8 - The Positions of Non-Thai Languages in Thailand

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Thailand is located in the middle of the Southeast Asian mainland, which is a region where a large number of ethnic groups and languages can be found. There are only a few Southeast Asian countries, but each country comprises several ethnic groups. As a result, both cultural diversity and linguistic diversity are natural. The governments and the authorities of each Southeast Asian country have to accept, or at least be aware of, this fact in order to set up appropriate policies at all levels if they would like to achieve their goals in whatever they are pursuing. Handling peoples who have different cultural backgrounds is not an easy task. Without a real understanding of their diverse minds, it would be impossible to maintain peace and national unity.

In the past, the hidden policy of the Royal Thai Government used to be “assimilation”. Thus, the emphasis was on Ekkalak that is a coined word meaning “only one characteristic”. The “Thai identity” was related to Ekkalak Thai, a cliché that could be heard and seen very often. Furthermore, the Office of Ekkalak Thai was established in order to make the policy become true and fruitful. One of the major duties of the Ekkalak Thai Office is to campaign for the national unity and security of Thailand on the basis of “one language and one culture in Thai society”. When the Eighth National Socio-Economic Development Plan was launched in 1997, the concept of Pahulak or “pluralism”, recommended by the National Security Council and reinforced by Thai academics, replaced the previous concept of Ekkalak. Cultural diversity has indeed become part of tourism promotion in Thailand. Consequently, linguists specializing in ethnic-minority languages are able to share this new mainstream thinking.

This paper will look into: (1) some aspects of Thailand's demographic characteristics, (2) the classification of the ethnic minorities, (3) socio- linguistic setting in Thailand, (4) the positions of Thai and regional Thai languages/dialects, and (5) the positions of the non-Thai languages, which will be the main focus of this paper.