Scrutinizing Polysemous State of the Thai Word /thaw/ through the Lens of Native Speakers
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Abstract
Lexicon size of Thai individuals keeps growing and proliferating in all domains by such means as morphological processes and semantic network expansion. In terms of semantics, polysemy is a property by which new concepts or definitions of a word are added with the same form and its core meaning being maintained. Polysemy is obvious in languages, including Thai. One among Thai polysemous words is a shade of ash-like color /thaw/ (gray in English). Based on realistic data collected from Facebook, Instagram, and X, this study noticed /thaw/’s variety of uses and thus sought to describe its polysemous state. The Principled Polysemy approach was employed to illustrate the word’s semantic concepts which stemmed from the very first definition. In addition, a survey questionnaire was conducted to retrieve the perception of 53 native Thai speakers towards the polysemous state of the word /thaw/. The primary results, on the one hand, indicated that /thaw/ has two further meanings (1) a state of negative feeling and (2) a state of uncertainty and imperfection. Both concepts portray that /thaw/ not only holds neutrality of shades but also implies negative reflections. On the other hand, the most recognized and prototypical meaning of /thaw in contemporary Thai usage is “a shade of ash-like color”, being confirmed by the majority of 53 samples that use and associate the word with its primary meaning.
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References
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