Secret language of the Thai blind

Abstract

The purposes of this thesis are to analyze the phonological patterns of the secret language used by the Thai blind, to find out in which grammatical categories the phonological patterns occur and to study the motivation for the use of the secret language. The Thai blind modify standard Thai through the use of the secret sound patterns to substitute for their loss of non-verbal communication. There are six sound patterns as follows: (1) The insertion of phonological segments in between the onset and rhyme of the source syllable (e.g. /kha?câ:w/ = /khâ:w/), "rice" (2) Shuffling of syllable parts (e.g /linkor)/ = /kin/ eat"), (3) Shuffling of syllable parts with more complex phonological rules (e.g. /Iaè:kù:/=/kaè:/"old"), (4) Replacing the rhyme of the source syllables with the/a:/sound (e.g. /ma:/ = /mia/ "wife"), (5) Replacing the rhyme of the source syllables with the /o:/ sound (e.g./co:no:tho:/ = /câ:wna:thi:/ "staff member"), and (6) Mixing type (e.g. /phâ?câ:/ = /phùa/ "husband"). In terms of syntactic occurrences, words of the secret sound patterns usually appear in the position of content words, including nouns, verbs, and adverbs. Function words such as prepositions, conjunctions and particles always take their original forms in the blind language. Concerning the application of the secret language, there are three motivations behind the use of the secret sound patterns of the Thai blind: (1) to conceal their secrets from outsiders, (2) to create euphemisms, and (3) to show the group's solidarity.