Lexical and Phonological Variation of Thai Dialect in Tangkadeng Village, Yala: Implication of Language Contact

Abstract

This research aims to analyze lexical and phonological variations of Thai dialect spoken in Tangkadeng village, Yala province, Thailand, according to the age of speakers by using The theory of language contact. The linguistic variable included 156 semantic units, mid-rising- falling tones (343) occurring in the words: Ya, Yang, Yen, Yuen, Yuem, Yoo, Yang, and mid-level tone (33) merging between DL23 and C23. The researcher collected data from 30 language informants who were divided into 3 groups of 10 people, the groups were of the elder, the adult and the adolescent. The result shows that, in case of lexical variation, the frequency of using old words in Thai dialect in Yala tend to be reduced gradually from the elder group to adult group and adolescent group. Meanwhile, Malay dialect and Thai standard language variation forms have abruptly increased. Besides, the significant changing process of Thai dialect in Yala is the interdialect form usage which has merged between old words and Malay dialect. In case of phonological variation, it reveals that mid-rising-falling tone (343) of the words “Ya, Yang, Yen, Yuen, Yuem, Yoo, Yang” and mid-level tone (33) in merging range (DL23 and C23) are varied by age levels of language informants. It can be concluded that Thai dialect in Yala has been affecting the language variation process in a convergent way towards Malay dialect and Thai standard.