Functions of English loanwords in Thai political media discourse

Abstract

This article examines the functions of English loanwords in Thai political media discourse. The dataset comprises 250 English loanword occurrences selected through systematic manual screening of socio-political Facebook posts published by six major Thai media outlets (Matichon, Khaosod, The Nation, Thairath, Thai PBS, and Krungthep Thurakit) in January–December 2025. The quantitative analysis is based on occurrences of English-origin lexical items. The methodological framework combines semantic, graphic adaptation, and functional-pragmatic approaches to lexical borrowing. This study analyzes the graphic types of loanwords, their thematic distribution, and their functional potential. It advances and tests the hypothesis that English loanwords in Thai political discourse in the digital space have predominantly utilitarian functions. The findings show that transliteration is the dominant graphic type (59.2%), while Latin-script abbreviations also play a significant role (16.8%). English loanwords perform nominative, expressive, persuasive, and linguistic economy functions. Most loanwords are motivated by nominative need and linguistic economy, whereas prestige was not identified as a dominant function in the analyzed material.