Indirect Measure of Attitudes of Patani Malay Ethnic Group toward Patani Malay Speakers and Standard Thai Speakers

Abstract

            The study aims to investigate the attitudes of Patani Malay ethnic group toward Patani Malay speakers and Standard Thai speakers by applying the matched-guise technique. Three hundred and sixty male and female Patani Malays living in Pattani Province, Yala Province, and Narathiwat Province participated in this study. The participants heard four stimulus voices recorded from 2 guise speakers (one male and one female). Both guise speakers read the same passage, one in Patani Malay and another one in standard Thai. The participants evaluated each speaker’s characteristics from the voice they heard in the evaluation form. The results show that the participants evaluated every characteristic of both guise speakers in high level except the characteristic “aggressive”, which is rated in low level. However, the standard Thai guise speakers are rated better than the Patani Malay ones in every characteristic, even the characteristic “aggressive”, which is rated in low level gets lower scores. The results also show that the Patani Malay ethnic group of both sexes and ages give highly positive evaluation toward standard Thai speakers. This findings entail that they also have positive attitudes toward standard Thai variety, which is the national variety in Thailand. According to the principle of attitudes toward language, language relates to speakers, therefore, the attitudes toward language speakers means the attitudes toward the language itself.