Fundamental Sentence Structure of Pali and English: A Comparison for Translating into Thai Language

Abstract

This research aimed to study fundamental sentence structure of Pali and English: a comparison for translating into Thai language. The objectives of this research were dealt 1) to study the historical ethnic relations of Pali and English, 2) to make a comparative study on the fundamental sentence structure of Pali and English and 3) to study how to translate contents in sentences of Pali and English into Thai language. It was found that both of Pali and English are in the Indo-European language family, which is an evidently inflectional language. Sentence or voice of Pali is SOV consisting of totally 6 types namely; phase, active voice, passive voice, impersonal passive voice, causative active voice and causative passive voice. Sentence of English is SVO consisting of totally 3 types namely; active voice, passive voice and causative active voice. However, sentences of Pali and English as divided according to the aspects of contents were found totally 4 types namely; simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence and compound-complex sentence. Strategic translation of contents into Thai language is similar at the process, especially the translated contents should be 1) clear meaning, 2) suitable language use, 3) simple language according to the manuscript and 4) reasonable contents equaling to the manuscript.