Mission to Siam

A Note on Transliteration

A Note on Transliteration Jessie’s transliterations suggest that she used a combination of both Central and Northern Thai, languages that overlap in any case. At the time of her residence in the area, such mixtures were common, as Northern Thai was being displaced by Central Thai, particularly in formal and governmental contexts. From this perspective, however , it is impossible to distinguish absolutely between the two, or to know on which occasions her transliterations are intentionally evocative of Northern pronunciation and on which they simply presume a reading that would be appropriate to Central Thai. We are thus left with a degree of doubt as to how and what she spoke. Some of her translations are strained, while others are knowing. Whenever possible, I have attempted to conform her transliterations to what I believe she was intending to suggest. This has involved a certain amount of guesswork and, inevitably, a certain amount of error. Where I could not discern any reason for using spellings more suggestive of either Northern or Central Thai, I have respected Jessie’s original spellings. —R.C.M xxv ...