A reference grammar of Paiwan
Date
2006
Authors
Chang, Anna Hsiou-chuan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This thesis is a grammatical description ofNorth Paiwan, spoken in Santimen and
Saichia townships in Pingtung County, Taiwan. This language is predicate-initial.
Order of the arguments is flexible, as there is a preceding case marker indicating their
syntactic role. Paiwan has fairly rich morphology. Like most Formosan languages, it
has four morphologically marked voices: Actor Voice (A V), Goal Voice (GV),
Instrument Voice (IV) and Locative Voice (LV). GV, IV and LV can be grouped
under the heading ofNon-actor Voice (NAV). Topicality is the main factor
determining choice among voice constructions. Although the alignment of argument
case marking is seemingly consistent with ergativity, morphologically Paiwan is
neither ergative nor accusative because neither A V Clauses nor NA V clauses are
attested to be more basic. It is thus better classes as a morphologically symmetrical
language. Syntactically it is not entirely a symmetrical language. Paiwan A V verbs
may be transitive because an oblique argument may also bear some properties of core
arguments. However, NAV verbs are more transitive than AV verbs. Syntactically,
Paiwan resembles Tagalog, standing somewhere between ergativity and
symmetricality.
This thesis consists of fifteen chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the language, its
speakers and the areas where they live. Chapter 2 describes the phonetics and
phonology. Chapter 3 deals with reduplication and some morphophonemic processes.
An overview of Paiwan main clause structures, including verbal clauses and nonverbal
clauses, is provided in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 treats major and minor word
classes. Paiwan major word classes include verbs, nouns and adjectives. Chapter 6 deals with the derivation of complex stems. Chapter 7 analyses the structure of the
noun phrase. Chapter 8 treats verbs and verbal predicates. Verbal focus morphology
and valence-changing morphology, including causatives, anticausatives, reflexives
and reciprocals, are described, as are verbal auxiliaries. Chapter 9 introduces verb
serialization. Chapter 10 describes interrogative and imperative clauses. Chapter 11
introduces some complex constructions, discourse connectors and inferential markers.
Chapter 12 describes relative clauses. Chapter 13 deals with complement clauses.
Argument raising in a tu complement clause is examined. The pragmatic function of
the Paiwan voice system is discussed in Chapter 14. Chapter 15 examines the syntax of the Paiwan voice system.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Type
Thesis (PhD)
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
License Rights
Restricted until
Downloads
File
Description