The Story of /mà:k/, from ‘Betel Nut’ to ‘Board Game’: A Tai Study in Cognitive Linguistics through Compound Nouns
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Abstract
This research paper is a synchronic study of the tendency of the grammaticalization pathway of the noun /mà:k/, focusing on its semantic extension from ‘betel nut’ to ‘board game,’ with data collected through compound nouns in some Tai languages currently spoken in Thailand. In the analysis, we employ cognitive linguistics such as functional-typological grammar and cognitive semantics as its basis. The result shows that the pathway begins with a true or regular noun referring to a specific edible plant, ‘betel nut.’ The noun has been grammaticalized, with some semantic bleaching or generalizing, to a class term. As a class term, its meaning has further extended through four distinctive phases: ‘edible plant;’ ‘inedible plant;’ ‘small, round object;’ and ‘board game.’ The pathway of /mà:k/ is quite complex due to the fact that while the extension from the regular noun to the first two plant categories is via semantic generalization, the further extension to the last two object categories does not persist via the same model: it is via metaphorical models. The five categories are overlapping, gradient from a true noun to many class-term phases.
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