Centre for Research on Language Diversity

The Gong are a minority group of western Thailand whose language has been in decline for over a century. In the 1920s, the first report of the language predicted its imminent 5 demise. Since then, it has contacted to two villages outside its traditional territory. The language there is under threat, particularly since the 1970s with roads, schools, electricity, Buddhist temples and in-movement of Thai speakers. We have been working with the Gong since 1977. In 1982, we devised an orthography based on Thai. Since the mid-1980s, with support from the Thailand Research Fund and assistance from a 10

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