Title : Phonological Variation in Phuan

Author(s) : Phinnarat Akharawatthanakun

Pages : 50-87

Abstract in English : The aim of this paper is to present the phonological variation in Phuan, part of the author�s research. The Phuan language studied in this research project is spoken in Fay Mun village, Pa Kha sub-district, Tha Wang Pha district, Nan province. The findings show that phonological variation in Phuan occurs in all age-groups. The initial consonants /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/ have variants [pʰ-p, tʰ-t, kʰ-k-x] respectively. This variation is found mostly in the middle age and the younger groups. The initial consonant /s/ is pronounced as [s], [cʰ] and [c] while the initial /h/ is pronounced as [h] and [l] in Phuan. These two cases of variation are mostly found in the younger age-group. Concerning the final consonants in Phuan, only one case of variation is found, that is the final consonant /ʔ/ occurring in dead syllables with long vowels (CVːʔ). It is pronounced as [ʔ] or [k] by all three age-groups but the younger group use the variant [k] more than the other two groups. As for the vowels, it is found that the diphthong /iə/ has three variants [iə, ɨə, əː] while /uə/ has two variants [uə, oː]. The vowel /əː/, uniquely found in Phuan, is also in the process of change, i.e. it has two variants: [əː] and [ay]. The variation in both consonants and vowels has been influenced by Kam Mueang/Nyuan, Standard Thai, and Lue via Kam Mueang/Nyuan loanwords. The tonal variation is another interesting phenomenon in Phuan. There are six tones in Phuan and the research findings show that Tone 1 /Low-Rising/ is pronounced as [Low-Rising] by both elder and middle-age groups but consistently as [Low-Falling] by the younger-age group. The other two tones which seem to have variation, though not as clearly as in the case of Tone 1, is that the younger-age group tends to pronounce Tone 2 /Mid-Rising/ as [Low-Rising] and all three age-groups pronounce Tone 6 /High-Falling with glottalization/ in some lexical items as [Mid Level with glottalization]. The variation of Tone 1 is hypothesized to be induced by an internal factor, i.e. tonal simplification, and the variation of Tones 2 and 6 are influenced by Kam Mueang/Nyuan.