ཞིབ་འཚོལ་ཡིག་ཆ།
Language use in Thailand: A Comparative Study to the Case of Bhutan
Abstract Language use in Thailand and Bhutan presents two different scenes. In Thailand, the national language, Standard Thai, is the majority language used in every domain. In Bhutan, the national language, Dzongkha, is the lingua franca for the country, but there is a recent trend toward using English as widely as Dzongkha, and usage of English in every domain is on the rise. Standard Thai usage is firmly rooted in Thai society through its prevalence in education, internal administration, the media, and publications. Dzongkha, on the other hand, is less often used by Bhutanese than Thai is used by Thais. At the same time, English is gaining popularity in Bhutan. This paper provides a study of the reasons for this difference in language use of Standard Thai in Thailand and Dzongkha in Bhutan. This paper is broadly divided into two parts: a literature review and a field study. The literature review describes the current status of use of Standard Thai and Dzongkha and then uses Einer Haugen’s fourfold model of language planning as a framework within which to compare the differences in language use and development. The field study is undertaken to verify the information revealed in the literature review and also to investigate the differences in language use in both countries and the choices and attitudes that the people of Thailand and Bhutan harbor toward their respective languages. The findings from the literature review and the field study are combined in the conclusion and a recommendation is made for possible actions to be undertaken to further the use of Dzongkha in Bhutan, taking into account the knowledge gained regarding the successful use of Standard Thai in Thailand.
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Abstract Language use in Thailand and Bhutan presents two different scenes. In Thailand, the national language, Standard Thai, is the majority language used in every domain. In Bhutan, the national language, Dzongkha, is the lingua franca for the country, but there is a recent trend toward using English as widely as Dzongkha, and usage of English in every domain is on the rise. Standard Thai usage is firmly rooted in Thai society through its prevalence in education, internal administration, the media, and publications. Dzongkha, on the other hand, is less often used by Bhutanese than Thai is used by Thais. At the same time, English is gaining popularity in Bhutan. This paper provides a study of the reasons for this difference in language use of Standard Thai in Thailand and Dzongkha in Bhutan. This paper is broadly divided into two parts: a literature review and a field study. The literature review describes the current status of use of Standard Thai and Dzongkha and then uses Einer Haugen’s fourfold model of language planning as a framework within which to compare the differences in language use and development. The field study is undertaken to verify the information revealed in the literature review and also to investigate the differences in language use in both countries and the choices and attitudes that the people of Thailand and Bhutan harbor toward their respective languages. The findings from the literature review and the field study are combined in the conclusion and a recommendation is made for possible actions to be undertaken to further the use of Dzongkha in Bhutan, taking into account the knowledge gained regarding the successful use of Standard Thai in Thailand.
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