Animate classifiers in Tai languages
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Somsonge Burusphat
Abstract
This article aims to study animate classifiers in six Tai languages, namely, Central Thai, Lao, Tai Lue, Shan, Bouyei, and Northern Zhuang. The focus is on social factors such as register choice, age, kinship, gender, social standing, and social attitudes as determinants of Tai animate classifiers which are further categorized into human and non-human classifiers.
The data analysis is based on the work of Li (1977) and the continuum model posited by Conklin (1981). It has been found that in the western languages, that is, Central Thai, Lao, Shan, and Lue, social status and social attitudes are the most important factors in animate classifier usage. In addition to these social factors, Lao and Lue also employ gender and age to determine the animate classifier choice. In the easterly Tai languages, that is, Bouyei and Northern Zhuang, age and kinship are the sociolinguistic determinants of animate classifier usage. This study also reveals that each group of languages has its own classifier development.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- History of foreign language education in Thailand until World War II
- Lexical innovation and “the genius of the Thai language”
- Language of the news media in Thailand
- Discussing assimilation and language shift among the Chinese in Thailand
- Principles of Thai place-name formation: a reflection of natural and cultural heritage
- Endangered languages of Thailand
- Thai political slang: formation and attitudes towards usage
- Animate classifiers in Tai languages
- Does the number of speakers of a language determine its fate?
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- History of foreign language education in Thailand until World War II
- Lexical innovation and “the genius of the Thai language”
- Language of the news media in Thailand
- Discussing assimilation and language shift among the Chinese in Thailand
- Principles of Thai place-name formation: a reflection of natural and cultural heritage
- Endangered languages of Thailand
- Thai political slang: formation and attitudes towards usage
- Animate classifiers in Tai languages
- Does the number of speakers of a language determine its fate?
