A comparative analysis of English feature articles in magazines published in Thailand and Britain : linguistic aspects

Abstract

This research aims at discussing distinctive characteristics of Thai English in terms of noun modifiers and sentence constructions, in comparison with one native variety: British English. Based on the concepts of world Englishes and nativisation, distinctive characteristics of Thai English can be explained as transfers from Thai language, culture, and communication norms. Data used in the analysis are feature articles taken from English language magazines published in Thailand and in Britain. 28 English articles written by Thai writers are collected from Thai English magazines and 28 English articles written by native speakers are collected from British English magazines. The analysis is done in two levels: quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis. In the first step, frequencies of occurrence of all types of noun modifiers and sentence constructions in Thai English corpus and British English corpus are compared using chi square statistics. The test signifies that a high number of noun postmodifiers and complex sentences are distinctive characteristics of Thai English. Furthermore, findings from the qualitative analysis show that the use and the construction of noun postmodifiers and complex sentences in Thai English distinctively differ from those in British English. Noun postmodifiers are generally used as language embellishment. Clausal postmodifiers, complement clauses and adverbial clauses are important causes of the high frequency of complex sentences. In addition, noun postmodifiers and complex sentences in Thai English have longer and more complicated constructions than those in British English. All distinctive characteristics of Thai English can be properly explained as transfer from Thai language system, culture, and communication norms. This information provides evidence showing nativisation of English in Thai context. Therefore, the existence of Thai English as a variety of world Englishes, to some extent, can be claimed since Thai English can express its unique identity, while at the same time, still maintain intelligibility in international communication.