Medicine or /ja:/ : Word Formation in Thai Language

Abstract

    This academic article aims to examine the word formation of the term “medicine” or “/ja:/” in the Thai language. From an observation on several hyponyms preceded by the term medicine or /ja:/ in the Royal Institute Dictionary, there are 60 words starting with “/ja:/”. The study reveals how the term medicine or /ja:/ is formed with other terms in the Thai language. The structures and formation patterns leading to formation of many new words are also presented. In terms of word formation, the term “medicine” or “/ja:/” is the initial morpheme and is combined with other morphemes as their compounding element or modifier to indicate or enhance the distinctive features of the word. In some cases, the term “medicine” or “/ja:/” is used with other morphemes, but the meaning is not so different from that of each constituent morpheme.
The structure, pattern, feature, and definition of the hyponyms formed by the term medicine or /ja:/ help create more words in the language for communication. The expansion of language suggests language development, richness of words, progress of the country and society, and medical evolution.