Foreign words in Lanna language: study from “An English - Laos Dictionary”

Abstract

The article presents the results of the analysis of foreign words that appeared in the Lanna language during the 25th Buddhist century, as found in “An English-Laos Dictionary” by David G. Collins, The writing that was published with Lanna Tham script by The Mission Press., Chiang Mai in 1906. The objectives of this study are to analyze the origins of foreign words and the roles of them in the Lanna language.
The results found that 1) The origin of foreign words: Lanna words that are presented as translations of English words in that dictionary have been influenced by foreign words, such as Pali, Sanskrit, Thai, English, other Western languages, Chinese, Burmese and Khmer, which have been borrowed directly from the original language or borrowed through Thai language. 2) The role of foreign words: It was found these words roles in Lanna language and society with role in expanding the scope of vocabulary: daily life words and religious words, roles in showing social characteristics: royal words, and roles in the art in language: words that change the vowel sounds in last syllable similar to the Inflection, and Synonymous Compounds words. Some of these words appear in literature composed at the same time as the dictionary, indicating that foreign word role in the Lanna language in a wide of fields and functions, which is a natural characteristic that is consistent with other languages in general.