The Variations, Quantification, and Generalizations of Standard Thai Tones

Abstract

Abstract Standard Thai has five distinctive phonological tones: mid (M), low (L), rising–falling (RF), high (H), and falling–rising (FR) (Abramson 1962; Naksakul 1998; Roengpitya 2001; Yip 2002). The phonetic shapes of these tones in citation form were presented by Abramson (1962, 1997). To illustrate the canonical shapes of the five tones in Thai in citation form, the fundamental frequency (f0) contour of each tone is plotted in real time, in Figure 17.1. The figure shows the five tones in Thai plotted on the same graph. The f0 contours of the five tones show what is regarded as the canonical shape in CVV words in citation form. Tingsabadh and Deeprasert (1997) found, however, that the tones in connected speech had different shapes from the ones in citation form. Gandour (1977) reported that tone shape influenced the duration of the vowel that the tone was superimposed on; vowels on low tones were longer than those on high tones. Saravari and Imai (1983) found that relative initial tone values as well as tonal contours were important for the perceptual differentiation of the tones. They also reported that short and long vowel duration seemed to be not only a cue for differentiating distinctive vowel length but also for identifying the tones.