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44-714: The Nan River originates in the Luang Prabang Range , Nan Province . The provinces along the river after Nan Province are Uttaradit , Phitsanulok and Phichit . The Yom River joins the Nan at Chum Saeng District , Nakhon Sawan Province . When the Nan river joins together with the Ping River at Pak Nam Pho within the town Nakhon Sawan it becomes the Chao Phraya River . The Nan river runs about 630 kilometres (390 mi) south. The chief tributary of

88-623: A dominant language in all aspects of society in Thailand, Thai initially saw gradual and later widespread adoption as a second language among the country's minority ethnic groups from the mid-late Ayutthaya period onward. Ethnic minorities today are predominantly bilingual, speaking Thai alongside their native language or dialect. Standard Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages—others being Northern Thai , Southern Thai and numerous smaller languages, which together with

132-412: A dispute involving the map made by French surveyors in 1907 to mark the borders between Siam and French Indochina . The Thai-Lao Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) was established in 1996 to clarify the 1,810-kilometre boundary and settle ownership of the disputed villages. Border demarcation is still going on. Yetis are said to have been spotted in the remote Mae Charim area of the range. Presently on

176-533: A four-way distinction among stops and affricates . The maximal four-way occurred in labials ( /p pʰ b ʔb/ ) and denti-alveolars ( /t tʰ d ʔd/ ); the three-way distinction among velars ( /k kʰ ɡ/ ) and palatals ( /tɕ tɕʰ dʑ/ ), with the glottalized member of each set apparently missing. The major change between old and modern Thai was due to voicing distinction losses and the concomitant tone split . This may have happened between about 1300 and 1600 CE, possibly occurring at different times in different parts of

220-530: A syllable that formerly began with a voiceless consonant (including glottalized stops). An additional complication is that formerly voiceless unaspirated stops/affricates (original /p t k tɕ ʔb ʔd/ ) also caused original tone 1 to lower, but had no such effect on original tones 2 or 3. The above consonant mergers and tone splits account for the complex relationship between spelling and sound in modern Thai. Modern "low"-class consonants were voiced in Old Thai, and

264-541: A total of 34,331 square kilometres (13,255 sq mi) of land in the provinces of Phitsanulok, Phichit, Nan and Uttaradit. Ancient civilizations lived in the fertile land along the Nan River and its tributaries, as is evidenced by Stone Age tools unearthed near Phitsanulok . However, these early hunter-gatherers are not likely to be ancestors of the Tai who presently inhabit the Nan basin. The human population around

308-506: Is based on the register of the educated classes by Central Thai and ethnic minorities in the area along the ring surrounding the Metropolis . In addition to Central Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages . Although most linguists classify these dialects as related but distinct languages, native speakers often identify them as regional variants or dialects of the "same" Thai language, or as "different kinds of Thai". As

352-557: Is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai script . Hlai languages Kam-Sui languages Kra languages Be language Northern Tai languages Central Tai languages Khamti language Tai Lue language Shan language others Northern Thai language Thai language Southern Thai language Tai Yo language Phuthai language Lao language (PDR Lao, Isan language ) Thai has undergone various historical sound changes. Some of

396-574: Is located in a forested sector close to the Thai border. The projected reservoir of Lower Nam Phoun dam , however, is partly within the Nam Phouy NBCA and a large zone of the protected area will be flooded in the future. Khun Nan National Park , Doi Phu Kha National Park , Sinan National Park, Mae Charim National Park , Na Haeo National Park, Klong Tron National Park, Phu Suan Sai National Park and Phu Soi Dao National Park are located on

440-486: Is the language of television, education, news reporting, and all forms of media. A recent research found that the speakers of the Northern Thai language (also known as Phasa Mueang or Kham Mueang) have become so few, as most people in northern Thailand now invariably speak Standard Thai, so that they are now using mostly Central Thai words and only seasoning their speech with the "Kham Mueang" accent. Standard Thai

484-494: Is the only place in Thailand where houseboats are legal, as they have been an important aspect of regional culture since long before the drafting of modern municipal law. People of Phitsanulok still gather on houseboats and raft houses along both sides of the Nan River in the city, and adhere to a traditional way of life. There is even a floating houseboat museum along the Nan in Phitsanulok, which allows tourists to experience

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528-748: The Lam Wa , Nam Haet , Nam Pua , Nam Yao and Nam Hao , which join the Nan within Nan Province. Kaeng Luang is a waterfall on the Nan River in Nan Province. The expanse of the Nan River's tributaries, i.e. the Nan River System, together with the land upon which falling rain drains into these bodies of water, form the Greater Nan Drainage Basin, which is part of the Chao Phraya watershed. The total area drained by

572-604: The Nan , Pua and Wa rivers, have their sources in this range. Phu Fa waterfall , the biggest and the tallest waterfall in Nan Province, is also located in these mountains. This range is part of the Luang Prabang montane rain forests ecoregion . Geologically its composition is similar to that of the parallel Khun Tan Range and the Phi Pan Nam Range , both located further west. The Luang Prabang mountains are

616-777: The Yangzi River . As the Han Chinese spread south of the Yangzi around the sixth century BC, the ancestors of the Thai retreated into the high valleys and, over many centuries, migrated west along an arc from the Guangxi to the Brahmaputra Valley . The Thai brought rice-farming expertise to the mountainous areas of Northern Thailand, and eventually to the Nan Basin and the other lowland regions of Thailand. Some of

660-637: The Chao Phraya River and its tributaries, such as the Nan, remained sparse until late in the region’s history. The settlement of the indigenous populations of the region began around the advent of rice agriculture during the Bronze Age , and continued through the Iron Age . Archaeologists suspect that Mon–Khmer speaking tribes spread through the region, bringing rice agriculture, metalworking, domestic animals. The main course of migration during

704-504: The Khmer system first before the Thai borrowed. Old Thai had a three-way tone distinction on "live syllables" (those not ending in a stop), with no possible distinction on "dead syllables" (those ending in a stop, i.e. either /p/, /t/, /k/ or the glottal stop that automatically closes syllables otherwise ending in a short vowel). There was a two-way voiced vs. voiceless distinction among all fricative and sonorant consonants, and up to

748-493: The Nan River Mon-Khmer retreated into the hills as the Thai expansion continued, while others generally adopted dialects of the Tai language and blended into the culture of the new settlers. The Tai language spoken in the area was heavily influenced by the Khmer culture as well, and evolved into the language we now call Thai , which is considerably different from other Tai dialects. Even after this Thai migration,

792-587: The Nan and its tributaries is 57,947 square kilometres (22,373 sq mi). Much of the lower basin has perfect soil for farming. Most drainage analyses, however, divide the Greater Nan Basin into the Nan Basin and the Yom River Basin. Using this convention, and subtracting the 23,616 square kilometres (9,118 sq mi) of land drained by the Yom and its tributaries, the Nan basin drains

836-580: The Nan houseboat culture first-hand. The Naresuan Dam, named after King Naresuan , was constructed throughout the span of 1976 through 1985 on the Nan River in Phitsanulok Province, north of the city of Phitsanulok, as part of the Phitsanulok Irrigation Project . Water quality in the Nan River is deteriorating from heavy bacterial contamination attributed primarily to the rapid increase of urban development in

880-950: The Nan is the Yom River, which joins the Nan in Chum Saeng District in Nakhon Sawan Province. Other direct tributaries include Khlong Butsabong and Khlong San Thao of the lower Nan Basin, the Wat Ta Yom and Wang Thong Rivers which join the Nan within Phichit Province, the Khwae Noi River which joins the Nan within Phitsanulok Province, the Khlong Tron and Nam Pat , which join the Nan within Uttaradit Province, and

924-677: The Northwestern Tai and Lao-Phutai languages, form the Southwestern branch of Tai languages . The Tai languages are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family , which encompasses a large number of indigenous languages spoken in an arc from Hainan and Guangxi south through Laos and Northern Vietnam to the Cambodian border. Standard Thai is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout Thailand. The standard

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968-636: The Thai border opposite Thailand's Loei Province. In 1904 the Laotian area of the range was ceded from Siam to the French Indochina colony. Following the Franco-Thai War in 1941 it was annexed by Thailand again under the name Lan Chang (Million Elephants) Province, but returned to its pre-war status in 1946 following the 1946 Washington Accord. Certain Hill tribe communities live in

1012-675: The Thai side of the Luang Prabang Range some of the Hmong communities are regularly visited by organized tourist groups. River Wa is a popular river for white water rafting between July and December. There are large swathes of protected areas on the Thai side of the Luang Prabang Range. On the Lao side there is only one. The Nam Phouy National Biodiversity Conservation Area , a large protected area in Laos home to many wild elephants,

1056-554: The Thai side of the Luang Prabang Range. Phu Miang-Phu Thong Wildlife Sanctuary is another protected area on the Thai side. Thai language Thai , or Central Thai (historically Siamese ; Thai: ภาษาไทย ), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai , Mon , Lao Wiang , Phuan people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout

1100-491: The Thai-speaking area. All voiced–voiceless pairs of consonants lost the voicing distinction: However, in the process of these mergers, the former distinction of voice was transferred into a new set of tonal distinctions. In essence, every tone in Old Thai split into two new tones, with a lower-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiced consonant, and a higher-pitched tone corresponding to

1144-484: The area, a great proportion of the original forest cover has disappeared owing to shifting agricultural practices and illegal logging . The area is allegedly a heartland for military involvement in timber trade. The Luang Prabang Range is practically devoid of vehicle roads on the Sainyabuli Province side, where there is only one north-south route extending from Sainyabuli , the provincial capital, to

1188-499: The country. It is the sole official language of Thailand . Thai is the most spoken of over 60 languages of Thailand by both number of native and overall speakers. Over half of its vocabulary is derived from or borrowed from Pali , Sanskrit , Mon and Old Khmer . It is a tonal and analytic language . Thai has a complex orthography and system of relational markers . Spoken Thai, depending on standard sociolinguistic factors such as age, gender, class, spatial proximity, and

1232-683: The easternmost range of the Thai highlands . The range runs roughly in a North/South direction between the Mekong and the Nan River . Its northern end begins in the area of Hongsa District , a stretch in Laos near Luang Prabang where the Mekong River flows from west to east; its southern end is about 260 km further south, at the western end of Loei Province in Thailand where the Phetchabun Mountains begin. The highest point of

1276-476: The forecoming city-state period. Even in spite of urbanization along the river banks, most of the Nan Basin (aside from the river-side settlements) consisted of virgin forests until around the turn of the 20th century. One of the early river-side urban areas of the Nan emerging during the era of the Khmer Empire was Song Khwae , which over the years developed into the modern city of Phitsanulok. Phitsanulok

1320-578: The hardships of the heavily forested region. The earliest urban developments along the Nan were modelled after the Mon-Khmer capital at Angkor in Cambodia, which was already quite advanced by the time the Nan Basin had significant population to support urban settlement. Along with the positive effects of urbanization (e.g., development of art and specialization of labor), however, came slavery, war and other societal problems associated with urban culture in

1364-528: The local patois as pronounced in Guangdong Ayutthaya , the old capital of Thailand from 1351 - 1767 A.D., was from the beginning a bilingual society, speaking Thai and Khmer . Bilingualism must have been strengthened and maintained for some time by the great number of Khmer-speaking captives the Thais took from Angkor Thom after their victories in 1369, 1388 and 1431. Gradually toward the end of

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1408-495: The metal ages probably ran along the coast of Thailand, but migrants also travelled inland along the Chao Phraya to the Nan Basin and other areas, where it was relatively easier to establish settlements. The next major wave of migration into the Nan Basin came not from the coast along the Chao Phraya, but rather from the mountainous areas of northern Thailand. These migrants were the Tai. Their course of immigration probably began south of

1452-551: The most significant changes occurred during the evolution from Old Thai to modern Thai. The Thai writing system has an eight-century history and many of these changes, especially in consonants and tones, are evidenced in the modern orthography . According to a Chinese source, during the Ming dynasty , Yingya Shenglan (1405–1433), Ma Huan reported on the language of the Xiānluó (暹羅) or Ayutthaya Kingdom, saying that it somewhat resembled

1496-415: The period, a language shift took place. Khmer fell out of use. Both Thai and Khmer descendants whose great-grand parents or earlier ancestors were bilingual came to use only Thai. In the process of language shift, an abundance of Khmer elements were transferred into Thai and permeated all aspects of the language. Consequently, the Thai of the late Ayutthaya Period which later became Ratanakosin or Bangkok Thai,

1540-471: The population in the Nan Basin, other than along the banks of the Nan River and its major tributaries, was sparse. predator animal species, as well as malaria , tropical temperatures and other hardships, kept the population from expanding far from the river, despite the region's extremely fertile soil. As the population grew during these ancient times, settlements along the Nan eventually became more urban, as populations of larger scale were better able to survive

1584-630: The provinces of Phitsanulok, Phichit, Nan and Uttaradit. Luang Prabang Range The Luang Prabang Range ( Thai : ทิวเขาหลวงพระบาง , pronounced [tʰīw kʰǎw lǔaŋ pʰráʔ.bāːŋ] ), named after Luang Prabang , is a mountain range straddling northwestern Laos and Northern Thailand . Most of the range is located in Sainyabuli Province (Laos), as well as Nan and Uttaradit Provinces (Thailand), with small parts in Phitsanulok and Loei Provinces . Several rivers such as

1628-560: The range is 2,120 m high Phu Soi Dao . Other high peaks of the Luang Prabang Range are 2,079 m high Phu Khe , 1,980 m high Doi Phu Kha , 1,837 m high Doi Phu Wae and 1,745 m high Doi Phi Pan Nam ; Phu Khe is one of the ultra prominent peaks of Southeast Asia . Many of the important peaks are located at the border. The vegetation is evergreen hill forest on the highest altitudes of the range height and mostly dry deciduous forest below 1,000 m, with an abundance of teak trees , which has led to heavy deforestation . Like in most ranges of

1672-620: The range, like the Khmu and the Hmong , whose tribal villages are located on both sides of the mountain range. Since the Mekong isolated Sainyabuli from other Laotian provinces with Hmong villages, the warfare during the Quiet War which so badly affected other Hmong communities in Laos largely did not affect the Hmong in the Luang Prabang Range. Most Hmong villages in Sainyabuli Province did not see any fighting. However, later they were persecuted all

1716-492: The royal vocabulary according to their immediate environment. Thai and Pali, the latter from Theravada Buddhism, were added to the vocabulary. An investigation of the Ayutthaya Rajasap reveals that three languages, Thai, Khmer and Khmero-Indic were at work closely both in formulaic expressions and in normal discourse. In fact, Khmero-Indic may be classified in the same category as Khmer because Indic had been adapted to

1760-528: The same by the Vietnamese and the Pathet Lao soldiers, who regarded them as traitors, thus many fled across the border. There are refugee camps on the Thai side of the range. The southern part of the range saw some confrontation between December 1987 and February 1988 when Thai and Laotian forces engaged in cross-border fighting. Known as Thai–Laotian Border War , this short conflict was caused by

1804-535: The terminology "low" reflects the lower tone variants that resulted. Modern "mid"-class consonants were voiceless unaspirated stops or affricates in Old Thai—precisely the class that triggered lowering in original tone 1 but not tones 2 or 3. Modern "high"-class consonants were the remaining voiceless consonants in Old Thai (voiceless fricatives, voiceless sonorants, voiceless aspirated stops). The three most common tone "marks" (the lack of any tone mark, as well as

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1848-423: The two marks termed mai ek and mai tho ) represent the three tones of Old Thai, and the complex relationship between tone mark and actual tone is due to the various tonal changes since then. Since the tone split, the tones have changed in actual representation to the point that the former relationship between lower and higher tonal variants has been completely obscured. Furthermore, the six tones that resulted after

1892-508: The urban/rural divide, is partly mutually intelligible with Lao , Isan , and some fellow Thai topolects . These languages are written with slightly different scripts, but are linguistically similar and effectively form a dialect continuum . Thai language is spoken by over 69 million people (2020). Moreover, most Thais in the northern (Lanna) and the northeastern (Isan) parts of the country today are bilingual speakers of Central Thai and their respective regional dialects because Central Thai

1936-453: Was a thorough mixture of Thai and Khmer. There were more Khmer words in use than Tai cognates. Khmer grammatical rules were used actively to coin new disyllabic and polysyllabic words and phrases. Khmer expressions, sayings, and proverbs were expressed in Thai through transference. Thais borrowed both the Royal vocabulary and rules to enlarge the vocabulary from Khmer. The Thais later developed

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