Before talking about Thai syllable structure, it will be worthwhile to take a quick look at the surface structure of English syllables. In English, every syllable has a 'nucleus,' and most also have 'onsets' or 'codas' or both. A 'nucleus' may either be a simple vowel (as in bet), or a diphthong (as in bite or bout). The 'onset' is the consonant or group of consonants that comes before the nucleus (s, p, l, sp, sl, pl, m, sm, br, etc.), and the 'coda' is the consonant or group of consonants that comes after it. (s, t, st, ts,sts, mp, etc.). The number of possible onsets and codas in English is very great, and some of them are quite long and complex.
11. One fact is of the utmost importance in understandingthe differences between Thai and English syllables: y-glides (as in buys, boys), and w-glides (as in knows, cows) are part of the nucleus in English. This means (1) that the same codas that can follow a simple vowel in English can also follow a diphthong that ends with a w-glide or a w-glide, and (2) that the t in cat counts as a coda, but the w of cow is part of the nucleus: cow has no coda.[1]
12. In Thai syllables that consist of two moras, the first half consists of a vowel and whatever consonant(9) (if any) stand before it. The second half consists of (1) a repetition of the same vowel, plus whatever one consonant (if any) stands after it, or (2) the vowel 5, plus whatever one consonant (if any) stands after it, or (3) one of the 'sonorant' consonants j, w, m, n, ŋ,
Examples are:
- ↑ (Nōn codam sed caudam!)
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