Grammatica Linguae Thai. [Grammar of the Thai Language].

Description

SOUTHEAST ASIA
LINGUISTICS
RARE BANGKOK IMPRINT

Jean-Baptiste PALLEGOIX (D. J. Bapt. Pallegoix, 1805–1862).

Bangkok: Ex typographia collegii Assumptionis B. M. V. [Assumption College Press], 1850.

Small Quarto (4to), 241 pp., [1] index, contemporary marbled boards and calf spine with red label and a title in gold, contemporary marbled blue endpapers, on the title page stamp Traducciones H.R. Pujol and signature in black ink: H.R. Pujol,15. X. 35 (light foxing and staining, binding slightly scratched on the corners, spine with loss of material and small chips on the binding restored, overall good).

 

Widely celebrated as the first comprehensive Western-style grammar of the Thai language printed within Thailand, the text stands as a masterpiece of mid-nineteenth-century missionary scholarship. It was compiled by Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix, the French Vicar Apostolic of Siam and a brilliant linguist who maintained a close personal friendship with King Mongkut, Rama IV. This unique cross-cultural relationship allowed Pallegoix to teach Latin to the monarch while simultaneously deepening his own mastery of advanced Thai and sacred Pali, resulting in an unprecedentedly accurate analysis of the Siamese language.

Written entirely in Latin to serve as the universal scholarly language for incoming European missionaries and diplomats, the text systematically deconstructs the complex mechanics of Thai through several foundational sections. On the opening page, Pallegoix introduces the Chindamani, describing it as the classical mirror of thought and the definitive literary manual composed under King Narai in Lopburi. By page two, he brilliantly codifies the strict hierarchical structure of the language, dividing it into Lingua Vulgaris for common speech, Lingua Alta for elegant communication, Lingua Sacra for sacred Pali texts, and the highly specialized Ráxasáb for the royal court.

A particularly remarkable feature occurs on page 36 with the inclusion of the Tabula Tonorum. Recognizing that Thai is a tonal language, Pallegoix took the pioneering step of mapping the five native tones directly onto Western musical staves and notes. This allowed European speakers to visualize precisely how the voice must rise, fall, or remain flat during speech, preaching, and poetic recitation.

References: OCLC 811472130, 474988014, 459081503, 930738751, 63839737.