“จับ”: คำหลายความหมายในภาษาไทย

Abstract

This study of the Polysemous Thai Word “Chap”, which is used in the Bangkok Thai language, aimed to categorize the various meanings of the word, and to explain the semantic expansion from its original, derived sense, to the many others. There were three main approaches used in this study: the Componential Analysis, elements of the word, and its network of meanings. The findings revealed that the meanings of the word “Chap” could be divided into 2 groups: 1) the group containing the meaning “access to something”; and 2) the group containing the meaning “making something change”. The group containing the meaning “access to something” could be divided into 4 sub-groups: (1) access to an area; (2) an occurrence; (3) access to perception; and (4) access to time. Meanwhile, the group containing the meaning “making something change” could be separated into 9 sub-groups: (1) the area of control; (2) control by the use of law or any other means; (3) the use of the foot or other body parts to control a ball; (4) massage of the body to relieve aches and pains; (5) the control following the specification; (6) the possession of a right to ownership; (7) the acquisition to right of anything; (8) the use of any method to discover the truth regarding an offence or action; and (9) the creating of cooperative result. A study of the semantic expansion of the word “Chap” from its derived sense, with the meaning “to touch, to hold”, show that there were two ways of semantic expansion. The first expansion, emphasizing “area”, grew from the meaning “access to an area” into several new meanings: “an occurrence”; “access to perception”; and “access to time”, all by the process of metaphor. The second expansion, emphasizing “authority”, grew from the meaning “the control of” into two new meanings: “the possession of”; and “creating the result”, also by the process of metaphor. However, in the case that semantic expansion took the word from a broad to specific meaning, it would be the process of metonymy that would bring about the change of meaning.