The Syntax and Semantics of Eventuality in Paiwan and Saaroa

排灣語和沙阿魯阿語事件的句法和語意

李釗麟(Chao-Lin Li)

指導教授 ： 張永利

國立清華大學/人文社會學院/語言學研究所/博士(2010年)

摘要

This dissertation investigates the morpho-syntax, and semantics of eventuality in Paiwan and Saaroa, two Austronesian languages spoken in southern Taiwan. Situated under the Minimalist framework (e.g., Chomsky 2000, 2001) as well as within the generative Constructionist approach (e.g., Hale and Keyser 1993, 2002, Ramchand 2008), the present study addresses the following three questions: (1) what factors determine the semantic and morphological, and syntactic behaviors of the state verbs and their corresponding change-of-state counterparts in Paiwan and Saaroa?; (2) What are the core grammatical properties of the (anti-)causative verbs in both languages?; (3) How does Paiwan differ from Saaroa in the formation of (anti-)causative verbs?
To begin with, we argue that the entailment patterns, the licensing of the maximality degree modifiers and case-marked measure phrases, and the choice of inchoative markers (i.e., ma- and me- in Paiwan) are determined by the ‘comparison standard’ parameter of state verb roots (Kennedy and McNally 2005), and we propose that the aspectual interpretations of degree achievements are deeply correlated with the scale structures of their state roots (Kennedy and Levin 2008): The atelic degree achievement verbs denote a measure-of-change function from an object and an event to an open scale with a [-Max] value, whereas the telic degree achievement verbs represent a function from an individual and an event to a totally closed scale with [+Max] degree.
Next, we propose that the differences between causative and anti-causative verbs result from different flavors of v0. First, both causative and anti-causative verbs involve little v0 with [Cause] feature and therefore the causative reading appears and the Causer argument is licensed in both types of constructions. On the other hand, the [Intent] or [Agent] feature is only absent from external-argument-selector v0 in the anti-causative verb constructions. Accordingly, the Causer argument is interpreted as ‘unintentional’ in Paiwan or ‘non-human’ in Saaroa. Syntactically, this argument cannot occupy the Spec position of the highest vP to receive a nominative case, and in turn it is demoted as an adjunct and cannot control a PRO.
Then, we suggest that the choice of different formal features in v0 also results in the typological variations between Paiwan and Saaroa eventuality predicates. Following C. -L. Li’s (2009) (Multiple) Agree account and assuming that the un-interpretable [Manner] feature is selected to be installed in little v head of Saaroa (but not Paiwan) VP, we propose that the concord effect arises as the phonological reflex of the Agree operation between the matrix resultative verbs with an un-interpretable [Manner] feature and the embedded causal verbs with an interpretable corresponding feature.
To conclude, the expressions of eventuality predicates in Paiwan and Saaroa are conditioned by the interactions between the contents of the little v head and the types of verbal roots. Hopefully, this study may advance our comprehension of the semantic and syntactic behaviors of linguistic events.

關鍵字

事件 ； 排灣語 ； 沙阿魯阿語

並列摘要

無資料

並列關鍵字

eventuality ； Paiwan ； Saaroa

參考文獻

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Chang, Henry Yungli. 1997. Voice, Case and Agreement in Seediq and Kavalan. PhD dissertation, Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu.

Chang, Henry Yungli, and Wei-tien Dylan Tsai. 2001. Actor sensitity and obligatory control in Kavalan and some other Formosan languages. Language and Linguistics 20: 1-20.