Description:
Abstract
The objective of this investigation is to study the phonology, syllabic structures, and
consonantal, vocalic and tonal phonemes of Kachin as spoken in northern Thailand by
using Phonemics of Pike (1947) to analyze the language. The data collection is based on
766 lexical items from the SIL Southeast Asian and African Wordlists. The findings reveal
that there are 24 consonantal phonemes, nine of which can occur word-finally, ten
monophthongs without diphthongs, and five tones. The tones are acoustically analyzed by
using the Praat Program to find out their fundamental frequencies and tone contours. The
article also discusses minor syllables and compares the findings with those of Kurabe
(2014), who investigated Standard Jingpho in Myanmar.