A Comparative Sound Correspondence: The Study Of Tai Khün In Kengtung And Chiang Mai

Abstract

This study aims to compare the sound correspondence of Tai Khün language in Kengtung, The Republic of the union of Myanmar with that in Chiang Mai province, Thailand. The data collection of Tai Khün took place at Banyangkeng, Kengtung and Bantonhaenluang, Sanpatong district. 1,200 words were elicited by asking 4 informants who were 50-60 years old. The consonant sounds, the vowel sounds and tones are classified based on differences found between the two regions.

The study found that there are two kinds of sound correspondences, which are the same sound correspondence and the different sound correspondence. Each of the kinds are composed of 3 categories, which are the sound correspondence of initial consonants, the sound correspondence of initial consonant clusters, and the sound correspondence of final consonants.

Vowel sound correspondences include the same vowel sound correspondence, which has 18 sounds, and different vowel sound correspondence, which has 2 categories. The first category includes the same single vowel sounds with different phonemes. The second category includes single vowel sounds from one language and gliding vowel sounds from the other language. For Kengtung and Chiang Mai tone correspondences are both identical and share some similarities.