Study Of Thai Modal Particles

There is a great variety of modal particles in Thai,each with their own characteristics.Their functions are complex,they are of particular importance for expression in social intercourse,and therefore are a valuable resource for research.For this thesis,extensive data on Thai modal particles was gathered,and this thesis summarizes the results of a comprehensive description and analysis of modal particles in Thai,through the method of descriptive linguistics on the basis of results of previous research.It describes patterns,and explains its particularities.The thesis commences with the synchronic plane,and concretely sets forth the main characteristics and functions of Thai modal particles,and clearly distinguishes various categories of modalities and pragmatics.Moreover,it discusses more in depth the consecutive use of modal particles,and thus reveals the function of consecutive use in modal particles.Hopefully,this thesis will contribute to knowledge of Thai modal particles through its research and description.Altogether,this thesis is divided in six chapters.The first chapter is an introduction,and the sixth chapter is a conclusion,while the second through fifth chapters make up the main body of the text.The first chapter:introduction.It predominantly is a survey of previous research on Thai modal particles.Simultaneously,it outlines concisely the results of comparative studies of Thai and Chinese modal particles,and introduces the research topic of this thesis,research methods,the value of the research and source of the data,etc.The second chapter:a study of functions and characteristics of Thai modal particles.The characteristics are divided between grammatical and semantic.Grammatical characteristics mainly include the important grammatical effect of modal particles,their fixed position in the sentence,their clitic properties and positional properties,and the gender-specific properties of modal particles for the first person subject.The semantic properties mainly manifest themselves in the meaning of modality and the pragmatics of modality.The functions of modal particles may be divided in semantic functions,syntactic functions,and pragmatic functions.The third chapter:a description of the different types of modality in Thai modal particles.This chapter divides the modal particles of Thai into descriptive modality,interrogative modality,imperative modality,and exclamatory modality.While descriptive particles have a descriptive function,they often also express emphasis or conjecture.Interrogative particles may,next to their interrogative function,also express doubt or deliberation.Imperative modal particles vary in their degree of strength in different sentences.Exclamative modal particles express a strong exclamation,but may also express happiness,surprise,rebuke,terror,etc.The fourth chapter:a description of the different types of pragmatics in Thai modal particles.This chapter divides Thai modal particles in gender-specific particles,attitude-specific particles,and mood-specific particles,according to pragmatics.Gender-specific particles can be divided in particles that distinguish between genders and particles that don't distinguish between genders.Gender-specific particles are divided in particles used by males and particles used by females.Those that are not gender-specific can be used both by male and female speakers.Attitude-specific particles are divided into positive,negative,and neutral particles.Mood-specific particles are divided into particles that express an affirmative mood,particles that express a non-affirmative mood,and particles that express emphasis.The fifth chapter:consecutive use of Thai modal particles.By examination of the phenomenon of consecutive use of modal particles,this thesis induces the patterns in usage and finds two major categories:consecutive use of two modal particles and consecutive use of three modal particles.The former can further be divided into non-gender-specific particles and gender-specific particles,mood-specific particles and interrogative particles,and mood-specific particles with other mood-specific particles.Consecutive usage is used for emphasis and inference.The sixth chapter:conclusion.This chapter is a summary of the thesis as a whole,while also pointing out the shortcomings of this thesis,as well as possible future directions of continuing this research.