Abstract
The focus of this study is on the function and grammaticalization of nominalizations in Thai and the nominalization categories and nominalizing strategies in Thai are described. The Thai language exhibits a composite of derivational and clausal nominalizations marked with three nominalizers: kaan 1 derives nouns or nominalized clauses from lexical verbs and relative or complement clauses; khwaam 1 derives nouns from lexical verbs and adjectives; and kaan 1 thii 3 is used for clauses. The current study posits diachronic developments for nominalizers and addresses related issues. It is concluded that nominalizers kaan 1 and khwaam 1 were originally lexical nouns meaning ‘work’ and ‘matter’. The essential features of the use of nominalizations have remained constant, but certain developments have occurred, which include lexical nominalization to clausal nominalization and the emergence of a new nominalizer, kaan 1 thii 3 . It is found that nominalizers kaan 1 , khwaam 1 and kaan 1 thii 3 are basically in complementary distribution, and language internal evolution and external contact are the primary motivations for nominalization in Thai.
Acknowledgments
I am sincerely grateful to Olga Fischer for her help, encouragement and useful suggestions. I would like to thank the four anonymous reviewers for important comments on the earlier versions of this paper. I am also grateful to the editors, Viviana Masia, Virna Fagiolo and Giorgia Mannaioli, for their final corrections. All remaining errors are exclusively my responsibility.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Indexical meanings of the realization of /sˤ/ ص as [s] س in spoken and written Jordanian Arabic: a language change in progress?
- Nominalizations and its grammaticalization in standard Thai
- VOT in English by bilinguals with 2L1s: different approaches to voiceless and voiced stops
- An investigation of Persian response signals from an interactive perspective
- Another member out of the family: the description of manner of gait in Changana verbs of motion
- On the unified representation of continuity and discontinuity and its neurocognitive grounding
- Interaction and conventionalized expressions create the contexts for bleaching and constructional expansion: the case of GRAB
- The grammaticalization of the existential sign var in Turkish Sign Language: a Construction Grammar approach
- Morphological interpretations of syncretism in the panorama of Greek
- Book Reviews
- István Kecskés: The socio-cognitive approach to communication and pragmatics
- Jim Wood: Icelandic nominalizations and allosemy
- Carlos Acuña-Fariña: Syntactic processing: An overview
- Elly van Gelderen: The linguistic cycle: Economy and renewal in historical linguistics
- Heidrun Dorgeloh and Anja Wanner: Discourse syntax: English grammar beyond the sentence
- Rong Chen: Toward a motivation model of pragmatics
- John W. Schwieter and Julia Festman: The cognitive neuroscience of bilingualism
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Indexical meanings of the realization of /sˤ/ ص as [s] س in spoken and written Jordanian Arabic: a language change in progress?
- Nominalizations and its grammaticalization in standard Thai
- VOT in English by bilinguals with 2L1s: different approaches to voiceless and voiced stops
- An investigation of Persian response signals from an interactive perspective
- Another member out of the family: the description of manner of gait in Changana verbs of motion
- On the unified representation of continuity and discontinuity and its neurocognitive grounding
- Interaction and conventionalized expressions create the contexts for bleaching and constructional expansion: the case of GRAB
- The grammaticalization of the existential sign var in Turkish Sign Language: a Construction Grammar approach
- Morphological interpretations of syncretism in the panorama of Greek
- Book Reviews
- István Kecskés: The socio-cognitive approach to communication and pragmatics
- Jim Wood: Icelandic nominalizations and allosemy
- Carlos Acuña-Fariña: Syntactic processing: An overview
- Elly van Gelderen: The linguistic cycle: Economy and renewal in historical linguistics
- Heidrun Dorgeloh and Anja Wanner: Discourse syntax: English grammar beyond the sentence
- Rong Chen: Toward a motivation model of pragmatics
- John W. Schwieter and Julia Festman: The cognitive neuroscience of bilingualism