᪒᪓᪔᪕᪖᪗᪘᪙
Thai numerals ๐๑๒๓๔๕๖๗๘๙
Lao numerals ໐໑໒໓໔໕໖໗໘໙
Burmese numerals ๐၁၂၃၄၅၆၇၈၉
Khmer numerals ០១២៣៤៥៦៧៨៩

Sanskrit and Pali
Brahmic scripts
The Brahmic script and its descendants

The Tai Tham script (like all Indic scripts) uses a number of modifications to write Pali and related languages (in particular, Sanskrit). When writing Pali, only 33 consonants and 12 vowels are used.

Categorized (วัคค์ ᩅᩢᨣ᩠ᨣ᩼ vagga)
classunaspirated
unvoiced
สิถิลอโฆษะ		aspirated
ธนิตอโฆษะ		unaspirated
voiced
สิถิลโฆษะ		aspirated
voiced
ธนิตโฆษะ		nasal
นาสิก
velar ká [ka] khá [kha] ka᷇ [ga] kha᷇ [gha] nga᷇ [ṅa]
palatal cá [ca] sá [cha] ca᷇ [ja] sa᷇ [jha] nya᷇ [ña]
retroflex tá [ṭa] thá [ṭha] da᷇ [ḍa] tha᷇ [ḍha] na᷇ [ṇa]
dental tá [ta] thá [tha] ta᷇ [da] tha᷇ [dha] na᷇ [na]
labial pá [pa] phá [pha] pa᷇ [ba] pha᷇ [bha] ma᷇ [ma]
tone classHL

Uncategorized (อวัคค์ ᩋᩅᩢᨣ᩠ᨣ᩼ avagga)
glottalpalatalretroflexdentallabialtonal class
nya᷇ [ya] ha᷇ [ra] la᷇ [la] wa᷇ [va]L
sá [śa] sá [ṣa] sá [sa]H
há [ha]

Unicode

Tai Tham script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

Block
Main article: Tai Tham (Unicode block)

The Unicode block for Tai Tham is U+1A20–U+1AAF:

Tai Tham[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+1A2x ᨠ ᨡ ᨢ ᨣ ᨤ ᨥ ᨦ ᨧ ᨨ ᨩ ᨪ ᨫ ᨬ ᨭ ᨮ ᨯ
U+1A3x ᨰ ᨱ ᨲ ᨳ ᨴ ᨵ ᨶ ᨷ ᨸ ᨹ ᨺ ᨻ ᨼ ᨽ ᨾ ᨿ
U+1A4x ᩀ ᩁ ᩂ ᩃ ᩄ ᩅ ᩆ ᩇ ᩈ ᩉ ᩊ ᩋ ᩌ ᩍ ᩎ ᩏ
U+1A5x ᩐ ᩑ ᩒ ᩓ ᩔ ᩕ  ᩖ ᩗ  ᩘ  ᩙ  ᩚ  ᩛ  ᩜ  ᩝ  ᩞ
U+1A6x   ᩠  ᩡ  ᩢ ᩣ ᩤ  ᩥ  ᩦ  ᩧ  ᩨ  ᩩ  ᩪ  ᩫ  ᩬ ᩭ ᩮ ᩯ
U+1A7x ᩰ ᩱ ᩲ  ᩳ  ᩴ  ᩵  ᩶  ᩷  ᩸  ᩹  ᩺  ᩻  ᩼  ᩿
U+1A8x ᪀ ᪁ ᪂ ᪃ ᪄ ᪅ ᪆ ᪇ ᪈ ᪉
U+1A9x ᪐ ᪑ ᪒ ᪓ ᪔ ᪕ ᪖ ᪗ ᪘ ᪙
U+1AAx ᪠ ᪡ ᪢ ᪣ ᪤ ᪥ ᪦ ᪧ ᪨ ᪩ ᪪ ᪫ ᪬ ᪭
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Fonts

There are currently a few fonts that support this range. Thai people are used to typing the Thai script by placing a front vowel before a consonant; this might cause incorrect input method for Tai Tham script because the consonant must be always typed before the associated vowel, regardless of the relative written position of the vowel, similar to typing the Khmer, Myanmar or Tamil script.

  • A Tai Tham KH New – 244 characters in version 1.000 September 15, 2016
    • Ranges: Basic Latin (100); Tai Tham (144)
    • OpenType layout tables: Default
    • Family: Sans-serif
    • Styles: Regular
    • Availability: Free download[12]
  • A Tai Tham KH – 239 characters in version 2.000 February 27, 2016
    • Ranges: Basic Latin (95); Tai Tham (144)
    • OpenType layout tables: Default
    • Family: Sans-serif
    • Styles: Regular
    • Availability: Free download[12]
  • Tai Tham LN – 244 characters in version 1.000 November 15, 2014
    • Ranges: Basic Latin (100); Tai Tham (144)
    • OpenType layout tables: Default
    • Family: Sans-serif
    • Styles: Regular
    • Availability: Free download
  • Chiangsaen Alif – 318 characters (376 glyphs) in version 1.00 February 24, 2010, initial release
    • Ranges:   Basic Latin (96); Tai Tham (127); Geometric Shapes (1)
    • OpenType layout tables:   Latin
    • Family:   Sans-serif
    • Styles:   Regular
    • Availability:   Free download[13]
  • Lanna Alif – 318 characters (376 glyphs) in version 1.00 February 24, 2010, initial release
    • Ranges:   Basic Latin (96); Tai Tham (127); Geometric Shapes (1)
    • OpenType layout tables:   Latin
    • Family:   Sans-serif
    • Styles:   Regular
    • Availability:   Free download[13]
  • Lanna Unicode UI – 374 characters (487 glyphs) in version 0.40 July 14, 2010
    • Ranges:   Basic Latin (25); Latin-1 Supplement (5); Greek and Coptic (1); Tai Tham (127); Mathematical Operators (1); Geometric Shapes (1)
    • OpenType layout tables:   Latin
    • Family:   Sans-serif
    • Styles:   Regular
    • Availability:   Free download[14]
  • Alan Wood's Tai Tham test page[15]

References
  1. Diringer, David (1948). Alphabet a key to the history of mankind. p. 411.
  2. "Proposal for encoding characters for Myanmar minority languages in the UCS" (PDF). International Organization for Standardization. 2006-04-02. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-07-23. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
  3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40860228?read-now=1&seq=8#page_scan_tab_contents,p13
  4. Penth, Hans (1986). "On the History of Thai scripts" (PDF). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Everson, Michael, Hosken, Martin, & Constable, Peter. (2007). Revised proposal for encoding the Lanna script in the BMP of the UCS.
  6. Natnapang Burutphakdee (October 2004). Khon Muang Neu Kap Phasa Muang [Attitudes of Northern Thai Youth towards Kammuang and the Lanna Script] (PDF) (M.A. Thesis). Presented at 4th National Symposium on Graduate Research, Chiang Mai, Thailand, August 10–11, 2004. Asst. Prof. Dr. Kirk R. Person, adviser. Chiang Mai: Payap University. P. 7, digital image 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-09. Retrieved June 8, 2013. The reason why they called this language ‘Kammuang’ is because they used this language in the towns where they lived together, which were surrounded by mountainous areas where there were many hill tribe people.
  7. Simple rendition of syllabic vowels can be seen in Ian James′ ″New Lanna″ at Sky Knowledge.
  8. See more details of ″Lanna script″ at Sky Knowledge.
  9. Chew, P., Saengboon, P., & Wordingham, R. (2015). "Tai Tham: A Hybrid Script that Challenges Current Encoding Models". Presented at the Internationalization and Unicode Conference (IUC 39).
  10. In Tai Lue
  11. Omniglot. Lanna alphabet (Tua Mueang). Retrieved 28 April 2019
  12. "Tai Tham Fonts". Kengtung.org. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017.
  13. Silpachai, Alif. "SIMs Heart". Tai Tham (Lanna) Unicode Font. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  14. "Download: Tai Tham Fonts (Lanna)". Octra Bond's World. Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  15. Wood, Alan. "Test for Unicode support in Web browsers: Tai Tham". Alan Wood’s Unicode Resources. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2016.

Further reading
  • ISO/IEC 10646:2003/Amd.5:2008 Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS) -- Amendment 5: AMENDMENT 5: Tai Tham, Tai Viet, Avestan, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, CJK Unified Ideographs Extension C, and other characters
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