Thai honorifics
Encyclopedia
Honorifics
are a class of word
s or grammatical morpheme
s that encode a wide variety of social relationships between interlocutors or between interlocutors and referents. Honorific phenomena in Thai
include honorific registers
, honorific pronominal
s, and honorific particles
.
, a period which lasted from 1238 A.D. to 1420 A.D. During the Sukhothai period, honorifics appeared in the form of kinship terms
. The Sukhothai period also saw the introduction of many Khmer
and Pali
loanwords in Thai. Later, in the Ayutthaya kingdom
(1351 A.D. to 1767 A.D.), a new form of honorific speech evolved. While kinship terms continued to be used, a royal vocabulary
known as Raja-sap emerged. The Raja-sap, an honorific register, was created as a way for commoners and aristocrats alike to talk to and about the king of Thailand. Soon after its creation, the use of royal vocabulary was extended to address all members of the royal family as well as aristocrats. At the same time, a clerical vocabulary used to talk to or about monks arose, very similar to the Raja-sap. With the development of royal and clerical vocabularies, means for honorific speech increased significantly. The Bangkok
period, from 1782 to present, saw even greater expansion of the Raja-sap as it became the formal, or polite, way to address all peoples or topics. Specifically, lexical item
s from honorific registers replaced native Thai pronoun
s, resulting in an entirely new set of pronominal forms. Kinship terms continued to be used as honorifics, and a new type of honorific emerged as well: polite particles.
words borrowed first into Khmer, then from Khmer into Thai) loanword
s. Khmer and Khmero-Indic words were originally borrowed into Thai by an educated, Thai upper class, specifically kings and monks, in order to discuss Buddhism
. When the need for honorific registers arose, the Thai people turned again to Khmer. Borrowing heavily from Khmer, the Thai constructed a royal vocabulary, a large lexicon
of Khmer and Khmero-Indic words, appropriate for addressing the monarchy. At the same time, a clerical vocabulary emerged, much smaller but similar in function and origin to the royal vocabulary. The clerical vocabulary, also composed mainly of borrowings from Khmer, enabled the common people to communicate with and about monks. Lexical items from standard Thai, royal vocabulary, and clerical vocabulary are shown side by side in the table below:
distinctions:
kin, and teknonymy
. They are considered displaced when used with kinlike individuals: intimate friends of kin or kin of intimate friends. When using kinship terms, age is critical. Speakers must estimate the age of an addressee to determine his or her generation and choose an appropriate kinship term.
Kinship terms commonly used as honorific pronominals are summarized in the table below.
Speakers may demonstrate additional respect by adding the polite title khun before any kinship term. Kinship terms are commonly followed by personal names or nicknames.
followed by a surname
or family name
. In addition, most individuals have a nickname. As pronominals, given names are used most frequently in second person form. Given names are often preceded by the title khun when addressing friends or acquaintances. Given names are sometimes truncated to convey mild informality. Nicknames, like given names, are used most often in second person. They generally do not take titles. Nicknames are a friendly, affectionate way to show intimacy between interlocuters.
or clause
to show respect to the addressee. Honorific particles may exhibit the following semantic distinctions:
Polite particles are not used in conjunction with honorific registers or in written language. Three commonly used polite particles are summarized in the table below.
, Thao Seesunthon
, and Thao Suranaree are famous heroines in Thai history, but theirs is an honorific, not a feudal title.
, but occur in Thai as a part of a personal name, such as Bun Si
; or as part of a place name such as Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya
.
Honorifics (linguistics)
In linguistics, an honorific is a grammatical or morphosyntactic form that encodes the relative social status of the participants of the conversation...
are a class of word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s or grammatical morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s that encode a wide variety of social relationships between interlocutors or between interlocutors and referents. Honorific phenomena in Thai
Thai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
include honorific registers
Register (sociolinguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
, honorific pronominal
Pronominal
Pronominal can be used either to describe something related to a pronoun or to mean a phrase that acts as a pronoun in the context of nominal. An example of the second case is, "I want that kind". The phrase "that kind" stands in for a noun phrase, or nominal, that can be deduced from context, and...
s, and honorific particles
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
.
Historical development
Thai honorifics date back to the Sukhothai kingdomSukhothai kingdom
The Sukhothai Kingdom ) was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. The Kingdom existed from 1238 till 1438...
, a period which lasted from 1238 A.D. to 1420 A.D. During the Sukhothai period, honorifics appeared in the form of kinship terms
Kinship terminology
Kinship terminology refers to the various systems used in languages to refer to the persons to whom an individual is related through kinship. Different societies classify kinship relations differently and therefore use different systems of kinship terminology - for example some languages...
. The Sukhothai period also saw the introduction of many Khmer
Khmer language
Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
and Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
loanwords in Thai. Later, in the Ayutthaya kingdom
Ayutthaya kingdom
Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...
(1351 A.D. to 1767 A.D.), a new form of honorific speech evolved. While kinship terms continued to be used, a royal vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
known as Raja-sap emerged. The Raja-sap, an honorific register, was created as a way for commoners and aristocrats alike to talk to and about the king of Thailand. Soon after its creation, the use of royal vocabulary was extended to address all members of the royal family as well as aristocrats. At the same time, a clerical vocabulary used to talk to or about monks arose, very similar to the Raja-sap. With the development of royal and clerical vocabularies, means for honorific speech increased significantly. The Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
period, from 1782 to present, saw even greater expansion of the Raja-sap as it became the formal, or polite, way to address all peoples or topics. Specifically, lexical item
Lexical item
A Lexical item is a single word or chain of words that forms the basic elements of a language's lexicon . Examples are "cat", "traffic light", "take care of", "by-the-way", and "it's raining cats and dogs"...
s from honorific registers replaced native Thai pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
s, resulting in an entirely new set of pronominal forms. Kinship terms continued to be used as honorifics, and a new type of honorific emerged as well: polite particles.
Honorific registers
The roots of Thai honorific registers lie in Khmer and Khmero-Indic (Pali or SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
words borrowed first into Khmer, then from Khmer into Thai) loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s. Khmer and Khmero-Indic words were originally borrowed into Thai by an educated, Thai upper class, specifically kings and monks, in order to discuss Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. When the need for honorific registers arose, the Thai people turned again to Khmer. Borrowing heavily from Khmer, the Thai constructed a royal vocabulary, a large lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
of Khmer and Khmero-Indic words, appropriate for addressing the monarchy. At the same time, a clerical vocabulary emerged, much smaller but similar in function and origin to the royal vocabulary. The clerical vocabulary, also composed mainly of borrowings from Khmer, enabled the common people to communicate with and about monks. Lexical items from standard Thai, royal vocabulary, and clerical vocabulary are shown side by side in the table below:
| English gloss | Standard Thai | Clerical vocabulary | Royal vocabulary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 'hand' | mɯː | mɯː | pʰrá-hàt |
| 'house' | bâːn | kù-tì | wāŋ |
| 'mother' | mɛ̂ː | jōːm-mɛ̂ː | pʰrá-tɕʰōn-ná-nīː |
| 'to give' | hâj | tʰà-wǎːj | tʰà-wǎːj |
| 'to speak' | pʰûːt | pʰûːt | tràt |
| 'to sleep' | nɔːn | tɕām-wàt | bān-tʰōm |
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are the most numerous and complex of pronominal forms in Thai. Personal pronouns may make the following semanticSemantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
distinctions:
- NumberGrammatical numberIn linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
: singular, plural, ambiguous - PersonGrammatical personGrammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
: first person, second person, third person, ambivalent - SexGrammatical genderGrammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
- Primary distinctions are distinctions of sex that are inherent to pronouns: male, female
- Secondary distinctions are distinctions of sex that depend on the presence or absence of other semantic features like status, intimacy, or non-restraint: male orientation, female orientation, neutral orientation
- Age: absolute, relative
- Speaker-addressee-referent relationship
- Primary distinctions
- Status-the status of the speaker relative to an addressee or referent. Status may be determined by relative age (elders have higher status), rank (king>royalty>monks>government and military>professionals>white collar>blue collar), or non-intimacy (strangers are treated as at least equals)
- Intimacy - the kind and degree of close, day-by-day association
- Non-restraint
- Secondary distinctions
- Deference
- PolitenessPolitenessPoliteness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is a culturally-defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply eccentric in another cultural context....
- Assertiveness
- Primary distinctions
Kinship terms
Kinship terms are used pronominally to elevate or demonstrate solidarity with an addressee. To address a listener as kin is, in effect, to confer the listener with the same status as the aforementioned kin. Generally, kinship terms contain both literal and displaced meanings. Kinship terms are considered literal in cases of blood kin, affinalAffinity
Affinity is a word used in a variety of fields, usually to indicate some kind of preference, relationship, or a potential or actual closeness between two entities.Articles dealing with various usages of the word: affinity include:-Commerce and law:...
kin, and teknonymy
Teknonymy
Teknonymy is the practice of referring to parents by the names of their children. This practice can be found in many different cultures around the world....
. They are considered displaced when used with kinlike individuals: intimate friends of kin or kin of intimate friends. When using kinship terms, age is critical. Speakers must estimate the age of an addressee to determine his or her generation and choose an appropriate kinship term.
Kinship terms commonly used as honorific pronominals are summarized in the table below.
| English gloss | Thai |
|---|---|
| 'father' | pʰɔ̂ː |
| 'mother' | mɛ̂ː |
| 'older brother/sister' | pʰîː |
| 'younger brother/sister' | nɔ́ːŋ |
| 'child' | lûːk |
| 'grandchild/niece/nephew' | lǎːn |
| 'great grandchild' | lěːn |
| 'aunt (mother/father's older sister)' | pǎː |
| 'uncle (mother/father's older brother)' | lūŋ |
| 'aunt/uncle (mother's younger brother/sister/cousin)' | náː |
| 'aunt/uncle (father's younger brother/sister/cousin)' | ?āː |
| 'grandfather (father's father)' | pùː |
| 'grandmother (father's mother)' | jâː |
| 'grandfather (mother's father)' | tāː |
| 'grandmother (mother's mother)' | jāːj |
Speakers may demonstrate additional respect by adding the polite title khun before any kinship term. Kinship terms are commonly followed by personal names or nicknames.
Status terms
Status terms denote referents in terms of occupation or status. While some status terms are used as first, second, or third person pronouns, others are restricted to second and third person only. Many pronominal status terms are preceded by titles, such as khun or thân. Status terms may also be used as titles before given names. A few status terms frequently used as pronominals are presented in the table below:| Thai | English gloss |
|---|---|
| ?āːtɕāːn | 'teacher/professor' |
| kʰrūː | 'teacher' |
| mɔ̌ː | 'doctor' |
| pʰájābāːn' | 'nurse' |
| kràpǎw | 'bus fare collector' |
| sǎːmlɔ́ː | 'pedicab driver' |
| tʰɛ́ksîː | 'taxi driver' |
| túk túk | 'motorized pedicab driver' |
| tʰân tʰûːt | 'ambassador' |
| tʰân àtʰíbɔdīː | 'director general' |
| tʰân àtʰíkāːn | '(university) rector' |
| tʰân ráttʰamōntrīː | 'minister' |
| tʰân nāːjók | 'prime minister' |
Names
In Thai, a person's full name consists of a given nameGiven name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
followed by a surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
or family name
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
. In addition, most individuals have a nickname. As pronominals, given names are used most frequently in second person form. Given names are often preceded by the title khun when addressing friends or acquaintances. Given names are sometimes truncated to convey mild informality. Nicknames, like given names, are used most often in second person. They generally do not take titles. Nicknames are a friendly, affectionate way to show intimacy between interlocuters.
Honorific particles
Honorific particles are added to the end of an utteranceUtterance
In spoken language analysis an utterance is a complete unit of speech. It is generally but not always bounded by silence.It can be represented and delineated in written language in many ways. Note that in such areas of research utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations...
or clause
Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
to show respect to the addressee. Honorific particles may exhibit the following semantic distinctions:
- Sex: male, female, neutral
- Status: superior, equal, inferior
- Social mood: a continuum ranging from formal at one end to extremely intimate at the other
- [Illocutionary act|Illocutionary force]: affirmative, imperative, interrogative
Polite particles are not used in conjunction with honorific registers or in written language. Three commonly used polite particles are summarized in the table below.
| Thai | Sex | Status of addressee | Social mood | Illocutionary force |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| khráp | male | equal/superior | formal | affirmative/imperative/interrogative |
| khá | female | equal/superior | formal | affirmative/interrogative |
| khâ | female | equal/superior | formal | affirmative/imperative |
Thao
Thao often appears in literature as the style of an actual or mythical minor ruler, or important leader of either gender, but is not a Thai feudal title as such. For example, Thao ThepkrasattriChan and Mook
Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Sri Sunthon were styles awarded to Than Phuying Chan , wife of the then recently deceased governor, and her sister, Khun Muk , who defended Phuket Province in the late eighteenth century. According to popular belief, they repelled a five-week invasion by Burmaese in...
, Thao Seesunthon
Chan and Mook
Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Sri Sunthon were styles awarded to Than Phuying Chan , wife of the then recently deceased governor, and her sister, Khun Muk , who defended Phuket Province in the late eighteenth century. According to popular belief, they repelled a five-week invasion by Burmaese in...
, and Thao Suranaree are famous heroines in Thai history, but theirs is an honorific, not a feudal title.
Si/Sri
Sri is pronounced Si and usually so transcribed. Sri and Si derive from the Sanskrit honorific SriSri
Sri , also transliterated as Shri or Shree or shre is a word of Sanskrit origin, used in the Indian subcontinent as polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language, or as a title of veneration for deities .-Etymology:Sri has the root meaning of radiance, or...
, but occur in Thai as a part of a personal name, such as Bun Si
Worawongsathirat
Khun Worawongsathirat was a usurper in the Ayutthaya Kingdom, ruling for only 42 days in 1548 before being assassinated. Siamese chronicles relate that Worawongsathirat attainted the crown — his kingship is not accepted by most traditional historians....
; or as part of a place name such as Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya (city)
Ayutthaya city is the capital of Ayutthaya province in Thailand. Located in the valley of the Chao Phraya River. The city was founded in 1350 by King U Thong, who went there to escape a smallpox outbreak in Lop Buri and proclaimed it the capital of his kingdom, often referred to as the Ayutthaya...
.
External links
- http://www.namespedia.com/index.php/Category:Thai
See also
- DeixisDeixisIn linguistics, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their denotational meaning varies depending on time and/or place...
- Honorifics (linguistics)Honorifics (linguistics)In linguistics, an honorific is a grammatical or morphosyntactic form that encodes the relative social status of the participants of the conversation...
- Honorific speech in Japanese
- Indian honorificsIndian honorificsIndian honorifics are honorific titles or appendices to names used in India, covering formal and informal relationships for social, commercial, spiritual and generational links. Honorifics may be prefix, suffix or replacement types.-Prefix type:...
- Korean honorificsKorean honorificsThe Korean language reflects the important observance of a speaker or writer's relationships with both the subject of the sentence and the audience. Korean grammar uses an extensive system of honorifics to reflect the speaker's relationship to the subject of the sentence and speech levels to...
- Nahuatl honorificsNahuatl honorificsNahuatl honorifics refers to the set of linguistic elements and morphological systems found in the Nahuatl group of related languages and dialects, that are used to mark degrees of respect and relative social standing and distance for the speaker and subject of discourse...
- SriSriSri , also transliterated as Shri or Shree or shre is a word of Sanskrit origin, used in the Indian subcontinent as polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language, or as a title of veneration for deities .-Etymology:Sri has the root meaning of radiance, or...
transcribed ; and or . - Thai royal and noble titlesThai royal and noble titlesThai royal and noble titles are the royal and noble styles signifying relationship to the King introduced by King Trailokanat, who reigned 1448 to 1488. The system is rooted in the Thai language equivalent of feudalism, .It is somewhat similar to that of peerage, but is complicated and usually not...