Abstract:
Southern Thai consists of two main subdialects: Western Southern Thai and Eastern Southern Thai. Results of previous studies on the Thai dialect of Samui Island have not clearly shown which subdialect it belongs to. This study aims at answering that question by investigating lexical usage. The researcher also wants to find out whether the Koh Samui dialect is a hybrid variety in a more general sense. The study will also investigate lexical variation in the dialect of Samui Island by area of residence and age group. Altogether 140 informants were interviewed - 20 from each of the 7 tambons of Amphoe Koh Samui i.e. Ang Thong, Mae Nam, Bo Phut, Maret, Na Muang, Taling Ngam, and Lipa Noi. In each tambon, informants belong to 2 age group - 1020 years old and 6070 years old - 10 informants per group. The researcher collected data on location at Amphoe Koh Samui, Changwat Suratthani using the interviewing technique. The questionnaire contains 200 semantic units. They belong to 4 groups - 50 semantic units per group. The semantics units in each group were selected with different objectives in mind : the first group - usage of the lexical items that are commonly used in all 4 main Thai dialects; the second group - usage of the lexical items that vary between western Southern Thai and eastern Southern Thai; the third group usage of the lexical items that are commonly used in Southern Thai; and the fourth group usage of the lexical items that are used only in the Koh Samui dialect. This study conclusively shows that both western Southern Thai and eastern Southern Thai lexical items occur in the Koh Samui dialect, The western Southern Thai lexical items are more numerous than eastern Southern Thai ones. The study finds that the Koh Samui dialect is hybrid in a more general sense as it contains all of the following types of lexical items: those that are commonly used in all 4 main Thai dialects, those that are used in western Southern Thai, those that are used in eastern Southern Thai, those that are commonly used in Southern Thai, those that are used only in the Koh Samui dialect, those that are used in Standard Thai, and those that cannot be classified. The hybrid character of the Koh Samui dialect exists in all 7 tambons and in both age groups. A Chisqare test shows that the two age groups differ significantly in their lexical usage (at .001 level), The younger informants use more Standard Thai lexical items than the older informants. However, the informants of the 7 tambons including the ones inside and outside the tourist areas do not differ in their lexical usage