Language and Linguistics

About the Journal

2023-11-17T16:54:16+07:00

Editorial Team

2023-11-17T16:56:11+07:00

Note from the Editor

2023-11-17T16:58:38+07:00

2023-11-17T17:00:20+07:00

The Word /pʰā:j/: A Study on Lexicalization and Grammaticalization

2023-07-19T08:49:12+07:00

This research investigates the linguistic changes of the word /pʰā:j/ in the old Thai corpora, in terms of lexicalization and grammaticalization, ranging from the Sukhothai era to 1907 A.D. (2450 B.E.). Two main results were found. First, evidence from the Sukhothai-early Ayutthaya era shows that /pʰā:j/ originated as a simple noun and underwent grammaticalization, becoming a relator noun functioning semantico-syntactically as a preposition-like noun. However, no evidence supports the further grammaticalization of the relator noun into a full preposition. Second, evidence from 1759-1904 A.D. (2301-2450 B.E.) shows that the simple noun /pʰā:j/, along with the spatial-temporal words /nɔ̂ːk/ ‘outer’, /nāj/ ‘inner’, /tâːj/ ‘south’, ‘below’, /lǎŋ/ ‘back’, ‘after’, and /nâː/ ‘front’, ‘ahead’, have undergone lexicalization, resulting in the formation of compound nouns: /pʰāːj.nɔ̂ːk/, /pʰāːj.nāj/, /pʰāːj.tâːj/, /pʰāːj.lǎŋ/, and /pʰāːj.nâː/, respectively. With the exception of /pʰāːj.nâː/, these were grammaticalized into prepositions. Only /pʰāːj.lǎŋ/ further underwent grammaticalization into a discourse marker. The results also suggest that the compounds /pʰāːj.nɔ̂ːk/, /pʰāːj.nāj/, /pʰāːj.lǎŋ/, and /pʰāːj.nâː/ in the Tebhumikatha text may not be a part of genuine Sukhothai language.

How Do Politicians Guide Us in a Journey?: A Study of POLITICS IS A JOURNEY Metaphors in the Campaign for the 2019 Thai General Election from the Approaches of Metaphor Scenario Analysis and Critical Metaphor Analysis

2022-03-22T15:36:31+07:00

The 2019 general election of members of the house of representatives was an important election in Thailand’s history. The JOURNEY metaphor was one of the devices that politicians used in the election campaign in order to present ideas and political images of themselves and others. This research aims to analyze these POLITICS IS A JOURNEY metaphors adopted in the 2019 election campaign. The research utilized conceptual metaphor theory, the concept of metaphor scenario, and that of critical metaphor analysis as analytical tools. The results of this study revealed that 11 metaphor scenarios were employed which mainly conveyed five ideas about Thai politics; namely, 1) politicians are heroes who lead the way, 2) other politicians are incompetent navigators, and different political ideas are a risky path, 3) the goal of the election is to select a proper path or to remove obstacles from the current path, 4) political success is the ability to overcome obstacles in its path, and 5) Thailand is moving backward and moving forward is at the heart of political progress. It is important to note that no matter how diverse politicians’ ideas are about Thai politics, the main idea underlying them is that politicians are leaders in the journey while people are always followers.

The Research on Chinese proverbs with Jade “玉” (yù) in the concept of “humans”

2022-08-03T15:33:54+07:00

This research article aims to study the word “玉” (yù) within the framework of a study of words related to humans in Chinese proverbs. After the accumulation, collection and analysis, the researcher found that there are 62 proverbs composed of four characters that appear with “jade” words. They consist of jade “玉” (yù) which relates to human appearance and skin; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to human character, actions, way of life; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to human goodness; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to human abilities; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to the use of human language; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to human construction; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to human property, human supplies; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to seasons, nature; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to human ancestry; jade “玉” (yù) which relates to food; and jade “玉” (yù) which relates to life expectancy in Chinese proverbs, which are all related to “humans”.

The results show that jade has not only played an important role in the discourse of Chinese people since ancient times, but also has an important significance in many aspects such as lifestyle, society, philosophy, beliefs, art, archeology, and history.

The Relative Degree of Sonority and English Consonant Clusters Produced by Thai Speakers

2022-03-17T14:51:23+07:00

The sonority sequencing principle (SSP) is one of the factors affecting the difficulty of consonant cluster production. Regarding a universal preference syllable of CV, consonant clusters produced by non-native English speakers are usually simplified. This research aims to investigate the relative degree of sonority to English consonant cluster pronunciation of Thai speakers, and to examine the characteristics of English consonant clusters. Twenty Thai speakers aged 30-45 years old were asked to record themselves reading Bamford-Kowel-Bench (BKB) Standard Sentence Lists. A total of 1,460 tokens (73 words x 20 speakers) were collected from the speakers’ audio recordings. The results showed that the SSP did not affect pronunciation difficulty of English consonant clusters produced by Thai speakers. The types of cluster modification were deletion, substitution, and epenthesis, respectively.

Code Mixing and Linguistic Borrowing of English in Thai

2022-12-20T10:23:41+07:00

In previous research on code-mixing and borrowing of English in the first language, there has been a debate on whether to differentiate between code-mixing and borrowing. However, no previous research on language mixing and borrowing of English in Thai has looked at the criteria for separating code-mixing and borrowing of English in Thai. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze the criteria for the analysis of English code-mixing words and borrowed words in the Thai language. The data were 400 English code-mixing words or borrowed words collected from 10 Thai magazines and newspapers published between the years 2019-2020. The findings showed that the criteria for the analysis of English code-mixing words can be ordered as follows: multiples written forms > English form usage > phonological integration. In addition, the criteria for the analysis of English borrowed words can be ordered as follows: phonological integration > Thai equivalents > morphological integration > syntactic integration > frequency of occurrence > existence in dictionary > semantic change, respectively. Lastly, the results showed that English words in Thai can be classified into 3 groups. The first group is a code-mixing stage. These represent words with 1-3 characteristics of code-mixing and 1-2 characteristics of borrowing. The second group is a code mixing and lexical borrowing stage. These represent words with 1-3 characteristics of code-mixing and 2-7 characteristics of borrowing. The final stage is the lexical borrowing stage. These are words with 1 characteristic of code-mixing and 3-6 characteristics of borrowing.

A Stylistic Study on the Syntactic Level of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Translation Strategies in the Thai Translated Version

2023-02-20T11:52:37+07:00

Style is one of the most important literary elements in literature. It reflects the author’s identity and unique way of writing. Therefore, a stylistic study is an interesting and important topic for linguistic analysis. The objectives of this research are to identify and analyze: 1) the writing styles at the syntactic level that are related to the post-colonial concept in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, and 2) the translation strategies used by the Thai translator, Sodsai, including analyzing which strategies help to maintain the meaning and the author’s unique writing styles at the syntactic level. The results reveal that the samples of the writing style at the syntactic level related to the post-colonial concepts can be divided into seven categories: passive voice sentences, active voice sentences, English-Malayalam code-switching, using the tag “isn't it” in every context, negative sentences, sentences with similes and metaphors, and topicalization. The translator applied various translation strategies including literal translation, adaptation, unit shift, loan translation, colloquialization, neutralization, level shift, addition, omission, pronominalization, and nonpronominalization to convey the meaning and maintain the specific style.

Linguistics and Semiotics Strategies for Construction the Ideology of Sadness in “Broken-Heart Quote Memes”

2022-12-20T10:26:42+07:00

The purpose of this research is to study the linguistic and semiotic strategies used to construct the ideology of sadness in “Broken-heart Quote Memes.” The researcher used the theoretical framework of MCDA, based on Fairclough’s framework. Two types of sampling were employed; 200 text memes and 200 text-image memes, through 3 levels of analysis. At the Text Level, 15 linguistic strategies and 9 semiotic strategies were identified. Both set of strategies influenced the construction of the ideology of sadness through 5 sets of ideas. At the Level of Discourse Practice, it was found that the ideology of sadness was reflected an understanding of the power of being unrequited in love in 6 different forms. Lastly, at the Level of Sociocultural Practice, it was discovered that the Thai societal institutions, situations, and cultural norms all support the reproduction and dissemination of ideological discourses of sadness due to unrequited love.

A Cognitive Study into the 凤(fèng) Imagery in Chinese Metaphorical Idioms of 凤(fèng) and Suggestions for Teaching Chinese Metaphorical Idioms of 凤(fèng) to Thai Students

2023-04-27T10:07:32+07:00

The study analyzed the 凤 (fèng, Chinese phoenix) imagery in 182 Chinese metaphorical idioms of 凤 (fèng) from the Chinese Idiom Dictionary (《中华成语大词典》) from a cognitive linguistic perspective. The study aimed to explore the semantic meaning of these idioms and propose teaching methods to help Thai students avoid errors in understanding their semantic meaning. The study found that the Chinese metaphorical idioms of 凤 (fèng) use the 凤 (fèng) as the source domain to map onto humans or things (target domain) and create eight categories of 凤 (fèng) imagey. Furthermore, there are 18 other types of animal imagery created by 18 other types of animal metaphors in these idioms, such as the imagery of 龙 (lóng, Chinese dragon), 鸡 (jī, chicken) and so forth, which are equivalent to or suppressed by the 凤 (fèng) imagery. The study also found that understanding the semantic meaning of these idioms can be based on understanding the 凤 (fèng) imagery in these idioms. Based on the study’s findings, we suggest that teachers use the imagery teaching method to avoid Thai students’ errors in understanding the semantic meaning when teaching Chinese metaphorical idioms of 凤 (fèng) to Thai students. By adopting these teaching methods, teachers can integrate the cognitive analysis of the 凤 (fèng) imagery into their teaching.

Bilingual Semantic Storage: Evidence from a Thai-English False Memory Experiment

2022-10-10T10:02:12+07:00

Before code-mixing sentences can be conceptualised and structured, bilinguals necessarily access their semantic knowledge in their cognition. This is where the debate over whether semantic storage of bilinguals is shared or separate plays a role. The current study applied a code-mixing context to a psycholinguistic experiment, specifically exploring whether semantic storage is shared or separate. A false memory experiment was run. The results show a possibility and a tendency to support the shared storage argument and the Revised Hierarchical Model. The analyses also suggested the possible relation between language proficiency and the use of code-mixing in conversations.