การศึกษาระบบบุรุษสรรพนามภาษาไทยในสมัยรัตนโกสินทร์ในแนวเชิงประวัติ / สิริพร หฤทัยวิญญู = A historical study of the Thai personal pronoun system in the Rattanakosin period / Siriporn Haruethaivinyoo
The aim of this research is to analyze and compare the personal pronoun system in four periods in the Rattanakosin Era: the Reformation Period, the Democracy Period , the Capitalism under Dictatorship Period, and the Capitalism under Democracy Period . The data used in this thesis is taken from conversations in novels and plays from these periods. The author analyses and compares the system of personal pronouns in four dimensions: the quantity of personal pronouns; their grammatical categories; the relationship between the speaker, the addressee, and the reference as regard to their social status; and that as regard to their social roles and inherent meaning implying politeness ; the use of personal pronoun regarding the reciprocal non- reciprocal and neutral relationship between the speaker the addressee and the reference. The analysis and the comparison of the personal pronoun system show the following results in each dimension. Firstly, the number of personal pronouns differs from period to period. This was resulted from the process of word borrowing word losing and new word coinage. Secondly, the personal pronoun system can be classified by three grammatical categories: person, number, and gender. Although the classification applies to all the periods, there are slight differences, for examples, in the use of the personal pronoun /nu/ the Capitalism under Democracy Period, and the use of the personal pronoun /raw/ as the first person singular in the Democracy Period. Thirdly, the author considers the social status dimension. In all these periods, the use and meaning of personal pronouns is based on the relationship between the speaker, the addressee, and the reference, with regard to four social factors: relative age, social status, economic status, and intimacy. Different emphasis are given to these social factors in different periods, however: intimacy, social and economic status in the Reformation Period, and relative age in the Democracy Period. Furthermore, the personal pronouns are classified by their politeness in all these periods. Finally, this thesis studies the use of pronouns as regard to the social role of the speaker, the addressee, and the reference. The author studies seven pairs of relationships, classified as reciprocal, non-reciprocal, and neutral. The study shows the personal pronouns - first, second, and third - used by husbands and wives changed from non-reciprocal to reciprocal relationships.
