Chapter Ⅲ Data and methods
3.2 Coding scheme
3.2.2 Syntactic subcategories of X
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
‘F2: The pine tree is very old.’
(15) [DI. + VP] [HL12: 28]
F2: ... 幾隻字 還 聽得識 但係 ...無... 當‧
了解‧‧
啦 F2: gi2zag2sii3 han5 tang1ded4siid4 tan3he3 …mo5… dong1 liau2gie2 la2 F2: many-CL word still hear-DED-know but NEG very understand PART
‘F2: I could recognize some words but I do not quite understand.’
3.2.2 Syntactic subcategories of X
After the NP, AP, and VP of X were differentiated, X was further subcategorized.
Considering what can be modified by a degree intensifier as previous studies have shown, not all of the subcategories were selected for inclusion in the encoding process. Figure 5 illustrates the subcategories which will be included in the operating principle. Each subcategory will be provided with a proper example from the
Taiwanese Hakka Dictionary of Common Words.
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‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
FIGURE 5 Encoding structure of syntactic categories and subcategories
3.2.2.1 NPs
The head in a nominal phrase is the noun. Nouns are lexical items which can be animated, unanimated, real or imagined. The noun category can be broadly divided into two subcategories broadly. Common nouns are used for general sense in the present study. They usually refer to concrete entities such as 桂花 gui3fa1
‘osmanthus’ shown in (16) and abstract entities such as 愛情 oi3qin5 ‘love’ shown in (17). Or they refer to unique entities such as 日本 ngid4bun2 ‘Japan’ and 臺灣 toi5van5 ‘Taiwan’ shown in (18). Or else they can refer to a point of time such as 朝 晨頭 zeu1siin5teu5 ‘morning’ shown in (19). Next, locatives usually refer to locations such as 學校 hog8gau2 ‘school’ in (20). Some localizers which indicate the direction and location will merge with locative in this study. For example, 後背 heu3boi3
‘back’ is used as a locative in example (21).
Encoded syntactic categories in Taiwan Hakka
VPs
Stative verbs
Optative verbs
APs
Relative adjectives
Absolute adjectives
NPs
Common nouns
Locative nouns
33
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(16)
秋天 係 桂花‧‧
盛開 个 時節
qiu1tien1 he3 gui3fa1 siin3koi1 ge3 sii5jied4 autumn COP osmanthus bloom NOM period
‘Autumn is the time when the osmanthus is in full bloom.’
(17)
感情 有 當多種 除忒 愛情‧‧
還有 親情 友情
gam2qin2 iu1 dong1do1zung2 cu2ted4 oi3qin5 han2iu1 qin1qin2 iu1qin2 relationship has many forms except love kinship and friendship
‘Relationships can have many forms apart from those of love, kinship, and friendship.’
(18) 日本‧‧
在 臺灣‧‧
个 北方
ngid4bun cai3 toi5van5 ge3 bed4fong1 Japan locate Taiwan NOM northern
‘Japan is located to the north of Taiwan.’
(19) 朝晨頭‧‧‧
个 日頭 盡 熝 人
zeu1siin5teu5 ge3 ngid4teu5 qin3 lug8 ngin5 morning NOM sun very heat people
‘The heat of the morning sun bothers people very much.’
34
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(20) 學校‧‧
係 培育 人才 个 所在
hog8gau2 he3 pi5iug4 ngin5coi5 ge3 so2cai3 school COP cultivate the talented NOM place
‘School is the place to cultivate the talented.’
(21)
該扇 門 个 後背‧‧
有 一幅 山水畫
ge3san3 mun5 ge3 heu3boi3 iu1 id4bug4 san1sui2fa3 that-CL door NOM back has one-CL landscape painting
‘There is a landscape painting on the back of that door.’
3.2.2.2 VPs
Verbs occupying the head position in a verbal phrase usually function as predicates in a clause. The defining properties of verbs are as below:
a. Verbs refer to an action.
b. Verbs can take objects.
c. Verbs are used mainly as a predicate. Some of them can be used as complements. Verb phrases can appear in the subject, object, or modifier position.
d. Some type of verbs such as psych verbs or epistemic verbs are gradable and can be modified by degree adverbials.
e. Verbs can be suffixed with one of three aspect markers: the perfective phase aspect marker 忒 ted4, 煞 sod8, 了 le1, 著 do2; the imperfective progressive/
durative marker 等 den2, 著 do2; or the experiential marker 過 go3.
35
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
With regard to the classification, one can categorize verbs according to different dimensions. For example, classified by the feature of verb, the types of verbs are stative verbs, activity verbs, achievement verbs and accomplishment verbs. Classified by valency, the types of verbs are single-argument verbs, double argument verbs, triple argument verbs or quadruple-argument verbs. Since this study aims to explore the X of [DI. + X] construction, the types of verbs are classified into two folds: stative verbs, and optative verbs. Stative verbs usually do not involve changes and relate to psychological state, thoughts and cognition such as 惱 nau1 ‘hate’ demonstrated in (22) or to a resemblance relation such as 像 qiong3 in example (23). Last, optative verbs can display modalities such as likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation. In example (24), the optative verb 會 voi3 ‘can’ brings about the possibility as to
whether the subject 佢 gi5 ‘he’ goes or not. These two types of verb can denote the relative feature which is compatible with the degree intensifiers.
(22)
病人 盡 惱‧
有 人 在 醫院 緊 吵人
piang3ngin5 qin3 nau1 iu1 ngin5 cai3 i1ien3 gin2 cau5ngin5 patient very hate has people in hospital keep annoy people
‘Patients hate people who keep disturbing others in the hospital very much.’
(23)
佢 生來 當 像‧
厥 爸 ，斯文秀氣
gi5 sang1loi5 dong1 qiong3 gia1 ba1 sii1vun5xiu3hi3 he born to very alike his father gentle
‘He looks like his gentle father.’
36
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(24) 佢 會‧
去 無？
gi5 voi3 hi3 mo5 he will go Q
‘Will he go?’
3.2.2.3 APs
The head of an adjectival phrase is an adjective. Adjectives can represent many properties of entities such as dimension, age, speed, quality, etc. Generally speaking, they are used as prenominal modifiers or as a predicate. With regard to the
subcategories of adjectives, adjectives can be classified as derived adjectives or non-adjectives. Derived adjectives are those that go through a derivational process such as reduplication or affixation. Non-derived adjectives can be further can be divided into non-adnominal adjectives and non-predicative adjectives. As indicated in Chapter 2, the relative and absolute distinctions between adjectives can lend weight to the exploration of the major aim of this study. Hence, we adopt a two-way classification of adjectives as relative adjectives (RA) and absolute adjectives (AA) in order to examine the X as AP of [DI. + X] construction.
Every adjective occurring in the data will be attested for comparative structure and entailment based on Kennedy and McNally’s test (2005, 2007) so as to
distinguish between the relative and absolute adjectives. Their test illustrates that if an adjective is a relative one, neither entity in a comparative structure shall implicate any entailment. If an adjective is an absolute one, the comparing entities can generate entailments. First, relative adjectives are regularly gradable and can be placed into a comparison. Taking the two adjectives 壞 fai3 ‘bad’ and 孤盲 go1mo1 ‘damned’ to demonstrate, one can see that both of them can occur in the comparative forms as
37
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
shown in (25) and (26). Yet, when one examines their entailments, example (25) cannot entail (25’). In contrast, example (26) can generate entailment as shown in (26’).
(25)
阿山叔 个 脾氣 比 阿明哥 个 較 壞‧
a1san1sug4 ge3 pi5hi3 bi2 a1min5go1 ge3 ka3 fai3 Uncle A-san NOM temper compare to A-min NOM more bad
‘Uncle A-san is more bad-tempered than A-min.’
(25’)
~5 阿山叔/阿明哥 个 脾氣 壞‧
a1san1sug4 ge3 pi5hi3 fai3 Uncle A-san/ A-min NOM temper bad
‘Uncle A-san/ A-min is bad-tempered.’
(26)
阿山叔 比 阿明哥 較 孤盲‧‧
a1san1sug4 bi2 a1min5go1 ka3 go1mo1 Uncle A-san compare to A-min more damned
‘Uncle A-san is more damned than A-min.’
(26’)
⇒ 阿山叔/阿明哥 孤盲‧‧
a1san1sug4 go1mo1 Uncle A-san/ A-min damned
‘Uncle A-san/ A-min is bad-tempered.’
5 The logic symbols applied in the present study are “~” representing the negation and “⇒”
representing the implication.
38
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Next, in the case of APs, their boundedness will be further distinguished. The notion of boundedness introduced by Paradis (2000) shares a similarity with the notion of scaling predicate proposed by Kennedy & McNally. Paradis (2001:2) points out that “the property of boundedness is situated in the domain of gradability”. In order to test boundedness, the author employed Lin and Peck’s (2016) two tests to classify every modified adjective into one of the four types: open-scale, lower-closed-scale, upper-closed-lower-closed-scale, or totally-closed-scale adjective. The open-scale ones are generally unbounded in nature and the closed scale ones are bounded in nature. Yet, the closed scales can display more fine-grained features of boundedness. The detailed diagnostics are given in Table 7 below.
The first test is whether the adjectives can occur with 更加 gien3ga1 ‘more,’
which serves to increase the quantity of the adjectives. If yes, the adjectives are open-scale and lower-closed-open-scale ones. If not, it is indubitable that the adjectives are upper-closed-scale and totally-closed-scale ones. Next, the second test will examine the negative entailment on each adjective. It is to see whether the negated entity can entail the opposites. Due the feature of boundedness, the negation on the adjectives of an open-scale and totally-closed-scale are not equivalent with their antonyms. As for TABLE 7 The diagnostics of scale types
gien3ga1 ‘more’
comparative construction
Negative
entailment Boundedness
RA Open-scale Yes No [UB]
AA Lower-closed-scale Yes Yes [B]
Upper-closed-scale No Yes [B]
Totally-closed-scale No No [B]
39
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
the adjectives of a lower-closed-scale and upper-closed-scale, since the scales are asymmetric, the negation on them can lead to their antonyms. These two tests can capture the multifaceted aspects of open and close scales.
Take examples (27) and (28) for example. The open-scale adjective 闊 fad4
‘spacious’ and the lower-closed-scale adjective 垃圾 la2sab4 ‘dirty’ can pass the first test because the upper ends of both scales are open. As in (29) and (30), the upper-closed-scale 淨俐 qiang3li3 ‘clean’ and the totally-closed-scale 淰 nem1 ‘full’
cannot collocate with 更加 gien3ga1 ‘more’ since the upper-ends of both scales are closed. Next, as for the negative entailment test, in (27’) and (30’), when 闊 fad4
‘spacious’ and 淰 nem1 ‘full’ are negated, they are not equivalent to their opposites.
Yet, when 垃圾 la2sab4 ‘dirty’ and 淨俐 qiang3li3 ‘clean’ are negated, the meanings they manifest are the antonyms of these two adjectives as shown in (28’) and (29’).
(27) 這 房間 變著 更加 闊‧
了 ia2 fong5gien1 bien3do2 gien3ga1 fad4 le1 this room become more spacious PRF
‘This room becomes more spacious.’
(28) 這 房間 个 地泥 更加 垃圾‧‧
了 ia2 fong5gien1 ge3 ti3nai5 gien3ga1 la2sab4 le1 this room NOM floor more dirty PRF
‘The floor of this room becomes dirtier.’
40
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(29) 這 房間 个 地泥 更加 淨俐‧‧
了 ia2 fong5gien1 ge3 ti3nai5 gien3ga1 qiang3li3 le1 this room NOM floor more clean PRF
‘The floor of this room becomes dirtier.’
(30) ?茶杯仔 个 水 更加 淰‧
了 ca5bi1e2 ge3 sui2 gien3ga1 nem1 le1 cup NOM water more full PRF
‘The water in the cup is fuller.’
(27’) 這 房間 毋 闊‧
~ 這 房間 窄‧
ia2 fong5gien1 m5 fad4 ~ ia2 fong5gien1 zag4 this room NEG spacious ~ this room narrow
‘This room is not spacious.’ ~ ‘This room is narrow.’
(28’)
這 房間 个 地泥 毋 垃圾‧‧
⇒ 這 房間 个 地泥 淨俐‧‧
ia2 fong5gien1 ge3 ti3nai5 m5 la2sab4 ⇒ ia2 fong5gien1 ge3 ti3nai5 qiang3li3 this room NOM floor NEG dirty ⇒ this room NOM floor clean
‘The floor of this room is not dirty.’ ⇒ ‘The floor of this room is clean.’
(29’)
這 房間 个 地泥 毋 淨俐‧‧
⇒ 這 房間 个 地泥 垃圾‧‧
ia2 fong5gien1 ge3 ti3nai5 m5 qiang3li3 ⇒ ia2 fong5gien1 ge3 ti3nai5 la2sab4 this room NOM floor NEG clean ⇒ this room NOM floor dirty
‘The floor of this room is not clean.’ ⇒ ‘The floor of this room is dirty.’
41
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(30’) 茶杯仔 个 水 毋 淰‧
~ 茶杯仔 个 水 空‧
ca5bi1e2 ge3 sui2 m5 nem1 ~ ca5bi1e2 ge3 sui2 kung1 cup NOM water NEG full ~ cup NOM water empty
‘The water in the cup is not full.’ ~ ‘The water in the cup is empty.’