A Phonological Study of Khmer Dialect at Kadon Village and Nongyang Village in Buriram Province

Abstract

             The article “A phonological study of Khmer dialect at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province” aims 1) to study the consonant phoneme of the Khmer dialect at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province; 2) To study the vowel phoneme of the Khmer dialect at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province; 3) To study the syllable and phonological word of the Khmer dialect at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province and 4) To study the intonation group of the Khmer dialect at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province. This research is the qualitative research by interviewing 20 key informants from 2 villages who speak Khmer dialect in Buriram province. The collected data were analyzed in the descriptive statements.

             The results of the research are as follows:

1. 1. Khmer dialect spoken at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province has twenty-one consonant phonemes and all of them can occur in the initial position of the meaningful syllable. They are /p/, /t/, /k/, /?/, /p^h/, /t^h/, /k^h/, /b/, /d/, /ʤ/, /ʤ^h/, /s/, /h/, /m/, /n/, /ɲ/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/. Fourteen of them can occur as the final consonant. They are /p/, /t/, /k/, /?/, /ʤ/, /h/, /m/, /n/, /ɲ/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/. They are eleven consonant clusters /pl/, /pr/, /tr/, /kl/, /kr/, /p^hl/, /k^hl/, /k^hw/, /bl/, /br/, /hl/.
2. Khmer dialect spoken at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province has thirteen single short vowels: /i/, /ɩ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /ɯ/, /ə/, /ʌ/, /a/, /u/, /ɷ/, /o/, /ɔ/, /ɒ/ and fourteen single long vowels: /i:/, /ɩ:/, /e:/, /ɛ:/, /ɯ:/, /ɣ:/, /ə:/, /ʌ:/, /a:/, /u:/, /ɷ:/, /o:/, /ɔ:/, /ɒ:/. There are four diphthongs: /iə/, /i:ə/, /ɯə/, /uə/.
3. Khmer dialect spoken at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province has 2 types of syllable in Khmer dialect: major syllable and minor syllable. There are 2 classes of syllable: nuclear syllable and peripheral syllable.

          4. Khmer dialect spoken at Kadon village and Nongyang village in Buriram province has 3 level tones, namely 1) Low-Falling tone was used in the affirmative sentence, negative sentence, question, explanation, the short response and the general statements. 2) High-Rising tone was used in the question sentence without the word "what" at the end of the text. The expression of the text is not complete, the complete stream and additional explanations. 3) Rising-Falling tone was used in the invitation message, impress, and the question sentence without the word "what" at the end of the text and in general text that often has the word "ner" at the end.