Jariyaporn Amatiratna.. A study of local plant names in the Nyahkur way of life. Master's Degree(Linguistics). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2016.
A study of local plant names in the Nyahkur way of life
Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to examine the structure and meaning of local plant names, and to explore the worldview and study the indigenous Nyahkur way of life thinking through local plant names. Three hundred and five local plant names were collected from the Nyahkur in Ban Rai Moo 11 Ban Rai subdistrict, Thep Sathit district, in Chaiyapoom province. In order to explain the Nyahkur worldview, data was analyzed using the concept of ethnosemantics where data were analyzed through the semantic domain, the folk classification, and the concept of cognitive linguistics. The findings revealed three types of local plant name structures including 189 simple words (61.90%), 112 compound words (36.72%), and four reduplicated words (1.31%). There were 29 classifications of the local plants which were discovered and named based on their taxonomy, and these plant taxonomies indicated words which could be applied on the other sub-kinds of the local plant names. These words were categorized into groups: animal names (16.22%), body part (16.22%), location (13.51%), plant names (6.76%), plant parts (12.16%), colors (12.16%), size (4.05%), objects (13.51%), and others (5.41%). The other main findings concerning the worldview and the indigenous thinking on plant naming, were divided into two sections: 1. the worldview which involved the naming of the local plants by sight, by comparison, and by utilization, and 2. worldview of addressing the local plant names in association with the plant characteristics.