wasabi Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 ท่า port; harbor; wharf; pier; landing ถ้า if These both sound like Thaa with the falling tone to me. How can you tell them apart? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadish_sweetball Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 You are right. They are true homophones (sound exactly the same even to Thais). You tell them apart by the context only, which is easy since they are different word classes. There is no risk of confusion if you know Thai sentence structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neeranam Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Tell them apart from context or spelling. One may a bit longer than the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadish_sweetball Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 One may be a bit longer than the other. I think I know what you mean, but I also believe that is an effect due to the context. The one word that will typically sound a little longer than the other is ถ้า as in 'if', but this is probably due to the position of this word at the beginning of a sentence. When you want to emphasize the uncertainty of a statement, you will overdo the tone and perhaps slightly prolong the vowel sound. When it comes to "jetty, wharf, pier", it is most often used as a prefix in combinations: ท่าเรือ (insert name), and in these occasions will not be emphasized, as it is not the most important information in the sentence (the more important information being the name of the pier). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasabi Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 Thanks, this all makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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