Abstract:
The purposes of the present study are 1) to analyze the honorific system reflected in salutation, first- and second-person pronouns, closing terms and responding particles in Thai royal vocabulary, 2) to analyze the word formation of these words and 3) to analyze first- and second-person pronouns in Thai royal vocabulary by comparing with those in other Asian languages. The Thai data in this study are drawn from the A Rajasap (Thai Royal Vocabulary)D authorized by the National Identity Board whereas the data in Malay and Classical Chinese are drawn from interviewing and related literatures. It has been found that the Thai Royal vocabulary of salutation, first- and second-person pronouns, closing terms and responding particles are addressee honorifics associated with target of respect. Each set of the vocabulary expresses degree of respect according to royal ranking of interlocutor, i.e. linguistic expressions for King obviously distinguish from linguistic expressions for lower royal ranking. One royal vocabulary is composed of phrases or sentences by means of lexicalization which is a linguistic phenomenon under routinization mechanism. In addition, in comparing the Thai royal first- and second-person pronouns with those in Malay and Classical Chinese, it has been found that the first-person pronouns of those languages are similarly humbling forms. The second-person pronouns in Malay are direct referent whereas those in Thai and Classical Chinese are indirect referent.