Variants of initial clusters with /r/ among Thai first-year undergraduate students : cross-linguistic influence and the markedness theory in setting up the level of difficulty in pronunciation

Abstract

The study aims to examine variants of initial clusters with /r/ among Thai first year undergraduate students, and to set up the level of difficulty. The theories that are used to form the hypothesis are Cross-Linguistic Influence and the Markedness Theory. The major hypothesis of this research is that clusters with Thai equivalents are assumed to be easier for learners, and the more marked clusters are likely to be more difficult. Therefore, based on the hypothesis, the level of difficulty is predicted. The data are collected from first year undergraduate students at Chulalongkorn University. The statistical method applied to prove the significant difference between the percentage of variants is the Chi-Square test. The hypotheses prove to be true to a certain extent. That is, the clusters that have the Thai equivalents are easier for learners. Moreover, the clusters that are more marked are harder to acquire than the less marked ones. The exception to the hypotheses is that the [thr] sound appears easier than expected. Thai learners can pronounce it as they can do [phr] and [khr]. In addition, the cluster /fr/ proves to be much easier than the clusters /br/ and /dr/, although non of these has Thai equivalents. Both phenomena can be explained by the sound class and binary features, and the influence of English loan words in the Thai language. That is, the clusters [thr] and /fr/ are easier for learners because in comparison with /dr/ and /br/, the number of English loan words beginning with [thr] and /fr/ is relatively high.