The Emergence of Male and Female Personal Pronouns in the Thai Language: A Historical Linguistics Study

Abstract

Background and Objectives: A personal pronoun is a word that serves a grammatical function; when it stands alone, it conveys meaning or features related to person. Regarding gender, personal pronouns originally did not have grammatical gender distinctions. However, over time, they have developed differentiation between masculine and feminine forms. This research aims to study the forms of masculine and feminine personal pronouns in the Thai language from the Sukhothai period to the present, as well as to examine the processes involved in the formation of gender-specific personal pronouns in Thai. 

Methods: This study adopts a historical linguistic approach. The data were collected from secondary sources, focusing on the personal pronouns found in the documents from five historical periods: 1) the Sukhothai period, 2) the Ayutthaya and Thonburi periods, 3) the early Rattanakosin period (from the reigns of King Rama I to King Rama III), 4) the mid Rattanakosin period (from the reigns of King Rama IV to King Rama VII), and 5) the late Rattanakosin period (from the reign of King Rama VIII to the present). 

Results: The research found that the Thai language has both masculine and feminine forms of personal pronouns. These include the four male first-person pronouns “phom” “kra-phom” “klao-phom” and “klao-kra-phom”, and the three female first-person pronouns “di-chan”, “dian”, and “e-chan”. The male personal pronoun “phom” first appeared during the reign of King Rama IV, arising through grammaticalization—a transformation from the noun “phom”(meaning “hair”) into a first-person male pronoun. To increase politeness in addressing interlocutors of higher social status, the prefix “kra” was added, by insertion of segments yielding “kra-”. Similarly, the forms “klao-phom” and “klao-kra-phom” are compound words formed by combining “klao” (royal head) with “phom” and “kra-phom”, respectively. These highly respectful forms are exclusively used when speaking to individuals of significantly higher social rank. The female personal pronoun “di-chan”, appeared in use during the Rattanakosin period from the reign of King Rama I to King Rama VII, functioned as a gender-neutral first-person pronoun. However, through semantic change, it came to be used primarily as a female personal pronoun from the reign of King Rama VIII onwards. The word “dian”, which also appeared during the reign of King Rama IV, denotes a female first-person pronoun. It is a result of phonetic decay from “di-chan”, wherein vowel merging transformed “i” + “a” into the diphthong “ia”. The form “e-chan” was derived through compounding, by combining the feminine prefix “e” with “chan”, thus creating a female-specific first-person pronoun. Three primary linguistic processes underlying the emergence of gender-specific personal pronouns in Thai were identified: 1) semantic shift, as in the case of “di-chan”, which transitioned from a gender-neutral to a female-specific usage in the reign of King Rama IV; 2) grammaticalization, wherein the noun “phom” was reanalyzed as a male first-person pronoun and modified with the prefix “kra” for increased politeness, resulting in “kra-phom”; and 3) compounding, whereby the previously gender-neutral pronoun “chan” was combined with the feminine prefix “e” to form the female pronoun “e-chan” and the compounding of a noun “klao” with a grammaticalized element to form a pronoun “phom”, as in “klao” evolving into “klao-phom” and “klao-kra-phom” to be male pronouns. 

Application of this study: The findings of this research can serve as guidelines for writing Thai grammar textbooks, particularly in the classification of word types in the Thai language. Furthermore, the results can be used to explore linguistic development and trends of language change within the context of Thai society. 

Conclusions: This research adopts a historical linguistic approach, collecting the data from the documents across different historical periods. The findings reveal that Thai possesses four masculine and three feminine personal pronouns, which emerged through three primary linguistic processes: semantic change, grammaticalization, and compounding. The study identified two major factors contributing to the emergence of gender-differentiated personal pronouns in Thai: 1) grammatical influence from western languages, which exhibit grammatical gender, and 2) sociocultural concepts, emphasizing gender distinction between men and women. The results of this research can be applied to the development of Thai grammar textbooks and to further studies on the evolution and linguistic change of the Thai language.