Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to study some phonetic and phonological aspects of Laophuan spoken at Ban Maapplakhao (Muban 1, 2, 3, 4) Tambon Maapplakhao, Amphur Tayang, Petchburi Province.The emphasis is on tonal variations and variant consonants and vowels in the speech of Laophuan speakers of different age groups. To achieve this goal the researcher collected data by interviewing 31 informants, 16 females and 15 males selected as representatives of all Laophuan speakers who had been divided into 4 major groups according to age. Group 1 is above 60 years of age, group 2 ranges from 45-59, group 3 from 30-44 and group 4 from 15-29. The results of this research show that there are no significant phonological differences in the speech of Laophuan speakers of different age groups. The phonological inventory consists of 5 tonemes, 20 consonant phonemes and 18 vowel phonemes. However, there are some phonetic variants caused by the influence of Petchburi Thai and Bangkok Thai. Among all age groups there is a tendency for the Laophuan tone of short checked syllables in DS 123 tonal categories to shift to that of Petchburi Thai and Laophuan tone in DS 4 tonal category to shift to that of Bangkok Thai, resulting in three addidional tone shapes. Among the 30-44 age group the Phuan tone of DS 123 tonal categories has merged with that of DL 123. There is also a tendency among all age groups for some consonants and vowels to be influenced by Thai. Variation in consonants and vowels occurs in some words, especially the initial consonants h-, л-, s-, kw-, and between the dipthongs [ε :u] and [iau] and [ε :u] and [e:u] . The rate of variation in the aforementioned sounds varies according to age group. Older speakers, particularly those above 60 years, use predominantly Laophuan pronunciation while younger ones, particularly those between 15-29 years use predominantly Thai pronunciation.