Characteristics of Thai Language Usage among Lao, Phu Thai, and Khmer Ethnic Children: A Case Study in Roi Et Province

Abstract

This research, entitled Characteristics of Thai Language Use Among Lao, Phu Thai, and Khmer Ethnic Children: A Case Study of Roi Et Province, employed both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The objective of the study was to analyze and compare the pronunciation and lexical usage of the Thai language among ethnic minority children in Roi Et Province. The sample consisted of fifteen Grade 2 primary school students, comprising five participants from each of the three ethnic groups: Lao, Phu Thai, and Khmer. The research instrument was an individual elicitation interview employing picture-based narrative prompts. Phonetic data were analyzed using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), lexical inventories were examined, and quantitative data were analyzed through frequency and percentage distributions.

The findings revealed that the characteristics of Thai language use reflect significantly different degrees of mother-tongue maintenance among the three groups. The Lao ethnic group demonstrated the strongest level of language maintenance, exhibiting the highest frequency of mother-tongue interference in Thai pronunciation across consonantal, vocalic, and tonal phonemes, as well as possessing the largest Thai lexical inventory with the most frequent code-mixing of ethnic vocabulary. In contrast, the Khmer ethnic group was found to be in a critically endangered state, as evidenced by the smallest lexical inventory and the complete absence of Khmer lexical items in their speech. The Phu Thai ethnic group, meanwhile, was situated in a transitional state, characterized by the incorporation of English loanwords in their communication.