Lanna Folk Plant Names around Kwan Phayao: A Study of Ethno-Botanical Linguistics

Abstract

           The objectives of this research titled Lanna Folk Plant Names around Kwan Phayao: A Study of Ethno-Botanical Linguistics are 1. to collect the plant names called by the local people in villages around Kwan Phayao and 2. to examine variation in those plant names. Informants aged 40, including 9 males and 9 females and over who live in the villages around Kwan Phayao were the participants of this study. 174 pictures of different plants with their standard Thai names were used as a tool. The results of the study showed that 

             There were four syntactical features, which are (plant class term: PCIT), (plant class marker: PCIM), CORE, modifier, were found in Phayao folk plant names. They can be arranged in three different folk taxonomy structures: 1. structure of the plant names with only one feature, CORE, such as ขิง /kʰɪŋ/; 2. Structure of the plant names with either PCIT or PCIM and CORE such as ผักหนาม /pʰák na:m/ ; and 3. Structure of the plant names with either PCIT or PCIM with CORE and modifier such as บ่ะเขี่ยแจ้ /bàɂ kʰɯ̌a: cǽ:/. In this study, however, there was no presence of all four features in one plant name, especially no PCIT and PCIM together.