Isan Language and the Construction of the Meaning of “Isanness” through the Naming of Isan Restaurants in Urban Contexts

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the use of the Isan language in constructing the meaning of “Isanness” through the naming of Isan restaurants in urban contexts. The data consist of 370 restaurant names collected from the GrabFood application in Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, and Nakhon Ratchasima. The study employs content analysis to examine restaurant names as linguistic units. The findings reveal three main naming patterns: (1) the use of traditional Isan dish names, such as som tam and larb, which is the most dominant (67.30%); (2) the use of taste-related words, such as zaep and nua (24.32%); and (3) the use of words reflecting ways of life and cultural relations, such as ban hao and thaiban (8.38%). The findings suggest that the Isan language functions not only as a means of communicating information about restaurants but also as a mechanism for selecting, organizing, and emphasizing particular images of Isanness—especially food, taste, and ways of life—transforming them into identities that urban consumers can readily recognize and remember. In addition, variations in language use across provinces indicate that Isanness represented in restaurant names is not fixed but rather a cultural representation constructed through language within contemporary urban contexts.