Quote:
Originally Posted by Smtchll
Maybe monosyllabic wasnt the right word, but choppy does describe the sound to me. Languages like Japanese and Malay have more flow because they're consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel
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LOL! I'm not sure "choppy" is quite the right description either. While Japanese and Malay (I don't know either one) may be consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel giving them more flow, I'm not so sure that necessarily means that Thai speech sounds like it has less flow. Thai uses consonants and vowels in the same fashion. Not identical, of course, because they're different languages.
Here are just a few examples:
Spaced to show syllables, although in speech they flow pretty smooth. (Unconventional spelling for the sake of pronunciation
)
Sah-nam-bin (airport)
Way-lah (time)
Sah-rah-boo-ree (name of a province and city)
Soo-khoh-thai (another province and city)
Rong-pai-yah-bahn (hospital)
Nah-lee-gah (watch or clock)
Guy-yang (Thai-style grilled chicken)
Moo-an-gan (Similar)
To be fair, there are some words that do sound a bit choppy though.
Spaced to show syllables, but the sound of each syllable often tends to be short and abrupt (choppy).
Khao-pat-moo (fried rice with pork)
Khao-mon-gai (a rice and chicken dish - yummy)
Mae-sai-yohn (April)
Dawk-mai (flower)
Yee-**** (Japan)
Sah-pah-roht (pineapple)
I do understand what you mean though. I kind of wonder if the choppiness of the sound is more related to the tones. High, low and mid tones can be distinct because of the vocal change they can make. Rising or falling tones sort of slide. I also wonder if tag words like Khrawp (or kop) and Kha might also lend a certain choppiness to the language.
In the video I posted, tones are used when they're speaking. Not sure if you can hear it or not though. But in the singing, tones are not apparent because it's music. That's an example of where you can use context to figure out what a person means.
If we compare syllables of Thai words to English words, while English tends to sound more smooth and flowing, it really isn't. It's because a native speaker is used to it. Most English words that have more than one syllable can also sound a bit choppy, in a way. Like I previously said, I think most of it depends on what your accustomed to. For someone who might not be that familiar with the Thai language very much, it's going to sound noticably different in a lot of different ways from that person's own native language. One big difference though, is that tones in English are usually to emphasize a word, whereas tones in Thai are actually part of a word. It might also be that the Thai could be saying two separate monosyllable words. Examples in English: Top hat, slow down, go right, big house, hot dog. Do those sound as choppy to you as they do to me?
Try saying these words slowly and you'll see what I mean:
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Syllable
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Choppy
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English
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Somebody
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Emphasis
I've been around Thais and the Thai language for more years than I can remember, and having been around it for so long, it doesn't sound so unusual to me. That's one factor. But I also know that it can indeed sound unusual to someone else. And I think it has to do with the degree of familiarity a person has with it. Apart from maybe not knowing what certain Thai words mean, hearing a difference in how it sounds could be related because all a person who doesn't know the language is bound to hear are sounds that have no particular meaning to a listener. You know the Thai is saying something, but have no idea what it is.