SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis presents an outline of the phonetics and phonology of the Suratthani dialect of Thai. Particular attention has been paid to the tonal system which is the principle way in which the dialect differs from Standard Thai. An introduction gives information on the geographical background where the dialect is spoken and the linguistic background of the informant (the writer). The scope of the thesis is also included. Chapter 2 deals with the consonant phonemes of this dialect and gives the phonetic realizations of each phoneme according to context. Palatograms are used to illustrate and support the phonetic descriptions. The vowel phonemes and their realizations are given in Chapter 3. An attempt is made to describe the qualities of these vowels with reference to the Cardinal vowel System of Daniel Jones. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the tonal system. Chapter 4 is concerned with the phonetic realizations of the tones as they occur in isolated monosyllabic words. Tonograms are used to illustrate the characteristic pitches of the tone. Professor Y.R. Chao's Tone-letter System is also adapted to illustrate the varying phonetic realizations of the tones or 'tonetic variants'. Chapter 5 is an extension of this study to longer utterances of two syllables, paying special attention to the tonal behaviour of compound nouns and noun phrases. The correlation and restrictions of the tones with respect to syllabic structure are set out and discussed in Chapter 6. A tonemic interpretation of the irreducible minimum number of tonal contrasts is offered. Chapter 6 brings the study to a conclusion.