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THE EFFECT OF ENGLISH LOANWORDS ON
THE PRONUNCIATION OF THAI

By

Suriyan Panlay

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Linguistics and Germanic,
Slavic, Asian and African Languages

1997

ABSTRACT

THE EFFECT OF ENGLISH LOANWORDS
ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF THAI

By

Suriyan Panlay

Thai speakers are experiencing increasing influence of English on their Thai.
Numerous English words have been borrowed into Thai. When these English words are
borrowed, their pronunciation is changed in order to comform to Thai phonology.
Phonological changes can be observed when these loanwords are pronounced by Thai
speakers. It is generally known that languages in contact undergo linguistic change. The
present study, therefore, aims to describe some aspects of a language contact
phenomenon, English loanwords in Thai. It proposes to determine what phonological
changes in English loanwords may be observed when they are pronounced by Thais,
and to seek understanding and explanation of the Thai pronunciation of English
loanwords by comparing phonological systems and finding generalizations which can

predict how Thai rules apply to English words.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”
Robert Frost

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Grateful thanks go to the members of my committee, Prof. Grover Hudson,
Prof. Alan Beretta, and Prof. Yen-Hwei Lin. Special thanks go to Prof. Hudson, my
chair, who has always been willing to give his time and provided the key ideas and an
insightful comment for my thesis.

I would like to thank five Thai students here at Michigan State University
and one from Central Michigan University who participate in this study. This study
will not be completed without them. Special thanks go to my very best friend,
Rutthaporn Malayaphon, for his support and encouragement. Thanks for staying up
all night (for many nights) helping me with this thesis. Also, I would like to thank Berl
Schwartz for proof-reading this thesis. Thank you for believing in me and making me
realize how important it is to believe in myself.

Finally, I would like to thank my family, especially my mom who has
always been there for me and given me such a strength and confidence. Without her

constant encouragement, this work would not have been completed.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ vii

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1

Introduction .................................................................................................... 1

Scope and Method of Investigation ................................................................ 5

Outline of the Thesis ...................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER 2: ENGLISH LOANWORDS IN THAI: A BRIEF HISTORICAL

BACKGROUND ................................................................................... 8

English in Thailand ......................................................................................... 8

The Use of English in Thai ........................................................................... 11

English Loanwords in Thai ........................................................................... 13

CHAPTERB: THAI PHONOLOGY ............................................................................ 17

Thai Consonants ........................................................................................... 17

Final Consonants .......................................................................................... 19

Consonants Clusters ..................................................................................... 20

Thai Vowels .................................................................................................. 26

Tones ............................................................................................................ 28

CHAPTER 4: ENGLISH PHONOLOGY .................................................................... 30

English Consonants ...................................................................................... 30

Consonant Clusters in English ...................................................................... 32

English Vowels ............................................................................................. 34

Stress in English ............................................................................................ 36
CHAPTER 5: CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THAI AND ENGLISH

PHONOLOGY ...................................................................................... 37

Comparison of Thai and English Consonant Phonemes ............................... 37

Comparison of Thai and English Stop Phonemes ............................ 38

Comparison of Thai and English Fricative Phonemes ...................... 39

Comparison of Thai and English Affricate Phonemes ...................... 39

Comparicon of Thai and English Nasal Phonemes ........................... 40

Comparison of Thai and English Liquid Phonemes .......................... 40

Comparison of Thai and English Semivowels .................................. 40

Comparison of Thai and English Consonant Clusters .................................. 40

Comparison of Thai and English Vowels ..................................................... 41

Comparison of Thai and English Suprasegmental Features .......................... 43
Theories of Contrastive Analysis ................................................................. 43
Hypotheses .................................................................................................. 49
CHAPTER 6: METHOD ............................................................................................. 51
Method ......................................................................................................... 51
Subjects ......................................................................................................... 51
Procedures .................................................................................................... 52
CHAPTER 7: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 53
Tone/Pitch Placement ................................................................................... 53
Final Cluster Reduction ................................................................................ 56
Articulation of Single Final Consonants ....................................................... 66
Short Vowel Insertion ................................................................................... 69
Articulation of /1/ and /r/ ............................................................................... 77
CHAPTER 8: SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 80
APPENDIX 1. QUESTIONS ........................................................................................ 82
APPENDIX II. LIST OF WORDS ............................................................................... 83
APPENDIX III. PRONUNCIATIONS OF THE SUBJECTS .................................... 84
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 90

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Consonant Phonemes of Thai and English ...................................................... 38
Table 2. Vowel Phonemes of Thai and English ............................................................. 42

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Spectrogram of ‘lifi’ spoken by a native speaker of Thai .............................. 60
Figure 2. Spectrogram of ‘lifi’ spoken by a native speaker of English ......................... 61
Figure 3. Spectrogram of ‘list’ spoken by a native speaker of Thai ............................. 62
Figure 4. Spectrogram of ‘list’ spoken by a native speaker of English ......................... 63
Figure 5. Spectrogram of ‘brandy’ spoken by a native speaker of Thai ....................... 69
Figure 6. Spectrogram of ‘brandy’ spoken by a native speaker of English ................... 70
Figure 7. Spectrogram of ‘strike’ spoken by a native speaker of Thai ......................... 71
Figure 8. Spectrogram of ‘strike’ spoken by a native speaker of English ..................... 72
Figure 9. Spectrogram of ‘script’ spoken by a native speaker of Thai ......................... 73
Figure 10. Spectrogram of ‘script’ spoken by a native speaker of English ................... 74

viii

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1 .1 . Introduction

In a language contact situation, when two or more languages are used by the
same individual, it is natural for one language to influence another. In many instances,
the speakers may transfer elements from one language to use in the speech of the
other, thus causing changes in either of the languages. The effect is in both directions,
and therefore results in changes in both languages that are brought into contact.

When a word is imported into another language, certain changes often occur.
The most obvious changes take place at the phonemic level, where phonemes of the
borrowed word are replaced by native phonemes. Sometimes the nativized word may
be completely unrecognizable to speakers of the donor language. This study therefore
will try to determine what phonological changes may be observed when English
loanwords are pronounced by Thais.

Loanwords may sometimes have unfamiliar phonemes or unfamiliar
sequences of phonemes and therefore may undergo either modification or adaptation
through an integrative process of speakers of the borrowing language. In reproducing
loanwords fi'om another language, the speakers are said to make an ‘importation’ if the
words are partially adapted and recognizable by the native speakers of the borrowing
language, and a ‘substitution’ if the words are completely adapted and thus are not

recognizable by the native speakers of the borrowing language (Haugen, 1972: 82).

Language contact can affect the sub-systems of language, such as
phonology, a large part of morphology and syntax, and some areas of vocabulary. This
study, however, will investigate mainly the area of phonology, one of the areas in
second language acquisition (SLA) which was largely neglected by second language
acquisition research until very recently (Tarone, 1987: 70), by using loanwords as a
source of investigation. Perhaps one reason for the relative neglect of phonology is the
commonly held belief that the learner’s pronunciation of the sounds of a second
language reflects simply negative transfer from the first language rather than the
learner’s interlanguage grammar (T arone, 1987: 70). What is obvious about phonology
is that most people can readily detect the linguistic origin of speakers fi'om their
pronunciation but not from their syntax (Ioup, 1984: 8). Therefore, I find it extremely
intriguing to find out what it is that makes the pronunciation of a second language
learner from one country, Thai speakers in this case, uniquely different from that of
others.

English words borrowed into Thai are a source of interest for linguists,
consternation for learners, and bemusement for observers. Native speakers of English
who study Thai soon realize that they must learn new pronunciations for words
borrowed from their own native vocabulary or they will not be understood when they
use those words in conversation with Thai speakers. When Thai speakers speak
English, this difference can be easily detected. There are definite patterns to changes
made in English words borrowed into Thai, which may have much to tell us about both

donor and recipient.

Borrowing can occur at all levels of the structure of languages that are
brought into contact, but the most common form of linguistic interference is
represented by lexical borrowing or loanwords (Weinreich, 1964: 1). Weinreich, in his
study of language contact between Schwyzerttitsch and Romansh in Switzerland, dealt
comprehensively with linguistic interference resulting from language contact, and
defined interference as “those instances of deviations from the norms of either language
which occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than
one e” (Weinreich, 1964:1). He added that “the greater the difference between
the system, the greater is the leaming problem and the potential area of interference”
(Weinreich, 1964: 1). He stated that the problem of phonic interference concerns the
manner in which a speaker perceives and reproduces the sounds of one language, which
might be designated secondary, in terms of another, to be called primary. He therefore
proposed that “Interference arises when a bilingual identifies a phoneme of the
secondary system with one in the primary system and, in reproducing it, subjects it to
the phonetic rules of the primary language” (Weinreich, 1964: 1). This applies to the
change in pronunciation of Thai English loanwords because speakers apply rules of
their primary phonemic system to phonemes of the secondary system.

Silverman, in his study of Cantonese loanword phonology, proposes a
theory of loanword phonology. He states that loanword phonology possesses two
distinct levels: perceptual and operative (Silverman, 1992: 291). The first level is
{concerned with providing a preliminary, ‘raw’ linguistic representation to the

perceived non-linguistic input. That is, the speakers will perceive the secondary

sounds by using their primary phonemic systems. I find this crucial in Thai English
loanwords. I assume, for example, that it is this level that makes Thai speakers
pronounce the word punch as pig, because there are no final clusters in Thai.
According to Eckman’s (1977: 320) Markedness Differential Hypothesis
(MDH), one way to think of markedness is that an unmarked form, whether
phonological or syntactic, is one that is more common, whereas a marked form is one
that is more unusual, less common. That is, “Those areas of the target language which
differ from the native language and are more marked than the native language will be
difficult” (321). In terms of loanword phonology, phonological difficulty occurs when
the recipient language (Thai) does not have marked phones that exist in the donor
language (English). Speakers make a substitution or adaptation of unmarked sounds
that do exist in their language. According to the basic concepts of syllable structure and
syllabification (Kenstowicz, 1994: 252) the unmarked syllable structure of any
language is CV. A consonantal coda therefore is marked. Since final clusters or other

single final phones such as l6, 6, s, z, W are a marked feature absent in Thai, they

cause some difficulties to Thai speakers.

There has been very little research done on the relationship of English
loanwords in Thai and Thai pronunciation. Raksaphet (1992), in his study of English
loanwords in Thai newspapers, has dealt only with semantic and morpho-syntactic
changes of English loanwords. In her study of interference of English in the language of

Thai bilinguals in the United States, Lerdtadsin (1981) has proposed that phonological

existent. Since her subjects were bilinguals who were born and raised in the United
States, it is natural that there will be little or no phonological changes in English
loanwords. But for native speakers of Thai, phonological changes of certainly exist in
English loanwords. Hopefully, this study will contribute some ideas on phonological
changes occurred in Thai English loanwords.
1.2. Scope and Method of Investigation

The present study aims to describe some aspects of a language contact
phenomenon, English loanwords in Thai, and to determine what phonological changes
in English loanwords may be observed when they are pronounced by Thais. Also, this
study is designed primarily to seek understanding and explanation of the Thai
pronunciation of English loanwords by comparing phonological systems and finding
generalizations which can predict how Thai rules apply to English words. Specifically,
this study will examine the following phenomena:

(1) Tone/Pitch: Thais have a tendency to put tone/pitch on the final syllable
of English words, e.g., shopPING, cofFEE, technoloGY.

(2) Final clusters: Speakers of Thai are likely to omit and replace phones of
final clusters that do not exist in the language, e.g., _l_i_fi --> /lip/, _li_st --> /lis~lit/.

(3) Final consonants: Thais tend to omit and replace final consonants that
do not exist in the language, e.g., 1ng --> /wik/, gee—2e --> /fri:t/.

(4) Initial clusters: Thais insert a short vowel into some initial clusters
including /tw, 31, SW, sp, st, sk, sm, sn, spr, str, skr, spl, skwl, e.g., gilt --> /sakrip/,

brandy -> /barandi:/, spring --> ls'priNl.

(5) /l/ and /r/: Thais tend to replace /r/ with /l/ or omit it, e.g.,
£3325 -—> /fli:t~fi:t/, _b_r2_rk_e_->/ble:k~be:k/.

Subjects, three males and three females graduate students at Michigan State
University and Central Michigan University, were asked to answer twenty questions
in Thai. The questions contain English loanwords. The subjects were encouraged to
repeat the questions when they answered, and to incorporate those words in their
utterances. Their pronunciations were later transcribed into a phonetic form.
Computer spectrograrns were used to exemplify each point.

1.3. Outline of the Thesis

The following is a brief description of all chapters in this thesis:

Chapter 2 gives the background information of English loanwords in
Thailand: when they are first introduced into Thailand, the role of English in Thailand
at the early stage, the attitude of Thai people towards the English language.

Chapter 3 reviews the Thai phonology, since this is the main concern of this
study. It includes a discussion of Thai consonants, vowels, and tones.

Chapter 4 reviews English phonology in terms of consonants, vowels, and
stress.

Chapter 5 presents the contrastive analysis of Thai and English phonology
in order roughly to predict and explain the areas of difficulty that might result from the
differences between the two languages.

Chapter 6 describes the methods, subjects, and the procedure of data

collection of this study, and how the data are analyzed.

Chapter 7 discusses the results with regard to each hypothesis proposed at
the Scope and Method of Investigation section. The result also includes spectrograms
of some of the English loanwords.

Chapter 8 summarizes the results discussed in Chapter 7 and provides

possible explanations of the pronunciation of English loanwords by Thais.

Chapter 2
ENGLISH LOANWORDS IN THAI: A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The importance of English as the language of world communication is
apparent. There are millions of people who speak it as a second or foreign language.
English is the language of modern technology, international trade, science, world
diplomacy and a language used for cross-cultural communication. The English language
is very important in Thailand. A good grasp of English can help facilitate an
acquisition of a good and well-paid job as well as an acceptance in the academic
domain. English is a language of upward mobility. It symbolizes an advanced and good
education due to the fact that it is the language of higher education and advanced
technology. It can be stated without any reservation that English is gaining importance
and acceptance in Thailand.
2.1. English in Thailand

Introduced into Thailand along with modern technology, new terms and new
concepts, English plays a vital role in Thailand’s educational system today. It is
widely used and taught in schools all over the country. English, as opposed to its
forerunners, the long-used Indie languages, Pali and Sanskrit, has become the most
favored source for new vocabulary. Nacaskul (1979) comments:

Though there is a traditional preference for Sanskrit coinage, the influx

of modern technology from the western civilization is so strong that the

English words which are the carriers of such influences have been

accepted with an increasing rate of current usage, colloquially as well as in

writing. (161)

The borrowing from English into Thai is essential for the three reasons:

2.1.1. Need to fill gaps in vocabulary. When foreign ideas are brought into
Thai through various channels of contact, Thai has no words of its own to denote
these concepts. As a result, foreign words may be used. In the past, geographical,
religious, legal, artistic and scientific terms as well as names for mythological and
legendary figures were introduced from the Indie sources. These days the need to
know and use technological terms is tremendous and the vocabulary gap is becoming
wider as the world is in a time of rapidly growing technology. People are now brought
together not only by classic factors like trade, commerce, and war, but also education,
urbanization, and electronic media such as film and television, telephones and
computers. Another reason why English plays an important role in Thai is that this
modern technology is from western societies.

2.1.2. Need to convey a message in a more accurate way to his listener,
which may not be possible with indigenous words. Take the English loanword taxi, for

example. The Thai word for taxi is rot rdpca‘:y, but the meaning of this Thai equivalent

also covers any kind of vehicles (bus, truck, van, etc.) that is rented for a while.
Although the listener may be a native Thai speaker, he might need more elucidation on

what kind of ro't rdpcc’im it is. When the word taxi is used, the listener understands

accurately that it is a public passenger-car for hire.

2.1.3. Desire for symbols of modernization. Foreign words are regarded as
symbols of modernization and worthy of imitation. Thai speakers who use these
words accurately and appropriately are regarded as educated or knowledgeable people.

The need for a lexicon of technological innovations heightens the importance
of English in Thailand nowadays. More and more English expressions have been
incorporated into Thai. Journalists and educated people may be mainly responsible for
these borrowings. Some English loanwords have gained popularity and have become
nativized. Most Thais would be unaware of their foreign origins. These words are
heard in everyday speech and are seen in all sorts of publications. Examples are card,
stamp, cheer, care, brake, fit, taxi, and fiee.

Yet some English loanwords are used primarily among educated people and
can be found only in certain types of publication, for example, concept, attitude,
optimistic and cocktail. These loanwords are not yet nativized and are not understood
by all Thai people.

When English was first introduced into Thailand, it was regarded as merely a
foreign language, like Portuguese, French and Dutch. The Thais studied it as a bridge to
the Western knowledge of the Western world. As a coincidence, during this early
acquisition of English by Thai people, the imperial threat of England and France
prevailed all over Asia. The rulers of all Asian countries shared the same burden, that
is, to safeguard the independence of their nations. The Thai kings’ policy to protect
Siam was to open the country for Westerners, to negotiate different matters with

compromises, and to educate their subjects by encouraging them to learn English.

10

Although their subjects might have been reluctant to study English at first, they were
enthusiastic to take it in earnest later. Anything supported by their ‘lord of life’
would be eagerly accepted by the citizens (Wyatt, 1984: 39).

By speeding Westernization the monarchy undermined its privileged
position. Thais who had learned about Western democracy became disillusioned with
the absolute powers of a King. On June 24, 1932, a bloodless revolution was staged.
The king was forced to accept a drastic curtailment of his authority. From then on
Thailand changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy like Great
Britain. However, the change of political system has not lessened the importance of
English. On the contrary, it has even played a greater role in Thailand as the Thai
constitution has been patterned afier that of the British. Certainly more English
loanwords have come into Thai.

In conclusion, the status of English in Thailand has been changed from
merely another foreign language, when it was first introduced into Thailand, to a
highly-valued and acceptable language that has been widely used among educated
people until nowadays.

2.2. The Use of English in Thai

It was not until the reign of King Rama 111 (1825-1851) of the Chakkri
Dynasty, when Thailand permitted the entry of American Protestant missionaries in
1828, that Thais began to show interest in English. During the subsequent reign of
King Rama IV (1851-1868), the diplomatic relationship between Thailand and the

United States was initiated, and wives of American missionaries were recruited to

11

teach English in the King’s courts, while the King himself also studied English and
became very knowledgeable in it. Although at the time English and Western technology
affected only the nrling class, the King depended on his knowledge of English to
reform the military system for the purposes of defense (Warie, 1977: 54).

During the next reign (1868-1910), King Rama V paved the way for
modernization in all spheres of life in the direction of Western technology. Numerous
promising state scholars and princes were sent to study abroad (Chu, 1968: 72), and
most members of the ruling class were encouraged to learn English. Although the
contact with English at that time were widespread, these were only among the ruling
class, which is the minority of Thai people. These contacts did not cause great changes
in the Thai language since English was not actively used in the speech or writing of the
majority of people.

English enjoyed its status as the language learned only by the ruling class
until late in the Second World War, when Thailand received military and personnel aid
from the United States, and English became a subject of study in the school
curriculum. Almost two decades later, during the Vietnam War, a great number of
American troops arrived and were stationed throughout Thailand, particularly in
provincial areas. As a result, English was not only studied in school but it was studied
and used as a means of communication between native Thais and the American
personnel with whom they came into contact. English has since become a subject

studied by both the ruling class and the general public.

12

2.3. English Loanwords in Thai

Since it early introduction, English has been learned by Thais to fulfill a
supplementary function, not as a complementary or replacive language, as classified
by Haugen (1972: 334). The knowledge of English is primarily for reading, and
secondarily, and rarely, for communication with English speakers. Its use in speech in
its early days, as used in the royal courts among the ruling class, was in the form of
lexical borrowings in the games of poetry and jocular stories. King Mongkut (Rama IV)
himself only switched into English when in jest or when assuming a quizzical manner
with his aides, thus showing the unserious, and lighthearted side of the user
(Udomwong, 1981: 39).

During the reign of King Rama V, Thailand saw a great need to borrow
words from English in all areas of science and technology, and, as a result, English has
since been one of the most popular sources for word borrowing in Thai. The influx of
English loanwords in Thai during the period following the reign of King Rama V,
among other reasons, necessitated the establishment of the Royal Academy in 1934,
whose responsibilities include translation of foreign words, prescribing their usage and
their representation in the orthography, as well as other prescriptive fimctions
(Udomwong, 1981).

Following the Second World War and later throughout the 60’s and 70’s, the
presence of American military forces in Thailand accelerated the borrowing of a great

number of English words for the description of modern technology which entered

Thailand with these Americans. Realizing that more and more Thais have come to use

13

English borrowings in their Thai speech, Thai scholars organized campaigns to purify
the Thai language, through lectures, publications, and radio programs to discourage the
use of English words in Thai speech. One such program called “Our Thai language”
was organized as a series of lectures throughout 1973. Therefore, English has resumed
its place in the classroom for use only passively by the students.

In general, English as used by most Thais in Thailand represents a passive
knowledge utilized primarily for reading, but rarely in writing, speaking, or listening.
Hardly any Thais speak English natively in Thailand. Many educated Thais do not
have an opportunity to use English in communication until they arrive in an English-
speaking country.

Thai English loanwords have been used widely in every newspaper and
magazine in Thailand as a sample from three newspapers W Daily News, and
Khao Sat) and three magazines (firm m and Phu Ying) shows. All are general-
circulation publications. In the headlines and the first 50-60 words of stories on the
front page of the newspapers, 12% were Thai English loanwords in M (Jan. 15th,
1997), 9% in Daily News (Jan. 15th, 1997), and 10% in Khao Sat (Jan. 15th, 1997).
Examples of English words used in these newspapers are trophy, promote, game,
m smog, and s_h_9_v_v. Among these, only gag has been nativized. For
magazines, in a ‘Behind the Fashion Scene’ column in m (December, 1996) of
700-750 words, 2.8% were Thai English loanwordsin, M (October, 1996) 3.5%,

and in Phu Ymg (January, 1996) 3.2%. Examples of English words being used in these

14

magazines are fashiop, bank, shir_t, slacks, serious, internet, mail, computer, and 1233.
Among these, shig, slacks, computer, and t_ape_ have been nativized.
Following are examples of Thai English loanwords in passages taken from

the magazine Phraew and the newspaper Thairaj.

15

O

-. @2‘“

1 uuu uaamluammruui’aumn (nnnmwuiaue:)m@

 
 
 
 
  

 

slacks
eunnnuumiwmfiaunu wraafii’mfiumu
whmuamuiilmiluuuumn rhmanmi'lurflmy’mu mi‘mry I
finanfimm'mmua: 115mru'lu‘ln'urla'i‘mzuiuari‘wnwa‘l'is‘ia'1
e105: 3 '-
: regrade
“ImamrluemnauDeadline-1Uari'w nauuue .
take "‘3 mlu m.(1.mlr:nau’rmiw) ri’1filuiifimmrnriuuuu‘loi’
(uanungmenian vm'mi mfimnnudz) ueznauiiuaawmmu
computer . w arj Inuaeamnazfinmt‘iaa “cu rntemet
, v o J 3'
mr‘i‘lririnu‘lmeu mnni'u‘hiz‘inmreuaz” ’3’ mad
Phraew: December, 1996
1 9J
game WEB“
d

‘1511681 157161368

"unj'm ‘lrimnmhmi

    

V 0

promote\
*fin'am'h 26
Thairaj: 01-15-97

Words in circles are Thai English loanwords.

16

Chapter 3
THAI PHONOLOGY

The fimdamental concept of Thai phonology will be presented in this
chapter beginning with consonants, followed by vowels, and then tones. Three main
sources are used as references: Khanitthananda’s (1990) language and Linguistics;
Lerdtadsin’s (1981) A Study of Interference of English in the language of Thai
Bilinguals in The United States; and Beebe’s (1977) The Influence of the Listener on
Code-Switching.

Here are the rudiments of Thai phonology. There are 21 consonant
phonemes and 9 vowels plus length. Like Chinese, Thai is a tonal language, with the
meaning and sound of each syllable being influenced by the pitch at which it is
pronounced. There are five tones: low, mid, high, falling, and rising. For example, /pa:/
with mid, high, low, rising, and falling tones, respectively, means ‘throw’, ‘daddy’,
‘forest’, ‘sugar daddy’, and ‘aunt’. Thai is a non-inflecting language and much of the
lexicon is monosyllabic. Polysyllabic words do exist, although the majority of these are
foreign borrowings, particularly from classical Indian languages Sanskrit and Pali
(Smyth, 1987: 252).

3.1. Thai Consonants

There are significant differences between the segmental phonologies of Thai

and English. The following chart describes the manner and place of articulation of Thai

consonant phonemes.

17

Chart 1: Consonant Inventory (Khanitthananda, 1990)

bilabial labiodental alveolar palatal velar glottal

v1. stop p t c k ?
v1. asp. stop ph th ch kh

vd. stop b d

V]. fricative f s h
nasal m n 13
semi-vowel w y

trill r

lateral 1

In the Thai consonant system, aspiration and nonaspiration play a big role.
The aspirated voiceless stops /p", t“, k“, ch/ are distinct phonemes and aspiration is not
allophonic as it is in English, as in /pay/ ‘go’ versus /p"ay/ ‘danger’, or /ti:/ ‘hit’ versus
/t“i:/ ‘time’, /ka:/ ‘crow’ versus /k"a:/ ‘stuck’, Icom/ ‘drown’ versus Ici‘om/
‘compliment’, etc.

3.1.1. Thai Stop Phonemes. There are nine voiceless stop phonemes in

h

Thai, which include four aspirated phonemes /p", t , k“, c"/, four unaspirated

phonemes /p, t, k, c/ and the glottal stop /?/.
All of these phonemes occur in initial position, as in /pho:/ ‘father’, /tha:/ ‘to

paint’, /kho:/ ‘neck’, /c"a:/ ‘tea’, /pa:/ ‘to throw’, /ta:/ ‘eye’, /ko:/ ‘to build’, /ce:/ ‘to

18

meet’, Razn/ ‘to re d’. In final position, only the phonemes /p, t, k/are permitted,

r ‘h‘-

 

which are always unreleased, as in /kap/ ‘with’, /cet/ ‘seven’, /p"ak/ ‘to rest’.

In addition to the above voiceless phonemes, Thai has two voiced stop
phonemes, lb, d/. These phonemes occur only in initial position, as in lbazp/ ‘sinful’,
/dae:13/ ‘red’.

3.1.2. Thai Fricative Phonemes. Thai has only three fricative phonemes
/f, s, h/, all of which are voiceless. While all three phonemes can occur initially, as in
/fa:/ ‘sky’, /si:/ ‘color’, /ha:/ ‘five’, they are not permitted in final position.

3.1.3. Thai Nasal Phonemes. There are also three nasal phonemes in Thai,
/m, n, rjl, which occur in initial position, as in /mi:/ ‘hand’, /nap/ ‘to count’, lgan/
‘money’; and in final position, as in Ilizm/ ‘to forget’, /pi:n/ ‘gun’, Idarj/ ‘loud’.

3.1.4. Thai Liquid Phonemes. There are two liquid phonemes in Thai, a trill
/r/ and a lateral /1/. Both occur only in initial position, as in /ri:a/ ‘boat’, Airy ‘monkey’;

they never occur in final position.

3.1.5. Thai Semivowel Phonemes. The semivowel phonemes /w, y/ occur
initially and finally, as in /wan/ ‘day’, /yon/ ‘admire’, /ya:w/ ‘long’, lkay/ ‘chicken’.
3.2. Final Consonants

All twenty-one consonant phonemes in Thai can be initial in words.
However, only nine of them can be final:

/p/ as in lkap/ ‘with’

19

/t/

/?/
/m/
/n/
/13/
/w/

/y/

3.3. Consonant Clusters

as in /wa:t/
as in /rak/
ss his?!
as in /ha:m/
as in /wan/
as in Mary
as in /y@;w/

as in 71(ha:y/

‘draw’
‘love’
‘will’
‘carry
. day’
‘loud’

flong’

‘sell’

3.3.1. Word-Initial Consonant Clusters. Consonant clusters in Thai are very

few and only in word initial and medial positions. The first position is confined to the

voiceless stops /p, t, k, p ,

h

t“, khl; and the second position is limited to /r, l, w/. The

possible clusters in Thai can be summarized as in the following chart:

Chart 11: Thai Consonant Clusters

P
1 pl
r pr
wt“) --
x w

p" t
phl --
phl' tr

th k k“
-- kl khl
thr kr khr
-- kw khw

Notice that phonemes /p/ and /p“/ cannot occur in combination with /w/, and

/t/ and /t"/ can occur only with the phoneme /r/. Therefore, clusters with the

_ combinations /pw, phw, tl, thl, tw, thw/ are not allowed.

20

Following are the examples of the possible clusters:
/pl-/ = /pla:/ ‘fish’

/pr-/ = /pra:t/ ‘philosopher’
/p"l-/ = /phle:rj/ ‘song’
/phr-/ = /phra:n/ ‘hunter’
/tr-/ = /tri:/ ‘three’

/t"r-/ = lthrazl ‘moon’

/kl-/ = /klu:a/ ‘afraid’

/kr-/ = /krurJ/ ‘city’

/kw-/ = /kwa:rj/ ‘deer’

/k“l-/ = /khIOZIj/ ‘poem’
/k"r-/ = /k"ruy/ ‘gown’

/k"w-/ = lkhway/ ‘buffalo’

3.3.2. Word-Final Consonant Clusters. Possible syllable structure in Thai is

C(C)V(V)C, where (V) represents the possibility of long vowels. According to this
syllable structure formula, the acceptable codas are single phonemes only, which, as

mentioned above, are /p, t, k, ‘2, m, n, 13, w, y/. Thai does not permit consonant

clusters of any type in final position. In Thai, as mentioned above, there are only nine

single consonants occurring finally.

3.3.3. Word-Medial Consonant Clusters. Intervocalic clusters are the

2 combination of syllable-final single consonants and syllable-initial consonants. In Thai,

21

only two- and three-consonant clusters occur in medial position. A two-consonant

cluster consists of one of the permitted final consonants / p, t, k, m, n, 13, w, y / as

its first member and any of the permitted initial consonants as its second member, as

in /topta:/ ‘to cheat’, /catca:n/ ‘manage’, /pr‘ksa:/ ‘to consult’, /samnaw/ ‘copy’,

/kanya:/ ‘woman’, /?oNka:n/ ‘organization’,/fayfa:/ ‘electricity’,/ra:wra:n/ ‘anguish’.

An intervocalic three-consonant cluster in Thai consists of one of the

permitted final consonants as its first member and any of the twelve permitted initial

clusters as the second and third members.

This can be summarized in the following chart.

Chart III: Intervocalic Three Consonant Clusters

pl phl
p ppl pphl
t tpl tphl
k kpl kphl
m mp1 ~-
n npl nphl
I) npl np‘l
y -- --
w wpl --

pr
PDT
tpr
kpr
mpr

DPT

YPT

phr

WP‘r

tr

ptl'

ttr

ktr

thr kl k:
-- pkl pkr
-- tkl tkr
-- kkl kkr
-- mkl mkr
nthr nkl nkr
-- rjkl nkr
-- -- ykr
-- -- wkr

Examples of these clusters are:

/ppl/ = /kappla:/ ‘foods’

22

kw
pkw

tkw

rjkw

khl
pkhl
tkhl

kkhl

khr k"w
pkhr pkhw
tkhr tkhw
kkhr kkhw
nkhr --
ljkhl' nkhw
wkhr --

/pphl/ = lphlaphla:/ ‘pavillion’

/ppr/ = /kra:ppra?/ ‘to pay obeisance to’
/pp"r/ = /phri:apphro:m/ ‘firlly prepared’
/ptr/ = /bi:ptr“¢e:/ ‘to sound the horn’
/pk1/ = /ka:pklo:n/ ‘poems’

/pkr/ = /kro:pkraa:p/ ‘crushed’

/pkw/ = /kepkwa:t/ ‘to clean’

/pk"l/ = llchlapkhlay/ ‘resemble’

/pkhr/ = /capk"ru:/ ‘arrest’

/pkhw/ = /capkhwa:/ ‘to catch’

/tpl/ = /phlatpli:an/ ‘to change’

/tp"1/ = /phle:tphle:n/ ‘to be entertained’
/tpr/ = /natpro:13/ ‘an appointment’

/tphr/ = /p"re:tp"rae:w/ ‘pretty’

/ttr/ = /ma:ttra:/ ‘measurement’

/tkl/ = Ikhatklaw/ ‘to polish’

/tkr/ = lkramitkramimn/ ‘secretive’

/tkw/ = Ikwatkwmn/ ‘to swing’

/tkhl/ = /khla:tkhlze:w/ ‘to miss something’

/tkhr/ = /k"acatk"ra:p/ ‘cleaning’

23

/tk"w/ = /kwatk"way/ ‘to swing’

/kp1/ = /ya:kpli:an/ ‘want to change’
/kphl/ = /pa:kphloy/ ‘big mouth’

lkpr/ = Inakprazt/ ‘philosopher’

lkphr/ = /lu:kphray/ ‘children who were born slave’
/ktr/ = /paktra:/ ‘face’

/kkl/ = /ca:kklay/ ‘to be aparted’

/kkr/ = /ca:kkrurj/ ‘to leave the city’
Ikkw/ = llazkkwaer/ ‘deerhunt’

/kk"l/ = /pokk“lum/ ‘to cover’

/kk"r/ = lkr‘kkhrozml ‘noisy’

/kk"w/ = /k"wakk"way/ ‘to move busily’
/mpl/ = /Nompla:/ ‘fishing (by hand)’
/mpr/ = /pompra:p/ ‘fortifications’
Imphr/ = Ramphranj/ ‘to hide’

/mkl/ = /klomklom/ ‘delicious’

/mkr/ = /kri:amkrom/ ‘to have a buming’
/npl/ = /wanphli:an/ ‘change of the day’
/np"l/ = Ronphliza/ ‘weak’

/np"r/ = /wanp"ra?/ ‘the Buddhist holy day’

24

/ntr/ = /montri:/ ‘an advisor’

/nt"r/ = /cant"ra:/ ‘the moon’

Inkl/ = Ikhonklazrj/ ‘ a middleman’

mkhr/ = Isankhlozn/ ‘to quake’

/nkr/ = /kankray/ ‘scissors’

Inkhr/ = lkhruankhraujl ‘to moan’

lgpl/ = llorjplaerrj/ ‘to grow a crop’

/l]phl/ = /phli:arjphlum/ ‘to stumble’

/r]pr/ = /pirjpra.'t"ana:/ ‘desirable’

lgphr/ = flonphra?/ ‘the image of Buddhist’
/13kl/ = /worjklom/ ‘circle’

ngr/ = /sor]khra:m/ ‘war’

/l]kW/ = /korjkwi:an/ ‘the wheels of a cart’
/1]khW/ = lnrirjkhwan/ ‘cherished possession’
/13th = lkhlazrjkhlanj/ ‘to doubt’

/l]l(h‘l'/ = /norjkhra:n/ ‘women’

/ypr/ = /waypra:n/ ‘to die’

/ykr/ = /waykra:n/ ‘to die’

/wpl/ = /pli:aWpla::rj/ ‘to change’

25

/wkr/ = /kri:awkra:w/ ‘uproarious’

/wk"r/ = /k"a:wk“ra:w/ ‘news’

/wp“r/ = /p"r$:wphra:w/ ‘dazzling’

These words are taken mainly from the New Model Thai-English
Dictionary (Sethaputra, 1991). The intervocalic three-consonant clusters in which the
first segments are /p, t, k/ occur most frequently, followed by three-consonant clusters
in which the first segments are nasals. The occurrence of intervocalic consonant
clusters in which the first segments are semi-vowels is very rare. The gaps in the chart
show that some intervocalic clusters do not occur in Thai. However, this does not
mean that the combinations of those intervocalic clusters are impossible. They are
phonetically possible but the words do not exist. For example, the word /cagt"ra:/
sounds perfectly fine even this word does not exist in Thai.

In an informal setting, however, the use of consonant clusters with /l/ and /r/ might

vary from person to person. The phoneme /r/ may be pronounced as /1/, or even be

dropped sometimes. For example, the word /phra?/ ‘monk’ might be pronounced as

either /phla?/ or /pha?/ in an informal setting. There is also the case of hypercorrection

when some speakers pronounce /l/ as /r/, however, this is very rare (lr/ pronounced as
/1/ seems to be more common).
3.4. Thai Vowels

Although Thai orthography has twenty-six vowel letters, they represent

Only eighteen vowel phonemes as follows:

26

Chart IV: Vowel Inventory (Beebe, 1977)

front central back

high I, I: i, i: u, u;

mid e, e: 9, 9: o, 0:

low as, a a, a: l o, 0:!
(EM l‘éqifrfo’oc Pie in: 39

There are six diphthongs: lia, i:a,i; ia, iza, ua, u:a/. Diphthongs in Thai are
considered as one syllable, e.g. /kri:am/ ‘bumt’, /chi:at/ ‘cut’, /p“u:arj/ ‘a bunch’, etc.
Examples of each vowel phoneme are shown in the following minimal/near
minimal pairs of short and long vowels:
/i, i:/ = /ti/ ‘criticize’ vs. /ti:/ ‘punish’,
/i, i:/ = Imirj/ ‘you’ vs. /mi:/ ‘hand’
/u, u:/ = /du/ ‘criticize’ vs. /du:/ ‘watch’
/e, e:/ = /kre13/ ‘contract’ vs. /kre: 11/ ‘to be afraid of’
la, e:/ = /ca?/ ‘meet’ vs. /co:/ ‘meet’
/0, o:/ = /t6?/ ‘table’ vs. /to:/ ‘grow’
la, a::/ = /kw?/ ‘sheep’ vs. /kae:/ ‘you’
/a, a:/ = /pa?/ ‘paste’ vs. /pa:/ ‘throw’

/o, o:/ = /ko/ ‘island’ vs. /ko:/ ‘classification of trees’

27

/ia, iza/ = /riak/ ‘call’ vs. /ri:arj/ ‘place in order’
/ia, iza/ = /siak/ ‘interfere’ vs. /si:a/ ‘tiger’
/ua, u:a/ = /tua/ ‘ticket’ vs. /tu:a/ ‘body’

3.5. Tones

As I mentioned earlier, tones are an important factor in words in Thai.

There are five tones in Thai as indicated below.

Mid(-) Low( ‘ ) Falling( ") High( ’) Rising(' )
/pa:/ /pa:/ /pé‘l:/ /pa:/ /p‘a :/
‘throw’ ‘forest’ ‘aunt’ ‘dad’ ‘sugar daddy’

Assigning Thai tone to a syllable or word depends primarily on the vowel
and final consonant contained in such words or syllables (Lerdtadsin, 1981: 87).
Occurrence of the five tones is partly dependent on rhymes of syllables. Words ending
in vowels, nasals or glides can contain any of the five tones: (1) mid tone /k"a:/ ‘to be
stuck’; (2) low tone /k"a:/ ‘a kind of root used in cooking’; (3) falling tone /k"a:/ ‘to
kill’; (4) high tone /k"a:/ ‘to engage in trade’; (5) rising tone /k“a:/ ‘leg’. The number of
possible tonal contrasts in closed syllables ending in stops /p, t, k, ?/ is only three
(Gedney, 1989: 192). In these syllables tones (1) and (5) never occur. Furthermore, if

the vowel is short the possibilities are: (2)low tone /p“it/ ‘to be wrong’, (3) (rare)

falling tone lkhlaflk/ ‘crowded’, and (4) high tone /phit/ ‘poison’. If a syllable closed by

28

/p, t, k, ‘P/ has a long vowel or diphthong, the possibilities are: (2) low tone /ma:k/
‘areca nut’, (3) falling tone Imafizk/ ‘many’, and (4) (rare) high tone lkazt/ ‘card’.

This is summarized as:

a. V(V)(m, n, r], y, w) ---> M, L, F, H, R

b. V (p, t, k, ?) ---> L, H, (F)

C. W (p, t, k, '1) ---> L, F, (H)

29

Chapter 4
ENGLISH PHONOLOGY

This chapter provides the fundamental features of standard American
English in three main areas: consonants, vowels, and stress. The data are taken mainly
from Giegerich’s (1992) English Phonology.
4.1. English Consonants

English has twenty four consonant phonemes. The consonants of English
can be classified according to the accompanying chart on the basis of the types of
phones and the points of articulations:

Chart 1: Consonant Inventory (Giegerich, 1992)

bilabial labiodental interdental alveolar alveo-palatal velar glottal

v1. stop p t k

vd. stop b d g

V]. fiicative f 0 s e h
vd. fricative v 6 z 2

v1. affricate é

vd. affricate ‘j

nasal m n r]

lateral l

retroflex r

semi-vowel w y

4.1.1. English Stop Phonemes. English has three pairs of voiceless-voiced

‘ stop phonemes /p, b/, /t, d/, /k, g/. The voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are aspirated in

30

initial or medial position preceding stressed vowels, as in pack, toy, king, apart, atone,
bikini, except afler syllable-initial /s/, as in spy, steep, ski. In final position these
voiceless stops can be either released or unreleased, as in tip, but, kick; if released, they
may be slightly aspirated.

In short, each of the English voiceless st0ps /p, t, k/ has three allophones,
i.e., aspirated released [ph, t“, k“], unaspirated released [p, t, k], and unaspirated
unreleased [p, t, k], which are in complementary distribution.

The three voiced stops /b, d, g/ in English are fully voiced, and occur in
initial and final positions, as in bet, do, go, rub, kid, nag.

The glottal stop is rare, but occurs in uh-oh, and as an a110phone of /t/ in
words like hatrack, Batman.

4.1.2. English F ricative Phonemes. The English fricatives are four voiceless

phonemes If, 0, s, ‘s/ with voiced counterparts /v, 6, 2, El, and one voiceless fiivative
/h/ which has no voiced counterpart. The phonemes /f, v, 0, 6, s, 2, vs/ occur in
initial position, as in fan, van, thin, thee, sue, zoo, shoe; and in final position, as in 0,17,r
cave, bath, with, kiss, fiJZZ, hush. The phoneme /h/ occurs only in initial position, as in
hill; and never in final position. On the other hand, I?! does not occur initially, although
it occurs frequently in medial position, as in measure, pleasure; and occurs in a few

words in final position, as in garage, mirage, which alternatively have final lj/.

31

4.1.3. English Affricate Phonemes. The English affricates are voiceless /6/
and voiced fj/. Both phonemes occur in initial and final positions in English, as in

church, judge.

4.1.4. English Nasal Phonemes. English has three nasal phonemes, /m, n, 9/.

While the phonemes /m, n/ occur in initial and final positions, the phoneme /N/ never

occurs in initial position but does occur in medial and final positions. The phoneme /l]/
also occurs before final /k/ as in link, sink, thank. In medial position /I_)/ occurs between

vowels, as in singing, singer; and before the voiceless and voiced velar stops /k, g/ as in
linkage, anchor, linger, anger.

4.1.5. English Liquid Phonemes. The two English liquids are a retroflex /r/
and a lateral /l/. These phonemes occur in both initial position as in rug, lot; and final
position as in car, ball.

4.1.6. English Semivowel Phonemes. English has two semivowel phonemes
/w, y/. These occur in initial position, as in will, yet; and also as parts of diphthongs--
phones consist of two articulations and the two corresponding sounds--as in /ay/
‘bite’, loy/ ‘boy’, /aw/ ‘now’.

4.2. Consonant Clusters in English

With the canonical form of its syllable structures CCCV(V)CCCC, English

is a language that is prosperous with consonant clusters initially, medially, and finally,

as in spray, square, stray, bursts, tempts, texts (Fries, 1946: 19).

32

4.2.1. English Prevocalic Consonant Clusters. There are two types of
prevocalic consonant clusters in English: two-consonant clusters and three-consonant
clusters. A typical two-consonant cluster in English has the liquids /r, l/ or the
semivowels /w, y/ as its second members, and obstruents (stops and fiicatives) as its
first members. Other two-consonant clusters in English that occur prevocalically have
the phoneme /s/ as their first member and the phonemes /p, t, k, f, l, m, n, w/ as
their second members. In a few names of German origin there are prevocalic two-
consonant clusters which have the phoneme /s&/ in the first position and the
phonemes /p, t, k, m, n, r, V in the second position, including Spiegel, Schmitt,
Schneider, Schlitz. The following list represents the possible two-consonant clusters in
English:

/1/ after /p, k, g, f, s, b /, as in play, claw, glow, flow, slow, blow.

/r/ after /p, t, k, f, 0, b, d, g, §/, as in pray, tray, crew, free,

through, broad, dry, gray, shrink

/w/ afier /d, t, k, s, h, 0/, as in dwell, twig, quick, swear, which, thwart.

/y/ after If, k, m, b, p, v, h/, as in few, cute, mute, beauty, pure, view,
huge. (In some dialects of English /y/ can also follow the following phones: /ty/ ‘tube’,
/dy/ ‘due’, /ny/ ‘new’, /ly/ ‘lute’, /sy/ ‘sue’, léy/ ‘chew’, ljy/ ‘juice’ (Fries, 1946: 18)).

/6, b, ‘j, 2, 13/ do not participate as member of prevocalic consonant clusters.

English prevocalic three-consonant clusters have /s/ in the first position,

' voiceless stops /p, t, k/ in the second position, and /r, l, w/ in the third position. These

33

possible clusters are: /spl, spr, str, skl, skr, skwl, occurring in words like split, spray,
strong, sclerosis, scream, square.

4.2.2. English Postvocalic Consonant Clusters. Within a syllable English has
clusters of as many as four consonants in postvocalic position.

There are "altogether 151 postvocalic consonant clusters which occur in
present-day English. Of these, 65 occur at the end of single morpheme words, and 86
are formed by the adding of /z/ or /s/ or /d/ or /t/ as inflections" (Fries 1945:18; the full
list can be seen on pp. 18-20).

4.2.3. English Intervocalic Consonant Clusters. Intervocalic clusters in
English are combinations of final and initial clusters. A two-consonant cluster consists
of a final consonant of a preceding syllable and an initial consonant of a following
syllable. A three-consonant cluster is either one final consonant and two initial
consonants, (C-CC) as in gangster; or two final consonants and one initial consonant,
(CC-C) as in trustworthy. In a four-consonant cluster, there can be one final consonant
and three initial consonants, (C-CCC) as in pipsqueak; or two final consonants and
two initial consonants, (CC-CC) as in grandstand; or three final consonants and one
initial consonant, (CCC-C) as in firsthand. Most of these combinations are not found
in initial or final position.

4.3. English Vowels

The chart below shows the vowel system of American English.

34

Chart II: Vowel Inventory (Giegerich, 1992: 75)

Front Central Back
High i u

I U
Mid e e o

8 0
Low as a

Plus three diphthongs: /ay, aw, oy/

4.3.1. English Vowel Phonemes. The English vowels /i, e, u, o/ are up-gliding
vowels when stressed. Some examples of words in which these vowels occur are: beat,
bait, boot, boat. The mid vowels /e, o/ glide to the higher position, thus becoming
diphthongized to [eI ] and [0”] in their pronunciation, as in bait and boat.

The lower and more central counterparts of these vowels are non-gliding

vowels II, a, U, 0/, occurring in words such as bit, bet, put, bought. The low front

vowel la/ and the low back vowel /a/ are also simple and non-gliding vowels, as in bat

and pot. In general, front, central, and low back vowels in English are unrounded and

non-low back vowels are rounded.

The central vowel/ ' / in English has the allophones [’] and [A], the former

occurs in unstressed syllables while the latter occurs in stressed syllables, as in sofa

[sofa] and cup [kAp].

35

A sequence of two syllabic vowels can occur in English, as in ‘poem’

/po’em/, ‘radio ’ /re’dio/, ‘chaos ’/ke’as/. There are three diphthongs in English, i.e., lay,
aw, oy/, as in bite, round, choice and buy, cow, boy, in which the second vowel is not

syllabic.
4.4. Stress in English

Stress in English is the relative degree of loudness. Its occurrence is
prominent with vowels. Stress is a property of syllables, not individual segments. A
stressed syllable is more prominent than an unstressed one. This prominence is due to
a number of factors, including the fact that stressed syllables usually contain tense
vowels, which are produced with more extreme positions of the tongue (Jannedy,

Poletto, Weldon 1994: 58). English contains primary /’/, secondary /"/, and tertiary / ‘/

stress levels. All monosyllabic words in English when pronounced in isolation have
stress: one now sée. Polysyllabic words and phrases can have more than one stress,
but only one primary stress. For example, the word photngraphyfl contains primary,
secondary, and tertiary stress levels: in this word, the second syllable is most
prominent (primary stress), the final syllable is next most prominent (secondary

stress), and the other syllables are unstressed (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 1994).

36

Chapter 5
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THAI AND ENGLISH PHONOLOGY

This chapter presents a contrastive analysis of Thai and English at the
phonological level in order to predict and explain the pronunciation of English words in
Thai. Chapters Three and Four have separately presented linguistic analyses of the
two languages. The two languages now will be compared and contrasted to explain the
errors that might arise from the differences.

Even the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis has been criticized for not being
able to predict the occurrence of errors (Dulay and Burt, 1975; Richards, 1975).
However, as mentioned by Broselow (1987), Contrastive Analysis may be used not to
predict but to explain the nature of some subset of actually occurring errors (Broselow,
1987: 262). Indees, I believe that the contrastive analysis of Thai and English that will
be presented momentarily will be helpful for this study.

Taking Thai as a primary system and English as secondary, this chapter
follows the procedures for comparing language structures described by Lado (1957).
That is, on the basis of linguistic analyses of Thai and English presented in Chapter 3
and 4, it contrasts the two languages.
5.1. Comparison of Thai and English Consonant Phonemes

The table below presents side by side the consonant phonemes of standard

Thai and American English.

37

TABLE I: CONSONANT PHONEMES OF THAI AND ENGLISH
THAI ENGLISH

Stops Voiceless bilabial s, p
alveolar
alveopalatal
velar
glottal

Voiced bilabial
alveolar
velar

F ricatives Voiceless labiodental f
dental
alveolar s
alveopalatal
glottal h

Voiced labiodental
dental
alveolar
palatal

Affricates Voiceless alveopalatal

Voiced alveopalatal

Nasals bilabial
alveolar
velar

Liquids trill
retroflex
lateral

r
l

Semivowels bilabial w w
palatal y y

F9: '6

P
,t
,c

k

9

eswag

cagh‘o<N<Nol<:rwmcpr-baeo.cr

"5:33

_

Based on the information from Table I the contrasts of the consonant
systems of English and Thai are discussed.

5.1.1. Comparison of English and Thai Stop Phonemes

Since Thai makes a phonemic distinction between aspirated and unaspirated

' stops, the phones in the three pairs [ph, p], [th, t], [k", k] are members of separate

38

phonemes. English, on the other hand, treats aspirated-unaspirated pairs as allophones
of the phonemes. /p, t, k/. In initial position, Thai aspirated stops /ph , th , kh/ are,
however, similar to the English stops /p, t, k/ in the same position because English
voiceless stops are usually aspirated initially, e.g. [phen] ‘pen’, [then] ‘ten’, [khlt]
‘kit’. The Thai unaspirated stops /p, t, k/ also occur initially, that is, Thai unaspirated
voiceless stops are phonemes while English voiceless stops are allophones.

The two Thai stops /c, ?/ have no equivalents in English.

Initially, English voiced stops phonemes /b, d/ have Thai voiced stops
phonemes /b, d/ as their equivalents. Finally, however, there is no equivalent in Thai,
since Thai does not allow voiced stops to occur finally.

And the English phoneme lg/ does not have a Thai equivalent.

5.1.2. Comparison of English and Thai Fricative Phonemes

The English voiceless fricative phonemes /f, s, h/ are on a one-to-one
relationship with those of Thai /f, s, h/ initially. In both languages /h/ is allowed only in
initial position. However, while English allows /f, s/ to occur both initially and finally,
Thai If, s/ are allowed only in initial position.

The English phonemes /0, 6, v, s, z, z/ have no Thai equivalents.

5.1.3. Comparison of English and Thai Affiicate Phonemes

Since Thai has no affricate phonemes, English IE, ‘j/ have no Thai

equivalents.

39

5.1.4. Comparison of English and Thai Nasal Phonemes
The English phonemes /m, n/ have a one-to-one relationship with the Thai
phonemes /m, n/. Both phonemes can occur initially, medially, and finally. The English

phoneme /13/ , however, is different from the Thai phoneme /IJ/. While English /13/

occurs only in medial and final positions, its Thai counterpart occurs in all position,
as in Inen/ ‘money’, /ka:rj/ ‘spread’, I'lorjkazn/ ‘organization’.

5.1.5. Comparison of English and Thai Liquid Phonemes

While English /r/ and Thai /r/ are both liquids, they are different in their
articulation and distribution. The English phoneme is a retroflex whose articulation is
stable, whereas the Thai phoneme /r/ fluctuates between a trill and a flap in the speech
of some speakers and is replaced by the lateral /l/ in the speech of most Thai speakers
(Lerdtadsin, 1981 :72). In their distribution, the liquids in both languages occur initially,
but they occur finally only in English.

5.1.6. Comparison of English and Thai Semivowels

The semivowels /w, y/ in English have the Thai semivowels /w, y/ as their
equivalents. In both languages, these two sounds have similar distribution; that is, they
occur initially and finally.
5.2. Comparison of English and Thai Consonant Clusters

5.2.1. Prevocalic Consonant Clusters: Of all the English prevocalic two
consonant clusters, the clusters /pl, pr, tr, kl, kr, kw/ have Thai equivalents / phl, phr,

, thr, khl, khr, k“w/. The remaining English two-consonant clusters do not have. Thai

40

equivalents. Moreover, since Thai does not have three-consonant clusters in initial
position, it lacks equivalents for the English three-consonant clusters in that position.

5.2.2. Postvocalic Consonant Clusters: Since Thai does not allow a
consonant cluster in final position, it has no equivalents for English consonant clusters
in that position.

5.2.3. Intervocalic Consonant Clusters: Thai has a limited number of two-
consonant clusters occurring in medial position, the combination of its final and initial
consonants. While English allows the three-consonant clusters of either the C-CC, or
CC-C type to occur in medial position, Thai has only the C-CC type in this position.
The Thai combination represents the permitted final consonants and the permitted
initial consonant clusters.

5.3. Comparison of English and Thai Vowels
The table below contrasts the vowel systems of Thai and English.

TABLE II: VOWEL PHONEMES OF THAI AND ENGLISH

THAI ENGLISH
Simple Vowels:
High Front i, i: i, I
Mid Front e, e: e, 8
Low Front re, as: a
High Mid i, i:
Mid Mid e, e: a
Low Mid a, a:
High Back u, u: u, U

41

Mid Back 0, o: o, a
Low Back 0, o: a

There are six diphthongs in Thai: /ia, iza, ia, i:a, ua, u:a/; and three in
English: lay, aw, oy/. The table above is listed according to the place of articulation
of the vowels, not the equivalence of the phones.

The English vowel phonemes /l, c, U, o/ are one-to-one correspondences
with the Thai short vowels /i, e, u, 0/ when they occur in the syllables ending in
voiceless consonants. In other cases they are not equivalent.

The central vowel /e/ in English, although phonetically similar to. the Thai
vowels /e, e:/ is not equivalent to these vowels in all its occurrences. However, when

it occurs in a stressed syllable, such as My, in, m, it is equivalent to the Thai
vowel /e/ or la:/.

The English vowel Iae/ is sometimes equivalent to the Thai short vowel IE/
and sometimes with the long vowel /ae:/. Generally, English words ending with
voiceless stops have an equivalent of the Thai short vowel /ae/, such as ‘bat’ /baet/,
‘back’ /ba:k/, ‘gap’ /krep/; words ending with voiced stops have an equivalent of the
Thai long vowel /$:/, such as ‘bag’ /ba3:k/, ‘mad’ Imaeztl. However, this rule is not
definite because the words like ‘tab’ and ‘cab’, which end with voiced stop, receive a

short /ae/ in Thai.

42

5.4. Comparison of Thai and English Suprasegmental Features

Tone and stress are two very different systems whose distributional
patterns are unparallel, although they have similar functions. English lacks the system
of tones and Thai lacks the system of stress.

In Thai the last syllable of a dissyllabic word always receives a higher pitch
level and is thus louder than the preceding syllable.

5.5. Theories of Contrastive Analysis

Contrastive analysis has pointed out the similarities and differences of the
two languages at the phonological level. Theoretically, the differences between the two
languages represent sources of difficulty for learners of the second language. When
faced with such difficulty, the learners will either adopt elements fiom the foreign
language into the native language, thus, making an innovation, or transfer his native
elements to replace the foreign ones, therefore making an integgtion of the foreign
word (Kreidler, 1957).

By making an innovation the speaker is accepting a foreign element into
his/her native language. As such, an innovated element at any level of language
structure is an instance of interference from the foreign language. In the case of Thai,
however, there is no instance of innovation alone; each loanword undergoes some
integration. The integrative processes involved are phonological and morphological.
This study, however, deals with phonological integration only.

This study employs the theory of loanword phonology proposed by

Silvennan (1992) to explain the phonological changes of Thai English loanwords. He

43

proposes that there are two levels which loanwords have to undergo during the course
of derivation: perceptual and operative. In the perceptual level, the speakers of the
host language perceive only the segments that contain in their phonemic inventory of
the aspects that conform with their phonological constraints. His Perceptual
Uniformity Hypothesis is used to explain loanword phonology at the perceptual level:

Perceptual Uniformity Hypothesis:

At the Perceptual Level, the native segment inventory constrains segmental

representation in a uniform fashion, regardless of string position (Silverman,

1992: 297)

Since this study does not design to test the perception of Thai speakers
toward English loanwords, the word ‘perceptual’ here means phonological process
that occurs before the operation of the native syllable structure constraints. The idea
of perception is not definite or clear-cut. Speakers might or might not perceive the
segments as I expected. However, at the Operative Level all segments should be in
conformity with native syllable structure constraints (SSCs). Silverman hypothesized
that at the Perceptual Level of loanword phonology, the speakers are constrained in
their analysis of incoming forms by their native segment inventory. When confronted
with a segment that does not exist, the speakers will represent and produce the native
segment which most closely approximates the input

An example concerning the Perceptual Level is voicing, which is never
contrastive in stops in final position in Thai; stops are usually realized voiceless.

Thus, as English forms enter Thai, both voiced and voiceless stops are represented

44

identically, as the native Thai phonological system does not possess the proper

feature matrices to accommodate this contrast. Thais do not perceive this distinction.

Some examples are:
Input Perceptual Level
cab --> [keep]
wig --> [wik]

In the Operative Level, he mentioned that SSCs will trigger phonological
operations. The perceieved input is operated or conditioned by phonological
processess to yield the output that properly fits in the phonological systems of the
host language. He further explained that it is at this point that the Perceptual
Uniformity Hypothesis ceases to exert a force on the derivation. In other words, the
foreign forms must be realized in accordance with the native constraints.

Here is an example of an Operative Level. While both English and Thai
possess fricatives in their phoneme inventories, only in English do these surface in

both onset and coda position. In Thai they may only serve as onsets. For example:

input Operative Level
farm --> [fazm]
lift --> [lip]

In coda position native syllable structure constraints will trigger a
phonological operation. Thai has a rule [-son]--> [-cont, -vcd] / __ (C) #. This rule
will generate [p] from /f/ at the operative level. /t/ is deleted because final consonant

clusters are not allowed in Thai.

45

Another theoretical foundation that will be used to explain Thai English
loanwords is the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) proposed by Eckman
(1977). Following is his MDH proposition.

Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH):

The areas of difficulty that a language learner will have can be predicted on

the basis of a systematic comparison of the grammars of the native language,

the target language and the markedness relations stated in universal

grammar, such that,

a. Those areas of the target language which differ from the native language
and are more marked than the native language will be difficult.

b. The relative degree of difficulty of the areas of the target language which
are more marked than the native language will correspond to the relative
degree of markedness.

0. Those areas of the target language which are different from the native
language, but are not more marked than the native language will not be
difficult (Eckman 1977: 321).

According to Fellbaum (1983), the MDH appeals to two basic notions from
universal grammar: typological markedness and irnplicational relationships. Eckman
proposed that the notion of typological markedness corresponded to “relative degree
of difficulty” in learning a second language. Eckman’s use of typological markedness

follows the commonly accepted definition presented below:

46

Typological Markedness:

A phenomenon A in some language is more marked than B if the

presence of A in a language implies the presence of B; but the

presence of B does not imply the presence of A (Eckman, 1977:

320)

To establish the difference in difficulty between two features of a particular
area of grammar, irnplicational universals are needed. Examples of various types of
implicational universals are given below, taken from Fellbaum (1983: 294):

Implicational Universals

a. The presence of voiced stops implies the presence of voiceless stops but

not vice versa (Jakobson, 1968: 70).

b. The presence of voiced fricatives implies the presence of voiceless
fricatives, but not vice versa (Jakobson, 1968: 70).

c. The presence of fricatives imply the presence of stops, but not vice
versa (Jakobson, 1968: 51).

d. The presence of aspirated stops implies the presence of unaspirated
stops, but not vice versa (Jakobson, 1968: 51).

e. The maintenance of a voice contrast word-finally implies the
maintenance of voice contrast word-medially, and the maintenance of a
voice contrast word-medially implies the maintenance of a voice contrast
word-initially, but not vice versa (Dinnsen & Eckman, 1975; in Eckman:

322)

47

f. Aspiration rules that apply under certain conditions syllable-initially in
word-medial syllables also apply under at least all the same
conditions syllable-initially in word-initial syllables, but not
necessarily vice versa (Houlihan, 1977).

g. The presence of a voiced stop word-finally implies the presence of a
voiceless stop word-finally, but not vice versa (based on Dinnsen &
Eckman, 1975).

These are implications for Thai English contrastive analysis which can be

used to explain Thai English loanwords.
Given these irnplicational relationship, Fellbaum (1983: 294) proposed that
the relative markedness of specific elements can be established as follows:

Markedness Relations

a. Voiced stops are marked with respect to voiceless stops.

b. Voiced fricatives are marked with respect to voiceless fricatives.

c. Fricatives are marked with respect to stops

(1. Aspirated stops are marked with respect to unaspirated stops

e. Palatalized consonants are marked with respect to non-palatalized

consonants

f. A word-fmal voice contrast is marked with respect to word-medial

contrast, and a word-medial voice contrast is marked with respect to

word-initial voice contrast.

48

g. Aspirated stops syllable-initially in word-medial position (under certain
conditions) are marked with respect to aspirated stops that appear
syllable-initially in word-initial positions (under at least all the same
conditions).

This thesis takes into account two levels of loanword phonology proposed

by Silverrnan (1992) and this Markedness Differential Hypothesis (Eckman, 1977;
Fellbaum, 1983). Also, the spectrograms are included in the result section to clarify the
second and fourth hypotheses, simplification of final clusters and insertion of vowel in
initial clusters. The acoustic energy in the spectrogram can make a clear distinction
between the pronunciation of native speakers of English and native speakers of Thai
concerning these two hypotheses.

5.6. Hypotheses

Five hypotheses concerning the adaptation of English loanwords in Thai

that will be investigated in this thesis are:

(1) Tone/Pitch: Thais have a tendency to put tone/pitch on the final syllable

of English words, e. g., shopPING, cofFEE, technoloGY.

(2) Final clusters: Speakers of Thai are likely to omit and replace phones of

final clusters that do not exist in the language, e.g., _1_i_fi_ --> /lip/, l_i_s_t --> /lis~lit/.

(3) Final consonants: Thais tend to omit and replace final consonants that

do not exist in the language, e.g., _wl_'g --> /wik/, freeze --> /fli:t/.

49

(4) Initial clusters: Thais insert a short vowel into some initial clusters
including /tw, 31, SW, sp, st, sk, sm, sn, spr, str, skr, spl, skw/, e.g., grip; --> /sakrip/,
br_anily --> /barandi:/, §p_ri_ng --> /s'priN/.

(5) /l/ and /r/: Thais tend to replace /r/ with /l/ or omit it, e.g.,

freeze --> /fli:t~fi:t/, brake->/ble:k~be:k/.

50

Chapter 6
METHOD

It is the purpose of this study to account for and describe instances of
English interference at the phonological level by using loanwords as a source of
investigation and based upon phonological analyses of Thai and English in the
previous chapters, which can be used to illustrate the areas of difficulty that Thai
speakers encounter.
6.1. Method

Subjects are asked to answer questions in Thai (the list of questions is in the
Appendix I). Some questions contain English loanwords, some do not. The subjects
are encouraged to repeat the questions when they answer. The pronunciation of the
loanwords will be investigated. Five features that will be investigated, as described in
the hypotheses, are (i) tone/pitch placement, (ii) simplification of final clusters, (iii)
articulation of single final consonants, (iv) insertion of vowel in initial clusters, and (v)
articulation of /l/ and /r/.
6.2. Subjects

Six subjects have been carefully chosen for this study, three female and three
male. The length of their stay in the United States range from one year to one year and
a half. They range in age from 24-36. They are not majoring in English or linguistics
since this might affect the results of the study. The six are:

1. Age 36, female, a graduate student in food science has been in America for

one year and a half.

51

2. Age 27, female, a graduate student in packaging has been in America for
one year and a half.

3. Age 24, male, a graduate student in international administration has been
in America of one year.

4. Age 25, female, a graduate student in packaging has been in America for
one year and four months.

5. Age 24, male, a graduate student in public administration has been in
America for one year and a half.

6. Age 29, male, a graduate student in packaging has been in America for one
year.
6.3. Procedures

Data are collected from each subject at one session. Each subject answers 20
questions in Thai. Some questions contain English loanwords and some do not. The
subjects are encouraged to repeat the question when answering. They are told that
repeating the question will enable them to organize their ideas better.

The conversation is conducted in Thai. Data is taken solely from these
occasions. A tape recorder records all sentences pronounced by the six subjects.
Loanwords are transcribed into a phonetic form. Spectrograms from computer analysis

are also employed to see the pronunciation of some words.

52

Chapter 7
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Following are the results and discussion of this study. It is provided in
accordance with the hypotheses set forth at the outset.
7.1. Tone/Pitch Placement

Stress languages tend to possess a loose correlation between the degree of
stress and pitch. In English unmarked intonation, for example, syllables receiving
primary stress tend to be higher in pitch than other syllables (Silverman, 1992: 302).
Silverrnan adds that the phonetic phenomenon of pitch contrast is lexical in tonal
languages. Since speakers of tonal languages do not have access to English phonological
representation, they will learn English phonetic pitch patterns at the Perceptual Level
as phonological tonal patterns (Silverman, 1992: 302).

The English stress system is usually completely disregarded when a
borrowing enters the Thai language. Thai tones, five in all, replace English stresses in
English borrowed words. This section will try to describe the general and most
obvious patterns of how English stresses in polysyllabic words are replaced by Thai
tones, by using Perceptual and Operative operations proposed by Silverman (1992).
Polysyllabic words in Thai are more problematic than monosyllabic words in terms of
tone assignment according to the relationship between stress and tone proposed by
Silvennan.

Thai English loanwords usually undergo the process of tone/pitch

placement, which replaces the English stress completely. The last syllable of

53

polysyllabic Thai English loanwords usually has high pitch. It can be observed from
the pronunciation of the six subjects that the last syllable of the polysyllabic English
words always receives high pitch. The following words pronounced by six subjects are

examples of this phenomenon:

techNOlogy /tekno:lo:yi:/ ‘technology’

sTRAwberry /sato:beli:~sato:be:li:~ ‘strawberry’
satozbezliz/

uRAnium /yu:le:ni:am~ yuzreznizam/ ‘uranium’

comPUter /k:>mpyut:$:/ ‘computer’

The results above seem to run counter Silverrnan’s idea. He suggested that
there is a correlation between stress and tone at the Perceptual Level. Thus English
stressed syllables and Thai tone/pitch placement should be correlated. However, this is
not the case in Thai English loanwords, as the results (the Operative Level) above
show. At the Operative Level all English stressed syllables above receive mid tone in
Thai. The last non-stressed syllables, on the other hand, are the ones that receive the
highest tone/pitch (falling or high tone) in Thai. Diphthongs in Thai, as discussed in
the Thai vowel section, are considered as one syllable. Therefore, I consider lnizam/ as

the last syllable of the word ‘uranium’.

54

Even though tonal assignment is not correlated with English stress according
to Silver-man, it conforms to Thai native tonal constraints. Rules of Thai tones are
repeated here:

a. V(V) (m, n, n, y, w) ---> M, L, F, H, R

b. V (p, t, k) ---> L, H, (F)

e. W (p, t, k) ---> L, F, (H)

Four polysyllabic words above are listed here again with tonal assignment in

each syllable.
/tékno:lo:yifl:/ ‘technology’
/satro:b':lifl:/ ‘strawberry’
/yu:re:ni:am/ ‘uranium’
lkompyutfiz/ ‘computer’

Monosyllabic words, on the other hand, are in conformity with both

Silverrnan’s idea and Thai tonal constraint, as illustrated by the following words:

Ina; Sires.
Ilip/ ‘lift’
/lit/ ‘list’
/wik/ ‘wig’

However, there is an exception for the word ‘code’. With respect to the
Thai rule, words ending in stops can have low or falling tones when preceded by a long

‘ vowel. The word ‘code’, which is pronounced with a long /o/ in Thai, should be

55

assigned either a low or a falling tone. It is, however, pronounced with the high tone by
all subjects.
7.2. Final Cluster Reduction

As mentioned in Chapter 3, English has as many as four consonants
occurring in the final position, whereas Thai allows only one of these consonant

phonemes /p, t, k, m, n, 13, y, w, ?/ to occur in that position. As a result, the

integrative process utilized by Thai speakers to adapt English postvocalic consonant
clusters is to reduce two-, three-, and four-consonant clusters to one consonant. The
reasonable way to deal with this is segment deletion or coda simplification.

According to Eckman’s MDH, the areas of the target language which differ
from the native language and are more marked than the native language will be difficult.
Since Thai does not allow any final clusters, it is predicted that the subjects will find
them difficult to pronouce.

The pronunciation of the six subjects implies that final cluster simplification

in Thai involves the following phonological rules:

1. Stopping: {-son] --> [-cont, -vcd] /_ (C) #
2. T-Deletion: /t/ --> O / {-vcd, -son] /_ #
3. Liquid deletion: /l, r/ --> 0 /_ C #

4. C-Deletion after glides: C --> O / /y, w/ _ #

56

These rules are operated according to the native syllable structure
constraints (SSCs). Therefore, they are operated at the Operative Level, for it is at this
level that SSCs trigger phonological operations (Silverman: 291).

The first and second rules, Stopping and T-Deletion, can apply to the
words like script, list, and lifi. The Stopping rule can apply to both voiced and
voiceless fiicatives and voiced stops. They will be replaced by voiced stops when
they occur finally or before another consonant. For T-Deletion, It! will be deleted

when it occurs finally after voiceless obstruent consonants.

_Th_ai. glee
/skrip/ ‘script’
/lit~lis/ ‘list’
/lip~lif/ A ‘lifi’

There is a variation in the case of final clusters that have voiceless fiicatives
/s/ and If/ as their first members. Sometimes they are preserved, but others are replaced
by Thai voiceless stops /t/ and /p/, which are preferable, since they share the same
place of articulation. It is the latter that conforms to the Thai phonological system and
is unmarked, according to Implicational Universal (c) and the Markedness Relation (0)
(listed on pages 47 and 48) proposed by Fellbaum (1983: 294). The word list is
pronounced as /1it/ by four subjects and as /lis/ by two subjects. The word lifi is
pronounced as /1ip/ by four subjects and as /lif/ by two subjects. The reason that these

violations -- /1is/ and /lif/ -- are acceptable in Thai is that (i) there exists the phonemes

57

/s/ and /f/ in Thai, even though not in the final position, and (ii) these two phonemes
are very frequent (Udomwong, 1981: 90).

The third rule, Liquid deletion, can apply to the words like film, farm, and
golf One explanation for this deletion involves the salience of sound. Yip (1993: 278)
suggested that the deleted segment is usually perceptually non-salient, e.g. the
phonemes /l/ and /r/. She stated that phonemes /l/ and /r/ in initial Cl-Cr clusters are
more salient than in final lC-rC clusters. Non-salient segments are faintly audible, and
thus may be overlooked or deleted. Phonemes /m/ and /f/ (the latter is being used
interchangeably with the phoneme /p/) are more salient than the preceding ones. The
lack of salience of the phonemes /l/ and /r/, therefore, causes them to be deleted.

Perceptually, this can be summarized as follows:

input Perceptual Level
film --> lfizm/
farm --> Ifazm/
golf --> /ko:f/

The last rule, C-Deletion after glides, can apply to the word like strike. It is
pronounced as /satray/ by all six subjects. Glides, which are /y/ and /w/, are considered
as consonants in Thai. Therefore, the phoneme /k/ is deleted because /y/ is considered a
consonant. If /k/ has been preserved after /y/, it will result in a final cluster, which
violates Thai phonological constraints. Other words not included in the list that can be

used to illustrate this point are:

58

Thai Gloss

6 9

/may/ mile

/ke:thaw/ ‘guesthouse’

The word punch is problematic to the analysis. It is pronounced as /pAné/
instead of /pm/, as I first hypothesized, by all subjects. A native structure constraint

cannot account for this. There are two possible explanations for this phenomenon.
First, perhaps Thai borrows this word as a chunk without applying Thai phonology in
it -- that is, one has to pronounce it as it is in English in order to get the meaning
across. There are other Thai words that might confuse the listener if the word ‘punch’
is pronounced as /pAn/. The native word /pAn/ with the mid and high tones means
‘thousand’ and ‘to alter’, respectively. Since the word ‘punch’ is pronounced with
high tone in Thai, it interferes with the native Thai word. Second, perhaps there is
extraphonological influence. Silverman (1992) suggested that speakers’ explicit
knowledge of the various grammatical levels of the lending language (e.g. syntax,
morphology, phonology) can and do exert an influence on their phonological
instantiations. Since all the subjects of this study have been studying English for many
years and also have been staying in America for almost two years, their explicit
knowledge of English grammar will presumably exert an influence on their phonological
representations of loanwords. These might be the reasons this word is pronounced as

/pAné/.

59

By utilizing two levels of loanword phonology proposed by Silverman, it is
not definite whether the subjects perceive English final clusters as single phones or as
clusters at the Perceptual Level. Both are possible. At the Operative Level, however, it

is reasonable to state that native syllable structure constraints (SSCs) trigger insertions

and changes.
input Operative Level
script --> /sakrip~sekrip~seklip/
lift --> /lip~lif/
list --> /lit~lis/
punch --> /pAn‘é/*
strike --> /satray~satay~setay/*

The words with an asterisk are explained above.

Following are the spectrograms of the pronunciation of English ‘list’ and
‘lift’. Two spectrograms are shown for each word -- one pronounced by a native
speaker of English and one pronounced by a native speaker of Thai.

In order to read the spectrograms, the basic concept of spectrograms and
acoustic correlates of consonantal features needs to be explained. Spectrograms are
graphs that encode three acoustic dimensions. The vertical axis represents frequency.
The horizontal axis represents time. A third dimension is represented degree of
darkness that indicates the amount of acoustic energy present at a certain time and at a

certain frequency (Jannedy, Poletto, Weldon, 1994: 70).

60

Acoustic correlates of consonantal features:

Note: These descriptions should be regarded only as rough guides. The

actual acoustic correlates depend to a great extent on the particular

combination of articulatory features in a sound.

Voiced:

Bilabial:

Alveolar:

Velar:

Retroflex:

Stop:

Fricative:

Nasal:

Lateral:

Vertical striations corresponding to the vibrations of the
vocal cords.

Locus of both second and third forrnants comparatively low.
Locus of second formant about 1700-1800 Hz.

Usually high locus of the second formant. Common origin of
second and third formant transitions.

General lowering of the third and fourth formants.

Gap in pattern, followed by burst of noise for voiceless
stops of sharp beginning of formant structure for voiced
stops.

Random noise pattern, especially in higher-frequency
regions, but dependent on the place of articulation.

Formant structure similar to that of vowels but with nasal
formants at about 250, 2500, and 3250 Hz.

Formant structure similar to that of vowels but with

formants in the neighborhood of 250, 1200, and 2400 Hz.

Approxirnant: F orrnant structure similar to that in vowels, usually changing.

(Kenstowicz, 1994: 182)

61

Hz

 

----- 5000.00

 

 

~m4500.00

 

 

~m4000.00

 

----- 3500.00

 

 

 

l-"-'2'4000.00

 

 

-«--2500 . 00" ' ' '

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.m2000.00 . ,

----- 1500.00

» ----- 1000.00

----- 500.00

""" 0'00 100 00 700 00 ms

 

 

Figure 1: ‘lifl’ by a native speaker of Thai.

62

Hz
-5000.

4500.
4000.
3500.
3000.
2500.

2000.

......

1500.
1000.

500.

           

100,00 200,00 300,00 400"00 500,00 600,00 700,00 ms

[1 i f 1"]

Figure 2: ‘lifi’ by a native speaker of English.

63

Hz
----- 5000.00

 

 

 

 

rm4500.00

"m4000.00

 

 

"”3500.00

 

 

l ----- 3000.00

 

 

 

..... 2500.00°:?”23"'..

 

 

"“2000.00

 

----- 1500.00

 

1 ----- 1000.00

 

 

----- 500.00

 

 

 

 

-----0 . 00

 

100,.

 

Figure 3: ‘list’ by a native speaker of Thai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ee
0:0:0 eeee
......

 

O.
......
O 0'.
........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

00,00

[1

400,00

500,00 600 00 700 00

S

800,00

900,00 10c

thl

Figure 4: ‘list’ by a native speaker of English.

65

Two spectrograms of the word ‘list’ and ‘lift’ show the differences between
the pronunciations of the two speakers. The last two phonemes /st/ and /fi/
pronounced by the native speaker show clearly the following: voiceless fricative /s/
and /f/; notice from random noise pattern especially in higher frequency regions and
aspirated /t/. It is easy to detect /t/ and other stop consonants in wave forms because
they are characterized by a lack of sound, or a gap in a spectrographic display. Even
though /t/ is characterized by the lack of sound, or a gap in a spectrographic display,
this sound exists acoustically as to the aspiration, which is shown by acoustic energy
or the degree of darkness at the end of each spectrogram. The ones pronounced by the
Thai speaker, however, do not show the /t/ sound. These words are simply
pronounced as /118/, and /llp/. /f/ has changed into /p/ in the word ‘lift’ in the
pronunciation of the Thai speaker, as denoted by a gap in spectrographic display
following the vowel M.

In summary, since English permits more numerous types of consonant
clusters to occur in initial, medial, and final positions than Thai, it is natural for the
subjects to simplify these unfamiliar consonant phonemes by way of phonemic
substitution, or by reducing the many consonants in sequence to correspond with the
permitted sequential consonants in Thai.

7.3. Articulation of Single Final Consonants
Some illicit codas are replaced by phonologically approximating phonemes

of the Thai inventory. Thai, as mentioned before, allows only nine final consonants.

66

Thus English segments which do not exist in Thai or occur in an unacceptable
positions are replaced by Thai segments most closely approximating them.

The pronunciation of the subjects implies that articulation of single
consonants involves the following phonological rules:

1. Stopping: {-son] --> [-cont, -vcd] /_ (C) #

2. L turns to n or O: [+lat] --> [+nas] / V _ #

[+lat] --> O / V: _ #

The first rule, Stopping, can apply to the words like wig and code. In Thai
phonology only voiceless stops can occur in the final position. It should be noted here
that where English has a voicing contrast at the end of the word --which is the most
marked feature, according to Eckman’s (1977) Markedness Differential Hypothesis
and Fellbaurn’s (1983) Implicational Universal (a) and Markedness Relation (a) listed
on pages 47-48 -- it is not allowed in Thai phonologically. Therefore, /g/ and /d/ are
devoiced. Taking into account the two levels of loanword phonology proposed by
Silverman, it is not definite whether or not the subjects perceive differences such as
voicing contrast at the final position at the Perceptual Level. If they do perceive voiced
stops as voiced at the Perceptual Level, then the first rule can apply at the Operative
Level. That is, there is an operative devoicing rule. But if they perceive voiced stops as
voiceless at the Perceptual Level, then devoicing will not happen at the Operative

Level.

67

The first rule can also apply to fricative phonemes, such as /0, 6, e, z, z/.

These- phonemes have no Thai equivalents; therefore, they must be replaced by
phonologically approximating phonemes of the Thai inventory, which are usually
voiceless stops. This is because they all share the place of articulation and also
fiicatives are more marked with respect to stops, according to Implicational Universal
(0) and Markedness Relation (c) listed on pages 47-48 (Fellbaum, 1983: 294). Since
there is no voicing contrast at the end of the word in Thai, both voiced and voiceless

fi'icatives are replaced by voiceless stop phonemes.

1112' .G_10_S§
/fi1tba:t/ . ‘footpath’
/ri:t/ ‘wreath’
/fri:t~fii:s/ ‘freeze’

/0/ is pronounced as /t/ by all six subjects: the word ‘footpath’ is
pronounced as /futba:t/ instead of /futba0/ as in English. /6/ as in the word ‘wreath’ is

also pronounced as /t/ by all six subjects (see also Section 6.5). The phoneme /z/,
which is a voiced counterpart of the phoneme /s/ in English and is more marked with
respect to Implicational Universal (b) and Markedness Relation (b) listed on pages
47-48, does not exist in Thai. Thai has no voiced counterpart for its fricative /s/. There
is no voiced-voiceless distinction between the phonemes /s, z/ in Thai. The phoneme
/z/ is usually replaced with either /s/ or /t/. Thus, the word ‘fi'eeze’ is pronounced as

/fri:s~fri:t~fli:s~fli:t~fi:t/ (see also Section 7.5) by the six subjects. The reason for the

68

phoneme /s/, which is not allowed finally, being used in this case is explained in section
7.2.

The next rule involves final /l/. English /I/ must be replaced by a Thai
phoneme in order to conform to Thai phonology. After a short vowel the phoneme III
will be replaced by /n/, as in the word ‘ball’, pronounced /bcn/ by all subjects.
However, /1/ will be deleted if it follows a long vowel or a diphthong as in the word

‘alcohol’ -->/?aenk0:h0:/, ‘mail’-->/me:/ (Lerdtadsin, 1981: 172). The word ‘alcohol’ is
pronounced with a long /0:/ in Thai.

7.4. Short Vowel Insertion

Chart number 3 in Chapter 3 suggests the possible combinations of initial
consonant clusters in Thai. English clusters containing these combinations will not
create a problem in articulation for the subjects. However, English clusters that have
no Thai equivalents; /tw, 81, SW, st, sk, sm, sn, spr, str, skr, spl/, etc., will be
rearranged to conform with fewer possibilities of Thai consonant clusters. Thai
employs short vowel insertion to deal with this phenomenon; that is, short vowel /a/
or /'I will be inserted in the unacceptable clusters. This phonological change can simply

be stated in the following rule:
a ---> a, 0/#C_C(C)

Therefore, clusters like /br/ and /sl/ as in the English words ‘brandy’ and ‘sling’ are

epenthesized by /a/ or /0/ to become /barandi:/ and /salin/, respectively; for they are

unacceptable consonant clusters in Thai. In the case of clusters of three, /a/ or /9/ will

69

be epenthesized between any two consonants of the three that are an unacceptable

cluster in Thai. For example:

Thai Gloss
/sakrip~sakrip~saklip/ ‘script’
/satray~satay~satay/ ‘strike’

/a/ or /0/ is epenthesized within /st/ and /sk/ instead of /tr/ and /kr/ because the last two

are possible clusters in Thai.

Examples above show that stop+sonorant and fricative+stop onset clusters
trigger epenthesis.

Taking into account the two levels of loanword phonology, the cases above

can be described as following:

input Perceptual Level Operative Level
brandy --> lbrandiz/ --> /barandi:/

script --> /skrip/ --> /sakrip/

strike --> /stray/ --> /satray~satay~satay/

I assume that these clusters are perceived by the subjects at the Perceptual
Level, but they are epenthesized at the Operative Level because they are not allowed
in Thai.

Following are the spectrograms of the words ‘brandy’, ‘script’, and ‘strike’,
pronounced by a native speaker of English and a native speaker of Thai, to show this

phenomenon.

70

 

 

 

Figure 5: ‘brandy’ by a native speaker of Thai.

71

Hz

 

----- 5000.00

 

rm4500.00

 

 

~m4000.00“

"m3500.

 

 

 

 

 

e
e e
...........
000000
.e eeeeeee
I...

 

 

>--«-3000 ,
«mzsoo.
l ----- 2000.
"m1500.

pa... 1000 .

 

   

.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

e
:o.e'eeo:e. e eeeeeee
.......

 

:‘s‘ °-:- .
0.0:. °°°°°°°
. :.: :: " 5::.e e'e': :.. 5'0
fijefl: I... .9.eeeeeeeee'egeee.eeeueeeeooeeeeeeu
0:0:0 e:e'e'e 0:. e:e.
.e'e e ''''' o'
I ........ O
I .......

O
0..
e...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

100 00 200:00 300100 400,00 ms

r as n d i:]

Figure 6: ‘brandy’ by a native speaker of English.

72

 

100,00

 

300 00 500,00 700,00
[ s a t r a y]

Figure 7: ‘strike’ by a native speaker of Thai.

73

Hz
«msooo.

-~4500.
"“4000.
~~3500.
'mGOOO.
"“2500.
'm2000.
"”1500.
-m4000.

"“500.

 

 

    

   

      

100 00 200 00 300,00 400,00 500,00 600,00 ms

[5 t r a y kh]

Figure 8: ‘strike’ by a native speaker of English.

74

Hz

 

«msooo.
~~4500.
»~4000.
~«3500.
. ..... 3000.
«m2500.
»-2000.
----- 1500.
~m1000.

“"500 . 00

00

 

00

 

     

 

00

'; egfjiiétiij§is

 

   
   

 

 

 

  
 
 
 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

:0 . .:o ... 1 0:::

 

.' o’-
e u
. .meo...eoew ee
3'0. e e o' e ' '0 '-
e e. e ....I.

 

00

 

 

   

 

«m0.00

 

100,00

 

Figure 9: ‘script’ by a native speaker of Thai.

 

75

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hz
..... 5000 .

 

 

~~4500.

~m4000. ’1" .

 

0

e e

C O.
eeeee
0.0.0.0.0. e.e

 

 

..... 3500 . I .

 

> ..... 3 000 .

 

"”2500.

 

 

 

lmcooo.

 

"m1500.

 

””4000.

 

 

"m500.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..... 0.00 .m.é
100,00 200,00 300 00 400,00 500,00 ms

 

[s k r i p t"]

Figure 10: ‘script’ by a native speaker of English.

76

Two spectrograms of the words brandy, strike, and script show the
differences between the pronunciations of the two speakers. Initial clusters /br/, /skr/,
and /str/ are pronounced as clusters by the native speaker of English. The
spectrographic displays of Figures 6, 8, and 10 show no insertion of the vowel /a/.
These clusters, however, are broken up by the vowel /a/ in the pronunciation of the
Thai speaker, as denoted by the degree of darkness or acoustic energy of the vowel /a/
after /b/ and /s/ in the spectrograms. Generally, vowels can be plotted by the
frequencies of the first two formants. Vowel /a/ has the the following formant
frequencies: Fl = 710, F2 = 1100, F3 = 2540. The acoustic energy displayed after the
first segments of /br/, /skr/, and /str/ clusters in the pronunciations of a native speaker
of Thai (Figures 5, 7, and 9), matches these formant frequencies. These formant
frequencies, however, are missing after the first segments of the initial clusters in the
speech of a native speaker of English That means the words are pronounced as
clusters.

However, there is an exception regarding this insertion. Words like ‘brake’
and ‘free’ are not epenthesized, even though these two clusters are not allowed in
Thai. They are pronounced as /bre:k~ble:k~be:k/ and /fii:~fli:~fi:/, respectively. This
issue is also related to the articulation of /l/ and /r/, which will be explained in the next
section 7.5.

7.5. Articulation of /1/ AND /r/
There is no substantial phonological rule that can account for the articulation

of /l/ and /r/. They are used interchangeably by the subjects. /r/ turned into /1/ seems

77

more common than /1/ turned into M. The latter occurs just once in the word blonde
by one subject.

Apart from the non-saliency of the sounds /l/ and /r/ as explained by Yip,
another explanation for the articulation of /l/ and /r/ is sociolinguistic (Beebe 1977,
1980). In her study of the influence of the listener on code-switching, Beebe has
suggested that /l/ and /r/ are used interchangeably in the speech of Thais. Both
phonemes will be used correctly only in a formal setting, such as in the classroom
between teachers and students (Beebe, 1977: 332). In her 1980 study, sociolinguistic
variation and style shifting in second language acquisition, she showed that the social
values of sounds in the native language affect transfer. In Thai, the phoneme /r/ is
pronounced in different ways, depending on the linguistic and social contexts. In her
English data from Thai native speakers, she found that the formal variety of Thai /r/, a
trill /r/, is used in formal English contexts but not in informal ones. In an informal
setting, it is always replaced with either /1/ or /O/. I set up my study as an informal
one, the conversation was conducted casually. Therefore, I believe this is the reason

that the subjects tended to omit this sound or replace it with /l/, as in:

radar /le:da/

wreath /li:t/

brake /bre:k~ble:k~be:k/
free /fii:~fli:~fi:/

78

blonde /blon~bon/

freeze /fii:s~fii:t~fli:s~fli:t~fi:t/

The Perceptual and Operative Hypotheses proposed by Silverman and the
Markedness Differential Hypothesis are not helpful here. According to the former, the
speakers should perceive /l/ and /r/ distinctions, and these should be pronounced in
accordance with native constraints, since Thai has both /I/ and /r/. Also, the
Markedness Differential Hypothesis does not suggest that /r/ is more or less marked
than N. Even if it does, it still fails to explain this change. A possible reason seems to

relate to the formality and informality, as suggested by Beebe (1980).

79

Chapter 8
SUMMARY

From the data provided in Chapter 7, it is evident that Silverman’s (1992)
hypothesis about two stages in loanword adaptation, together with Eckman’s (1977)
Markedness Differential Hypothesis, is partly confirmed by Thai English loanword
phonology. The study shows that for English words to be adopted into Thai, they go
through several phonological changes in order to conform with Thai phonology. The
study shows that native phonological constraints are not the only factor that can be
used to explain phonological changes of Thai English loanwords. Other factors such as
sociolinguistics, formality and informality of the situation, and extra phonological
influence contributes to the change as well. And these changes can be observed fiom
the pronunciation of Thai people in general. However, there are some other areas of
Thai English loanwords which are not investigated -- or less thoroughly investigated --
by this study and might be useful for future research. More research on Thai English
loanwords can be done on:

1. Vowel changes: This study deals primarily with consonants. Vowel
changes are left unsolved. The study of vowel change of Thai English loanwords merits
full research if it is to be worked out systematically.

2. Tones: This study investigates only tone/pitch placement in polysyllabic
words. The relationship of Thai tones and English stresses needs more careful

attention in order to find out a systematic relationship.

80

The research can also be conducted in English using the same loanwords as
this study to see whether there is a phonological interference in the speech of Thai
speakers. At present, English vocabulary has been used widely in the speech of Thai
speakers, especially those who are educated, as suggested by Udomwong (1981). A lot
of English words have been nativized and are used by speakers of all levels. language
contact provides interesting evidence of change. Raksaphet (1992: 258) suggests, ‘The
use of English loanwords in Thai presently has contributed to a change of the language

from a heavily Indie-mixed type to the present day English mixed register.’

81

APPENDIX I: QUESTIONS

1. shopping--What do you like to do in your spare time?
2. computeruHow often do you use on—campus computer during the weekdays?
3. technology/«What do you think of the new technology in our country
nowadays?
4. strawberry-What is the name of the fruit that can grow only in the north of
Thailand?
5. uranium--Please list three fundamental elements for nuclear weapon.
6. brandy- ‘Regency’ is the name of Thai ..............
7. strike--What happened on October 14th, 1973?
8. whiske -- ‘Black Cat’ is the name of Thai ............
9. plastic--What do you think about the plastic crisis in Thailand at the present?
10. script--What does the actor have to do before shooting the scene?
11. lifi--The word that we use for ‘elevator’?
12. punch--A hot or cold drink that is usually a combination of hard liquor, wine
and nonalcoholic beverages.
l3. valve--Parts of the car that use to regulate the flow of air or fuel ..........
14. list--What do you usually do before going to the supermarket?
15. farm--What kind of farm do people do in the north of Thailand?
16. film--The word that we use for ‘movie’?
17. ball-What kind of sports do Thai men love to play?
18. fieeze-Where do you usually keep your meat?
19. code--Should every small supermarkets in Thailand use barcode?
20. wig--Suppose you were bald, do you prefer to wear a wig or just let it shine?
21. footpath--The place where the vendors occupy?
22. radar--The device that you use in the car to detect the police?
23. wreath--What would you bring to the funeral?
24. brake--What do you usually check before driving?
25. blonde--Women with blonde hair are usually perceived as ........

82

APPENDIX II: A LIST OF WORDS

1. shopping
2. computer
3. technology
4. strawberry
5. uranium
6. brandy

7. strike

8. whiskey
9. plastic
10. script

1 1. lift

12. punch
13. valve
14. list

15. farm

16. film

17. ball

18. freeze
19. code

20. wig

21. footpath
22. radar
23. wreath
24. brake
25. blonde

83

APPENDIX III: PRONUNCIATIONS OF THE SUBJECTS

SUBJECT 1:

1. shopping
2. computer
3. technology
4. strawberry
5. uranium
6. brandy

7. strike

8. whiskey
9. plastic
10. script
11. lift

12. punch
13. valve
14. list

15. farm

16. film

17. ball

18. freeze
19.code

20. wig

21. footpath
22. radar
23. wreath
24. brake
25. blonde

/chorsp’in/
/k0mpyut5:/
/thekno:lo:yi:/
/sat0:bol:/
/yu:le:ni:am/
/balandi:/
/satray~satay/
/wiski:/
/pa:tsetik/
/sakrip/

/lif/

/pAné/
/wa:w/

/lit/

/fa:m/

lfizm/

lbon/
/fi:t~fii:t/
lkozt/

/wik/
/futba:t/
IlezdaJ

/li:t/

Ibezk/

lbon/

Additional Thai English loanwords produced by the first subject:

1. comflake
2. free
3. barcode

/k0nfe:k/
/fi:/
/ba:ko:t/

84

SUBJECT 2:

1. shopping
2. computer
3. technology
4. strawberry
5. uranium
6. brandy

7. strike

8. whiskey
9. plastic
10. script
11. lifl

12. punch
13. valve
14. list

15. farm

16. film

17. ball

18. freeze
19. code

20. wig

21. footpath
22. radar
23. wreath
24. brake

25. blonde

/ch0pp’irj/
/k0mpyut5:/
/t"ekno:lo:yi:/
/sato:beli:/
/yu:le:n’i:am/
/balandi:/
Isotay/
/wiski:/
/plasetik/
/seklip/

/lip/

/pAn6/
/wa:w/

/lit/

/fa:m/

/fi:m/

lbon/
/fli:s~fli:t/
/ko:t/

/wik/
/futba:t/
/le:da:/

/li:t/

/ble:k/

lblon/

Additional Thai English loanwords produced by the second subject:

1. plutonium
2. free

3. air

4. heater

5. flash

/plu:to:rii:am/
/fli'J

liar!

/hi:tte:/

/f$t/

85

SUBJECT 3:

1. shopping
2. computer
3. technology
4. strawberry
5. uranium
6. brandy

7. strike

8. whiskey
9. plastic
10. script
11. lift

12. punch
13. valve
14. list

15. farm

16. film

17. ball

18. freeze
19. code

20. wig

21. footpath
22. radar
23. wreath
24. brake
25. blonde

/c"0ppirj/
/k0mpyut5:/
Iteknozlozy’iz/
/satr0:b':l'l'J
/yu:re:rii:am
lbarandizl
/satray/
/wiski:/
/pasetik/
/sekrip/
/1ip/

/pAn6/
/wa:w/

/lis/

/fa:m/

/fi:m/

Ibon/
/fli:t~fi:t/
/ko:t/

/wik/
/futba:t/
llezda'J

/li:t/

lbrezk/
/b0n~blon~br0n/

Additional Thai English loanwords produced by the third subject:

1. focus

2. package
3. speed
4. free

/fo:kat/
/paekke:t/
/sapit/
/fii:/

86

SUBJECT 4:

1. shopping
2. computer
3. technology
4. strawberry
5. uranium
6. brandy

7. strike

8. whiskey
9. plastic
10. script
11. lift

12. punch
13. valve
14. list

15. farm

16. film

17. ball

18. freeze
19. code

20. wig

21. footpath
22. radar
23. wreath
24. brake
25. blonde

/c“0ppirj/
/kcmpyut5:/
/tekno:lo:y’i:/
/satc:bo:li:/
/yu:re:n’i:am/
/barandi:/
/satray/
/wiski:/
/plasetik/
Isakrip/

/lip/

/pAnl':/
/wa:w/

/lit/

/fa:m/

/fi:m/

Ibon/

/fli:s/

/ko:t/

/wik/
/futba:t/
Ilezdad

/li:t/
/bre:k~ble:k/
/b0n~blon/

Additional Thai English loanwords produced by the third subject:

1. foam

/fo:m/

87

SUBJECT 5:

1. shopping
2. computer
3. technology
4. strawberry
5. uranium
6. brandy

7. strike

8. whiskey
9. plastic
10. script
11. lift

12. punch
13. valve
14. list

15. farm

16. film

17. ball

18. freeze
19. code

20. wig

21. footpath
22. radar
23. wreath
24. brake
25. blonde

Ichoppirj/
fkompyutéz/
/tekno:lo:y’i:/
/satc:bo:li:/
/yu:re:n’i:am/
/barandi:/
Isatray/
/wiski:/
/plasetik/
Isakrip/

/lif/

/pAné/
/wa:w/

/lis/

/fa°m/

/fli:m/

lbon/
/fn':s~fri:t/
/ko:t/

/wik/
/futba:t/
/le:da:/

/li:t/
/be:k~ble:k/
/b0n~br0ns/

Additional Thai English loanwords produced by the fifth subject:

1. monomer
2. mart

3. fashion
4. free

5. coffee

/mo:no:m5:/
/ma:t/
/fas::‘s§n/
/fli1
/k0pfi:/

88

SUBJECT 6:

1. shopping
2. computer
3. technology
4. strawberry

5. uranium
6. brandy
7. strike

8. whiskey
9. plastic
10. script
11. lift

12. punch
13. valve
14. list

15. farm
16. film
17. ball

1 8. freeze
19. code
20. wig
21. footpath
22. radar
23. wreath
24. brake
25. blonde

/c":>ppi13/
/k0mpyut5:/
/tekno:lo:y’i:/
/sat0:b0:li:/
/yu:lre:n’i:am/
/balandi:/
/satay/
/wiski:/
lplasetik/
Isakip/

/lip/

/pAn6/
/wa:w/

/lit/

/fa:m/

/fi:m/

lbon/
/fli:t~fi:t/
/ko:t/

/wik/
/futba:t/
Ilezdad

/li:t/
/be:k~ble:k/
/b0n~blon/

Additional Thai English loanwords produced by the sixth subject:

1. free
2. stereo

/fli:~fi:/
/sate:lio:/

89

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90

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