팔리어와 산스크리트어가 태국어에 끼친 영향

Abstract

Since ancient times, Thailand has been influenced much by Indian culture. Accordingly, Pali and Sanskrit have also heavily influenced Thai characters, which were created based on Mon and Khmer characters influenced by the northern Indian character, Devanagari letters. Pali and Sanskrit came to Thailand via Khmer through the introduction of Indian culture, including Buddhism, Indian literature, etc. Contact between Thai and Pali and Sanskrit eventually gave Thai language, an isolated language, polysyllable words and silent marks to reduce the number of syllables. In addition, compound words and derivative words as seen in Pali and Sanskrit were created. Those compound words, unlike pure Thai compound word, bear the structure of the Sanskrit language. Moreover, some morphemes created new words by combining with Thai language. Today, Pali and Sanskrit languages in the Thai language are used in many fields, such as in Buddhist terms, academic terms, person’s names and place names. Pali- and Sanskrit-based words are even more prevalent than those of native Thai language. Subsequently, it is very important to learn Pali and Sanskrit in the process of learning Thai. Needless to say, it is a must to study Pali and Sanskrit to fully and deeply understand the Thai language.