Thai honorifics

Last updated

Honorifics are a class of words or grammatical morphemes that encode a wide variety of social relationships between interlocutors or between interlocutors and referents. [1] Honorific phenomena in Thai include honorific registers, honorific pronominals, and honorific particles.

Contents

Historical development

Thai honorifics date back to the Sukhothai Kingdom, a period which lasted from 1238 to 1420 CE. [2] During the Sukhothai period, honorifics appeared in the form of kinship terms. [3] The Sukhothai period also saw the introduction of many Khmer and Pali loanwords to Thai.

Later, in the Ayutthaya Kingdom (1351 to 1767 CE), a new form of honorific speech evolved. While kinship terms continued to be used, a royal vocabulary known as "raja-sap" (Thai : ราชาศัพท์; RTGS: Rachasap, also spelt rajasap and ratchasap) emerged. [4] 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 saw even greater expansion of the raja-sap as it became the formal, or polite, way to address all peoples or topics. Specifically, lexical items from honorific registers replaced native Thai pronouns, 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.

Following the Siamese revolution of 1932, raja-sap fell out of daily use in Thailand. [5] By the end of World War II, popular media used the most informal term for the king, nai luang. [5] In the 1960s, raja-sap was revived by royalists as an anchor for the Thai monarchy, alongside court customs like mandatory prostration to the royal family, which had officially ended during the reign of Chulalongkorn. [5]

Honorific registers

The roots of Thai honorific registers lie in Khmer and Khmer-Indic (Pali or Sanskrit words borrowed first into Khmer, then from Khmer into Thai) loanwords. [2] 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:

English glossStandard ThaiClerical vocabularyRoyal vocabulary
'hand'/mɯ̄ː/ (มือ)/mɯ̄ː/ (มือ)/pʰráʔ hàt/ (พระหัตถ์)
'house'/bâːn/ (บ้าน)/kùʔ.tìʔ/ (กุฏิ)/wāŋ/ (วัง)
'mother'/mɛ̂ː/ (แม่)/jōːm mɛ̂ː/ (โยมแม่)/pʰráʔ tɕʰōn.náʔ.nīː/ (พระชนนี)
'to give'/hâj/ (ให้)/tʰàʔ.wǎːj/ (ถวาย)/tʰàʔ.wǎːj/ (ถวาย)
'to speak'/pʰûːt/ (พูด)/pʰûːt/ (พูด)/tràt/ (ตรัส)
'to sleep'/nɔ̄ːn/ (นอน)/tɕām wát/ (จำวัด)/bān.tʰōm/ (บรรทม)

Honorific pronominals

Thai exhibits pronoun avoidance, often using kinship or status terms instead, particularly for social equals or superiors. [6]

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are the most numerous and complex of pronominal forms in Thai. Personal pronouns may make the following semantic distinctions: [7]

  1. Number: singular, plural, ambiguous
  2. Person: first person, second person, third person, ambivalent
  3. Gender
    1. Primary distinctions are distinctions of gender that are inherent to pronouns: male, female
    2. Secondary distinctions are distinctions of gender that depend on the presence or absence of other semantic features like status, intimacy, or non-restraint: male orientation, female orientation, neutral orientation
  4. Age: absolute, relative
  5. Speaker-addressee-referent relationship
    1. Primary distinctions
      1. 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)
      2. Intimacy - the kind and degree of close, day-by-day association
      3. Non-restraint
    2. Secondary distinctions
      1. Deference
      2. Politeness
      3. Assertiveness

Kinship terms

Kinship terms are used pronominally to elevate or demonstrate solidarity with an addressee. [2] 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. [7] Kinship terms are considered literal in cases of blood kin, affinal 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. [2] 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. [8]

English glossThai
'father'พ่อ /pʰɔ̂ː/
'mother'แม่ /mɛ̂ː/
'older brother/sister'พี่ /pʰîː/
'younger brother/sister'น้อง /nɔ́ːŋ/
'child'ลูก /lûːk/
'grandchild/niece/nephew'หลาน /lǎːn/
'great grandchild'เหลน /lěːn/
'great great grandchild'ลื่อ /lɯ̂ː/
'uncle (mother/father's older brother)'ลุง /lūŋ/
'aunt (mother/father's older sister)'ป้า /pâː/
'aunt/uncle (mother's younger brother/sister/cousin)'น้า /náː/
'aunt/uncle (father's younger brother/sister/cousin)'อา /ʔāː/
'grandfather (father's father)'ปู่ /pùː/
'grandmother (father's mother)'ย่า /jâː/
'grandfather (mother's father)'ตา /tāː/
'grandmother (mother's mother)'ยาย /jāːj/
'great grandparent'ทวด /tʰûat/
'great great grandparent'เทียด /tʰîat/

Speakers may demonstrate additional respect by adding the polite title khun (คุณ) 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. [2] 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. Status terms may also be used as titles before given names. [3] A few status terms frequently used as pronominals are presented in the table below: [8]

ThaiEnglish gloss
อาจารย์/ʔāː.tɕāːn/'teacher/professor'
ครู/kʰrūː/'teacher'
หมอ/mɔ̌ː/'doctor'
พยาบาล/pʰáʔ.jāː.bāːn/'nurse'
กระเป๋า/kràʔ.pǎw/'bus fare collector' (pocketbook)
สามล้อ/sǎːmlɔ́ː/'pedicab driver' (tricycle)
แท็กซี่/tʰɛ́k.sîː/'taxi driver' (taxicab)
ตุ๊กตุ๊ก/túk.túk/'motorized pedicab driver'
ท่านทูต/tʰâːntʰûːt/'Mister/Madame Ambassador'
ท่านอธิบดี/tʰâːnʔàʔ.tʰíʔ.bɔ̄ː.dīː/'Mister/Madame Director General'
ท่านอธิการบดี/tʰâːnʔàʔ.tʰíʔ.kāːnbɔ̄ː.dīː/'Mister/Madame Rector' (of university)
ท่านรัฐมนตรี/tʰâːnrát.tʰàʔ.mōn.trīː/'Mister/Madame Minister' (of state)
ท่านนายกรัฐมนตรี/tʰâːnnāː.jókrát.tʰàʔ.mōn.trīː/'Mister/Madame Prime Minister'

Names

In Thai, a person's full name consists of a given name followed by a surname or family name. [7] 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 courtesy 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 utterance or clause to show respect to the addressee. [9] Honorific particles may exhibit the following semantic distinctions:

  1. Gender: male, female, neutral
  2. Status: superior, equal, inferior
  3. Social mood: a continuum ranging from formal at one end to extremely intimate at the other
  4. Illocutionary force: affirmative, imperative, interrogative

Polite particles are not used in conjunction with honorific registers or in written language. [2] Commonly used polite particles [8] are summarized in the table below.

ThaiGenderStatus of addresseeSocial moodIllocutionary force
ขอรับ/kʰɔ̌ːráp/maleequal/superiorformalaffirmative/imperative/interrogative
ครับ/kʰráp/maleequal/superiorcommonaffirmative/imperative/interrogative
เจ้าขา/tɕâːwkʰǎː/femaleequal/superiorformalaffirmative/imperative/interrogative
ค่ะ/kʰâʔ/femaleequal/superiorcommonaffirmative/imperative
คะ/kʰáʔ/femaleequal/superiorcommoninterrogative

Honorific titles

Thanphuying and khunying

Thanphuying (ท่านผู้หญิง/tʰâːnpʰûːjǐŋ/) and khunying (คุณหญิง/kʰūnjǐŋ/) were originally titles for wives of nobles of chaophraya and phraya rank, respectively. Today they are used as titles for married female recipients of the Order of Chula Chom Klao. Those of the rank Dame Grand Commander and above use the title thanphuying, while others use khunying. Unmarried recipients use the title khun, which is the same word as § Khun (courtesy title) below.

Khun (courtesy title)

Khun (คุณ/kʰūn/), a courtesy title pronounced with a mid tone, should not be confused with the noble title of khun (ขุน/kʰǔn/, pronounced in a rising tone). Today, this word is used informally to courteously address nearly anyone. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khmer language</span> Austroasiatic language of Cambodia

Khmer is an Austroasiatic language spoken natively by the Khmer people. This language is an official language and national language of Cambodia. The language is also widely spoken by Khmer people in Eastern Thailand and Isan, Thailand, also in Southeast and Mekong Delta of Vietnam.

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.

In linguistics, grammatical person is the grammatical distinction between deictic references to participant(s) in an event; typically, the distinction is between the speaker, the addressee, and others. A language's set of pronouns is typically defined by grammatical person. First person includes the speaker, second person is the person or people spoken to, and third person includes all that are not listed above. It also frequently affects verbs, and sometimes nouns or possessive relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thai language</span> Language spoken by Thai people

Thai, or Central Thai, is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai, Mon, Lao Wiang, Phuan people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout the country. It is the sole official language of Thailand.

The Japanese language has a system of honorific speech, referred to as keigo, parts of speech that show respect. Their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank. Japanese honorific titles, often simply called honorifics, consist of suffixes and prefixes when referring to others in a conversation.

An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It is also often conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers. Honorifics can be used as prefixes or suffixes depending on the appropriate occasion and presentation in accordance with style and customs.

In semiotics, linguistics, anthropology, and philosophy of language, indexicality is the phenomenon of a sign pointing to some element in the context in which it occurs. A sign that signifies indexically is called an index or, in philosophy, an indexical.

Korean pronouns pose some difficulty to speakers of English due to their complexity. The Korean language makes extensive use of speech levels and honorifics in its grammar, and Korean pronouns also change depending on the social distinction between the speaker and the person or persons spoken to.

Chinese honorifics and honorific language are words, word constructs, and expressions in the Chinese language that convey self-deprecation, social respect, politeness, or deference. Once ubiquitously employed in ancient China, a large percent has fallen out of use in the contemporary Chinese lexicon. The promotion of vernacular Chinese during the New Culture Movement of the 1910s and 1920s in China further hastened the demise of a large body of Chinese honorifics previously preserved in the vocabulary and grammar of Classical Chinese.

Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person, second person, or third person. Personal pronouns may also take different forms depending on number, grammatical or natural gender, case, and formality. The term "personal" is used here purely to signify the grammatical sense; personal pronouns are not limited to people and can also refer to animals and objects.

In general, a Vietnamese pronoun can serve as a noun phrase. In Vietnamese, a pronoun usually connotes a degree of family relationship or kinship. In polite speech, the aspect of kinship terminology is used when referring to oneself, the audience, or a third party. These terms may vary by region. Many are derived from Chinese loanwords but have acquired the additional grammatical function of being pronouns.

The Korean language has a system of linguistic honorifics that reflects the social status of participants. Speakers use honorifics to indicate their social relationship with the addressee and/or subject of the conversation, concerning their age, social status, gender, degree of intimacy, and situation.

Kinship terminology is the system 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 distinguish between consanguine and affinal uncles, whereas others have only one word to refer to both a father and his brothers. Kinship terminologies include the terms of address used in different languages or communities for different relatives and the terms of reference used to identify the relationship of these relatives to ego or to each other.

This article describes the grammar of the Khmer (Cambodian) language, focusing on the standard dialect.

Vietnamese is an analytic language, meaning it conveys grammatical information primarily through combinations of words as opposed to suffixes. The basic word order is subject-verb-object (SVO), but utterances may be restructured so as to be topic-prominent. Vietnamese also has verb serialization. In sentences, the head of the phrase usually precedes its complements, nouns are classified according to series of lexical parameters, and pronouns may be absent from utterances. Question words in the language do not exhibit wh-movement.

In linguistics, an honorific is a grammatical or morphosyntactic form that encodes the relative social status of the participants of the conversation. Distinct from honorific titles, linguistic honorifics convey formality FORM, social distance, politeness POL, humility HBL, deference, or respect through the choice of an alternate form such as an affix, clitic, grammatical case, change in person or number, or an entirely different lexical item. A key feature of an honorific system is that one can convey the same message in both honorific and familiar forms—i.e., it is possible to say something like "The soup is hot" in a way that confers honor or deference on one of the participants of the conversation.

There are seven verb paradigms or speech levels in Korean, and each level has its own unique set of verb endings which are used to indicate the level of formality of a situation. Unlike honorifics – which are used to show respect towards someone mentioned in a sentence – speech levels are used to show respect towards a speaker's or writer's audience, or reflect the formality or informality of the situation. They represent a system of honorifics in the linguistic use of the term as a grammar system, distinct from honorific titles.

Burmese pronouns are words in the Burmese language used to address or refer to people or things.

The T–V distinction is a contrast, within one language, between various forms of addressing one's conversation partner or partners. This may be specialized for varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, age or insult toward the addressee. The distinction occurs in a number of the world's languages.

Pronoun avoidance is the use of kinship terms, titles and other complex nominal expressions instead of personal pronouns in speech.

References

  1. Foley, William. Anthropological Linguistics: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Khanittanan, Wilaiwan. "An aspect of the origins and development of linguistic politeness in Thai". Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness. Ed. Robin T. Lakoff and Sachiko Ide. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, 2005. 315-335.
  3. 1 2 Terwiel, Barend Jan (1983). "Ahom and the Study of Early Thai Society" (PDF). Journal of the Siam Society. 71.0 (digital). Siamese Heritage Trust: image 4–5. Retrieved March 7, 2013. Table 1 : Terms indicating rank, title or class from early Siamese sources.
  4. "Royal Words". Internet resource for the Thai language. thai-language.com. October 9, 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Handley, Paul M. (2006-01-01). The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej. Yale University Press. pp. 150–152. ISBN   978-0-300-13059-1. Crucial was the revival of rajasap, the court language rich with ornate terminology for everything related to the king... But after the 1932 revolution it became an anachronistic affectation of the feudal past, remembered only by the old princes and courtiers... At the end of World War II, few educated Thais knew even the simplest rajasap, and popular media used the most informal term or the king, nai luang, or "sir king." Sublimely, in the 1960s rajasap was resuscitated and became an anchor of the royalist revival.
  6. "WALS Online - Feature 45A: Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns".
  7. 1 2 3 Cooke, Joseph R. "Pronominal Reference in Thai, Burmese, and Vietnamese." University of California Publications in Linguistics 52 (1968): 1-68.
  8. 1 2 3 Smyth, David. Thai: An Essential Grammar. London: Routledge, 2002.
  9. Kummer, Manfred. "Politeness in Thai". Politeness in Language: Studies in its History, Theory, and Practice. Ed. Richard J. Watts, Sachiko Ide, and Konrad Ehlich. Berlin: Moutun de Gruyter, 1992. 325-336.
  10. "Thai words for 'you'". Archived from the original on 17 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2010.