Thai

Thai keeps the Brahmic abugida — a consonant carrying an inherent vowel — but rearranges where the vowels go. A vowel sign may sit after the consonant, above it, or below it. It may also sit before it: a small class of vowels is written to the left of the consonant even though it is pronounced after it. เก is written e-then-k but read "ke."

Thai is also a tone language, so a set of small marks written above the line record the tone of the syllable. And, most disorienting to newcomers, Thai runs the words together with no spaces between them — spaces are saved for the ends of clauses and sentences, and the reader parses the word boundaries from the flow of letters.

The vowel can stand to the left of the consonant it follows.

The consonants carry charming acrophonic names: ก is "ko kai," the k of ไก่ (chicken), a mnemonic taught to every Thai child. The script's route into being ran through Khmer: Brahmi to Pallava to Khmer to Thai. See the descent diagram in the Hall of Lineages, where Thai's line runs through the Khmer node.

A Thai consonant carries an inherent vowel; other vowels are written as signs placed on all four sides of it — after, above, below, and (for a small set) before. The leading vowels เ แ โ ใ ไ are written to the left of the consonant but pronounced after it. Above the line, small tone marks record the syllable's tone. And between words there are no spaces at all — spaces fall only at clause and sentence ends, so the reader supplies the word boundaries.