Abstract:
It is observable that Tai Phuan people in Sukhothai still preserve the identity of their indigenous language and culture, especially the language they use in everyday life. Therefore, I conducted a study on the use of Tai Puan in real-life situations with a focus on terms of address. Data was collected from a sample of 270 Tai Phuan people in Tambon Hat Siao, Amphoe Si Satchanalai, Changwat Sukhothai.The purpose of the study is threefold: 1) to analyze the patterns of address terms in Tai Phuan; 2) to examine the influence of social factors on the use of address forms, focusing on the age of speakers, the relationship between speakers and hearers, and situations of language use; 3) to synthesize the Tai Puan address system. The result of the analysis of address patterns shows that there are five basic patterns: title, pronominal, kinship term, status term, and name. These can be combined into 16 patterns divided into three groups: single component pattern, such as kinship term, two-component pattern, such as title + kinship term and kinship term + status term, three-component pattern, such as kinship term + status term + name. Of all the patterns, the most frequently used one is kinship term. This finding partly supports the hypothesis.Concerning the variation of address terms according to the age of speakers, it is found that there is statistically significant difference in the use of address terms between younger and older speakers. It was hypothesized that the pattern most frequently used by the former was kinship + name and that used most by the latter was pronominal. However, the result of the analysis shows that kinship term is the only pattern used most frequently by both groups. Regarding the relationship between speakers and addressees, which are divided into the reciprocal, the nonreciprocal, and the neutral relationships, I expected that speakers would choose pronominal for the reciprocal and kinship term for the neutral relationship. The result supports these hypotheses. As for the nonreciprocal relationship, it is found that speakers of higher status use kinship term while those of lower status use title + name, and this finding does not support the hypothesis. With regard to situation, it is found that kinship term is used most in both formal and informal situations. However, the other patterns vary significantly according to situation.In the final chapter, I synthesized the whole system of address terms in Tai Phuan with a conclusion that the choice of address patterns depends on situation and social relationship between speakers and addressees, which are determined by respect and intimacy