The syntax and lexicon of Thai pidgin english in Phuket

This study aims to analyze the syntax and lexicon of Thai Pidgin English in a community named Rawai, Phuket. Data was collected by tape-recording conversations of thirty informants. They are divided into two groups: traders and inter-married families. The results illustrate that Thai Pidgin English spoken in Phuket is a contact language containing features different from those in Standard English in terms of sentence structure and grammatical patterns; e.g., use of serial verb and the lack of inflectional morphology, as well as lexical usage; e.g., semantic broadening and word creation. Those characteristics show the influence of the first language on constructing another language, and they also correspond to what has been suggested in previous studies of pidgins. Moreover, the situations of speaking Thai Pidgin English in Phuket do not only cover trading circumstances, but also extend to wider contexts.

本研究旨在分析普吉岛拉威（Rawai）社区内使用的泰式皮钦英语（Thai Pidgin English）的句法与词汇特征。本研究通过录音采集三十名受访对象的会话语料，将其分为两组：贸易从业者与跨族通婚家庭。研究结果显示，普吉岛地区的泰式皮钦英语属于接触语（contact language），在句子结构与语法范式层面均有别于标准英语：例如采用连动结构、缺失屈折形态，同时在词汇使用层面亦呈现差异，如语义扩宽与新造词汇。上述特征既体现了第一语言对第二语言建构的影响，也与此前皮钦语相关研究的结论相契合。此外，普吉岛泰式皮钦英语的使用场景不仅局限于贸易情境，还拓展至更为宽泛的社会语境。