When we have different /baa-rá-mii/ : A Study of Conceptual Metaphor in Thai National Corpus based on Cognitive Semantics and Pragmatics

Abstract

According to the Royal Institute Dictionary, Barami, with a definition in relation to religion, is dissimilar to the definition of Barami Thai people use in everyday settings.
The objective of this research were: 1) to analyze metaphorical expression reflecting the concept of Barami in Thai through conceptual metaphor based on cognitive semantics
2) to study metaphorical functions based on pragmatics. The data was gathered from the Thai National Corpus, Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.
The findings of the research found that metaphorical expression in accordance with Barami reflect seven contextual metaphors, as follows: 1) [BARAMI IS THE AUTHORITY] 2) [BARAMI IS A BIG TREE] 3) [BARAMI IS AN OBJECT] 4) [BARAMI IS A PRECIOUS THING] 5) [BARAMI IS A CONSTRUCTION] 6) [BARAMI IS A COMPETITION], and 7) [BARAMI IS A RAY]. The domain in which metaphorical expressions were mostly found was a comparison of Barami compared to authorities, while comparisons of Barami to competitions and rays domains in which metaphorical expression were least found. The conceptual metaphors composed and expressed ideas in order to illustrate abstract things, pointing out the more concrete attribute of Barami. Additionally, those metaphors worked on human relations, setting sights on Barami to show the different uses of Barami. Barami, used in general communication, shows both positive and negative meanings. Meanwhile, in royal institution communication, only the positive expressions of Barami are shown just to maintain elegance and an image of the reliance of Thai people or the well-being of Thai people.