The Use of English in Thai Slang on Facebook: A Morphological and Semantic Analysis
Keywords:
Slang expression, code-mixing, social media, FacebookAbstract
The objectives of this study are 1) to analyze the word formation processes of Thai slang that uses English elements, and 2) to examine the semantic changes of these words when used as Thai slang on Facebook. The data were collected from ten popular Thai Facebook pages. 74 English-originated slang words were qualitatively examined using a qualitative descriptive method, utilizing morphological categories by Mattiello (2013) and semantic typologies by Ullmann (1962). The results reveal the most productive morphological process was compounding (56.74%), often with Thai-English compounds (e.g., ทัวร์ลง, พ่อไมโครเวฟ), followed by affixation (13.51%) such as ทีม-, or -คีย์บอร์ด, as morphological models for expressive meaning. There were also clipping (เว่อร์), alphabetism (MVP, ROV), and reduplication (ฟีล ๆ), but less so. Surprisingly, real blending was not observed, which would suggest a preference for syntactic over phonemic innovation. The most prevalent process semantically was metaphorization (41.89%), as in words like เต็มกราฟ and ชั้น G, involving symbolic reinterpretation in terms of Thai culture. Narrowing (24.33%) and pejoration (12.16%) were likewise prevalent, with words likeเช็คบิล conveying a negative meaning. No examples of amelioration were found. These findings are evidence that not only do Thai speakers borrow English words, they also actively resemantify them through culture-inseminated linguistic creativity.
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