A Comparative Study on the Correlation Types of the Constituent Components of Chinese and Thai Coordinate Disyllabic Words

Abstract

Coordinate compound is an important way of word formation in both Chinese and Thai vocabulary systems. However, the conceptual category of coordinate compound is different between these two languages. Both Chinese and Thai coordinate disyllabic words are composed of two or more identical, similar, related, or opposite meanings of morphemes. There are three types of coordinate disyllabic words, including consonance, divergence, and classification disyllabic words. Furthermore, the conceptual category of Thai coordinate disyllabic words also includes "phonetically related coordinate disyllabic words", which are formed by two or more harmonious sounds of syllables. The Thai coordinate disyllabic words are not semantically related but are stressed on the phonetic harmony within the coordinate disyllabic words. This paper compares the number of coordinate disyllabic words in the "Chinese Proficiency Test Dictionary" and "Thai National Corpus" and finds that the proportion of identical disyllabic words in the two languages is rather high, while that of opposite disyllabic words is very small. However, the semantic features reflected by the juxtaposition of the opposite meaning morphemes are more special and deserve our attention.