THE LINGUISTIC ATTRIBUTES OF THE TRADITIONAL THAI ISAN HERBALISTS

Abstract

This study was related to sociolinguistics aiming to study attributes of Thai-Isan herbalist potentially indicating the society influence. The linguistic attributes were used as guidelines for the study. The data were collected from 6 traditional Thai-Isan herbalists in Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, and Si Sa Ket. There were 60 communicative situations used in the study.

            The result revealed that there were 4 linguistic attributes of the herbalists including 1) characteristic clarity with verbal elements leading to evidence, visions, and references, 2) indicative attributes with indicators including imperative forms, permission forms, and guiding forms of verbs as well as using imperative sentences, 3) obscure attributes with indicators including giving unclear information and not specifying information sources, and 4) convincing attributes with indicators including pronoun uses, rhetoric, and metaphor. From the attributes mentioned, it was shown that Thai-Isan herbalists are convincing, dependable, impressive, and friendly, which makes them wisdom scholars rather than judges. In addition, the attributes of the herbalists discussed could potentially result in social influence leading to the ability to convince people.