TTLV: The transformation of Vietnamese in Ubonratchathanee province, Thailand

MASTER'S THESIS INFORMATION

1. Student's full name:SROYSUDA SUWANNA         

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: January 20, 1987

4. Place of birth: Thailand

5. Decision on recognition of students No. 2359/QD-XHNV-SDH; December 8, 2011 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

6. Changes in the training process:

7. Thesis topic name:The Transformation of Vietnamese in Ubonratchathanee Province, Thailand

8. Major: Linguistics Code: 60.22.02.40

9. Scientific instructor:Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Binh

10. Summary of thesis results:

The purpose of the survey was to study the lectal variation in Vietnamese in Ubonratchathanee Province, Thailand in terms of consonants and vowels and to explore the variation of Vietnamese in this region over generations, so that a provisional linguistic map of the languages ​​in the survey areas can be formed and described as well as to examine the process of language change in independent communities in general. Regarding segmental variation, a word list of 281 lexical items related to the languages ​​of the Viet-Muong branch was used to infer listening ability analysis data. Regarding tone variation, a set of typical words for six tones was used to provide data for analysis using the WINCECIL program.

The findings suggest that the TV groups are descended from two parent Vietnamese groups: the Northern Vietnamese (NV) and the Central Vietnamese (CV). NV descendants are found in a few isolated groups in the Northwest while CV are found throughout the region. For NV speakers, the alveolar-palatal fricative [ÿ§] is merged with the non-retractile [cs] and the trill [r] with the voiced alveolar fricative [z]. For CV speakers, the trill and trill remain distinct phonologically but the voiced alveolar fricative has merged with the palatal semivowel [j]. However, for most younger speakers, the voiced alveolar fricative has been replaced by the palatal semivowel in all contexts. This change may be due to pressure from the surrounding dominant language such as Thai, which does not have a voiced alveolar fricative in its phonological system, or to internal factors such as the unmarking of many accented sounds. The change of a sound further adds to the variation because departure from a standard is more easily accepted as Vietnamese in Thailand is seen as less dominant and has little economic or educational significance.

Regarding final consonants, the variation of the final consonant phoneme [-ø] is most obvious because this phonetic unit is a marked feature of Vietnamese and other Mon-Khmer languages ​​and in Southeast Asia is not confirmed in Chinese and Thai. Most older generation NV speakers still maintain the syllable-final phoneme, whereas the phoneme changes from [-N], [-n] to [-p] in younger generation NV and Lender speakers. For younger generation speakers, all these changes result in less marked regional linguistic forms in this syllable position. It has also been shown that Alves and Nguyen (1998) found that [-EN] may have been a form in early Vietnamese before it developed into [-aø] in modern Vietnamese.

Regarding the variation of vowels, it was discovered that the Vietnamese [-EN] subvocal, that is, [-aø] in modern Vietnamese, is still preserved. Another notable finding from this study is the preservation of monophthongs of diphthongs in modern Vietnamese.

These findings are consistent with the research hypothesis that older speakers maintain mild forms of the language, in contrast to the most common varieties in younger speakers. It has also been found that CV speakers have preserved many archaic forms of the language at the phonological and lexical levels. My findings are similar to those of Alves and Nguyen (1998) for Thanh Chuong Vietnamese in remote areas of central Vietnam.

11. Practical application:

12. Further research directions:

13. Published works related to the thesis:

INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS

1. Full name: SROYSUDA SUWANNA 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: January 20, 1987 4. Place of birth: Thailand

5. Admission decision number: 2359/QD-XHNV-SDH Date: December 8, 2011,of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

6. Changes in academic process:

7. Official thesis title: Variation of Vietnamese in Ubonratchathanee province of Thailand

8. Major: Linguistics 9. Code: 60.22.02.40

10. Supervisors: Ph.D. Nguyen Ngoc Binh

11. Summary of the findings of the thesis:

The object of this investigation has been to study lectal variation in Vietnamese in Ubonratchathanee province of Thailand, in regard to consonants and vowels, and to discover the variation of Vietnamese in this region across the three generations, so that a provisional linguistic atlas of the language in the areas of investigation could be profiled and described as well as to examine the processes of linguistic change in isolated communities in general. For segmental variation, a wordlist containing 281 lexical items relevant to languages ​​of the Viet-Muong branch was used to elicit the data for auditory analysis. As for to extract the data for instrumental analysis with the use of the WINCECIL Program.

The findings reveal that Thai Vietnamese (TV) is descended from two major subtypes of Vietnamese: Northern Vietnamese (NV) and Central Vietnamese (CV). NV is found in a few pockets in the northwest while CV type is found throughout the region. For NV speakers, alveolar-palatal retroflexes [ÿ §] are merged with the non-retroflex counterparts [cs] and trill [r] with voiced alveolar fricative [z]. As for CV speakers, retroflexion and trill remain distinct phonemic units but the voiced alveolar fricative is merged with the palatal semi-vowel [j]. However, for most young generation speakers, the voiced alveolar fricative is replaced by the palatal semi-vowel in all contexts.

Variation of the final consonant phoneme [-ø] is the most diverse since this phonetic

unit is a marked feature of Vietnamese and other languages ​​of the Mon-Khmer family. Most

older generation NV speakers have still maintain the phoneme syllable-finally, whereas the phoneme varies from [-ø], [-n] to [-p] for younger NV and CV speakers.

With respect to variation of vowels, it is found that the [-EN] sequence of Vietic, which is [-aø] in modern Vietnamese manifestation, is still preserved. Another remarkable finding from this study is the preservation of monophtongization of modern Vietnamese diphthongs.

The investigation also revealed that double closure of final consonants after back rounded vowels is still maintained among older generation speakers but completely dropped among younger speakers except a few of those with some Vietnamese education. The drop is relatively predictable since it is no longer phonemically significant. Without it, mutual intelligence is still possible. Many of these changes appear to be simple unmarkings of more marked areas of the parent phonological systems, but others defy such facile accounts.

12. Practical applicability, if any:

13. Further research directions, if any:

14. Thesis-related publications: