Title

The ‘Self’ Perspective of ‘VC lai ’ and ‘V pun ki C’ Constructions in Taiwanese Hakka

Author

Hsu, Fu-mei

Genre

Article  

Pages

161-199

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese  

Key words

Taiwanese Hakka, ‘VC lai,’ ‘V pun ki C,’ ‘self’ perspective

Abstract

 　　This paper proposes a ‘self’ approach to deal with two imperative constructions in Taiwanese Hakka, the ‘V C lai’ and ‘V pun ki C’ constructions. There is an implicit ‘self’ voice in these two constructions. The ‘V C lai’ construction is connected directly to this ‘self’ voice, while the ‘V pun ki C’ construction implies it indirectly because of the third-person singular pronoun ki. This analysis is advantageous in that it can account for the similarities and differences of these two constructions, as well as explain the linguistic features of ‘patient-as-subject’ prominent sentences and the third-person singular pronoun ta-sentences in Mandarin. The ‘self’ perspective is not based on “verbs,” but on the interlocutors in discourse and their ‘self-other’ relationships. These investigations can help us further our understanding of Hakka and even of Mandarin.