Suwilai Premsrirat is a professor in Linguistics at Mahidol Unversity, Thailand. She was born in 1944 in Bangkok.
She received her BA and MA from the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, majoring in English, and received her Ph.D in Linguistics from Monash University, Australia. She has been researching and writing on ethnic minority languages in Thailand and mainland SEA since 1975 specializing in Austroasiatic languages. Her major publication include a Thesaurus and Dictionary Series of Khmu in SEA which was the result of her extensive studies of Khmu in ThaiLand, Lao PDR, Vietnam and Southwestern China. In these studies the Khmu phonological and syntactical structure as well as the Khmu worldview has been revealed and the development of register complex and tonogenesis of a language in SEA has been witnessed. The Ethnolinguistic Mapping of Thailand is an important work conducted by Professor Suwilai and her research team during 1990-2000. The data was collected at the village level from all over the country. The database on languages and ethnicity in Thailand was therefore established For representing the language data on the map the GIS (Arc-view software was used The distribution of more than 70 languages of Thailand was presented on the map, according to the genetic relationship (language families) and social relationship (language hierarchy), and also according to the geographical administration (by region and provinces) in various parts of the country. The data based has been used as the resource for research concerning languages and ethnicity in Thailand and for policy and planning in development work in education, public health, administrative work and internal security. It is the beginning of the survey of the endangered languages of Thailand where 14 eminently endangered languages are founds. They consist of 9 Austroasiatic languages, Chong, Kasong, Sammre, Sa-oc(Chung), Nyah Kur, So(Thavung), Sakai(Kensiew), Mlabri and Lavua. Three Tibeto Burman languages, Lawa(Gong), Mpi and Bisu and two Austronesian languages, Moklen and Urak Lawoi. Other ethnic minority languages, except Standard Thai are not safe and show signs of contraction especially in lexicon and syntax, The endangered languages have been documented by Prof. Suwilai herself and her MA and Ph.D. linguistic students. They are Thavung Phonology and Thavung Dictionary, Chong Dictionary, Nyah Kur sociolinguistic studies etc. The Ph.D. and MA. theses are mainly on Pearic Languages which is the dying branch of Austroasiatic language family They are Samre Grammar, Thavung Grammar, Gong, are endangered language of Thailand and the comparative studies of Chung in Thailand and Cambodia, MA Thesis are on Chong Phonology, Chong dialects, Chong syntax, Kasong phonology, Kasong syntax and Kasong sociolinguistic survey.
Professor Suwilai was the founder of the Resource Center for Revitalization and Maintenance of Endangered Languages (in 2001). The Chong revitalization program was conducted by Chong people as a community-based research with the cooperation of Mahidol University academic staff under Professor Suwilai and her research team and Thailand research fund. Chong language is now taught in 4 primary schools in the Chong speaking areas, It has become a model for a school-based language revitalization program for other language groups with the same problem. At the moment 8 seriously endangered language group are working for their language revitalization project. Since most of them do not have the written language so they normally started with the orthography development and literature production.
For those who want to have their language taught in the formal school system, they have to work on the curriculum development and teaching materials, and then the speakers were trained to be community teachers. The people are very pleased and proud of their language and their groups. Apart from that some groups such as the Chong and the Gong also work on the community learning center for the people at large and for visitors who want to learn about their life and their language revitalization program. At the moment Professor Suwilai has been involved with 11 ethnolinguist group working on language revitalization program at different stages.
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