Theraphan
L-Thongkum, Chommanad Intajamornrak, Kanitha Phutthasatien, Yupaporn Huadsiri,
Supaporn Phalipat
Department
of Linguistics,
<theraphan.l@chula.ac.th>, <katechommanad@gmail.com>, <kanitha_p@hotmail.com>, <yupa_yim14@hotmail.com>, <jibjib59@hotmail.com>
A Synopsis of Mal Phonetics
The result of our literature
survey shows that an acoustic study of Mal, a Khmuic language, does not exist.
Funded by the Thailand Research Fund (2004-2007), acoustic studies of Mal were
made by the CU research team. The speech of three female speakers was recorded,
measured and analysed by computer programmes and tested by t-Test (p <
0.05). With regard to the acoustic characteristics of consonants, vowels and
tones, the following are our findings.
The
three types of
initial stops, i.e. bilabial, alveolar and velar, can be identified using the
Locus Equation (LE) method. The distinct slopes and y-intercepts of the linear
equation can characterize the place of articulation. However, using the slope
value seems to be more effective in identifying the place of articulation than
the y-intercept value. Velar stops have the highest slope, while the lowest
slope occurs in alveolar stops
The distinction between the
average duration of short and long vowels is statistically significant. The
ratio of duration for long-to-short vowels is 2:1. First formant (F1) is the
cue to distinguish short and long vowels, while second formant (F2) can be used
as the cue for the back vowel. The vowel space of short vowels is smaller than
that of their long counterparts but the variation within the space of each
short vowel is more dispersed. The variation of each vowel in the vowel space
does not depend on vowel inventory size.
Vowels following voiceless
initial stops and sonorants have a higher fundamental frequency (F0) value than
those following the voiced ones and the F0 difference is statistically
significant. In brief, the phonation type of initial stop and sonorant has an
influence on the F0 value of the following vowel.
Some Mal varieties have
become tonal languages with two tones, i.e. /high/ vs. /low/. Contact with the
northern Thai dialect (Kham Mueang) seems to have been the cause of tonal birth
in Mal not internal factors (e.g. sound change, etc.).