2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Phonetic and phonemic study of Kui language spoken in Northeastern Thailand
| Project/Area Number |
15520246
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Linguistics
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| Research Institution | TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES |
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Principal Investigator |
MINEGISHI Makoto Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Professor, アジア・アフリカ言語文化研究所, 教授 (20190712)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
MASUKO Yukie Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Associate Professor, 外国語学部, 助教授 (00212209)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2004
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| Keywords | Kui language / phonetics / phonology / Sociolinguistics / multilingualism / Thai language / Northeastern Thai / breathy vowel |
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| Research Abstract |
The aim of this research project is to conduct phonetic and phonemic analysis of Kui language, one of Mon-Khmer languages spoken in Surin province of Thailand. One of characteristics of the Mon-Khmer languages of Austroasiatic language family is that the existence of the phonemic contrast based on phonation type found in some languages of the family.
In order to examine the phonetic properties of breathy and normal phonation contrast Kuy syllables are digitally recorded with a DAT recorder and analyzed.
In addition, field work was conducted for interviewing a few number of teachers and pupils of schools to survey the situation of multi-lingualism in Sankha district, Surin province. In the area, Thai, Laotian dialect, Northern Khmer are used in addition to Kui. According to the survey, both teachers and pupils have a positive attitude in using local languages such as Kui and northern Khmer, though teaching materials are written in Thai only, therefore, young people are almost all in full command of the national language. The data, which were collected from 192 people in the area in terms of a questionnaire, shows clearly that young pupils (under 15) in general are in good command of Thai, that Kui native speakers are also good at Khmer and Lao, as compared with Khmer native speakers who are less good at Kui or Lao, and Lao native speakers who are not good at Kui nor Khmer.
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