Grammaticalization of the noun /phom/

Abstract

This article aims at investigating the factors and the processes that contribute to the development of the noun /phom/ ‘hair’ into the pronoun /phom/ (the first – person pronoun) and the part of final particle /khrap phom/ (male speaker; formal). The data used are based on published documents dated in the Rattanakosin period from the reign of King Rama I to the present (2325 B.E. – 2555 B.E.).

It is found that at the first stage, the word /phom/ was used as a noun. Later, the noun /phom/ was also used as a pronoun during the reigns of King Rama IV and King Rama V. Then, it diverged into the part of final particle /khrap phom/ from the reigns of King Rama VI to King Rama VIII. These developments can be explained by cultural and linguistic (metonymic) factors.

This study reveals that the pronoun /phom/ is grammaticalized from the noun through three processes: divergence, decategorialization and generalization. The part of final particle /khrap phom/ is grammaticalized from the noun through coalescence.