A Study of Cognitive Semantic in The Chinese Adjective “大” and The Corresponding Word in Thai Language: A Case Study of HSK STANDARD COURSE

Abstract

The explanation of the adjective “大” in the fundamental Chinese language textbook is quite simple. When considering the Cognitive semantics, the word “大” doesn’t only display the basic spatial meaning but also expresses metaphorical meaning such as number, importance, level, etc. According to the HSK STANDARD COURSE Chinese language textbook survey, the sequential appearance of each meaning of the adjective “大” corresponds to the foreign learners’ acquisition order. That is, the spatial meaning comes before the metaphorical meaning. According to the collocation of the adjective “大” with other terms in the textbook, it is found that this word has a total of 16 corresponding words in Thai. The Thai word “ใหญ่ ” is the main corresponding word for “大” In addition to the word “ใหญ่ ”, there are the other words, “มาก ” “สูง ” “สำคัญ” etc., can be used as the corresponding words. Thus, it can be seen that the comprehensive scope of the word “大” in the Chinese Language textbook is broader than the Thai word “ใหญ่ ” This research gives Thai learners a deeper understanding of the corresponding words in both languages.

keywords：大, ใหญ่, Cognitive semantics, Textbook, Corresponding words