TONE VARIATIONS IF THE THAI DIALECT OF PHRA NAKHON SI AYUTTHAYA

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the tone system of Ayutthaya Thai spoken in Phra Nakorn Si Ayutthaya of 2 age group people in order to analyze the tendency of changes of it. In this research, monosyllabic words spoken in isolation were elicited from 32 participants who represent local speakers of Ayutthaya Thai spoken in the 16 Amphoes, 2 speakers who are 15 – 25 years old and 55 – 65 years old from each Amphoe. They were chosen according to a set of criteria. The study shows that age group is the social variable investigated in this study. It has influenced how they speak. The speakers who are 55 – 65 years old still use the same tone system while the speakers who are 15 – 25 years old use the variant tone system. Some of tones are not the same anymore. The younger the speakers are, the higher education they get. The standard variant is the best choice so they choose it in daily lives. The tendency of changes of Ayutthaya Thai spoken in Phra Nakorn Si Ayutthaya in the future will not be spoken like this. The tone system which 55-65-year-old people use will be disappeared and there will be no sub-dialect in Ayutthaya Thai spoken. In the future, Ayutthaya Thai spoken will be used the same tone system all 16 Amphoes.