begun to study the language can follow it; it should also contain cross-references to existing sources of further detail, so that the student may use it as a rough map, to be looked at and added to from time to time as he plods (or jogs) through the hundreds of individual side streets and alleys of Thai structure. Its purpose is to help him establish and maintain perspective.
5. The persistent difficulties that we have in learning Thai fall into three general categories: pronunciation, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
I. PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS.
6. The most conspicuous—though not the largest—unit of Thai pronunciation is the syllable. In spite of some similarities, Thai syllables differ drastically from English syllables in the way they are organized. The most striking difference is that each Thai syllable has one or two of three possible 'tones,' and that the vowels and consonants of a syllable make up either one or two tone—bearing elements ('moras'). Among the consonants, where English has only a two—way distinction between p and b, or between t and d, Thai has a three-way distinction that causes trouble for English speakers. Finally, though many Thai vowels and consonants have similar-sounding counterparts in English, there are many differences in the details of pronunciation. The key sentences of this paragraph will now be ampllfied in sections 7-22 , below.
7. 'Each Thai syllable has one or two of three possible tones.'
It is more usual to say that a Thai syllable may have one of five possible tones: three 'level' tones (low, mid, high)
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