Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (Jan 2025)
Thai Passive Markers in Adversative and Non-adversative Passives in Speakers of Different Ages
Abstract
This study investigates how Thai speakers of different ages use the passive sentences with positive and negative verbs in adversative and non-adversative situations and shows the tendency of language variation in passive markers among speakers of different ages. Online questionnaires were collected from four age groups, namely, youths, early and late middle-aged speakers, and elderly. One of the results of the study shows that thùuk is the most frequent passive marker in Thai for speakers of all ages and confirms Prasithrathsint (2001)’s claim that thùuk is the generic passive marker and that doon is the adversative passive marker in Thai. The passive marker dâyráp, on the other hand, is limited in its use to passive sentences with favorable meanings. While the elderly Thai speakers in the study tend to maintain dâyráp in positive situations, the youths prefer thùuk for positive verbs and doon for negative verbs. In negative verbs with adversative situations, speakers of all age groups in the study prefer thùuk, except for the youths. The data for this study also suggests that the degrees of positivity and adversity of verbs in passive constructions could affect the choice of passive markers. Verbs with a higher degree of positivity have a higher tendency to occur with dâyráp, while verbs with a higher degree of adversity have a higher tendency to appear with the passive marker doon. The use of dâyráp and thùuk in speakers of different ages could reflect tendencies of language change, while the use of doon could point to age-grading.
