Epistemic, evidential and attitudinal markers in clause-medial position in Cantonese

Foong Ha Yap, Winnie CHOR

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This paper examines two types of clause-medial stance markers in Cantonese.* We trace the evolution of these stance markers from their lexical origins as complement-taking psych verbs and directional verbs. Similar to English I think parentheticals, the evolution of the Cantonese psych verbs (e.g. gok3dak1 ‘feel/think’; paa3 ‘fear’; m4zi1 ‘don’t know’) involves ‘insubordination’ of the embedded complement clause. However, in Cantonese, subject ellipsis and topic constructions play an important role in the reanalysis of psych verbs into epistemic and negative attitudinal markers in clause-medial position.1 Directional verbs in Cantonese (e.g. faan1 ‘return’ and maai4 ‘approach’), on the other hand, develop into attitudinal particles via verbal complementation and a disjunctive strategy. Central to the development of both types of stance markers is the first person subject ngo5, whether explicitly or implicitly expressed, which makes the process of subjectification possible.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationModes of Modality
EditorsElisabeth Leiss, Werner Abraham
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN (Electronic)9789027270795
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - Jan 2014

Publication series

NameStudies in Language Companion Series
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Volume149

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