A Cross-Cultural View of GIVING Terms in English and Thai

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Published: Jan 1, 2008

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Rungpat Roengpitya

Abstract

This paper focuses on the relationship between language and culture from a universal and social perspective through an examination of the act of giving (Kassen 528) in two languages: English and Thai, representing the western and eastern worlds. Generally, the act of giving involves three main participants: a GIVER, a THING, and a RECIPIENT, and this is reflected in the syntax-semantic and cognitive analysis in both English and Thai languages. This paper also discusses how the act of giving can be expressed, in a language, beyond the main verb ‘GIVE’ itself, as this ‘giving’ act covers various ‘giving’ verbs and terms on both the surface and underlying semantic levels. The results imply that, once we learn these multiple ways and forms of giving, we may be inspired to actually conduct this act of giving in our daily lives.  This paper, later, includes a cognitive study of the act of giving through the ‘giving’ terms in use in English and Thai.  It is found that the two languages share some common conceptual schemas of the act of giving.  However, the results reveal that some languages like Thai can have language-specific characteristics.  In this case, the Thai giving act and terms are truly influenced by honorifics and Buddhism.  The results, then, suggest that in learning a native or other language, one also needs to study the particular language’s culture to be linguistically competent.  It is hoped that the results of this study will encourage people to give more gifts as a means of bridging our differences and moving toward world peace.

Article Details

Issue
No. 1 (2008): Thoughts 2008
Section
Articles

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Author Biography

Rungpat Roengpitya

Rungpat Roengpitya received her Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley. Currently, she is a Lecturer of English and linguistics at the College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University, Thailand.

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