Thai Tones of Lua and Hmong Primary School Speakers
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Abstract
This research aims to analyze and compare the tonal system and the acoustic characteristics of Thai tones in monosyllabic words spoken by Lua and Hmong speakers in Nan Province who are currently studying at the primary school level. The informants include 10 native Lua speakers with Lua parents and 10 native Hmong (White Hmong) speakers with Hmong parents, all aged between 6 and 12 years old. The informants were asked to pronounce a randomly arranged list of 9 tone words three times, resulting in a total of 540 test words for the analysis of tones. The tonal system and the fundamental frequency of tones were analyzed using acoustical analysis. The findings indicate that the Thai tonal system of speakers of the Lahu and Hmong languages has 5 tones. Both Lua and Hmong speakers can produce five tones in monosyllabic live syllables and three tones in monosyllabic dead syllables. There were differences in both primary tone and the variants, including the number of variants, the pitch contour, and the initial pitch level. Additionally, there was a tendency for tone 1 (mid tone) and 2 (low tone) and tone 3 (falling tone) and 4 (high rising tone) to merge. While Lua is a non-tonal language and Hmong is a tonal language, the results suggest that being a tonal or non-tonal language does not completely dictate how Thai tones are pronounced. Other factors like the depth of exposure to the Thai language and reading proficiency also contribute.
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ข้อความรู้ใดๆ ตลอดจนข้อคิดเห็นใดๆ เป็นของผู้เขียนแต่ละท่านโดยเฉพาะ คณะมนุษยศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยนเรศวร และกองบรรณาธิการวารสารมนุษยศาสตร์ฯ ไม่จำเป็นต้องเห็นพ้องด้วย
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