r2d2 wrote:DonSena wrote: Then there are these sets of two, in which all are voiceless:
ค/kh/ and ก/k/; and
ช/ch/ and จ/c/.
DonSena, give me a chance to clarify a since-long-burning-question at this place:
The ko kai as in gung:
Is the English /g/ voiced whereas the (initial) กอ ไก่ is voiceless?
Let's take e.g. gas and แก๊ส as a pair to clarify the question of a difference.
กอ ไก่ is indeed voiceless. It is voiceless unaspirated, as is the 'k' in English 'skill.' The 'k' in 'kill', on the other hand, is voiceless aspirated. While in English [k] and [kh] are in complementary distribution -- where the one occurs, the other doesn't; and vice-versa -- /k/ and /kh/ in Thai are not determined. Substituting /k/ for /kh/ in Thai results in either a totally different word or in a non-word.
ข้าว /khaa^w/ 'food, rice' and ก้าว /kaa^w/ 'advance, go ahead'; and ขี่ /kh`ii/ 'to ride' and กี่ /k`ii/ 'how many?' for instance. Aspiration of the voiceless initial stop -- "p, t, k" -- is a distinctive feature in Thai, while in English it is not.
The voiced 'g' never occurs in initial position in Thai, and only infrequently in final position. After a long falling tone, a voiced 'g' may sometimes be heard, but the learner of Thai needn't be concerned over such occurrences. I'm not.
Some of the confusion comes when native Thai speakers learning English try to approximate English (voiced) 'g' with the Thai voiceless unaspirated กอ ไก่. Thai, for all practical purposes, does not include a voiced velar stop like 'g'.
On the flip side, English speakers learning Thia for the first time may try to learn the unaspirated palatal affricate จ /c/ using English 'J' to approximate the sound. English 'J' is voiced, and Thai has no sound equivalent to our 'J'. จ/c/ is simply the unaspirtaed counterpart of ช/ch/; both จ /c/ and ช/ch/ are voiceless.
Minimal pairs like จิง /cing/, ชิง /ching/ and จาม /caam/, ชาม /chaam/ show that จ /c/ and ช/ch/ are phonemically (as well as phonetically) distinct, and that the pronunciation difference is important.
Voiceless .....................Voiced
Unaspirated ... Aspirated
ก ................. ค ........... - - -
ต ................ ท ........... ด
ป ................ พ ........... บ
จ ................. ช ........... - - -
