On engaging in a speech event, participants mutually try to create the most appropriate speech register for that occasion. Special formality-marking particles, pronominals, names, kin terms, titles, & pragmatic particles are some linguistic signs that are available for Thai speakers for this purpose. Through varied frequencies & combinations of different signs, various shades of speech register are created. The type & quality of speech register are largely predictable when the participants are familiar with the speech situation because of their past interactional history, or with the protocol required for a particular type of interaction. However, when the participants are thrown into an unfamiliar situation with strangers, they must find a middle ground in their register & adjust their speech behavior to achieve a balanced speech interaction. In this essay, we analyze four different conversations, both quantitatively & qualitatively, in order to observe how speech register is created in different types of interaction, thereby going beyond simple taxonomic description of sociolinguistic signs. 8 Tables, 7 Figures, 38 References.
