TY - JOUR AU - Maythawiriyakul , Witchatkarn PY - 2021/06/15 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - A Contrastive Analysis of Lahu and Thai Phonological System JF - Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Suratthani Rajabhat University JA - hum. soc. VL - 13 IS - 1 SE - Academic Articles DO - UR - https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jhsc/article/view/223800 SP - 190-211 AB - <p> Contrastive analysis is essential to language learning and teaching. Moreover, the Lahu language is the mother tongue of one of the important ethnic groups in Thailand. The objective of this article is to analyze and <br />contrast the phonological systems of the Lahu and Thai languages. Contrastive Analysis of Whitman (1970) was applied in the analysis for this article. The analysis results revealed that the Lahu language does not have the initial consonant phonemes /r, w/, unlike the Thai language, which has these consonants as initials. Moreover, the Lahu language lacks consonant clusters and syllable-final consonants. These facts lead to the Lahu people having problems in pronouncing the consonants of the Thai language, especially the final consonants. Moreover, there certainly are differences in the vowels and tones in the Lahu and Thai languages. In addition, the Thai language has vowel length distinctions but the Lahu language does not have vowel length distinctions. Therefore, these differences lead to the Lahu people having problems in speaking Thai. Furthermore, the analysis results were useful for Thai language teachers of Lahu students and Lahu students who study the Thai language.</p> ER -