Path verbs of motion in Swatawwe serial verb constructions.

摘要

The primary goal of this thesis is to establish a syntactic representation for Path Serial Verb Constructions (PSVCs) in Suan1tao 5Ue7 (SwaTawWe, Chaoshan) within the framework of Generative Grammar. In it, I contend that the underlying representation for PSVCs in Suan1tao5Ue7 is a complementation structure based on the positive outcome of two syntactic tests: reflexive binding and quantifier licensing. In light of Benedicto and Salomon's (2012) syntactic analysis on motion events in Mayangna based on three-dimensional space, I classify the path verbs in Suan1tao 5Ue7 into four categories: vertical, horizontal, deictic, and orientation of the figure. According to the patterns of path verbs in PSVCs, these four categories constitute three embedded layers of a complex VP in the complementation structure with the predictable hierarchical order of VP[orientation], VP[directional], and VP [endpoint]. Within the VP[directional], the V[vertical] and V[horizontal] are in complementary distribution and form a path V-V compound with V[deictic]. I also show that the telicity of the PSVCs is represented by VP[endpoint] at the bottom of the hierarchy. This structural hierarchy order operates to constrain word combinations and predict word order for path verbs of motion expressions.