Unconditioned Sound Changes of Written Spoken Thai Words Affecting the Present Usage of Thai Sounds on LINE Stickers

Abstract

The aim of this research article on unconditioned sound changes of written spoken Thai words affecting the present usage of Thai sounds on LINE stickers is to present results of analysis of unconditioned sound changes of written spoken Thai words that affect the present Thai usage in terms of sound on LINE stickers.  Data were collected from 20 sets of stickers with spoken Thai words written on them with a retrospective date from May 1, 2019.  These stickers were in the category “Popular creators’ stickers” of LINE store totaling 752 pieces of stickers.  Out of this total, 187 pieces had unconditioned sound changes of written spoken Thai words, of which 129 pieces were identified to be unconditioned sound changes of written spoken Thai words with effect on the present Thai usage of sounds.  The results of the analysis regarding unconditioned sound changes of written spoken Thai words affecting Thai usage in terms of sound could be classified in two categories.  1) LINE stickers with unconditioned sound changes of written spoken Thai words (found in 104 pieces or 80.6 percent), and 2) LINE stickers with a combination of two types of unconditioned sound changes of written spoken Thai words (found in 25 pieces or 19.4 percent).  The outstanding sound changes were changes of vowel sounds, particularly from short to long sounds to avoid abruptness or unfriendly sound, to show pleading as if in verbal communication These language features are appropriate for LINE application which is informal.