Over the last few decades, aspectual notions have been applied to in structuring verbal lexical semantic representation. Levin (2000) proposes that aspectual classification is efficient in recognizing the transitivity of a verb and in grounding lexical semantic representation. Early studies such as Thompson and Hopper’s transitivity parameters (1980) have indicated that ‘telicity’ and ‘punctuality’ play prominent roles in recognizing aspectual properties of verbs. Vendler (1967) and Saeed (1997) suggest that aspect system allows speakers to form different situation types, e.g. whether the event is complete, or incomplete, so short as to involve almost no time, something stretched over a perceptible period, or as something repeated over a period. Transitivity involves a number of components and these components would co-vary with one another in different languages (see chapter 2 for a detailed review). We will examine how KONG and THECHHUT rank in the scale of ten parameters. Among the ten parameters, two parameters, Aspect and Punctuality, will receive particular attention for they have direct relevance to the temporal contour of a verb (Levin 2000).
First, we look at the parameter of Aspect. Aspect signifies the telicity of a verb.
A telic verb encodes a result or an ending state. The concept of the semantic distinction: telic/atelic in situation types (Vendler 1967; Smith 1991) are identical to the parameters of Aspect in Thompson and Hopper’s transitivity parameters.
According to Vendler (1967), telic verbs refer to verbs that have processes which are seen as having a natural completion.
In terms of Thompson and Hopper’s parameters, THECHHUT scales higher than KONG in the parameter of Aspect. THECHHUT is a very typical telic verb which encodes a result or an ending state, as in (30a). KONG is found to be in either telic
cases such as stating a piece of information or in atelic cases such as repeating the intended saying. Example (30a) illustrates the telicity of THECHHUT, in which once hwantui i-ken 反對意見 ‘cons’ are proposed, the event of proposing is completed right after the proposed was made. (30b,c) illustrate the telicity of KONG in which the action of speaking is carried out right after pieces of information such as i sensing gin chip-it 伊 先生很執一 ‘Her husband is being stubborn.’ or iauo be chhu goa mo ai be ku chhu 以後買厝我沒愛買舊厝 ‘I do not want to buy old houses afterwards.’ are stated. Example (30d,e) on the other hand illustrate the quality of being atelic by repeating the intended saying. Ittit 一直 ‘always’ in (30d) and tangtang 定定 ‘often’ in (30e) further strengthens the imcomplete process that is the characteristic of being atelic.
(30) a.i ti hwegi duon due TLPA thechhut hwantui i-ken 伊 在 會議 中 對 TLPA 提出 反對 意見 3SG in meeting in toward TLPA propose cons ideas ‘He proposes cons toward TLPA in the meeting.’
b.i kong i sensin chin chip-it 伊 講 伊 先生 很 執一 3SG say her husband very stubborn
‘She says that her husband is very stubborn.’
c. goa kong goa iauo be chhu goa mo ai be ku chhu 我 講 我 以後 買 厝 我 沒 愛 買 舊 厝 1SG say 1SG afterwards buy house 1SG not want buy old house ‘I say that I do not want to buy old houses afterwards.’
d. i ma ittit ham goa kong … 伊 麼 一直 和 我 講…
3SG ASP always to 1SG say…
‘He has been always saying to me that ….’
e. goa ma tangtang kong goa hoekau chiok ai chiah gubah 我 麼 定定 講 我 回教 足 愛 吃 牛肉
1SG also always say 1SG Islam very much love eat beef ‘I have always said that I am Islamic and I love to eat beef very much.’
Secondly, we look at the parameter of Punctuality. Punctuality involves when a verb has an obvious transitional phase between inception and completion. It describes an event that seems so instantaneous that it involves virtually no time (Smith 1991). Therefore, the action involved has a clear-cut boundary (cf.
Thompson and Hopper 1980:252). A contrastive notion is durativity, proposed by Vendler (1967) in situation types of verbs. Durative verbs refer to verbs that describe a situation or process which lasts for a period of time. The notion of
‘Process’ is identified as a temporal duration by Huang et al. (2000:26).
In terms of Thompson and Hopper’s parameters, THECHHUT scales higher than KONG in the parameter of Punctuality. That is to say, KONG is more ‘durative’
while THECHHUT is more ‘punctual’. KONG has the quality of being on-going or durative in different contexts; however, TECHHUT pertains only to the quality of a clear-cut action. In example (31a), KONG takes the phrase kui poan kan 歸半天
‘several days’ to demonstrate a durative time without clear inception and completion.
We do not observe any continuation of time involved in the action encoded by THECHHUT. In (31b), on the other hand, KONG marks a punctual event. As for THECHHUT, in example (32a,b), thechhut chite iaukiu提出這個要求 ‘to make this proposal’ or thechhut pingko kah kiangi提出評估和建議 ‘propose an evaluation and suggestion’ has a clear-cut and instantaneous action, demonstrating punctuality in that the action of the proposal takes place within a short time and does not involve process.
(31)a. i iking kong/*thechhut kui-poan-kan 伊 已經 講/*提出 歸半天了 3SG already say/*propose days ‘He has been saying for days/for three hours.’
(32) a. i thechhut chitle iaukiu 伊 提出 這 le 要求 3SG propose this asking ‘He proposes this asking.’
b.sienshin kah gigan gaoyotka thechhut phinggu kah kiangi 老師 和 語言 教育者 提出 評估 和 建議
teacher and language educator propose evaluation and suggestion
‘The teachers and language educators propose evaluation and suggestion.’
c. goa kong goa wu kah i kiam shin 我 講 我 有 給 伊 減 薪 1SG say 1SG ASP to 3SG cut salary ‘I said that I have cut his salary.’
To summarize, KONG and THECHHUT demonstrate different degrees of transitivity. KONG is more atelic and durative while THECHHUT is more telic and punctual. This may have to do with the frequent use of KONG as a verb of communication which gives rise to a variety of uses. KONG is use to mark a piece of information or a statement. The action of KONG can either be completed once the speaker send out a statement (telic/punctual) or it can be lasted by repeating in a certain period of time (atelic/durative). THECHHUT, given its low frequency, is especially enlisted as a verb bearing the quality of telicity and punctuality.
THECHHUT is used to mark an event of proposing or suggesting. Once the proposal or suggestion is made, the action of speaking is accomplished.
3.4 Summary
In this chapter, we have examined closely one of the sub-groups of TSM verbs of communicationKONG and THECHHUT. Sharing the same semantic frame, KONG and THECHHUT appear to be indistinguishable at first sight. However, a closer
investigation of their semantic and syntactic constructs reveals several similarities and differences between the two verbs.
First, KONG and THECHHUT are similar to each other only in the quality of the Sender in their semantic representation. That is, the Sender of KONG and THECHHUT in both transitive use and intransitive use shows high tendency of being animate and being specified. This is understandable since the communication is mainly carried out by people and is making sense only when we can refer to the speaker to a specific person. When the Sender is inanimate, both the Sender of KONG and THECHHUT refers to the animate speakers speaking in an inanimate institution.
Nevertheless, it is observed that KONG and THECHHUT differ from each other in four ways. First, the frequency demonstrates that KONG is extremely pragmatically unmarked and is a preferred verb of communication, whereas THECHHUT is pragmatically marked and thus a non-preferred use. This correlates with their syntactic patterning and grammatical functions. KONG has wider use in terms of its argument structure. That is, the object position in the case of KONG can either be covert or be filled with an NP or a clause. In the case of THECHHUT, however, the object position must be overt and to be filled by an NP or a clause. The differing argument structures of KONG and THECHHUT imply that they differ in terms of their transitivity. KONG has both transitive (85%) and intransitive use (15%) while THECHHUT has only transitive use (100%). KONG prefers to take clause in the object position (83%) while THECHHUT prefers to take an NP as its object complement (68%).
Second, taking a clause as the Message, the topic in the clause of THECHHUT is more formal and serious while the topic in the clause of KONG is more related to daily-life, such as family affairs or friends’ chatting. When taking an NP as the
Message, the Message of KONG has distinct senses pertaining to various kinds of speaking activity: speaking a language, talking in general, and talking about a specific topic. On the other hand, specific topic is the majority of the Message that is communicated by THECHHUT. As for the Participant role, in the transitive use when the Recipient is to be highlighted, the preposition kah is the most preferred use.
The Recipient of KONG can be marked by more variety of prepositions such as kah, ham or ho while the Recipient in THECHHUT can only be marked by the preposition hiong. In the intransitive use, the semantic representations of the Recipient with prepositions resemble those in the transitive use of KONG.
Third, KONG and THECHHUT behave differently in the Communication Frame.
Specifically KONG pertains not only to the Conversation Frame but also to the Statement Frame; whereas THECHHUT pertains only to the Statement Frame.
Fourth, concerning their event structure, KONG is more atelic and durative while THECHHUT is more telic and punctual. This may have to do with the frequent use KONG as a verb of speaking, which gives rise to a variety of uses. THECHHUT, given its low frequency, is especially enlisted as a verb bearing the quality of telicity and punctuality.
Overall, KONG and THECHHUT in TSM bear more differences than similarities. KONG enjoys an extreme high frequency and thus an unmarked use whereas THECHHUT on the contrary is a marked use. Due to the extreme high frequency, KONG displays more varieties in syntactic constructions, semantic representation and its transitivity. The preferred use in the formal context and the pragmatic implication of inferiority to superiority reduce the varieties in semantic representation of THECHHUT. Both the syntactic representation and event structure demonstrate that KONG is of lower transitivity while THECHHUT is a higher transitive verb. Furthermore, KONG is more atelic and durative while THECHHUT
is more telic and punctual in their event structures.
In this chapter, we have analyzed KONG and THECHHUT in TSM. As a continuing study, in the next chapter, we compare THECHHUT and KIANGI since these two verbs share the semantic property of making a suggestion or proposal.