Chinese Language Identity from shop signs in Thai-Chinese communities business areas: A case study of Prasarnmaitri Road, Suren Road, and Chatchai Road, Sop Tui Subdistrict, Mueang District, Lampang Province
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Abstract
This research aims to study the characteristics of Chinese writing on shop signs in Thai-Chinese communities in Sop Tui Subdistrict, Mueang District, Lampang Province, and to analyzethe structure of Chinese names found on these shop signs. The scope of the study includes the following aspects:1) Characteristics of Writing, includes the languages present on the shop signs, the direction of reading the characters, and the styles of Chinesecharacters displayed.2) Structure of Chinese Names: this encompasses elements such as colors, pronunciation, origins of the language on the signs, and the semantic relationships among the languages used.The study covers three roads: Prasarnmaitri Road, Suren Road, and Chatchai Road in Sop Tui Subdistrict, Mueang District, Lampang Province.The results indicate that there are a total of 40 Chinese shop signs along the three roads in Sop Tui Subdistrict, Mueang District, Lampang Province. The Chinese writing on the shop signs predominantly features bilingual text in both Chinese and Thai, accounting for 57.5%. In terms of reading direction, Thai text is read from left to right while Chinese is read from right to left on the same sign, accounting for 87.5%.Traditional Chinese characters make up 97.5% of the signs.In terms of structural analysis, the most common color of Chinese characters on the signs is gold, representing 45%. The dominant reading accent is Teochew, accounting for 95%. Most of the Chinesetext on the signs comprises business names, which account for 45%, followed by personal names and surnames at 40%. Notably, the business names often consist of surnames followed by auspicious words. In terms of semantic relationships, 82.5% of the languagepairs are related, while only 17.5% exhibit different meanings when translated from Thai.
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