Abstract:
Suai (Kui-Kuai) is a minority group living in the Mekong delta in Northeast Thailand. There are very few studies on Suai (KuiKuai). Most of the studies deal with phonology and there has been no study on Suai (Kui-Kuai) kinship terms. Thus, this thesis aims to analyze the kinship terms in Suai (Kui-Kuai) spoken in Sisaket Province and variation in the use of those terms in Suai spoken by different age groups. The componential analysis, which is a method in the ethnosemantics, is adopted for the analysis. The data used in this study was gathered by interviewing sixty informants divided into two groups: the oldage group (40 years old up) and the youngage group (lower than 25 years old). The results of this study show that Suai (Kui-Kuai) kinship terms in Sisaket Province are differentiated by five dimensions of contrast: generation, lineality, age, parental link, and sex. It is also found that the number of Kui kinship terms and Kuai kinship terms are different. The analysis of the system of kinship terms used by different age groups reveals that there is no variation in the kinship system. The two age groups use the same system of kinship terms differentiated by the same set of five dimensions of contrast. Concerning the number of kinship terms, it is found that there are 46 kinship terms used by the oldage group and 39 kinship terms used by the youngage group. The kinship terms can be classified into six etymological patterns: 1) kinship terms which are presumed to derive from Standard Thai, 2) kinship terms which are presumed to derive from Northern Thai, 3) kinship terms which are presumed to derive from Standard Khmer, 4) kinship terms which are presumed to derive from Surin Khmer, 5) traditional Suai kinship terms, and 6) SuaiThai compound kinship terms. The analysis of the frequency of the kinship terms used by the two age groups reveals that Suai speakers of different ages are influenced by standard Thai, Northeastern Thai and Khmer. This supports the hypothesis and it implies the tendency of language change in Suai due to Thai influence.