acloudmovingby wrote:Thanks Don! I want to thank you for your original article on Thai codaphrases posted on this. It's helped me lot over the years, especially before I learned IPA and could read the original thai reference grammar. Having linguistically oriented veterans explain the finer points of grammar can be helpful. There's no substitute for being exposed to the language over and over again, but sometimes a good grammatical explanation can help crystallize a certain understanding you've carried with you, or can even open you up to a way of understanding Thai that you had missed before.
I'm sure your enjoyment of Thai grammar is satisfaction enough for you, but sharing your learning with the community can really help Thai learners of all levels. When I first read your text about Thai codaphrases two years ago when I was much less competent in Thai, it became like my Bible. Everywhere's I went I would take it out and try to figure out which particles people were using and why. I still found it inadequate at times to explain the full diversity of sentences people were saying, but that could just as well been because of my stubborn mind. Hopefully this revised edition will open up new understandings.
Thanks Don!!
Thanks for the fine comments.
I think that much of the confusion arises from the similarity of certain particles with other particles that occur in different positions within the codaphrase --
น่ะ,
เนี่ยะ,
ละ and
อ่ะ,for instance, each of which occurs in more than one position, but with a different meaning in each position.
Also, in writing the particles at the end of their sentences, I observe that native Thais often are very inattentive to correct tone marks --
ละ/
ล่ะ, for instance. I even seen
ค่ะ at the end of questions.