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Abstract
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The main
purpose of this thesis is to investigate and compare the phonological
characteristics of Lao dialects spoken by the descendents of people captured
from Loas living in Amphoe Muang, Nakhon Pathom. The Lao dialects taken up in
this study are Lao Song, Lao Khrang, Lao Tai, and Lao Wiang. Studying these
dialects, the researcher analysed tones, consonants and vowels in each
dialect and compared them to the standard Thai, in order to find out their
similarities and differences. The phonological analyses were based on the linguistic
data collected from fifteen informants selected as representatives of Lao
speakers in Amphoe Muang, Nakhon Pathom. The results of this thesis showed
that there exist both similarities and differences between the dialects.
First of all, while the tones in Lao Tai and Lao Wiang are phonetically
similar, they are clearly different from Lao Song and Lao Khrang. Secondly,
while Lao Song, Lao Tai and Lao Wiang each have six tonemes, there are only
five in Lao Khrang. They are similar in that the consonant phonemes and all
eighteen vowel phonemes in all dialects are phonetically similar. However,
Lao Khrang, Lao Tai and Lao Wiang all have twenty consonant phonemes and no
consonant clusters whereas Lao Song has nineteen consonant phonemes and three
consonant clusters. Lao Song further differs in that it has fifteen
diphthongs as opposed to the fourteen in the other three dialects. They are
all, however, similar in each containing three triphthongs. In conclusion,
the tones in all the above mentioned dialects differ from those in the
standard thai but the consonants and vowels display certain similarities.
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