On the deictic use of "coming" and "going" in Thai

Abstract

In this study we alm to show explicitly the importance of context to the understanding o f meaning of utterances by investigating linguistic behavior of two deictic terms PAY(go) and MA:(come)l In Thai In three different areas: spatial, temporal and figurative. In this chapter we discuss linguistic complexity relevant to the study of PAY and MA: under the following aspects: (a). PAY-MA: and the issue of homonymy and polysemy (b). PAY-MA: and semantic diversity (c). PAY-MA: and the concept of favoured decontextualized interpretation (d). PAY-MA: and contextual determination of semantic difference