Punctuation in Thai: prescribed usages and current practice (Ponctuation en thaï : emplois prescrits et pratique actuelle)

Abstract

In one language, punctuation can serve several linguistic or communicational needs: indicating prosodic, syntactic, semantic functions or logical relations. Punctuation marks in Thai are numerous but often optional. They are usually classified into two groups: "old" signs and "modern" or "contemporary" signs. The latter are mostly "borrowed" from English but may have a particular use in Thai. Some are appropriate for the Thai language.

This study aims to describe main usages of punctuation marks in Thai and observe some practices in the current writings from different genres (scientific articles, newspaper articles, poetry, novels, mail, personal messages, etc.).