This research deals with tonal variation in Chiang Mai Thai emphasizing tones in connected speech in comparison with tones in citation forms. The three linguistic variables investigated are the high-level falling tone, the mid rising tone in short... checked syllables, and the low rising tone in the syllables with /p, t, c, k/ as initials. Age group is the social variable investigated in this study consisting of 10-20 years old, 30-40 years old, and 50-60 years old. The connected speech data were

of 10 items: /kaaA2, khaaA4, khaaB1, khaaC1, khaaC4, khaaA1, khaatDL1, khaatDL4, khatDS1, khatDS4/. Ten tokens were elicited for each word; 2) monosyllabic and disyllabic words from connected speech. The connected speech used in this thesis was recoded... and the pitch level of the tones differ when occurring in different contexts. They are most distinct in the tone-set wordlist. Their distinction decreases in connected speech. Moreover, the tones in stressed syllables are more distinct than those in unstressed