Interesting article and set of videos too, even if I had to google some of the lingo (not being a cunning linguist
)..
Coincidentally (or not) thaiz are excellent at "accent identification" even when both speakers are speaking Central Thai (the government approved version of thai).
Two thaiz who've never met will interact in Central Thai for a few minutes and based just on a short conversation both will know where the other person is from (or grew up), sometimes down to the amphur in a specific province!
That's why when I meet foreigners who say, "I wanna speak thai with a thai accent." I always ask, "Yeah, which one?"..
People from Bangkok (especially ones born here, not just re-located) speak with that almost
ดัดจริต pretentious accent. Ones from the South speak in that sing-songy, choppy way (almost biting back the words). Ones from the west (Kanchanaburi, Suphanburi way) have that "western drawl" to their speech. Ones from up North (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai) have a distinctive cadence and pronunciation to their Central Thai. Some areas have a definite "nasal twange" to their thai..
BUT, those are ALL thai accents..
It's also when I hear foreigners say "XXX foreigner speaks thai like a native speaker." I usually laugh in their face
.. I know MANY many foreigners who are super proficient thai speakers but even the likes of Andrew Biggs, Todd (Tong Dee) Lavelle, Adam Bradshaw & Daniel B Fraser sound like non-native adult learners/speakers of thai if you listen to them speaking. They don't fool a thai for a second (or at least not for more than a couple sentences), no matter how much praise the thaiz lavish on their speaking ability.
I agree with Tgeezer, IF thaiz spoke the version of unaffected or semi-accent-less thai that news casters, radio announcers learn to speak (not that they speak that way in normal life
) I think a LOT of foreigners would understand thai better
.
I met one of the famous women on a mindless morning talk show. On the show she speaks pretty darned clear central thai, however in real life her accent is definitely much more
ชนบท sounding. Even Benjawan Poomsan Becker (a bangkok born gurl) sounds like someone from Yasothon when she gets wound up and speaks fast (then again growing up in Yaso that's to be expected!
)