การแปรของ (kh) ในภาษาไทยกรุงเทพฯ ตามสัทบริบทและอายุของผู้พูด / สุนทรี เฉลิมแสนยากร = Variation of (kh) in Bangkok Thai by phonetic environments and speakers' age / Suntaree Chalermsanyakorn
This study investigates variation of (kh) in Bangkok Thai by some linguistic variables and a social variables. The linguistic variables studied are stress and three sets of following segments: consonant and vowel, front vowel and back vowel, and high vowel and low vowel. The social variable studied is age: the young group (15-25 years old) and the old group (40 years old and over). There are 5 hypotheses: 1) (kh) in Bangkok Thai has 2 variants - [kh] and [kxh]; 2) [kxh] occurs in strong syllables more frequently than in weak syllables; 3) [kxh] occurs when followed by vowels more frequently than when followed by consonants; 4) [kxh] occurs when followed by the back vowel more frequently than when followed by the front vowel, and when followed by the high vowel than when followed by the low vowel; and 5) [kxh] occurs in the speech of the young group more frequently than in the old group. The front vowel is represented by /i/, the back vowel and the high vowel by /u/, and the low vowel by /c/. The data of this research came from television mini series in the speech of 40 actors and actresses selected according to the set criteria. The results of the analysis show that there are 2 variants of (kh) in Bangkok Thai: [kh] and [kxh]. The standard variant [kh] is used more often than [kxh] in almost all contexts. It is found that the front vowel is the most important variable that influences the occurrence of [kxh], followed by the variables stress and age. The occurrence of [kxh] equals [kh] when followed by the front vowel in the speech of the young group. This research shows that linguistic context is the variable that should be investigated together with the social variables. Variation of (kh) as found in this study is at the indicator phase.
