Aspects of the Syntax of Truku Seediq
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Tsou, Chia-Jung
Abstract
The present study investigate three topics in the morphosyntax of Truku Seediq: case markers, tense/aspect/modality system and derivation morphology. Much of the corpus data used in this study was drawn from fieldwork done in Xiulin Township in Hualien County between 2008 and 2011.
ka is found to be a robust nominative marker in Truku Seediq, while it has become a pragmatic marker in Paran Seediq, occurring only in specific grammatical environments. In addition to being a nominative case marker, ka also occurs in a number of constructions: cleft construction-1, cleft construction-2, concession construction, positive attitude construction, ka as a linker, and ka in construction with time expressions. Each construction is shown to have its specific pragmatic function.
Chapter 3 discusses three strategies that the tense/aspect/modality system in Seediq uses to encode events related to time. One is through verbal derivation; one is with the aid of auxiliaries; the third one is with the aid of final particles. Verbal derivation refers to voice markings on the verb (i.e. m-/-m-, -un, -an, s-). While Holmer (1996) observes that the present tense forms are m-/-m- (AV), -un (PV), -an (LV), and s- (CV), the TAM interpretation is found to vary from verb to verb. Different AV forms have different reality interpretations. Thus both the AV1 form and the AV4 form refer to the realis events, while the AV2 form and the AV3 form are irrealis. Generally, the AV2 form has an immediate future tense interpretation, and the AV3 form has a distant future tense interpretation. Some verbs have only one AV form that refers to an irrealis event.
Reality interpretations for NAV forms are shown to be even more complex. Motion verbs in general do not have PV1 form. Their LV1 form and LV2 form also denote realis events, although my consultants often differ in the way the LV1 and LV2 form of the verbs are interpreted. The PV2 form is usually irrealis, and the CV form is either realis or has a neutral interpretation, depending on the verb.
Each of the verbs discussed is shown to have a unique interpretation with respect to reality or visibility or temporal distance. Sometimes different voice markings on the same verb also entail differences in lexical meaning. This is true of the verb mangal. The PV1 form of the verb means ‘took something away in the past’, while the LV1 form means ‘brought something here several days ago’, and the LV2 form means ‘brought something here just now’. The meaning of mangal with the PV1/LV1 marking can be either ‘take something away’ or ‘bring something’. The LV1 form and the LV2 form of the verb qmita are interchangeable, which is different from other verbs which have four NAV forms. The PV1 form of qmita means that someone saw something several days ago, and the LV1/LV2 form means that someone saw something a short while ago. However, they are not the only relevant variables that we can invoke to distinguish the TAM interpretations of these and perhaps all the other verbs in the language. The notion of ‘entitlement’ also comes into play in the semantics of mangal, for example, in addition to the three variables just mentioned. The PV1 form of mangal means that the agent is entitled to the patient object, while the LV1 form means that the patient object is returned to the owner now. The PV1/LV1 form of mkan has a partitive interpretation in that the form means that the food is not eaten up, and so the food is visible to the speaker at speech act time. Finally, the verb smbarig is also unique in that there is only one NAV form for smbarig, the PV2 form, and that form has a neutral interpretation.
Chapter 4 investigates derivational morphology of the language, especially the morphosyntax of the following prefixes: dmp-s(e)-,dmp-t(e)-, emp-s(e)-, emp-t(e)-, g(e)-, gn(e)-, gm(e)-, gmn(e)-, mg-, mneg(e)-, tg(e)-. The prefixes dmp-s- and dmp-t- denote realis events, and the prefixes emp-s- and emp-t- denote irrealis events. When the derived form dmp-t- or emp-t- is used, the agent of the action is a professional; while if the derived form dmp-s- or emp-s- is used, the agent is an amateur; moreover, there is a reason why the amateur does the named action. The derivational forms identified above are only part of the derivational forms found in a single entry aba taken from an ongoing dictionary project, but they are enough to suggest the rich repertoire of affixes inherent in the derivational morphology of the language. It will be interesting to explore what these data suggest for patterns of lexicalization in the language, and furthermore, how these lexicalization patterns figure in relation to similar lexicalization patterns in other Formosan languages.
Chapter 5 concludes with some observations about areas where future research is sorely needed. Sorting out reality and visibility interpretations of the NAV forms of verbs in Truku Seediq represents a most daunting, yet at the same time, interesting challenge for future research.
Subjects
Truku Seediq
case marker
tense/aspect/modality system
derivational morphology
Type
thesis
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