Variations of the tonal systems of the Southern Thai dialect of Phatthalung Province according to the sociological factor of age

Abstract

     The objective of this research was to investigate variations of the tonal systems of the Southern Thai dialect of Phattalung according to the sociological factor of age.  The tones were analyzed based on acoustic phonetics.  Data were collected from three age groups of informants of the Phatthalung dialect: elderly people, middle-aged people and teenagers. The research found five variations of the tonal system of the Phatthalung dialect which occurred according to the sociological factor of age.  They were 1. the traditional seven-tone system; 2. a seven-tone system (B1=C4); 3. a six-tone system (B4=C4); 4. a six-tone system (B1=B4=C4); and 5. a six-tone system (B1=B4=DL4=C4).  It was found that all informants of the elderly group still used the traditional seven-tone system while informants of the middle-aged group used three variations of tonal systems: 1. the traditional seven-tone system; 2. the seven-tone system (B1=C4), and 3. the six-tone system (B4=C4). The teenage group of informants used all the five variations of tonal systems.  This shows a trend toward a change from the use of the traditional seven-tone system in the Southern Thai dialect of Phatthalung to a six-tone system.  The change of the tonal systems was found to be statistically significant at the level .05.  The factors causing the change were the nature of language and language contact.