The Grammaticalization of the Copulas /pēn/ and /kʰɯ̄ ː/ in Thai

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Published: Aug 31, 2023
Keywords:
copula grammaticalization Thai

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Sureenate Jaratjarungkiat
School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8295-6775
Kyung-Eun Park
College of Asian Languages & Cultures, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Republic of Korea
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9417-9125
Nitipong Pichetpan
Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University, Thailand
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8934-2039
Samuel Yuan Han Tan
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Abstract

The present study has two main aims: 1) to contrast the syntax and semantics of the Thai copulas /pēn/ and /kʰɯ̄ ː/, and 2) to contrast their historical development using grammaticalization theory. The findings will help to answer two questions: 1) why are both copulas so similar in certain contexts such that they appear to be interchangeable (e.g. Lisa pēn/kʰɯ̄ ː sǐn.láʔ.pīn tʰîː cʰán cʰɔ̂ ːp); 2) why is the switching of the pre-copula and post-copula noun phrases grammatical only for the copula /kʰɯ̄ ː/ (e.g. sǐn.láʔ.pīn tʰîː cʰán cʰɔ̂ːp *pēn/kʰɯ̄ ː Lisa)? The findings show that the copulas /pēn/ and /kʰɯ̄ ː/ originated from verbs meaning ‘to be alive’ and ‘to resemble’ respectively. Both words have experienced desemanticization, leading to a significant loss of lexical meaning. As a result, they may appear remarkably similar in meaning within specific contexts. In addition, the pre-copula and post-copula noun phrases can be interchanged in the case of the copula /kʰɯ̄ ː/ due to the grammaticalization principle of persistence, where remnants of the original meaning persist in the grammaticalized word. The meaning persistence of ‘to resemble’ equates noun phrases, allowing for syntactic position switching.

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Jaratjarungkiat, S., Park, K.-E. ., Pichetpan, N., & Tan, S. Y. H. (2023). The Grammaticalization of the Copulas /pēn/ and /kʰɯ̄ ː/ in Thai. Journal of Mekong Societies, 19(2), 92–119. Retrieved from https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/mekongjournal/article/view/266198
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Vol. 19 No. 2: August 2023
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Articles
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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