ศาลาชุมนุม

[JingJo Thames]

สวัสดีครับ

Just a musing of mine.

I have on occasion heard young Thai people use a perceived "over-pronunciation" of words such as ไหว (so that the ว sounds akin to an English 'v', instead of the approximate "w" that is standard) for comedic effect. I have also heard a Thai professor from Chiang Mai - who was very actively aware and proud of her Northern Thai heritage and spoke Kammeuang quite often - who routinely pronounced ว in this manner (as a sort of "v").

I am wondering now if what the sociolinguistic connotations/understandings of this pronunciation are. Any comments, elucidations, or anecdotes are welcome.

โจ้

[Rick Bradford]

I read somewhere that one or more of the rural Lao dialects routinely pronounce 'w' as 'v', can't lay my hands on the source at the moment.

(Side note: Vietnamese has a 'v' sound but no 'w', so the Lao capital is known in Vietnamese as 'Vieng Chan'.)

[JingJo Thames]

Then perhaps it is a regionalism and as simple as that.

Thanks for the reply ^_^

[John G]

There is also a 'v' like 'w' sound that is sometimes characteristic of individual Thai speakers. It is called a bilabial fricative. Bilabial like 'w'; fricative like 'v'. You might want to pay attention to whether what you are hearing is a real 'v' with labio-dental articulation (lower lip between the teeth) or bilabial, made with both lips in close proximity to each other.

Is Jimmy Harris still around? An ex-Marine Corps phonetician, the Henry Higgins of the Mae Khong. He might tell us stories of individuals and villages with this pronunciation and a hundred variants of it.

[jariya76]

I hear a lot of free variation between [v] and [w] among my Thai Isaan friends. One in particular whose name is Waan. Half the time she calls herself Waan and the rest of the time Vaan.

[JingJo Thames]

There is also a 'v' like 'w' sound that is sometimes characteristic of individual Thai speakers. It is called a bilabial fricative. Bilabial like 'w'; fricative like 'v'. You might want to pay attention to whether what you are hearing is a real 'v' with labio-dental articulation (lower lip between the teeth) or bilabial, made with both lips in close proximity to each other.

It is most likely the latter, the bilabial fricative as the sound varies between a full "w" and an approximation of an English "v". I believe it is a regional and personal speech characteristic.

Thank you all for your feedback! I can assume, then, that the younger generation overpronounce this sound for comedic effect.