A Reference Grammar of Thai

A clear, detailed and comprehensive guide to the grammar of the Thai language.

Shoichi Iwasaki (Author), Preeya Ingkaphirom (Author)

9780521108676, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 April 2009

420 pages, 10 b/w illus. 1 map 37 tables
28 x 21 x 2.2 cm, 0.94 kg

A Reference Grammar of Thai provides a clear, detailed and comprehensive guide to Thai grammar, designed for intermediate to advanced learners. Written by two leading experts on Thai, it places a special emphasis on functional accounts of its grammatical phenomena: the use of demonstratives, personal reference terms, the modality system, the aspectual system, pragmatic particles, verb serialisation, relative clauses, question formation, passive and causative constructions, topic marking and many more. Unlike any other book on Thai grammar, it draws on data from everyday spoken discourses such as informal conversation, group discussions, interviews and narratives, as well as non-technical written texts such as folk tales, short stories and newspaper articles, to discuss grammatical phenomena at both sentence and discourse level. An extensive index is provided and examples are given in both Thai orthography and IPA symbols, making this an invaluable resource for linguists as well as students and teachers of Thai.

1. Introduction
2. The structure of words
3. Personal reference terms
4. The structure of noun phrases
5. Numeral classifiers
6. Demonstratives
7. Adjectives
8. Adverbs and adverbial phrases
9. Verbs and transitivity
10. Challengeability marker: /cå/
11. Modality
12. Aspect
13. Linking particle: /kç›/
14. Speech level particles
15. Pragmatic particles
16. Body-part expressions
17. Copulative sentences
18. Serial verb construction
19. Relative clauses
20. Complementation
21. Quotation and complementizer /wâa/
22. Adverbial clauses
23. 'Yes/No' and tag questions
24. Interrogative and indefinite expressions
25. Reciprocal, distributive, and collective: /kan/
26. Passive
27. Causative
28. Benefactive and purposive
29. Potential
30. Discourse.

Subject Areas: Regional studies [GTB], Linguistics [CF]