Independence or Interdependence?: The Thai Self-Construal as Reflected by Linguistic Evidence

Abstract

Self-construal can influence the ways people in distinct cultures think, perceive and interact with others. To date, scholars still present different arguments on the prominent self-construal of Thais. The present study aims at examining Thai linguistic data including proverbs, sayings, cultural key terms and interactional data in response to the question of whether Thai culture places emphasis on independent or interdependent perspectives of the self. The findings reveal that Thai sayings, proverbs and cultural key terms reflect both independent and interdependent self-construals. Yet, those that stress interdependency outnumber independency. As for interactional practices in daily exchanges, the usage of pronominal terms, final particles for (im)politeness and lexical variants marking interpersonal relationships make it mandatory for Thai speakers to pay attention to interpersonal relationships. Lastly, in task-based superior-subordinate conversations, collaborative and non-confrontational styles are preferred by Thai superiors. Their interactional style reflects features influenced by interdependent self-construal.