An Acoustic Study of English and Thai Fricatives Produced by Thai Speakers

This paper explores the acoustic characteristics of English and Thai fricatives, uttered by native-Thai speakers. In the phonological systems, English has four pairs of voiceless-voiced fricatives, which appear initially, intervocalically, and finally. Thai, on the other hand, has only two initial voiceless fricatives. The results of this acoustic study revealed that the major acoustic cues of different English fricatives for L2 learners include (i) the shorter or longer frication durations, (ii) the variations in shapes and heights of the amplitude of fricatives due to different durations and positions of fricatives, (iii) the fundamental frequency (F0) of fricatives, and (iv) the voicing state. It is hoped that this study will shed light on to further acoustic and perceptual studies in L2 learning.