Abstract:
The aim of this research is to study the mechanisms and patterns of speech reversing in Bangkok Thai, Northern Thai, Northeastern Thai and Southern Thai, by comparing the results of reversing 2-syllable, 3-syllable and 4-syllables devised utterances with those of "Khamphuan" or "reversed-speech" which is a type of traditional Thai language play. Data collection comprised two techniques. For general speech reversing, a number of utterances were devised. In devising these utterances, the phonological systems of the four Thai dialects were taken into account. Regarding data on "Khamphuan", the informants were asked to give some of the examples of which they knew or had experience in playing themselves. Ten informants were selected for each of the four Thai dialects, altogether there were 40 informants. Each of them was asked to reverse 50 utterances. Totally, 2000 utterances comprising both types of speech reversing were collected and analyzed. The results showed that the speakers of the four Thai dialects used not only the same mechanism for both types of speech reversing, i.e., the rearrangement of syllable components, but also the same three patterns: rhyme and tone interchange, only rhyme interchange, and rhyme interchange with an addition of tone or vowel-length change. Number of syllables in the devised utterances and also in "Khamphuan" had no influence on the selection of patterns. The findings neither supported nor rejected the previous arguments that tone should have been regarded as segmental, suprasegmental or autosegmental.