Localizers and Spatial Prepositional Phrases in Taiwanese Southern Min
| Autor: | Chiu, Hung-wen, 邱虹雯 |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 102 Recent years have seen increased attention being given to spatial prepositional phrases (spatial PPs). Different languages adopt distinct devices to express the location of objects. The common structure is one spatial preposition followed by a nominal phrase as a complement. The existence of localizers is a language-specific phenomenon for Sinitic languages. This thesis deals with properties of the localizer and its syntactic structure in Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM). Localizers in TSM are divided into two types, simple localizers (e.g. ting2 ‘above, up, on, top’, lai7 ‘in, inside’) and complex localizers (e.g. ting2thau5 ‘above, up, on, top’, lai7te2 ‘in, inside’). With regard to locative prepositional phrases in TSM, the preposition ti7 ‘at’ precedes a noun with [+PLACE] feature, such as ti7 tsia1 ‘here’, ti7 hak8-hau7 ‘at school’. In other words, a common noun cannot be used as a place word without the aid of the localizer because the localizer is a trigger to convert a Thing into a Place. There are four basic constructions of localizers in TSM: (i) P+ DP+ Locsim/ Loccom (ii) P+ Loccom (iii) DP+ Locsim/ Loccom (iv) Loccom In some cases, the possessive particle e5 ‘-‘s’ is inserted between a DPground and a localizer if the localizer consists of more than one syllable. Moreover, there exists the part-whole relation between the ground DP and localizers. In other words, the Ground DP serves as a Possessor within LocPs. According to Ayano (2001) and Svenonius (2006, 2010), the spatial PP in TSM also splits into several layered projections. Based on data, it was found that the localizer was a nominal head which projected a locative phrase (LocP). After comparing English with TSM, I propose the localizer involves a fusion of two semantic features, namely [PLACE] and [AXIAL PART]. In the analysis of layered prepositional phrases in TSM, the preposition ti7 resembles a RELATOR indicating a relation between an entity (i.e. Subject) and a place (i.e. Predicate). I assume the prepositional RELATOR ti7 is realized as a functional head, little p, which encodes [+orientation] feature. For example, the structure of pue1a2 ti7 toh4a2 ting2 ‘the cup is on the table’ is shown as [pP [DP pue1a2] [[p[+orientational ti7 ] [LocP [NPposs toh4a2] [Loc ting2]]]]. By contrast, there exists a null functional category, named p[+orientation] in English. English bare prepositions on, in or under originates in the lower P[+place] position and moves into p[+orientation] in Logical Form to denote a clear location. It accounts for why an English bare preposition is equal to TSM ti7+…+localizer. The last issue concerns the distribution of locative PPs. The sequence, P+LocP, occurs either before or after the VP in the sentence. The Preverbal PP is an adjunct referring to the place where an action happened while the postverbal PP is a complement denoting the location where the Figure DP arrived after the action. I adopt the idea of Ramchand’s (2008) First-phase Syntax to explain the difference between the preverbal PP and postverbal PP. Three syntactic projections in locative sentences: vP, VP and pP correspond to semantic subevents: causeP, processP and resultP, respectively. The structure of preverbal locative PPs involves dynamic VP, whereas the postverbal ones contain (vP), VP and pP. In such cases, pP denotes a result of event or a stative condition. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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