Page:Adapting and Writing Language Lessons.pdf/260

Rh ENGLISH (Trager and Smith's analysis)

[The high central vowel sound is very frequent in speech, but is only rarely in contrast with other English vowel sounds, and is therefore hard to illustrate for non-phoneticians.]

THAI (Symbols as in Yates and Tryon)

21. By far the most important difference between these two vowel systems is that in Thai the vowel is in full contrast with all other vowels, while in English the vowel  can almost always be replaced by some other vowel without a change of meaning. There are however certain noticeable differences between the Thai vowels and their closest English counterparts. (For details, see Noss, pp. 15-17.)