tonal evolution from initial consonant clusters in thai and ......thai belongs to the tai-kadai...

65วารสารมนุษยศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยนเรศวร ปีที ่13 ฉบบัที ่2 ประจ�าเดือนพฤษภาคม - สงิหาคม 2559

Tonal Evolution from Initial Consonant Clusters in Thai and Mon Language: The Evidence from Acoustic Analysis

วิวัฒนาการเสียงวรรณยุกต์จากเสียงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�้าในภาษาไทย

และภาษามอญ: หลักฐานจากการศึกษากลสัทศาสตร์

ผณินทรา ธีรานนท์Phanintra Teeranon

Abstract Previous researchers have found that initial consonant clusters have plausibly contributed to the evolution of rising tones and of falling tones. This study tests this debatable claim by focusing on Thai language and Mon language. The informants were sampled from 3 age groups: speakers over 60 years old, 35-45 years old, and under 20 years old. Acoustic analysis was conducted by using the Praat program. The effect of initial consonant clusters and its single initial consonant counterpart on semitones was analyzed. It was found that among every age group of the Thai speakers, the semitone values of the vowels following the initial consonant clusters were insignificantly higher than those following the single initial consonant clusters. In contrast to Thai, Mon speakers have showed the semitone values of the vowels following the single initial consonants were insignificantly higher than those following the initial consonant clusters, except in 35-45 age group. The results in this study are consistent with previous research claiming that initial consonant clusters have caused the tonal evolution of both rising tones and falling tones. It is suggested that Thai language can have tonal evolution process by initial consonant clusters but not the Mon language. The most important is tonal evolution from initial consonant clusters is not universal.Keywords: Tonal evolution, Initial consonant clusters, Acoustic analysis

บทคัดย่อ งานวิจยัในอดตีพบว่าเสยีงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�า้มคีวามส�าคญัต่อการเกดิของเสยีงวรรณยุกต์ขึน้(rising)

และเสียงวรรณยุกต์ตก(falling)งานวิจัยนี้พิสูจน์แนวคิดดังกล่าวโดยศึกษาภาษาไทยและภาษามอญผู้บอกภาษา

มี3กลุ่มอายุได้แก่กลุ่มอายุมากกว่า60ปีขึ้นไปกลุ่มอายุ35-45ปีและกลุ่มอายุต�่ากว่า20ปีผู้วิจัยใช้วิธีเชิงกล

สัทศาสตร์เครือ่งมือทีใ่ช้คอืโปรแกรมPraatวเิคราะห์เสยีงพยญัชนะต้นควบกล�า้และเสยีงพยัญชนะต้นเดีย่วทีเ่ป็น

คู่เทียบเสียงกันมีอิทธิพลต่อการเปลี่ยนแปลงของระดับเสียง ในภาษาไทยพบว่าสระที่ตามหลังเสียงพยัญชนะต้น

ควบกล�า้มค่ีาเซมโิทนมากกว่าสระท่ีตามหลงัเสยีงพยัญชนะต้นเดีย่วอย่างไม่มนียัส�าคญัในทุกกลุม่อายุส่วนในภาษามอญ

พบว่าสระท่ีตามหลงัเสยีงพยัญชนะต้นเดีย่วมค่ีามากกว่าสระทีต่ามหลงัเสยีงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�า้อย่างไม่มนัียส�าคญั

ในทุกลุ่มอายุยกเว้นในกลุ่มอายุ35-45ปีผลการวิจัยสนับสนุนงานวิจัยในอดีตที่พบว่าเสียงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�้า

ท�าให้เกิดเสยีงวรรณยุกต์ขึน้หรอืเสยีงวรรณยุกต์ตกในภาษาไทยเสยีงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�า้ท�าให้เกิดววัิฒนาการ

ของเสียงวรรณยุกต์ได้ แต่ในภาษามอญ เสียงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�้าไม่ท�าให้เกิดเสียงวรรณยุกต์ จึงสรุปได้ว่า

เสียงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�้าไม่ใช่ปัจจัยที่เป็นสากลลักษณ์ในการท�าให้เกิดวิวัฒนาการของเสียงวรรณยุกต์

ค�าส�าคัญ:พัฒนาการของเสียงวรรณยุกต์เสียงพยัญชนะต้นควบกล�้ากลสัทศาสตร์

66 Journal of Humanities, Naresuan University Year 13 Volumn 2, May - August 2016

Introduction In 1924, the concept of tonal evolution (This term includes both a stage of a non-tonal language becomes a tone language or a stage in which numbers of tones has been increased in a tone language) was first introduced by Przyluski (1924). It was later verified by Haudricourt in 1954. Haudricourt claimed that Vietnamese language, a tonal language, obtained its tones from its ancestral language, a non-tonal language. He proposed that the main reason for evolution of tones in the Vietnamese language was due to the loss of the initial and final consonants.

Table 1: Tonal evolution in the Vietnamese language in the 6th century

(adapted from Haudricourt, 1954 and Matisoff, 1973)

According to Table 1, the Vietnamese language in the 6th century was a non-tonal language. The syllables during this period were of (i) open types, ending in a vowel /*-Ø/ or a nasal consonant /*-N/, and (ii) closed types, ending in a fricative /*-h/ or a glottal stop /*-/. Moreover, there were two types of voicing distinctions for the initial consonants: voiceless /p-/ and voiced /b-/. The loss of final consonants (/*-N/, /*-h/, /*-/) have caused phonologically distinctive pitches or tones to emerge, namely: level, falling, and rising tones as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Three tones of the Vietnamese language in the 12th century

(adapted from Haudricourt, 1954 and Matisoff, 1973)

By the end of the 12th century, the number of tones had increased to six as voicing of the initial consonant disappeared, as shown in Table 3. When voicing was

Final consonants*-Ø, *-N *-h *-

Init

ial

ccon

sona

nts Voiceless *p- pa,paN pah pa

Voiced *b- ba, baN bah ba

TonesLevel Falling Rising

Init

ial

ccon

sona

nts Voiceless *p- pa pa pa

Voiced *b- ba ba ba


dropped from the voiced initial consonants, (/*b-/ > /*p-/) low and high tones emerged in order to avoid homophones. Tones emerged to replace consonant voicing so that word meanings can be differentiated. That is to say, when /*p-/becomes /pa/, a high tone emerges, and when /*b-/becomes /pa/, a low tone emerges. Haudricourt’stheory of tonal evolution has been tested and verified expansively by linguists, and new factors that give birth to tones have been put forward. In brief, more recently considered factors are (1) internal factors (e.g. single initial consonants, initial consonant clusters, initial consonant reduplication, vowel quality, and final consonants), and (2) external factors (e.g. language borrowing). In 1973, it was Matisoff who coined the term tonogenenis, to name the evolution of tones in languages. Of the internal factors that give birth to tones, the influence of single initial consonant clusters has been widely attested (Gandour, 1974; Henderson, 1982; Hombert et al., 1979; House & Fairbanks, 1953; Lehiste, 1970; L-Thongkum, 1990; Maddieson, 1984; Watkins, 2002). Likewise, the influence of final consonants has been verified repeatedly (Haudricourt, 1954; Maran, 1973; Mazaudon 1976; Phu Van Han et al., 1992; Thurgood, 1993; Watkins 2002). More recently, the influence of vowel quality has been tested in many languages of Southeast Asia such as in Thai, Khmer, Nyah Kur, etc. (L-Thongkum, 1989; Svantesson, 1991; Teeranon, 2012). However, both vowel quality and initial consonant clusters have not thus far been widely examined. According to previous research, there are 2 different effects of initial consonant clusters that could cause tone birth. In cases when there are initial consonant clusters and its pairs are [cl-] and [c-] or [cr-] and [c-], some have stated that rising tones have caused (Henderson, 1982; Noss, 1968), while others have found that falling tones emerged (Pisitpanporn, 1999; Thach, 1999).

Table 3: Low-rising of the Khmer language influenced by initial consonant clusters

(Guion & Wayland,2004)

From Table 3, initial consonant cluster [-r-] has been lost in Khmer, causing a low-rising pitch. However, Pisitpanporn (1999) has revealed [-r-] to cause a falling-rising pitch (See Table 4). In addition, [-r-] has changed to be [-h-] or an aspiration such as [tr-] > [th] in the word ‘check’; therefore, [th-] is a transitional stage of the tone changing process.

Standard Khmer Khmer Pitch Meaning

pram peam Low-rising ‘five’

sri si Low-rising ‘woman’


Table 4: Falling-rising tone of the Khmer language influenced by initial consonant clusters

(Guion & Wayland, 2004)

Guion & Wayland (2004) and Kirby (2014) are credited with initiating acoustic analysis. In Khmer language, the fundamental frequency of the vowels that follow initial consonant clusters are lower than that of the vowels that follow single initial consonants.

As stated previously, there are 2 aspects of the influence of initial consonant clusters on tonal evolution; they cause both rising tones and falling tones. This study aims at attesting to the influences of initial consonant clusters as compared to its single initial consonant counterpart in order to verify the plausibility of each of the aspects stated.

The languages examined in this study are Thai spoken in Bangkok and Mon spoken in Ye Township of Burma. The 2 languages are rich with initial consonant clusters, which is rare among languages spoken in Southeast Asia. In order to prove these aspects, linear evidence is set up. The informants are comprised of speakers over sixty (> 60 years) to represent the past, of middle-aged speakers (35-45 years) to represent the present, and of speakers under twenty (< 20 years) to represent the future. In similar case, Labov (1966) attested the usage of /r/ sound in New York English spoken by different age group. The study has revealed that old age group produced less /r/ as in car than that of the younger age group. Labov’s result is compatible with comparative historical data found in the previous research. From that time on, linguists have used this concept, the so-called change in apparent time, to identify language change. That is, language change can be identified by old age group (to represent the language in the past), and young age group (to represent the language in the future).

An acoustic analysis is conducted to study the tones. Phonologically speaking, tones are differentiated pitches that distinguish between the meanings of different words. For instance, the Thai words [paa]+low pitch means ‘forest’, but [paa]+mid pitch means ‘to throw’. Pitch designated tones are identified through acoustic analysis by measuring the fundamental frequency or semitones of the vowels. This analysis is done by using the Praat program, version 4.2.09. The following patterns are the hypothesized outcome: (i) The oldest group would exhibit a large difference between semitones of vowels following initial consonant clusters and its single initial consonant counterpart; (ii) The middle group would show a large semitones difference(larger than in the oldest group) but also a small semitones difference (indicating that the semitone difference is now large enough as a sufficient cue for what used to be the tonal contrast);

Standard Khmer Khmer Pitch Meaning

trw thw Falling-rising ‘check’

kru si Falling-rising ‘teacher’


and (iii) the young group would have the largest difference between the semitones of the vowels following initial consonant clusters and its single initial consonant counterpart.

The study has differentiated the clusters into 2 types, namely [cl-] and [cr-] as it has been found that each has varied influence on the semitones of the vowels. A physiological explanation is that airstream used in producing cluster [-r-] is high compared to those of the starting point of producing the vowel, so the fundamental frequency (F0), or semitones, tends to drop (Guion & Wayland, 2004). Moreover, Kirby (2014) found that [-r-] in Phnom Penh Khmer leads to a breathy vowel, and this feature can lead to a drop in the tone.

Materials and MethodThe languages used in the study are Thai spoken in Bangkok and Khmer spoken

in Phnom Penh. These language group speakers are chosen because not many studies have been done that focus on this aspect with these languages.

Language data Bangkok Thai Thai belongs to the Tai-Kadai language family. It is widely spoken in Thailand. Thai language in this study is collected from residents of Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. The language is comprised of 21 consonants (See Table 5), 11 initial consonant clusters, and 9 final consonants (Naksakun, 2013).

Table 5: Initial consonants sound system in Bangkok Thai

Initial consonant clusters in Bangkok Thai are /pl-, phl-, pr-, phr-, tr-, kl-, khl-, kr-, khr-, kw-, khw-/, and the final consonant clusters in Bangkok Thai are /-p, -t, -k, -, -m, -n, -, -w, -j/.

Placesof articulation Manners of articulation

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Stop voiceless unaspirated

p t c k

voiceless aspirated

ph th ch kh

voiced b dFricative voiceless f s h

voicedNasal m n

Approximant w r jLateral l


Regarding the vowels, there are 18 monophthong vowel sounds in Bangkok Thai: 9 short vowels and 9 long vowels (See Table 6).

Table 6: Vowel sound system in Bangkok Thai

Besides the monophthongs, Thai diphthong vowels are /ia, a, ua/. In Bangkok Thai, there are 5 tones: 33 (mid), 21 (low), 42 (falling), 44 or 45 (high), and 343 (rising). These tones can be classified into 2 categories: level tones (mid and low) and contour tones (falling, high, and rising).

Mon Mon is spoken in Mon State of Burma. The language selected in this study is spoken in Ye Township, a town in the south of Mon State, bordering on Kanchanaburi province of western Thailand. The language is comprised of 22 consonants, 11 initial consonant clusters, and 13 final consonants.

Table 7: Initial consonants sound system in Ye Township Mon

Initial consonant clusters in Ye Township Mon are /pl-, phl-, pr-, phr-, tr-, kl-, khl-, kr-, khr-, kw-, khw-/, and the final consonants in Ye Township Mon are /-p, -t, -c, -k, -, -h -m, -n, -, -r, -l, -w, -j/. There are 19 monophthong vowel sounds in Ye Township Mon: 10 short vowels and 9 long vowels as can be seen in Table 8 (Jenny, 2001).

Front Central BackHigh i, ii , u, uuMid e, ee , o, ooLow , a, aa ,

Placesof articulation Manners of articulation

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Stop voiceless unaspirated

p t c k

voiceless aspirated

ph th ch kh

voiced b dFricative voiceless f s h

voicedNasal m n Approximant w r jLateral l


Table 8: Vowel sound system in Bangkok Ye Township Mon

Wordlists For each language, 15 pairs of initial consonant clusters versus single initial consonant counterpart distinctions were chosen. To avoid pitch perturbation from voicing consonants, they are surrounded by voiceless plosive consonants, e.g., [plaa]-[paa] in Thai language. Thai language wordlist is in Table 9 are the following:

Table 9: Thai wordlist

For Mon language, 15 pairs of initial consonant clusters versus single initial consonant counterpart distinctions were also chosen. Mon language wordlist is in Table 10 are the following:

Front Central BackHigh i,i u,uMid e,e , o,o

,Low , a,aa ,

/cl-/, /cr-/ Meaning /c-/ Meaningplaa fish paa to throwplàk muddy place pàk to stickplt to be free pt lungsplk cover pk to peelpl chimney p to pregnant kl drum k pileklot long-handled umbrella kot to pressprap to adjust pap suddenpraap to suppress paap non-sense wordpraat expert paat to slice offpraan breathe paan birthmarktrom sorrow tom muddytr to consider t triplekraap to pay respect kaap spathekro cage ko circlekr to filter k pile


Table 10: Mon wordlist

Informants For each language group, 8 native informants of both sexes who were <60 years of age, 35-45 years of age, and >20 years of age were selected. The informants were asked to pronounce each word 3 times. The overall number of test tokens was 4,320 (8 informants x 30 words x 3 times x 3 age groups x 2 languages). The recording was done with a SONY IC Recorder ICD-MS515.

Acoustic indicators and the method of measurement The whole vowel was measured for duration, intensity, and fundamental frequency. In each vowel, the time was normalized at the following points: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. However, the intensity value is measured at the highest point of the sound wave. The Praat program version 4.2.09 was used for the analysis. Microsoft Excel was used to analyze the mean duration, intensity, and fundamental frequency values. The mean fundamental frequency (F0) values were later converted to mean semitone values to eliminate the influence of male and female discrepancies on the values. The mean values of the duration and semitone values were also analyzed statistically by using a t-test, and correlation (r) with a 95% level of confidence (p < .05). Line graphs were also drawn.

/cl-/, /cr-/ Meaning /c-/ Meaning

plaac to sink paac to wearplt to blow the light off pt to squeezeklaac too many kaac to keepkla tiger ka fishklom slug kom in harmonyklt intestine kt to studykl dog k givekraa to understand kh to pourpran to compete pan mouthprt ghost pt to squeezeprk to mix up pk to openproh to blow poh to shoot with rubber bandkraac to laugh kaac to keepkraa to put in jail kaa to hold in the mouthkrm to scold km together


Results The results derived from the Thai language group speakers are presented first followed by those derived from the Mon language group speakers throughout the paper. A comparison is also shown.

Thai language Figure 1 and Table 11 show duration of vowels following initial consonant clusters to be insignificantly higher (p > 0.05) than those vowels following its single initial consonant counterpart in the three age groups, in the case of [cr-] and [c-] in 35-45 and <20.

Table 11: Duration, Intensity, and t-test differences between initial consonant and its single initial consonant counterpart among Thai speakers

Age group

cl- vs. c- cr- vs. c-

Duration(msec)

Intensity(dB) Duration(msec)

Intensity(dB)

> 60cl- 284.44 73.11 cr- 275.11 74.57

c- 281.19 75.29 c- 265.92 75.71

t-test(p<.05) 0.929 0.561 t-test(p<.05) 0.900 0.507

35-45cl- 339.14 77.43 cr- 368.41 71.54

c- 319.18 79.08 c- 369.42 72.88

t-test(p<.05) 0.157 0.207 t-test(p<.05) 0.157 0.242

<20cl- 271.51 72.78 cr- 285.58 78.85

c- 264.64 73.25 c- 287.06 79.97

t-test(p<.05) 0.159 1.222 t-test(p<.05) 0.132 0.908


Figure 11: Duration of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cl-]and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-], initial consonant clusters [cr-], and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Thai language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under20 years old2

1

represents initial consonant clusters

represents single initial consonant counterpart

2

>60 represents speakers over 60 years old35-45 represents speakers 35-45 years old<20 represents speakers under 20 years old


1

represents initial consonant clusters

represents single initial consonant counterpart

2

>60 represents speakers over 60 years old35-45 represents speakers 35-45 years old<20 represents speakers under 20 years old

Figure 2: Intensity of vowels following the initial consonant cluster [cl-]and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-], initial consonant cluster [cr-]and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Thai language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under 20 years old

Figure 2 and Table 11 show the intensity of vowels following initial consonant clusters to be insignificantly lower (p > 0.05) than that of the vowels following its single initial consonant counterpart in all of the three age groups.


Figure 3: Semitones of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cl-] and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Thai language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under 20 years old

Figure 4: Semitones of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cr-] and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Thai language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under 20 years old


Table 12: Semitones, and t-test differences at each point of semitone measurement (0%-100%) between initial consonant and its single initial consonant counterpart among Thai speakers

Semitones of the vowels following initial consonant clusters have a tendency to be insignificantly higher (p > 0.05) than those following its initial consonant counterpart in all of the three age groups (See Figure 3, Figure4, and Table 12). In the case of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cl-] and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Thai speakers <20, the scale of difference is larger than the other two age groups. Overall, the shapes of the semitones are found to be mid to low level.

Age group Semitone (ST)

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

>60 cl- 10.32 9.90 9.57 9.27 8.77

c- 10.25 9.35 9.09 8.86 8.47

t-test(p<.05) 0.843 0.188 0.225 0.287 0.493

35-45 cl- 7.93 7.43 7.09 6.86 6.61

c- 7.57 7.27 6.96 6.79 6.49

t-test(p<.05) 0.648 0.842 0.857 0.921 0.857

<20 cl- 8.98 8.46 8.33 8.13 8.14

c- 8.36 7.87 7.50 7.03 6.89

t-test(p<.05) 0.714 0.759 0.757 0.958 0.951

>60 cr- 10.36 10.22 9.91 9.56 9.04

c- 11.02 9.78 9.59 9.32 8.98

t-test(p<.05) 0.090 0.063 0.084 0.123 0.882

35-45 cr- 8.30 7.79 7.51 7.29 6.68

c- 7.97 7.61 7.34 7.12 6.72

t-test(p<.05) 0.587 0.762 0.767 0.754 0.944

<20 cr- 8.50 8.00 7.56 7.18 7.01

c- 8.55 7.74 7.37 7.10 6.96

t-test(p<.05) 0.150 0.212 0.336 0.635 0.905


Table 13: Correlation values (r) of the semitone shape between initial consonant and its single initial consonant counterpart among Thai speakers

The correlation values (r) in Table 13 have verified that the semitone shapes of vowels following initial consonant clusters are highly correlated to those following its single initial consonant counterpart for all of the age groups. The r values nearly reach 1, indicating a high correlation (0.804-0.981). Plus values mean the shapes are in the similar direction. (If the r values are minus, it means the shapes of vowels following initial consonant clusters appear in opposite directions to those following its single initial consonant counterpart.)

Mon language Mon is another language tested in this acoustic study. Thus, duration, intensity, and semitones values are also measured and presented in the following figures and tables.

Figure 5: Duration of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cl-]and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-], initial consonant cluster [cr-], and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Mon language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under 20 years old

r cl- vs. c- cr- vs. c-> 60 0.804 0.851

35-45 0.992 0.969< 20 0.897 0.981


Duration of vowels following [cl-] is insignificantly lower (p > 0.05) than vowels following [c-] in speakers over >60 and35-45, but not for speakers <20. On the contrary, vowels following [cr-] show insignificantly higher duration (p > 0.05) than those following [c-] in all of the three age groups of Mon speakers (See Figure 5 and Table 14).

Figure 6: Intensity of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cl-]and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-], initial consonant cluster [cr-], and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Mon language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under 20 years old

Figure 6 and Table 14 are consistent with the results derived from the Thai language group speakers. It is shown that the intensity of vowels following initial consonant clusters is insignificantly lower (p > 0.05) than those vowels following its single initial consonant counterpart in all of the three age groups.


Table 14: Duration, Intensity, and t-test differences between initial consonant and its single initial consonant counterpart among Mon speakers

Age group

cl- vs. c- cr- vs. c-

Duration(msec)

Intensity(dB) Duration(msec)

Intensity(dB)

> 60cl- 337.20 75.21 cr- 315.91 75.74

c- 375.13 77.23 c- 297.19 75.95

t-test (p<.05)

0.288 0.535 t-test (p<.05)

0.682 0.279

35-45cl- 212.18 78.92 cr- 201.03 72.77

c- 228.15 79.11 c- 198.97 74.59

t-test (p<.05)

0.051 0.255 t-test (p<.05)

0.319 0.582

<20cl- 296.18 74.67 cr- 258.87 72.83

c- 280.47 75.82 c- 257.67 73.28

t-test (p<.05)

0.391 0.415 t-test (p<.05)

0.956 0.502


Figure 7: Semitones of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cl-] and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Mon language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under 20 years old

Figure 8: Semitones of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cr-] and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in Mon language speakers over 60 years old, speakers 35-45 years old, and speakers under 20 years old

Table 15: Semitones, and t-test differences at each point of semitone measurement (0%-100%) between initial consonant and its single initial consonant counterpart among Mon speakers

Age group Semitone (ST)

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

>60 cl- 7.23 6.96 6.44 5.78 5.38c- 7.27 7.11 6.70 6.03 5.53

t-test(p<.05) 0.859 0.380 0.087 0.174 0.46435-45 cl- 8.74 8.46 8.20 7.76 7.45

c- 9.37 8.87 8.44 7.94 7.39t-test(p<.05) 0.147 0.319 0.540 0.698 0.862

<20 cl- 10.74 10.40 10.38 10.63 10.83c- 11.16 10.54 10.49 10.75 10.88

t-test(p<.05) 0.251 0.755 0.780 0.711 0.835


It was predictable that the semitones of the vowels following [cl-] are insignificantly lower (p > 0.05) than those following [c-] in all of the three age groups of Mon speakers. However, the semitones of the vowels following [cr-] have a tendency to be insignificantly higher (p > 0.05) than those following [c-] in all of the three age groups (See Figure 7, Figure 8, and Table 15). In the case of vowels following initial consonant cluster [cr-] and its single initial consonant counterpart [c-] in speakers <20, the scale of difference is larger than the other two age groups. In Figure 7 and Figure 8, the semitone shapes are likely to fall for the age of >60 and 35-45, but slightly to rise for the speakers <20.

Table 16: Correlation values (r) of the semitone shape between initial consonant and its single initial consonant counterpart for Mon speakers

The correlation values (r) in Table 16 suggest that the semitone shapes of vowels following initial consonant clusters are highly correlated and are in identical direction with those following its single initial consonant counterparts for all of the age groups. The r values nearly reach 1 meaning that they have high correlation (0.643-0.924), and plus values indicate identical direction among semitone shapes.

Discussion and conclusion The results of this study showed explicitly that duration is not the main factor to differentiate tones in Thai and Mon language. This is evident because of the inconsistency in the differences between the duration of vowels following initial consonant clusters and its single initial consonant counterpart, which is consistent with previous research that attributes the emergence of tone to fundamental frequency

>60 cr- 7.65 7.64 7.10 6.46 5.76c- 7.77 7.54 6.92 6.14 5.53

t-test(p<.05) 0.475 0.604 0.410 0.105 0.21635-45 cr- 8.89 8.77 8.35 7.74 7.40

c- 9.60 9.27 8.76 8.17 7.65t-test(p<.05) 0.088 0.286 0.396 0.383 0.618

<20 cr- 11.54 11.12 11.13 11.45 11.54c- 11.69 11.12 11.02 11.12 10.87

t-test(p<.05) 0.569 0.915 0.348 0.025 0.020

r cl- vs. c- cr- vs. c->60 0.643 0.646

35-45 0.898 0.849<20 0.924 0.785


(Abramson, Nye, & L-Thongkum, 2007; L-Thongkum, Teeranon, & Intajamornrak, 2007). However, the intensity is relatively consistent in that the intensity of vowels following single initial consonant are higher than that of its cluster consonant counterpart in both languages. This is not in the line with the other previous research (Abramson, 1962; L-Thongkum, Teeranon, & Intajamornrak, 2007). The results derived from the sample of Thai speakers revealed that the semitone values of vowels following initial consonant clusters are comparatively and insignificantly higher than those following its single initial consonant counterpart in all age groups. This result does not correspond with the observation of Khmer language speakers made by Guion & Wayland (2004) and Kirby (2014); however, the results derived from the sample of Mon speakers slightly do. The Mon speakers exhibited that the semitone values of vowels following initial consonant clusters are insignificantly lower than those following its single initial consonant counterpart in >60 group and <20 group, which is in line with what Guion & Wayland (2004) and Kirby (2014) observed. On the contrary, in the 35-45 group, the Mon speakers showed that the semitone values of vowels following initial consonant clusters are quite insignificantly higher than those following its single initial consonant counterpart. It can be said that Mon and Khmer belong to the same language family, so it is plausible for the 2 languages to have rather similar paths to tone birth. Physiologically speaking, semitone values of vowels following initial consonant clusters are lower than those following the single initial consonant because the airstream that vibrates the vocal folds to produce cluster sounds will be high, and then it will drop at the beginning of the onset of vowel production (Guion & Wayland, 2004). The contrasting results found in Thai language and Mon language showed that tone birth due to initial consonant clusters can cause either high tone or low tone in accordance with the specific language and age group. Initial consonant clusters causing tone birth is not a universal feature and it is likely that it is not a factor causing tone birth in Mon from the different results among age group in Mon language. The loss of initial consonant clusters causing low tone can be explained by physiological aspects. For example, the clusters [-l-] and [-r-] are voiced; this makes the vocal folds vibrate at a low rate after the active and passive articulators are apart. This phenomenon will eventually develop to a low tone (Shadle, 1997). The different results found in the clusters [-l-] and [-r-] of the Thai language indicate that these 2 cluster sounds should be studied separately, while the result of the Mon indicates that age group is a factor to cause different results. Regarding the semitone shape, as there were 2 aspects of the tone shapes that emerged from the initial consonant clusters, one of them causes a falling tone (Henderson, 1982 and Pisitpanporn, 1999), while the other one causes a rising tone (Guion & Wayland, 2004; Thach, 1999). The results derived from Thai language groups showed the shapes to either fall or rise according to the age of the speakers; the youngest group produced a rising tone, while the older group produced a falling tone.


The other possible semitone shape emerging from initial consonant clusters is found in Thai, but not in Mon. The shape is mid or low level tone. This has not been reported elsewhere. At present, Thai initial consonant clusters are decreasing. Young generations of speakers tend not to pronounce the clusters. According to the production of the informants of the study, a model of initial consonant cluster change in Thai language is represented as follows:

Stage1 Stage2 Stage3Initial consonant

clustersSwitch or replace Single

consonantcl-, cr- cl-/ cr- cstops-

Stage 1 represents the production of the oldest generation of Thai speaker. They maintain rather strong enunciation of initial consonant clusters such as [pràp] ‘to adjust’. In stage 2, the middle-aged generation, some speakers switch [plàp] and [pràp] Of the youngest generation, the cluster is lost and only the single initial stop consonant remains [pàp]. There are significant differences of semitone values among the three age groups. The young generation seems to show a larger difference than the old generation. The results of Thai language support Labov’s (2001) concept of change over a lifetime; that is, change is observable in cohorts of the ages >60 who represent the past, 35-45 who represent the present, and <20 who represent the future. But, the Mon language has not confirmed the concept of language change exhibited by age group. In conclusion, initial consonant clusters might be the main effect for causing tone birth in some languages, but not in the others. Therefore, it is not a universal factor causing tonal evolution comparing to the other factors, e.g. voicing, register, etc.

Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the Thailand Research Fund (TRF), HERP under the Office of Higher Education Commission of Thailand (OHEC), and Mae Fah Luang University for the two-year grant. My sincere thanks go to all the informants, officers, and friends in Thailand and Myanmar. I would also like to thank Matthew Robert Ferguson for the editing throughout the paper.


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tonal evolution from initial consonant clusters in thai and ......thai belongs to the tai-kadai...

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