การศึกษาวรรณยุกต์เพื่อการจำแนกสำเนียงของภาษาไทยถิ่นบ้านลาด จังหวัดเพชรบุรี / ศุทธิมาส คำดี = A tonal study to differentiate Banlad accents of Petchaburi province / Suttimas Khumdee
This study investigates tonal variation in Central Thai at the level of tambon to find out the extent to which tonal analyis of connected speech could be used to distinguish the varieties at this level. Listening tests were earned out among the inhabitants of Amphoc Banlad, Pctchaburi province. The varieties spoken at tambon Rai Sathon and tambon Ban Than stood out as the most distinctive. Three male speakers 40-70 vcars old from each tambon were interviewed on general subjects for 3-5 hours by the researcher, who also comes from tambon Rai Sathon. At the end of the interview of each informant a tone checklist consisting of 10 words : /kaaA2, khaaA4, khaaBl, khaaCl, khaaC4, khaaAl, khatDSl. khatDS4, khaatDLl, khaatDL4/ were elicited using the cue card technique. Eight rounds of the checklist were recorded. The following types of syllables were selected from the connected speech data : prominently stressed syllables, stressed syllables, and unstressed syllables in monosyllabic as well as disyllabic words - live syllables in each type. These syllables together with live tokens of each word in the tone checklist were analysed using WinCECIL. Microsoft Excel Version 1997 was used to process the data and produce line graphs. A new method of tonal presentation is purposed in this study. The two varieties under study have six tones. The graphs show that fifth tone distinguishes the two varieties in all contexts; the third, the fourth, and the sixth tones in the majority of contexts; the first and the second tones only in some contexts. The position of the line graph of each tone in relationship to those of the other tones is also a factor that distinguishes the two varieties.
