Relating Causative and Passive Bun Constructions in Hakka
Vol. 45 No. 2 06/2015
Title |
Relating Causative and Passive Bun Constructions in Hakka |
Author |
Huang, Han-chun |
Genre |
Article |
Pages |
167-200 |
Download |
|
Language |
English |
Key words |
causative, passive, ambiguity, affectedness, Hakka bun construction |
Abstract |
Bun「分」is a versatile function word in Hakka which occurs in dative, purposive, causative, and passive constructions. Both causative and passive bun constructions have subtypes. Causative bun constructions can be interpersonal causatives, unwilling permissives, or descriptive causatives. Passive bun constructions can be direct passives, possessive passives, or impersonal passives. Structurally, causative and passive bun constructions are indistinguishable, which gives rise to the potential of ambiguity, caused either by the loss of willingness on the part of the subject NPs, or the ergativity of psych verbs. When a verb with low agentivity appears after bun, the reading tends to be causative rather than passive, even though the grammatical subject is the semantic object of the post- bun transitive verb. |