ON- GOING CHANGE OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUN SYSTEM IN TAI LUE SPOKEN IN THAILAND, THE LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Abstract

Personal pronouns refer to words that denote the participant's role in a conversation. In some languages, such as French, Tamil, and Thai, the choice of personal pronouns are not determined only by grammatical meanings, such as person, gender, and number, but also by social meanings, such as the social status of the speaker, and the relationship between the speaker and the addressee. Tai Lue is another language in which personal pronouns have social meanings, which are related to variation in the use of the pronouns. The researcher suspected that such variation might signify change in progress, and none of the past studies have provided the answer. Therefore, this study aims at analyzing the grammatical and social meanings of Tai Lue personal pronouns. It also focuses on the variation in the use of the pronouns according to the social characteristics of the speaker and the relationship between the speaker and the addressee in order to infer the process of change in progress in the system of Tai Lue personal pronouns. The sample of informants is from three Tai Lue communities in three countries, namely, Thailand, The Lao PDR and The People's Republic of China. The data were collected by interviewing the Tai Lue informants from three generations: old (over 60), middle (30-50) and young (less than 25). The results of the analysis show that Tai Lue personal pronouns are marked by three grammatical meanings: person, gender, and number, and four social meanings: age and gender of the speakers, and the relative status and intimacy between the conversation participants. The analysis of age differentiation shows that the old generation tends to use personal pronouns according to the original grammatical meanings while the young generation adopts new social meanings. This pattern of age differentiation is here interpreted as change in progress in Tai Lue pronominal system.