Chapter published in:
Current Issues in Syntactic Cartography: A crosslinguistic perspective
Edited by Fuzhen Si and Luigi Rizzi
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 267] 2021
► pp. 243–260

Chapter 11
Attitudinal applicative in action

| National Taiwan Normal University
| National Tsing Hua University
In this study, we have investigated a rather peculiar attitudinal construal of an applicative pronoun in Taiwan Southern Min (TSM), which may well advance our understanding of the split affectivity in Chinese dialects (cf. Tsai 2017), as exemplified below:
(1)
Guá
1sg
beh
want
lim
drink
hōo
hoo
i
3sg
kàu-khuì!
satisfied
“I want to drink to my satisfaction!”
It is also established that this type of pronominal usage is not specific to TSM but widely observed crosslinguistically (e.g., Vietnamese, Finnish, West Flemish, and Dominican Spanish; see Greco et al. 2017). Furthermore, the attitudinal applicative pronoun, though non-referential, has its root in an Affectee argument in association with the causative/passive marker of hōo. As it turns out, the expression hōo i has developed a speaker-oriented construal, expressing the intention to carry out the activity to the extreme.
Keywords: attitudinal applicatives, Taiwan Southern Min (TSM), applicative pronoun, causative/passive marker of hōo , affectee argument, speaker-oriented construal
Article outline
  • 1.A peculiar pronoun
  • 2.Previous studies of applicative pronouns in TSM
  • 3.The (non-)referentiality of i from a crosslinguistic viewpoint
  • 4.The status of attitudinal i and its habitat
  • 5.The syntax of attitude: A cartographic analysis
  • 6.Further consequences: A cross-dialectal perspective
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 October 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.267.11lau
References
Cheng, Robert L.
1974 Causative constructions in Taiwanese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 2(3): 279–324.Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa L. S., Huang, C.-T. James, Li, Y.-H. Audrey & Tang, C.-C. Jane
1999  Hoo hoo hoo: Syntax of the causative, dative, and passive constructions in Taiwanese. In Contemporary Studies on the Min Dialects, Pang-hsin Ting (ed.) 146–203. Berkeley CA: Project on Linguistic Analysis, University of California.Google Scholar
Chou, Chao-Ting Tim
2012 Syntax-pragmatics interface: Mandarin Chinese Wh-the-hell and point-of-view operator. Syntax 15(1): 1–24. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Greco, Ciro, Haegeman, Liliane & Phan, Trang
2017 Expletives and speaker-related meaning. In Order and Structure in Syntax II, Laura R. Bailey & Michelle Sheehan (eds), 59–81. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane
2014 West Flemish verb-based discourse markers and the articulation of the speech act layer. Studia Linguistica 68(1): 116–139. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Virginia
2007 Vocatives and the pragmatics-syntax interface. Lingua 117: 2077–2105. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James
1984 On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 15: 531–574.Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James & Ochi, Masao
2004 Syntax of the hell: Two types of dependencies. In Proceedings of NELS 34, Keir Moulton & Matthew Wolf (eds), 279–294. Amherst MA: GLSA.Google Scholar
Iljic, Robert
1987 Empty ta in Mandarin Chinese. Computational Analyses of Asian and African Languages 26: 15–34.Google Scholar
Lee, Hui-Chi
2009  Ka…Hoo constructions in Taiwan Southern Min. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics 7(2): 25–48.Google Scholar
Lee, Hui-Chi & Hsieh, Ching-Yu
2009 The reference of the third person pronoun i in the ka… hoo Construction. Journal of Taiwanese Vernacular 1(1): 62–79.Google Scholar
Lei, Dongping
2012 “He ta ge tongkuai” Lei Goushi de Xingcheng jiqi Yuyi Yanjiu (The study of the formation of the “he ta ge tongkuai” construction and its semantics). Yuyan Kexue (Linguistic Sciences) 2: 134–147.Google Scholar
Lin, Huei-Ling
2009 Empty pronouns in disposal constructions in Taiwan Southern Min. Paper presented at the 17th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL-17). Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France, 2–4 July.
2011 Pure unaccusatives with Hoo I in Taiwan Southern Min. Lingua 121: 2035–2047. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2012 A non-uniform analysis of Ka7 constructions in Taiwan Southern Min. Language and Linguistics 13(4): 743–766.Google Scholar
Lin, Jo-Wang & Zhang, Niina Ning
2006 The syntax of non-referential TA ‘it’ in Mandarin Chinese. Language and Linguistics 7(4): 799–824.Google Scholar
Lü, Shuxiang
1985 Jindai Hanyu Zhidaici (Pronouns in Modern Chinese). Shanghai: Xuelin Publishing House.Google Scholar
Ma, Qingzhu
1983 Xiandai Hanyu de Shuangbinyu Gouzao (Double object constructions in Modern Chinese). Yuyanxue Luncong 10: 166–196.Google Scholar
Matthews, Stephen, Xu, Huiling, Yip, Virginia
2005 Passive and unaccusative in the Jieyang dialect of Chaozhou. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 14: 267–298. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paul, Waltraud
2014 Why particles are not particular: Sentence-final particles in Chinese as heads of a split CP. Studia Linguistica 68: 77–115. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pylkkänen, Liina
2002 Introducing Arguments. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Tsai, Wei-Tien Dylan
2008 Tense anchoring in Chinese. Lingua 118: 675–686. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2017 On split affectivity in Chinese. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, New Series 47(2): 409–434.Google Scholar
2018 High applicatives are not high enough: A cartographic solution. Lingua Sinica 4(1): 1–12. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tsao, Feng-fu
1997 Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ Zònghé Yǔfǎ Yánjiù: Táiwān Mǐnnányǔ Zònghé Yǔfǎ Huìzhěng Shìxiě (A comprehensive study on Taiwan Southern Min grammar: A draft of a comprehensive Taiwan Southern Min grammar). Xíngzhèngyuàn Guéjiā Kēxué Wěiyuánhuì Zhuāntí Yánjiù Jìhuà Chéngguǒ Báogào (Report of Research Project subsidized by the National Science Council, Executive Yuan).Google Scholar
Uriagereka, Juan
1995 Aspects of the syntax of clitic placement in western Romance. Linguistic Inquiry 26: 79–123.Google Scholar
Zhu, Dexi
1982 Yufa Jiangyi (Lectures on Grammar). Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar