A Comparison Study Of Western Loanwords In Chinese And Thai

"Western loanwords" is used to refer to words borrowed from Indo-European languages including English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc. There are many Western loanwords in Chinese and Thai, the greatest number of which come from English. However, differences between China and Thailand regarding historical culture, geographic location as well as writing systems may cause differences in source languages, absorption methods, and usage of Western loanwords in Chinese and Thai. Thus, a comparative study with the aim of finding similarities and differences between the two languages in terms of loanwords has current reference value.Research for this thesis is based on the Western loanwords which are enlisted in The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (sixth edition) and The Royal institute of Thailand Edition-Thai Dictionary (2011), whereas several research methods have been employed, including statistics analysis, document analysis, and comparative method on Western loanwords from these dictionaries which constitute the database for this study. More particularly, the methodology for this research is comparing and analyzing the distribution, absorption methods, and localization of Western loanwords in Chinese and Thai language. The objective is exploring their similarities and differences and identifying their causes which reflect the characteristics of Western loanwords in Chinese and Thai.This thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter comprises the introduction section and includes argumentation on the research significance and purpose as well as a review of the literature on Western loanwords research in China and Thailand. There is also a brief description of specific names and definitions of the loanwords in Chinese and Thai. Finally, there is a brief introduction of the objectives, research methods implemented and basic information about the two above mentioned dictionaries used.The second chapter reviews the history of the absorption of Western loanwords in China and Thailand and analyzes the specific reasons why Chinese and Thai borrow words from Indo-European languages.The third chapter focuses on the comparison between the distribution of Western loanwords in Chinese and Thai. More particularly, there is an exhaustive statistical analysis of the source languages, parts of speech, semantic categories and absorption methods of Western loanwords which are enlisted in these two dictionaries with the aim of using this data as reflecting the distribution of Western loanwords in modern Chinese and Thai.Chapter four features a comparative analysis of similarities and differences in the absorption methods and localization of Western loanwords between Chinese and Thai. Firstly, an analysis of similarities and differences is conducted regarding Western loanwords absorption methods between Chinese and Thai, such as transliteration, transliteration plus annotation, liberal translation, half transliteration and half liberal translation, etc. Then similarities and differences in Western loanwords localization-which can be phonological, semantic, and grammatical-between Chinese and Thai are identified.Chapter five offers a comparison of the influence of Western loanwords on the Chinese and Thai language respectively. Firstly, the influence of Western loanwords on Chinese and Thai vocabulary, phonology, and language use is described and then follows an analysis of the similarities and differences between these two languages.Chapter six is the concluding section of this study, summarizing the main points of this research and pointing out its originality and specific contribution to knowledge in the field of comparative linguistics.