Functional Analysis of Zero Anaphora in Thai

Abstract

Zero anaphora is frequently found in Thai and it is recognized as one of the outstanding features of thelanguage. Meanwhile, many Thai students who study English often commit grammatical errors in using zeroanaphora instead of pronouns or full noun phrases. Based on the assumption of language interference, thecontrastive analysis of this problematic feature in Thai and English is conducted for basic knowledge in designingremedial materials for these students. The hypothesis of the study is that zero anaphora performs more syntacticfunctions and semantic roles in Thai than in English causing the tendency that Thai students commit errors inusing zero anaphora at the positions where they are accepted in Thai.

From the investigation of ten contemporary Thai songs, the hypothesis was confirmed. Thai zeroanaphora can be classified into four types according to syntactic functions: SUBJ, DO, IO, and MOD andsemantic roles: AGENTIVE, PATIENT, DATIVE/BENEFACTIVE and GENITIVE and it outnumbers the Englishcounterparts.