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Article published In: Concentric
Vol. 49:2 (2023) ► pp.175–223

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A restructuring analysis of the non‑inferential evidential verb han in Siwkolan Amis

ORCiD logo with link | National Taitung University
Published online: 2 November 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/consl.22049.jhe
Abstract
This work aims to investigate the morphosyntactic properties of han in Siwkolan Amis and to defend a lexical split of han, one being a lexical category with argument structure and the other a functional category merging to Voice0. I argue that the functional han cannot be analyzed as a quotative verb or a pv-inflected verb as proposed in the literature, due to novel findings that han (a) is permitted in patient, instrumental and locative voice constructions, (b) represses the presence of voice affixes, (c) must stand immediately adjacent to the lexical verb and (d) encodes the non-inferential evidentiality. I follow . 2004. “Restructuring” and functional structure. Structures and Beyond: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, vol. 31, ed. by Adriana Belletti, 132–191. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar functional approach to restructuring predicates by treating han as a functional category of Voice0 and Shih, Chaokai, and T.-H. Jonah Lin. 2011. A probe-based account of voice agreement in Formosan languages. The Proceedings of the Eighteenth Meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association (AFLA), ed. by Lauren Clemens, Gregory Scontras and Maria Polinsky, 156–167. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar voice Agree system where voice is a reflex of thematic relations. This analysis fares well with Wu’s (Wu, Chunming. 2006. Adverbials in Paiwan. Paper presented at the 10th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, the Linguistic Society of the Philippines and SIL International, Palawan., . 2007. Voice markers in Amis: A Role and Reference Grammar analysis. Language and Linguistics 8.1:95–142.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) proposed system of undergoer voice in Amis which subsumes patient, instrument and locative voice in general. Moreover, the [iθ] feature on Voice0 is spelt out as han surfacing as a bound affix attached to the raised lexical verb from v0. Several issues involved in dealing with the Amis voice system and implications for the evidential systems in Formosan languages are also discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.New generalizations of the han construction
    • 2.1han construction ≠  patient voice constructions
    • 2.2han is not a lexical verb: Evidence from clitic climbing
    • 2.3han as a non-inferential evidential category
    • 2.4Summary
  • 3.Proposed analysis
    • 3.1Competing analyses
    • 3.2Theoretical assumptions
    • 3.3Structures
    • 3.4Typological implications for evidentiality in some Formosan languages
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • List of Abbreviations
  • References
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Jheng, Wei-Cherng Sam
2025. The syntactic categories of adverbials and the structural integration of complement clauses in Siwkolan Amis. Language and Linguistics. 語言暨語言學 26:4 ► pp. 632 ff. DOI logo

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