Morphologically Complex Words in Tai Khrang

Unchalee Singnoi Wongwattana

doi:10.13189/lls.2018.060205

Abstract

This article aims to study morphologically complex words in Tai Khrang spoken in the lower northern part of Thailand to examine their syntactic and semantic associations. Data were collected from Ban Nong Moet (Saen to Subdistrict, Khanuworalakburi District, Kamphaeng Phet Province) and Ban Sa Yai Shi (Nong Sano Subdistrict, Sam Ngam District, Phichit Province) as well as from naturally occurring texts such as local narratives and dialogues on Face book. The result shows that morphologically complex words in Tai Khrang are compounded in two strategies such as syntactic and semi-syntactic compounding strategies. As for the syntactic strategy, it is the most salient word formation in the language that is in a complex and sophisticated manner that could reflect the people worldviews and culture. They are performed in three syntactic categories such as synthetic, verb-verb and noun-noun compounds. The synthetic compounding operates like simple clauses, nominalization, and phrases. The verb-verb strategy displays serial verb constructions. And the noun-noun strategy displays different semantic associations graduating from more to less transparent.

Highlights

Tai Khrang is a Tai ethnic group located in Thailand that still continues to speak its own language, a member of the Tai-Kadai language family which is closely related to Laotian and Standard Thai
The Khrang ethnic group in the northern part of Thailand maintains their traditional lifestyle and practices. They have many names called by the Thai people in different perspectives such as “Lao Khrang/ Khi-Khrang”, “Lao Phu Khang”, “Lao Wiang”, “Tai Khao” (Tai Khao ethnic group in Lao), “Lao
This paper aims to study the combinatorial operations of morphologically complex words in Tai Khrang to examine its linguistic characteristics such as syntactic and semantic aspects

Summary

Introduction

Tai Khrang is a Tai ethnic group located in Thailand that still continues to speak its own language, a member of the Tai-Kadai language family which is closely related to Laotian and Standard Thai. The Khrang ethnic group in the northern part of Thailand maintains their traditional lifestyle and practices They have many names called by the Thai people (both local and government) in different perspectives such as “Lao Khrang/ Khi-Khrang” (people from Lao who use shellac as a dyeing red color), “Lao Phu Khang” (people who came from the Phu Khang area in Lao), “Lao Wiang” (people who came from the Vientiane in Lao), “Tai Khao” (Tai Khao ethnic group in Lao), “Lao. Ka” (people who talk like crows), “Lao Phut” (Buddhist Lao), “Lao Dan” (Lao people who came to Thailand through Dan Sai District, Loei Province) and “Lao Tao Loeng” (Lao people who live in the land of yellow turtles or the lower northern part of Thailand) [1]. Most of the previous studies concentrated on phonology and lexical words, e.g., [2], [3], [4], [5], [6] and [1]

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