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Article published In:
International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Vol. 10:2 (2023) ► pp.181–219

The ho-V construction in Taiwanese Southern Min and the degree-introducing morpheme ho and u

| National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
In this study, I first provide an in-depth study on the TSM ho-V construction with a monosyllabic V, especially on the morpho-syntactic function and the degree-introducing function of the morpheme ho ‘hoVD’. Then, based on Liu’s (2020) study on the TSM u-V construction, I comprehensively compare these two constructions, which reaches two major points. First, the ho-V sequence and the u-V sequence are intransitive compound verb. The V that u ‘uVD’ merges with can be a lexical verb or an aspectual verb; however, the V that ho ‘hoVD’ merges with must be a lexical verb. When forming a compound verb with a lexical verb, u ‘uVD’ has the same morpho-syntactic function as ho ‘hoVD’. Second, these two morphemes differ in how to introduce the degree meaning for their corresponding construction. Namely, the dimension of measurement carried by the measure function introduced by u ‘uVD’ is determined by what is measured; however, the morpheme ho ‘hoVD’ intrinsically carries a dimension of measurement. Depending on what the morpheme ho ‘hoVD’ modifies is the entity denoted by the subject in question or the eventuality argument of V, the dimension of measurement carried by it can be interpreted as ‘be good for one to V’ or ‘it is easy for one to V’.
Keywords: compound verb, degree-introducing function, dimension of measurement, measure function, monotonicity, morpho-syntactic function
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A revisit to the Taiwanese Southern Min ho-V construction
    • 2.1The syntactic and semantic properties of the ho-V construction
    • 2.2Previous studies: Lien (2010) and Lien (2019)
  • 3.A proposal for the Taiwanese Southern Min ho-V construction
    • 3.1A nutshell of the analysis
    • 3.2The exemplification of the analysis
  • 4.Two degree-introducing morphemes in Taiwanese Southern Min
    • 4.1The Taiwanese Southern Min u-V construction: Liu (2020)
    • 4.2The similarities and differences between ho and u
      • 4.2.1The similarities
      • 4.2.2The differences
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 December 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.00014.liu
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