ปีที่ ๓๘ ฉบับที่ ๑ มกราคม-มีนาคม ๒๕๕๖

Abstract Thai-ized Transcription of Myanmar Language Nitaya Kanchanawan Associate Fellow of The Academy of Arts, The Royal Institute, Thailand There are four types of loan process: loan words or ‘proper’ loan words, loan blends, loan shifts, and loan translations. In loan words, both form and meaning of the originating language are borrowed, or assimilated, with some adaptation to the phonological system of the new language. In Thai this kind of loan word is called “tapsap”, literally translated as “replace the term”, or Thai-ized transcription. Previously, where the original pronunciation was rarely known, names were written with the pronunciation assumed, mostly through the process of folk etymology, where the new word was adapted to a familiar word in Thai or to sounds sometimes without meaning. Names of countries, territories, protectorates and capitals promulgated by the Royal Institute are not all Thai-ized transcription. However, both in the Royal Institute Dictionary and the Promulgation of Country, Territory, Protectorate, and Capital Names, a number of names in Myanmar went through some process of folk etymology. For example, “Yangon” became “Yang Kung” ‘Shrimp Grilling’ since ‘yang’ in Thai means ‘grill’ and ‘gon’ is adapted to ‘kung’ meaning ‘shrimp.’ The purpose of the Royal Institute Project on The Thai-ized Transcription of Myanmar is not to change the already established names but to establish linguistic rules for transcription of names as they are originally pronounced, where every rule can be explained and the transcribed words may be read in Thai. Keywords : loan word, folk etymology, ‘tapsap’/ ‘Thai-ized transcription’ Thai-ized Transcription of Myanmar