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Article published In: Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 3:1 (2017) ► pp.95–122

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A corpus-based analysis of word order variation in Yami relative clause construction

 | National Chung Cheng University
 | National Chung Cheng University
Published online: 28 September 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.3.1.05cha
Abstract
Yami relative clauses (RCs) can either precede the head noun, for example, kanakan ‘child,’ as in ko ni-ma-cita o [ji yákneng] a kanakan ‘I saw the child who cannot hold still’, functioning as restrictive RCs ([RC] + a + Head NP), or follow it as in ko ni-ma-cita o kanakan a [ji yákneng] ‘I saw that child, who cannot hold still’, functioning as nonrestrictive RCs for complementation strategy (Head NP + a + [RC]). The VARBRUL results demonstrate that head final RCs are predominant in Yami, and Yami speakers use them to connect the given referent with the previous discourse to convey given information. The study found that Subject head nouns outnumber other grammatical roles of head NPs, and that Subject head noun with Subject RC construction is produced more than any other RC constructions, which indicates that Yami RCs are used to modify the Subject for topic continuity.
Abstract (Chinese)
達悟語的關係子句(relative clause; RC)可以置於所修飾的名詞(中心語; head noun)之前([關係子句] +繫詞+中心語)，如例句ko nimacita o [ji yákneng] a kanakan ‘我看見了那個靜不下來的小孩’ 中的關係子句「靜不下來的」前置修飾中心語kanakan ‘小孩’，作為限定用法 (restrictive)；亦可將關係子句置於中心語之後(中心語+繫詞+ [關係子句])，如例句ko nimacita o kanakan a [ji yákneng] ‘我看見了那個小孩靜不下來’，作為補充修飾中心語用法(non-restrictive)。根據VARBRUL變異分析顯示，中心語後置(head-final)是達悟語關係子句最常用的詞序結構，說話者選擇此詞序結構是將已知指涉對象(given referent)與先前所提訊息內容作連結。結果也顯示相較於其他語法角色(grammatical roles)，主語(Subject)為最常見的中心語語法角色，而且主語為中心語被主事焦點關係子句修飾是最常出現的結構，這表示達悟語關係子句最主要的功能是用來修飾主語以達到主題連續性 (topic continuity)。
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Yami speech community and its language
    • 2.1An offshore indigenous tribe of Taiwan and its speech community: Yami
    • 2.2A brief introduction to Yami clause structure
      • 2.2.1Yami: A typical Philippine type structure
      • 2.2.2Yami RC structure
  • 3.Proposed factors determining the variation of Yami RC
    • 3.1Information status, definiteness, humanness
    • 3.2Grammatical roles in Yami RC
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Data coding of relative clauses
    • 4.2Coding reliability
  • 5.Results and discussion
    • 5.1Information flow factors and variation of Yami RCs
      • 5.1.1Occurrence of variation of Yami RC
      • 5.1.2Factors accounting for head initial RCs
    • 5.2Analysis of unmarked Yami RCs: Head-final RC
    • 5.3Grammatical roles of RCs and the variation of Yami RC
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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