廣東話句末助詞「乜滯」與「咁滯」再探
摘要

本論文探討廣東話句末助詞「乜滯」和「咁滯」的語法特徵。討論主要分為兩個部份。第一個部份是「乜滯」和「咁滯」的語義特徵。本文提議「乜滯」是一個帶有減弱否定語氣功能的極負詞（negative polarity item），結合了梯級分析（scalar analysis） 和 「以質為基礎的訊息」（quality-based informativeness）去解釋「乜滯」的語義特徵。「咁滯」的基本語義乃表達所描述的事情即將要發生。可是，「咁滯」不僅有動態的用法(dynamic interpretations)，也有靜態的用法（stative interpretations），其所含的「即將性」（prosepctivity）並不呈現在靜態的用法。本文引用Portner (1998)， 提議「咁滯」是一個prospective marker, 同時也是一個「內涵操作者」（intensional operator）。 這意即「咁滯」可以帶出不同的可能世界：「咁滯」的動態用法，其表達所描述的事件在現實世界中自然發展，且即預計將在「最佳世界」（the best worlds）完成；而「咁滯」的靜態用法，其所描述的事件不可能在現實世界繼續發展，但可以在 「最佳世界」（the best worlds）完成。這既可以保留「咁滯」的基本語意，也可以解釋其靜態用法所產生反事實詮釋（counterfactual reading）。
第二個部份討論「乜滯」和「咁滯」的句法特徵。本文認為「乜滯」是一個助詞，且加結在動詞詞組或形容詞組，似乎所描述的謂語類別。「咁滯」則是一個「即將性中心語」（prosepctive head）。本文採用Simpson (2001)，認為謂語經歷了左置移位至非焦點的位置，以至於「乜滯」和「咁滯」留在句末，取得焦點的位置。

Revising the Particles Matzai and Gamzai in Cantonese


ABSTRACT

This thesis studies the grammatical properties of the particles matzai and gamzai in Cantonese. I argue that matzai and gamzai are not approximate counterparts, they encode different semantic properties instead. Matzai is licensed only by negation and associated with minimal expressions. I will follow Matsui’s (2013) proposal of attenuating NPIs and suggest that matzai is a scalar attenuator. Unlike matzai, the fundamental meaning of gamzai is associated with prospective aspect. Gamzai sentences are interpreted between dynamic and stative readings. The former expresses that the result-state is predicted to exist in the imminent future; while the latter lacks such prospective meaning. I propose that gamzai is an intensional operator. It creates an intensional context for the eventive or stage-level predicates as the result-state within the scope of prospectivity. This explains why gamzai sentences can be interpreted between stative and dynamic readings. I employ possible world semantics of the imperfective paradox (Dowty 1977, 1979, Landman 1992 and Portner 1998) to resolve this problem. The result-state comes true in the non-interrupted best worlds, regardless of the interpretations of gamzai sentences. In the actual world, the event continues with its development in dynamic situations, but it stops in the stative ones. The last part of this work discusses the syntactic analysis of matzai and gamzai. I propose that matzai is an adverb which adjoins to VP or AP; while gamzai is a head of Prospective Projection. I follow Simpson’s (2001) light predicate raising to derive the correct surface positions of these two particles.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

摘要 i
Abstract ii
Acknowledgements v
List of Tables

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1 Issues 1
2 Proposal 4
3 Outline of Thesis 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEWS
1 Matzai 6
1.1 Tang (2006, 2009) 6
1.2 Lee (2013) 11
2 Gamzai 16
2.1 Tang (2006, 2009) 16
2.2 Lee (2013) 21
3 Conclusion 24

CHAPTER 3 SEMANTICS OF MATZAI
1 Introduction 25
2 Arguments against Lee (2013) 25
3 Properties of matzai 28
3.1 Literal meaning of matzai 28
3.2 Distribution of matzai 32
3.3 Meaning of matzai sentences 35
4 Attenuating NPIs 39
4.1 Introduction 39
4.2 Matsui’s (2013) Proposal of A(n)mari 40
5 Proposal: matzai as an attenuating NPI 43
5.1 Basic idea 43
5.2 Scalar structure of matzai 44
5.3 Antiveridicality and the semantic contribution of matzai 50
6 Conclusion 55

CHAPTER 4 SEMANTICS OF GAMZAI
1 Introduction 56
1.1 Arguments against Tang (2006, 2009) 56
1.2 Arguments against Lee (2013) 58
2 Imperfective paradox 64
2.1 The problem 64
3 Modal semantics of the imperfect paradox 66
3.1 Introduction 66
3.2 Non-interruptions and the best worlds 66
3.3 Counterfactuals: continuation beyond interruptions 68
4 Proposal: gamzai as a prospective marker 69
4.1 Dynamic gamzai sentences 70
4.2 Stative gamzai sentences 72
5 Remarks 75
6 Conclusion 76

CHAPTER 5 SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS
1 Simpson (2001): de-focusing and remnant movement 77
2 Remnant movement of matzai and gamzai sentences 83
3 Additional Remarks 91

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION 93

References 94

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