The Grammatical Meanings of the Word /caak/ in Thai Children’s literature book “The Happiness of Kati”

Abstract

This article aims to study the grammatical meanings of the Thai word caak through an analysis of data drawn from the 105th edition of the children’s literature book The Happiness of Kati. The study finds that caak functions in two grammatical categories: as a preposition and as a noun phrase connector. When used as a preposition, caak conveys seven distinct grammatical meanings: spatial relation, interpersonal relation, action relation, original material relation, instrumental relation, shape or characteristic relation, and cognitive relation. As a noun phrase connector, it conveys four grammatical meanings: spatial relation, interpersonal relation, action relation, and cognitive relation.