The Study Of Southern Min Dialect’s Loanwords In Phuket,Thailand

In the studies of the loanwords from Chinese dialects,researchers focused more on the standard Thai language,thus,not so much research has been done on the Phuket dialect.Phuket Province is located in Southern Thailand.Phuket Island,the largest island of Thailand,lies in the Andaman Sea.People of Phuket speak southern dialect of Thailand.Phuket Province is a multi-ethnic place,which makes the local language to be of a great value for researchers due to the contact of different languages.Therefore,taking all these factors into consideration the writer has chosen the Phuket dialect as the object of this research.Having collected loanwords from the Southern Min dialect and having conducted field research with locals,the writer classified loanwords from the Southern Min dialect.Using synchronic comparative method we have compared vocabularies of the Phuket dialect and the Xiamen dialect.On the result of the comparison of the vocabularies of these two dialects,this thesis summarizes the characteristics and describes the evolution of the borrowed words in the Phuket dialect as well as dwells on the reasons for the change.This thesis is divided into 5 chapters:Chapter 1 provides an overview of the geographical location and historical development of Phuket province and describes peculiarities of Chinese immigration to Phuket.Besides,it also summarizes the current situation of the study of loanwords in the Thai language and explains research methods and significance of this thesis.Chapter 2 provides a description of how the loanwords from the Southern Min dialect arrived to the Phuket dialect.By describing peculiarities of ancient Chinese words,dialectisms and cultural words from the Southern Min,the thesis provides an overview of the words from the Southern Min dialect in the Phuket dialect.Chapter 3 compares vocabularies of the Southern Min and Phuket dialects from the synchronic perspective.From the current research and related scientific manuscripts,the author selected 519 daily used loanwords and analyzed morphological and semantic differences of the loanwords from the Southern Min and the Xiamen dialects;finally,the author has summarized morphological and semantic changes of the Southern Min dialect’s loanwords in the Phuket dialect.Chapter 4 consists of two parts.Firstly,it describes the influence of Southern Min dialectisms on the Phuket dialect.Secondly,it explores the reasons for the loanwords’change.The research has found that one of the main reasons for the change of loanwords is the influence of local and other border languages.Besides,people’s way of thinking and their understanding of the world have also influenced semantic structure of some loanwords,and,finally,misuse of words also contributed to the change.Chapter 5 is a conclusion.It also points out the shortcomings and ideas for further improvements.