Analogous Words in Thai : An Analysis of Form and Meaning

Abstract

            This research article aimed to collect and analyze forms and compare meanings of similar form words in Thai based on 3 volumes of Thai documents; Royal Institute Dictionary 2011 edition, Matichon Dictionary 2004 edition, and Word Corpus 2004 edition. The findings showed that there were 119 pairs of 238 similar form words which could be divided into 2 main types. 1) Similar form words could be categorized into 3 types: same meaning words, resemble meaning words, and different meaning words, found 38 of them. 2) Different form words could be categorized into 2 types: same or opposite meaning words and similar meaning words, found 196 of them. The amount of all similar words from the findings could be arranged in order as follows: 200 different form but similar meaning words, 24 similar form but different meaning words, 8 similar form with the same meaning words, 6 similar form with resemble meaning words, and 4 different form but the same or opposite meaning words, the least found type.