Lanna Consonants: the Ṭa, Ta and Pa Rows, All 18 Letters

After the Ka and Ja rows, the consonants of Tua Mueang continue in three more rows: the Ṭa row (ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ, letters made for Pali sounds), the Ta row (ต ถ ท ธ น) and the Pa row (บ ผ พ ภ ม). This lesson teaches every letter, 18 in all (15 core letters and 3 extras), one at a time: the shape, the Kham Mueang reading, the class, the sound, the Thai letter it matches, the subscript form and an example word from the dictionary. It is lesson 3 of the course Learn the Lanna Script from Zero, after Lanna Consonants: the Ka and Ja Rows. If you have not yet read What Is Tua Mueang?, start there.

The map of the three rows

The character chart by Pichai Saengboon (Center for the Promotion of Arts and Culture, Chiang Mai University) places the Ṭa, Ta and Pa rows after the Ka and Ja rows. The core letters of each row sit in columns 1 to 5, and the fifth is a nasal. The top of each cell is the Lanna letter; below it is the Thai letter it matches.

The three extra Lanna letters sit in the "additional letters" cells beside the Pa row:

High, mid and low class, and sound pairs

The last lesson had two classes, high and low. These three rows add mid class. The dictionary says ด (da) and บ (ba) are mid-class letters and "two-sound consonants", used as initials and finals. The other letters in these rows are high or low class, as the dictionary says under each one.

The high and low letters pair up like this, according to the dictionary and the Unicode names: ต with ท · ถ with ธ · ป with พ · ผ with ภ · ฝ with ฟ · ฐ with ฒ. The nasals น and ม take a leading ห (ha nam) as their high partner, หน and หม (per the CMU chart). The CMU chart gives no partner for ฏ, ด or ณ. Leading ห has its own lesson.

The Ṭa row: ฏ ฐ ด ฒ ณ

The Ṭa row is found in Pali and Sanskrit words. In the dictionary only ด (da) has an entry of its own. ฏ ฐ ฒ ณ have none, so we give a class only when the Unicode name gives one, and we leave out the reading when the dictionary does not.

ฏ · the first letter of the Ṭa row

The first letter of the Ṭa row, used in Pali and Sanskrit words such as กฎ (rule) and พระบฏ (a painted cloth). Its Unicode name is RATA.

Example word in the dictionary: กฎ (kot, Kham Mueang reading ก๋ฏ), meaning "a rule or regulation that is laid down".

ฐ · the high letter of the Ṭa row

Used in Pali and Sanskrit words such as ผ้ากฐิน (kathin cloth) and ถ๋ะปะนา (Pali ṭhapanā), where the dictionary reads ฐ with a th sound (ถ๋ะ).

Example word in the dictionary: ผ้ากฐิน (pha kathin, Kham Mueang reading ผ้ากฐิน), meaning "the robe cloth offered to monks after the rains retreat".

ด · one letter for ด ฎ ฑ

This one letter stands for Thai ด, ฎ and ฑ (the CMU chart puts ฑ ฎ ด in the same cell). It serves as an initial and as a final in the "mae kot" group.

Example word in the dictionary: ดำ (dam, Kham Mueang reading ดำ), meaning "to dive; black, dark".

ฒ · the low letter of the Ṭa row

Used in Pali and Sanskrit words such as วัฒนธรรม (culture), which the dictionary spells วัฑฒะนะธรรม.

Example word in the dictionary: วัฒนธรรม (wat-ta-na-tham, Kham Mueang reading วัฑฒะนะธรรม), meaning "culture: the way of life of a community".

ณ · the nasal that ends the Ṭa row

The nasal that ends the Ṭa row, used in Pali and Sanskrit words such as คณะ (group). Its Unicode name is RANA.

Example word in the dictionary: คณะ (ka-na, Kham Mueang reading ก๊ะนะ), meaning "group, company".

The Ta row: ต ถ ท ธ น

All five letters of the Ta row have dictionary entries, so each card shows the class and reading from the dictionary.

ต · ta (high)

Used as an initial and as a final in the "mae kot" group, and as a following letter in Pali and Sanskrit words (per the dictionary).

Example word in the dictionary: ตู (tu, Kham Mueang reading ตู๋), meaning "we, I (first person)".

ถ · tha (high)

Used as an initial and a final in the "mae kot" group and as a following letter in Pali and Sanskrit words. Unicode pairs it with ธ (HIGH THA and LOW THA).

Example word in the dictionary: ไถ่ (thai, Kham Mueang reading ไถ่), meaning "to redeem a pledge; to ask, to chat".

ท · ta (low)

Used as an initial in Lanna words and as a final and following letter in Pali and Sanskrit words (per the dictionary). The low partner of ต.

Example word in the dictionary: ไท (tai, Kham Mueang reading ไต), meaning "Tai Yai (Shan) people, who call themselves Tai".

ธ · tha (low)

Used as an initial and a following letter, never as a final. Not used in native Lanna words, only in Pali and Sanskrit words and loanwords.

Example word in the dictionary: ธุง (thung, Kham Mueang reading ธุง), meaning "log, trunk of a felled tree".

น · na (low)

Used as an initial, a final and a following letter in the "mae kon" group. As a final it uses the na tail (น plus the ฯ key). Its high partner is ห-leading หน.

Example word in the dictionary: นา (na, Kham Mueang reading นา), meaning "rice field".

The Pa row: บ ผ พ ภ ม and the extras ป ฝ ฟ

In the CMU chart the Pa row has five core letters, บ ผ พ ภ ม, and three extras, ป ฝ ฟ.

บ · ba (mid)

The dictionary calls it a two-sound consonant, used as an initial and as a final in the "mae kop" group. The form standing for ป works only as an initial.

Example word in the dictionary: บา (ba, Kham Mueang reading บา), meaning "teacher; elder; young man".

ผ · pha (high)

Used as an initial. The dictionary notes that ระฯบ is often written instead of ผ, since a บ with the rawong sign is read as the next letter in its row.

Example word in the dictionary: ผี (phi, Kham Mueang reading ผี), meaning "spirit, ghost; a corpse".

พ · pa (low)

Used as an initial, a final and a following letter in the "mae kop" group in Pali and Sanskrit words. The low partner of ป (pa, high). With a rawong sign it is read pha.

Example word in the dictionary: แพะ (pae, Kham Mueang reading แป๊ะ), meaning "goat".

ภ · pha (low)

The dictionary says Lanna does not use ภ as an initial: a พ with a leading rawong sign is read pha. It appears in Pali and Sanskrit words.

Example word in the dictionary: ภู่ (phu, Kham Mueang reading ภู่), meaning "carpenter bee".

ม · ma (low)

Used as an initial, a final and a following letter in the "mae kom" group. It gives 3 tones; the other 3 use leading ห (หม), so together they cover all 6 (per the dictionary).

Example word in the dictionary: ม้า (ma, Kham Mueang reading ม้า), meaning "horse".

ป · pa, an extra letter (high)

Used in Pali and Sanskrit words as an initial, a final and a following letter, paired with พ (low) to cover all 6 tones. The CMU chart puts it in the extras cells.

Example word in the dictionary: ประเพณี (pa-we-ni, Kham Mueang reading ป๋าเวณี), meaning "custom, tradition".

ฝ · fa, an extra letter (high)

Used as an initial. The CMU chart puts it in the extras cells.

Example word in the dictionary: ฝ้า (fa, Kham Mueang reading ฝ้า), meaning "cloud".

ฟ · fa, an extra letter (low)

Used as an initial, and as a final in the "mae kop" group in some foreign words such as coffee. The CMU chart puts it in the extras cells.

Example word in the dictionary: ฟู (fu, Kham Mueang reading ฟู), meaning "to swell, puff up; to float".

Subscript forms

The subscript form is the reduced shape that hangs under the letter before it, used for a final or following consonant. With the LN TILOK font you press the ฯ key after the consonant (see how to type with LN TILOK, in Thai). The CMU manual says on page 4 that some subscripts have a second shape when ฯ is pressed a second time. The table shows the subscript of each letter as it occurs in dictionary words, with a word that uses it. For ฒ, บ and ผ the dictionary words are spelled with ฯ twice, so those three show two.

No dictionary word uses a subscript form of ฝ or ฟ, so we do not show one for these two. In มณฑก the dictionary uses the key for ฑ, which the font draws in the same shape as ด.

Practise the 18 letters

Now practise with the widget below. The "Browse letters" tab reopens any card. The other two tabs are 10-question quizzes: name the Thai letter that matches a Lanna letter, or pick the Lanna letter from a Thai letter and its reading.

Summary

• This lesson completes the next three rows: the Ṭa, Ta and Pa rows, 18 letters in all (15 core + 3 extra), which match U+1A2D to U+1A3E in Unicode.
• These rows add mid-class letters, ด and บ, which the dictionary calls two-sound consonants. The others are high or low class.
• Kham Mueang reads some letters differently from central Thai: ท is read ta, พ is read pa and ณ is read na.
• One letter, ด, stands for Thai ฑ, ฎ and ด.
• Subscripts are typed with the ฯ key. No subscript of ฝ or ฟ has been found in the dictionary.
• ฏ ฐ ฒ ณ have no dictionary entry, so their shapes were checked against the CMU chart and the Unicode names.

The next lesson is Lanna Consonants: Avagga and Extra Letters. To go back, read Lanna Consonants: the Ka and Ja Rows. See the whole course at Learn the Lanna Script from Zero, and look up any word in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai).

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai): ด๋ะ · ต๋ะ · ถ๋ะ · ต๊ะ · ธะ · นะ · บ๋ะ · ป๋ะ · ผ๋ะ · ฝ๋ะ · ป๊ะ · ภะ · ฟะ · มะ
• Pichai Saengboon. (2009). วิธีการพิมพ์อักขระธัมม์ล้านนา (ตัวเมือง) ที่ง่าย สะดวก และสวยงาม ด้วยฟอนต์ LN TILOK version 6.00 [How to type the Lanna (Tua Mueang) script easily and beautifully with the LN TILOK font, version 6.00; page 4 on the Extra key and page 6 the Lanna character chart]. Center for the Promotion of Arts and Culture, Chiang Mai University. In Thai.
• The Unicode Consortium. Tai Tham, U+1A20 to U+1AAF (code chart and names list). Letter names RATA to MA and their classes.