Thai Interference and Remediation

8/13/2019 Thai Interference and Remediation

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Thai Interference and Remediation Chris Khonngam 1

Thai Speakers of English: Interference and Remediation

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has been compulsory at all levels of Thai education

since 1996, and yet proficiency pales in comparison to other countries such as Malaysia and The

Philippines (Varasarin, 2007, p. 14). Critics point to students use of Thai sounds and speech

patterns when speaking Standard American English (SAE) as a cause for concern, a consequence

of curricular inattention to speaking skills, poor modeling from Thai teachers lacking in

phonology training, and reliance on a convoluted system of transliteration in lieu of phonetic

teaching of the English alphabet (Wei & Zhou, 2002).

Interference issues are identified with six representative problems selected for

remediation: (1) Sounds absent from Thai- remediating [t] substitution for [] via repetition of

minimal pairs; (2) Phonemes with differing pronunciation- distinguishing [l] / [r] using minimal

pairs in Thai with SAE homophones; (3) Phonemes with disparate distribution- repairing

replacement of final [l] for [n] through communicative use of SAE words starting and ending

with [l]; (4) Stress interference- remediating habitual stress by relearning pronunciation of

multisyllabic borrowed words; and (5) Intonation interference- repairing overgeneralization of

SAE rising tone for questions using a collaborative question-answer dialog game.

Phonemic Analysis

Thai Consonants

The establishment of Thai script is attributed to King Ramkhamhaeng the Great in 1283.

It is a unique writing system adapted from on Old Khmer which has roots in the Brahmic script

of India (Thai Language, n.d.). The Thai alphabet has 44 consonants representing 21 distinct

sounds (see Table 1). Duplicate consonants correspond to phonemes in Old Thai which have

evolved into allophones or characters retained to reflect original Sanskrit and Pali spellings.Consonants belong to any of three classes indicative of the historical phonology, influencing

intonation (Thai Alphabet, n.d.). As Thai phonemically distinguishes between aspirated and

unaspirated consonants, IPA aspiration markings [] are provided. Not all Thai consonants


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appear in final position, but those that do often have differing pronunciation and are typically

unreleased as indicated with IPA [] markings (Becker, 2009).

Table 1: Thai Consonants

Articulation Thai Initial(IPA)

Final(IPA)

Plosives [p] [p] [p] [p] [b] [p] [t] [t] [t] [t] [d] [t]

[k] [k] [kh] [k] []

Affricate [t] [t] [t] [t]

Fricative [f] [p] [s] [t] [h]Nasal [m] [m] [n] [n] [] []

Liquid [l] [n] [r] [n]

Glide [w] [w] [y] [y]

Aspiration differentiation of Thai consonants is a source of confusion for speakers of

languages that lack phonemic distinction, such as English. This is evident in the ineffective

system of transcribing Thai using Latin letters, for which no standard has emerged. is often

written bpand as dt reflecting theirunaspirated features in contrast to English p and t. is


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often written j andas g even though they are unvoiced. And it is evident that in order to

distinguish it from its unaspirated partner, is written th as in the spelling Thai.

Thai Vowels

There are more than twenty symbols to indicate Thai vowels and they may be positioned

above, below, before, or after the initial consonant(s) (Thai Alphabet, n.d.). In order to focus

on contrastive analysis, an abridged list of Thai vowels corresponding to SAE vowels is provided

in Table 2 (Becker, 2009). Where no equivalent exists the most probable substitute is indicated

(Silpachai, 2011).

Table 2: Thai Vowels Corresponding to SAE

English

(IPA)

Thai

Long Vowels

Thai

Short Vowels

[i] [] substitute with [i]

[e] []

[] substitute with []

[a]

[] substitute with [a]

[] [o]

[] substitute with [u]

[u]

Diphthongs

[ay]

[y] [aw]


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While some NAE vowels have a certain amount of glide, e.g. [iy ey ow uw] (Celce-

Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 2010, p. 451), their Thai equivalents do not have this quality as

Thai only makes use of true diphthongs (Varasarin, 2007).

Interference Analysis

1. Phonemes absent from Thai

Table 2 identifies four SAE vowels absent in Thai [ ] and their likely substitutes.

The subsequent Table 3 lists missing consonant phonemes and their predicted substitutions

(Briere & Chiachanpong, 1980; Varasarin, 2007; Wei & Zhou, 2002).

Table 3: Thai Substitution of unique phonemes

English Phoneme

(IPA)

Thai Substitution

(IPA)

[] [t]

[] [d]

[] [t]

[] [t]

[d] [t]

[v] [f]

[z] [s]

2. Phonemes with differing pronunciation

SAE diphthongized vowels [iy ey ow uw] have no glide in their monophthong Thai

equivalents as typically transcribed. However, the sounds can recreated as true diphthongs if

explicitly written as such in Thai Script:

[r] / [l] discrimination

is pronounced as an alveolar trill [r] comparable to SAE when not produced as a

prevocalic alveolar approximant (Celce-Murcia, et. al., 2010, p. 452). Interference is not a

concern as trilled and approximant [r] are allophones of the same phoneme in SAE. The source


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of confusion lies in interference from Thai regional dialects that differ from Standard (Central)

Thai in the realization of [r], whereby it is produced as an alveolar flap [] or alveolar lateral [l]

or is omitted altogether (Briere & Chiachanpong, 1980; Varasarin, 2007).

3. Phonemes with disparate distribution

Consonants in final position

As indicated in Table 1, Thai has only 8 consonant sounds in final position [p t k m n w

y], and all of the plosives are unaspirated. An anticipated zone of interference is the unaspirated

pronunciation of all plosives in final position. Biere and Chiachanpong (1980) accurately

predicted that while [f s] do not appear in final position in Thai, speakers will invoke Thai

equivalents (albeit unvoiced). Researchers have also projected transfer of the Thai phonemic rule

changing [r] and [l] to [n] in final position (Varasarin, 2007, p. 15). Evidence of

overgeneralization is clear in the borrowed word for bill which is pronounced [bin]. Thais

have difficulty hearing SAE [l] in final position, and according to Yangklang (2006) may

substitute approximate consonants with similar distribution in Thai such as [w y]. English

invokes a velarized [] syllable-finally (Celce-Murcia, et. al., 2010, p. 84), which is another

source of confusion as no Thai equivalent exists. Voiced consonants in final position are often

omitted or pronounced as a glottal stop [] resulting in the words fine find file all being

pronounced the same (Varasarin, 2007; Wei & Zhou, 2002; Yangklang, 2006) and can lead to

grammatical errors, such as saying He go instead of He goes (Thep-Ackrapong, 2005).

Consonant clusters

While Thai lexicon includes some consonant clusters, such as [pl] and [kr], the second

consonant is often deleted in common speech, resulting in [pla] fishbeing pronounced

[pa] (Kuehn, 2012). The [r] in the borrowed word for crepe, is omitted or reduced to a flap

[khep]. In consonant clusters where it occupies the second position,is often silent, therefore

the world for truthis not pronounced as written [tri] butrather pronounced correctly

[ti]. Vowel epenthesis is a common feature in Thai consonant groups according to Marie-

Hlne Brown in her now out-of-print text,Reading and Writing Thai(cited in: Slayden, 2008).


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Clusters with a sonorant second consonant invoke an inherent [a], thus the word for fun

is pronounced with the syllabic vowel [a] inserted after the first character, resulting in

resyllabification: [sanuk]. If the two consonants in the cluster belong to the same syllable, an

inherent [o] is inserted. Take for instance the word for candywhich appears to have no

vowels but is pronounced with an invoked [a] in the first syllable and an invoked [o] in the

second syllable: [kanom]. The dearth of true consonant clusters in Thai language causes some to

simply drop trailing consonants in English as an avoidance tactic (Wei & Zhou, 2002, p. 5).

4. Stress Interference

Thai is an analytic S-V-0 language with no bound morphemes, and with the exception of

borrowed and compound-words is primarily monosyllabic (Thep-Ackrapong, 2005). The rule in

Thai is even stress on every word and to always stress the final syllable (Becker, 2009).

Transference of this rule is revealed in the pronunciation of words borrowed from English:

COMPUter is pronounced compuTER. BASKETball is pronounced basketBAN (note the change

from [l] to [n]). DOLLer is pronounced dollA (with the [r] omitted).

5. Intonation Interference

Thai is a tonal language, realized in the vowels. There are four tones in addition to the

monotone or mid range: high, low, rising, falling (Smyth, 2003). Unlike English, Thai does not

use pitch to indicate prominence as is typically illustrated in yes/no questions (Celce-Murcia, et.

al., 2010, p. 237). Thais will often overgeneralize this rule(Wei & Zhou, 2002) and use a rising

tone with w-questions and closed-choice-or questions resulting in the following errors:

WHATS YOURNAME?

HOW AREYOU?

DO YOU WANTWATER ORTEA?

The effect combines with Thai stress tendency to create ambiguous non-question statements:

THIS IS MYcompuTER

I LIVE IN ANapartMENT


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Remediation

What follows are remediation techniques for sample problems taken from each of the six

identified areas of interference.

Activity 1. Phonemes absent from Thai: repairing [t] substitution for []

1). As a warm up and to establish context, ask students about situations where quiet is

enforced. Possible answers include: a test, the hospital, the library, etc.

2). Show a video of patrons being quieted in a library, e.g. Mr. Bean Visits the Library.

3). Ask students: how do Americans say be quiet?Prompt for the response: ssssh.

4). Present shaping approaches to learning []. Instruct students to:

Elongate [t] by maintaining airflow and holding the tongue and jaw still. Say [s] and pucker the lips and move the tongue back until you hear [].5). Have students practice telling each other to be quiet.

6). Help students distinguish between [t] and [] using a minimal pairs exercise:

Introduce the words chin and shin. Students take turns reading from the list of

minimal pairs in Table 4. Upon hearing initial [t] they touch their chin. Hearing initial [] they

touch their shin. Note: the teacher may alter the word pattern to reduce predictability.

Table 4: [t] / [] minimal pairs

chair/share cheese/shes

chi/she chip/ship

cheap/sheep chew/shoe

cheer/shear chop/shop

cheat/sheet chore/shore

7). Have the students practice the following tongue-twister:

She sells seashells by the seashore.

The shells she sells are surely seashells.

So if she sells shells on the seashore.

Im sure she sells seashore shells.


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Activity 2. Phonemes with differing pronunciation: [r] / [l] discrimination

The problem here lies not with unfamiliarity as experienced by much of Asia, but rather

with habitual reduction and omission more akin to Boston or London. This exercise leverages the

distinction of [r] / [l] in Standard Thai by practicing rhotic [r] in minimal pairs using native

language. Samples were selected for commonality in tone as well as phonemic features. IPA

pronunciation and English definitions are provided for those unfamiliar with Thai.

1). Write the Thai symbols and their IPA designation on the board:

[r] [l]

2). Model the words in Table 5 for students to repeat. The teacher may provide Thai

script on cue cards or a computer screen to reinforce the native pronunciation pattern.

Table 5: [r] / [l] minimal pairs in Thai

Thai [r] IPA definition Thai [l] IPA definition

[ra] mold [la] donkey [ray] person [lay] design [rt] bind [lt] shortcut [rp ] seize [lp ] apart [rm] umbrella [lm] capsize [rp ] war [lp ] delete [r] wait [l ] handsome [r] assistant [l] try [rum] hit [lm] lowland [rt] slide [lt] lute

3). Reinforce the distinction by introducing English homophones for the Thai words:

Table 6: Homophones for Thai [ray] and [lay]

[ray] person [lay] designrye [ray] lye [lay]


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4). Transfer the practiced distinction to English by identifying the sounds practiced in

Table 5 as English homophones. Spellings may be shown on cue cards or a computer screen.

Table 7: [r] / [l] minimal pairs in English

English [r] IPA English [l] IPA

rye [ray] lye [lay]

rot [rat] lot [lat]

reap [rip] leap [lip]

roam [rom] loam [lom]

rope [rop] lope [lop]

raw [r] law [l]

wrong [r] long [l]

room [rum] loom [lum]root [rut] lute [lut]

Activity 3. Phonemes with disparate distribution: [l] in final position.

Thai speakers need to relearn not to replace [l] in final position with [n]. This is

accomplished by having students reduplicate [l] in English words where it appears in first and

final position. This is a phonic, not a lexical exercise.

Figure 1: Practicing [l]

Instructions: choose words to fill in the blanks to make an original story, then read

it to your partner. There are manypossible combinations.

legal loyal lawful

level lethal literal

local liberal logical

My __________ pal Laurel and I went to a _____________ store to buy

some _____________ goods. The label said it was ____________ but I dont

know if the shop was _____________ or if Laurel was ____________. So I

decided to be _____________ and leave rather than do something ____________.

I hope my pal Laurel doesnt think Imtoo _______________.


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Activity 4. Stress Interference: habitual ultimate stress.

To correct interference from habitual Thai stress on the ultimate syllable, English words

borrowed in Thai that have opposing SAE stress are relearned. This is predicted to produce

positive productive and affective outcomes.

1). Demonstrate voicing stress on syllables formatted in CAPS. Write on the board:

final stress initial stress medial stress

carTOON SANDwich comPUter

2). Form groups of 3-4 and distribute the word list in Table 8. The first student chooses

an item on the list and says: I bought (a)_______. The next student repeats and adds another

item to the list, e.g.: Ibought a computer and (a)_______. Continue until the list is exhausted.

3). Monitor production of non-ultimate stress and encourage peer feedback.

Table 8: Multisyllabic English words borrowed in Thai

aPARTment HELIcopter COOKies piAno

APple KEYboard COPies PING pong

BAloon LAser DInosuar PIZza

BASEball LEmon DISco POSter

BATtery LOtion DOnut PRINter

BURger RIBbon FRENCH fries TAXiCHRISTmas SEAfood NECKtie TRUMpet

HAMster SKATEboard PANda VOLLEYball

Activity 5. Intonation Interference: overgeneralization of rising tone.

1). Demonstrate to students the final rising tone of closed questions and final falling tone

of responses. Write on the board:

Q: Do you have a comPUter?

A: Yes, I HAVE a comPUter.

A: No, I DONT have a comPUter.

2). Confirm understanding by asking the question to random students. Provide feedback

on their stress patterns.


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Varasarin, P. (2007). An action research study of pronunciation training, language learning

strategies and speaking confidence. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), Victoria

University, Australia.

Wei, Y, & Zhou, Y. (2002). Insights into English pronunciation problems of Thai students.

(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED476746)

Yangklang, W (2006). Improving English final /-l/ pronunciation of Thai students through

computer assisted instruction program. (Unpublished masters dissertation), Suranaree

University of Technology, Thailand.

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Thai Interference and Remediation