Analysis of the meaning Chinese “Da” in Thai context

Abstract

Different languages and cultures result in different words used to express the same meaning. Changes in the meaning of language, both increasing and decreasing, are constantly in order to meet the communication needs of human language users. This article will discuss an analysis of the meaning of “da” in modern Chinese, both literal and extended. By collecting data from the Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU database, analyzing meaning in various contexts. The word “da” when used in the Thai context It was found that there was a wide range of word choices. As for the scope of meaning that Thai and Chinese use is synonymous with the word “yai”, there are only 4 scopes of meaning, namely 1) indicating the size of the object. 2) Tell news stories that are extraordinary. 3) It is used with older people. 4) Used with the order of children to indicate the first born. Beyond these definitions Thai language does not use the word “yai” to express its meaning but instead uses other words such as strong, loud, heavy, important, very thick, or even unable to find a word to match the meaning in that context instead.