The Four Tone Marks

1. Four Marks, Five Tones
The four written marks are ่ (mai ek), ้ (mai tho), ๊ (mai tri), and ๋ (mai chattawa). Compare them with the five spoken tones. A mark’s name is not a tone label that applies unchanged to every consonant class.

2. Marked and Unmarked Syllables
For the displayed marked forms, mai ek gives a low tone with mid- or high-class initials and a falling tone with low-class initials. Mai tho gives a falling tone with mid- or high-class initials and a high tone with low-class initials. The mid-class examples โต๊ะ and ตั๋ว show mai tri with a high tone and mai chattawa with a rising tone.
Unmarked syllables need a separate reading. For dead syllables with unmarked mid- or high-class initials, the tone is low. In those unmarked patterns, vowel length does not change that tone. Unmarked high-class live syllables have a rising tone. For unmarked low-class dead syllables, vowel length distinguishes short-vowel high tone from long-vowel falling tone. These unmarked rules do not override a written tone mark.

3. Reading the Examples
ไก่ is low, พี่ is falling, บ้าน is falling, ม้า is high, โต๊ะ is high, and ตั๋ว is rising. The first exercise requests the low-class plus mai-ek result: falling, rather than low. These examples do not establish how frequent a mark is, the origins of words carrying it, or a blanket prohibition attributed to an institution. Compare sound-imitating words in their own complete examples without inferring that every word with mai tri belongs to that category.

4. Exact Written Placement
The second exercise requests ปล่อย: the mai-ek mark is written on ล, after ป in this consonant cluster. The alternative ป่ลอย places it on ป and does not reproduce the requested spelling. Compare leading-consonant constructions separately; not every pair of initial letters follows one universal first-consonant inheritance rule. In พี่, the tone mark is displayed above the vowel sign. The retained spellings provide written examples, not an audio test or a rule for every keyboard.

5. Further Comparisons
Study leading-consonant examples through their actual syllables. The four listed อย words—อย่า, อยู่, อย่าง, อยาก—are low-toned in the cited NIU lesson; this is not a rule for every two-letter onset. The NIU mid-class live series กา/ก่า/ก้า/ก๊า/ก๋า shows mid/low/falling/high/rising tones, while ค่า and ค้า demonstrate different results with a low-class initial. See tone rules for the full distinction between marks, consonant classes, endings, and vowel length. No audio or whole-dictionary claim is made here.