A Study of Kinship Terms in Thai from the Culture and Cognitive Perspectives

Abstract

The kinship terms of Thai can be divided into native kinship terms and foreign kinship terms based on the source, and can also be divided into civilian kinship terms and royal kinship terms based on the users. Thai kinship terms have different degrees of distinction in the following six dimensions: paternal and maternal, age, gender, the lineal and the collateral, consanguinity and affinity, users and use occasions. The unique use rules of Thai kinship terms reflect Thai people’s concept of the distinctions between superiority and inferiority, seniors and juniors, intimacy and estrangement. In addition, Thai kinship terms reflect the marriage form that the Thais have experienced, and also reflect Thai people’s ethnic cognitive orientation of experience familiarity, cognitive distance and metaphorical thinking.