Cover not available
Article published In:
International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Vol. 4:2 (2017) ► pp.173–190

The emergence of e5 khuan2 个款 as a sensory evidential marker in TSM

| National Tsing Hua University

This paper takes the string e5 khuan2 个款 (EK for short) as an ambiguous case to show the emergence of a grammatical function out of a lexical category. It examines the ambiguity of EK in conjunction with the analysis of its syntactic structure. It explores the collocates of EK including a range of matrix predicates and sentence-final particles. It pins down EK as a sensory evidential marker in semantic interpretation. Finally, it teases out the unique syntactic and semantic properties of EK in terms of the layered structure of sentence-final particles.

Keywords: evidential marker, functional categories, particles, TSM
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Syntactic structure
    • 2.1[ dp XP – e5 khuan2 个款]
    • 2.2[ sfp e5 khuan2 个款] as a sentence-final particle
    • 2.3Ambiguous cases
  • 3.X – e5 khuan2 个款 and its collocates
    • 3.1 Tshin1-tshiunn7 親像 Family
    • 3.2 Kann2na2 敢若 ‘seem, as if’
    • 3.3 Kai3 tshiunn7 介像 and kai3 sing5 介成
    • 3.4 Khuann3 0khi2 0lai5 看起來
    • 3.5 Kam2kak4 感覺
    • 3.6 Phah4-sing3 拍算/扑算
  • 4.Layered structure of e5 khuan2 个款 and sentence-final particles
    • 4.1 Lah0 啦
    • 4.2 Oo5 哦
    • 4.3 Hoonn0 呼
    • 4.4 An2ni1 安呢
  • 5.Semantic interpretation
    • 5.1Direct evidence via sensory input
    • 5.2Indirect evidence via inference
  • 6.Stacking of lexical and functional categories
  • 7.Closing words
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.16018.lie
References
Aijmer, Karen
(2009) Seem and evidentiality. Functions of Language 161, 63–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Alkhenvald, A. Y. & R. M. W. Dixon
(Eds.) (2003) Studies in evidentiality. Typological Studies in Language. Vol 541. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Alkhenvald, Alexandra Y.
(2004) Evidentiality. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chafe, Wallace, and Johanna, Nichols
(Eds.) (1986) Evidentiality: the linguistic coding of epistemology. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Chappell, Hilary
(2001) A typology of evidential markers in Sinitic languages, In Hilary Chappell (Ed.), Sinitic grammar: synchronic and diachronic perspectives (pp. 56–84). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
(2001) Derivation by phase. In Michael Kenstowicz (Ed.), Ken Hale: a life in language (pp. 1–52). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Douglas, Rev. Carstairs
(1873) Chinese-English dictionary of the vernacular or spoken language of amoy with the principal variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew dialects. London: Trübner and Co.Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd
(2002) On the role of context in grammaticalization. In Ilse Wischer and Gabriele Diewald (Eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization: typological studies in language. Volume 491 (pp. 83–101). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heine, Bernd and Mechthild Reh
(1984) Grammaticalization and Reanalysis in African Languages. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi, and Friederike Hünnemeyer
(1991) Grammaticalization: a conceptual framework. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jenks, Peter
(2014) Generalized clausal modifiers in Thai noun phrases. Syntax 41, 299–343. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, Lansheng
(1992) Zhuci si de de yufa yiyi ji qi laiyuan (the grammatical function and the origin of the particle si de ). Zhongguo Yuwen 2311, 445–452.Google Scholar
Kayne, Richard S.
(1994) The antisymmetry of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Li, Yen-hui Audrey
(2012) De in Mandarin ↔ e in Taiwanese. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 33(1), 17–40.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi
(1997) The fine structure of the left periphery. In Liliane Haegeman (Ed.), Elements of grammar (pp. 281–337). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi and Guglielmo Cinque
(2016) Functional categories and syntactic theory. Annual Review of Linguistics 21, 139–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shlonsky, Ur
(2010) The cartographic enterprise in syntax. Language and Linguistic Compass 4(6), 417–429. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sybesma, Rint and Boya Li
(2007) The dissection and structural mapping of Cantonese sentence final particles. Lingua 1171, 1739–1783. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsai, Wei-Tien
(2015) Cai weiguan dao hongguan: hanyu yufa de shengcheng shiye (From Microscopic View to Cosmic Perspective: Generative Landscape of Chinese Syntax). Beijing: Shangwu Yishuguan.Google Scholar
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan
(Ed.) (2015) The cartography of Chinese syntax: the cartography of syntactic structures, Volume 111. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Willet, Thomas
(1988) A cross-linguistic survey of the grammaticalization of evidentiality. Studies in Language 12(1), 51–91. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Hsieh, Miao-Ling
2022. On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min. In New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 272], ► pp. 445 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.