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สวัสดีค่ะอาจารย์
ในหน้า 4-24 ตรงตารางบอว่า เสียงสระ อา เป็นสระกลาง (central vowels) แต่ในหน้า 4-25 เลียงสระ อา คือ สระหลัง (back vowels) จึงอยากรบกวนถามอาจารย์ว่า ที่ถูกคืออะไรค่ะ

Dear Khun Waraporn

I'm glad that you're a very good learner to have noticed the difference in the textbook and raised that question. But firstly I would have admitted that it is very, very difficult to explain you on this Forum Board, as well as 14320 Forum Board, as far as it involves IPA symbols.

While you're still waiting for any reply from Ajarn(s), I would like to give you some explanations from my own understanding, as follows:

- At this stage, I would like to you consider and remember that [ɑ], "script a" (เอ ตัวเขียน), is an open back unrounded while “a”, small a, or |a|, is an open front unrounded;
- In English, “a”, small a, is equivalent to "สระ อะ" (_ ะ) in Thai and would usually be used in forming a diphthong as in "buy" | baɪ | or other diphthongs as in lie, try, find, blind, night, height, prize, apply, or triphthongs for "aɪə" as in buyer | ˈbaɪə | or other words like fire, liar, wire, tired, hire;
- In some textbooks on American English, not RP (British English), “a”, small a, has however been classified as one of the central vowels (but I wouldn't like you to pay much attention to that designation at this stage); and
- For [ɑ], script “a”, it is usually used in the form of | ɑː |, similar to "สระ อา" (_ า) as in bath | bɑːθ | and other words.

Therefore, what appears in the 14215 textbook could possibly be the type error too.

However, I would suggest that you wait for the most appropriate answer from Ajarn(s) on this query too na krub.

You're really a very good learner, so I wish you the best out of this course.

Enjoy your study na krub..!

Best wishes always,
Ekkawit
Class of 2015

Sorry for the delay in responding your question.

The vowel is a low back vowel. So, it's a typo error on p.24

low (height of the tongue)
back (the placement of the tongue body)

The central vowel is the schwa /ə/


Thank you for pointing this out.