I'm a litle confused as to when a set of double consonents in a word is spoken as a combination sound or with a short vowel between them.

Eg.

เครื่องบิน - kreung bin - aeroplane

The คร is a combination sound kor + ror = kror.

นายกรัฐมนตรี - nayok rutamondtree - prime minister

The ฐม gets a small "a as in hat" sound but ตร becomes a combination sound.

Are there any rules as to consonents that can be combined? Or is it one of those learn as you go situations? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanx heaps,

Soundman.

Yes, there are rules for them.

A set of double consonants you said, in Thai grammar it's called อักษรควบ (cluster).

There are two kinds of cluster, real and unreal cluster.

For the real cluster, you have to pronounce both sounds of the consonant. e.g. ครั้ง, ครอบ, กราบ, ตรวจ, etc.

For unreal cluster, it's pronounced only the first consonant . e.g. ศรี, สร้าง, จริง, etc. Or change the sound of the cluster to be another sound such as ทรง, ทราม, ทรุด, etc.

There are only 3 consonants which can be combined with other consonant and become a cluster. They are ร, ล and ว.

As for how to pronounce the word, first you have to consider at the vowel. If the consonants are in the same vowel then you have to pronounce it as a cluster.

From your example, เครื่อง , คร are within the vowel เอือ, so, there is no other way you can pronounce it differently from this.

ตรี, ต and ร are cluster and share the same vowel อี. So, you have to pronounce it as one syllable.

For other example;

นที , ท can't be a consonant cluster. So, it's impossible to read it as a cluster with one syllble. You have to pronounce it in two syllables 'na-tee'

However, every rules has exception. So, you might find some words can't be considerd the same.

นายกรัฐมนตรี, this word is a combination of three words, นายก + รัฐ + มนตรี. There are rules to read this kind of word but it's too complicated to explain in short.

Thank you very much for that K. Yoot.

Much easier to understand after reading your post. (A great argument for a Thai teacher that speaks fluent English! )

My everyday Thai teachers are my office staff & they don't speak thirty words of English between them. So to ask complex questions, like my post, all I receive is a blank look, or something scrawled out on paper that takes me half an hour to decipher.

Once again - thanx.

Soundman.