Abstract
This paper explores the grammaticalization of the verbal particle maai in Cantonese. Originally a verb of movement meaning ‘approach/get close to’ a reference point, maai has undergone grammaticalization to become a directional particle meaning ‘towards’. It then developed into an additive quantifier meaning ‘also/as well’, and has further been reinterpreted as an evaluative marker, marking the speaker’s negative evaluation of the object of the verb to which maai is suffixed. A number of pragmatic processes are involved in maai’s grammaticalization, in particular pragmatic inferencing and subjectification. The evolutionary pathway ‘addition’ > ‘subjective evaluation’ is attested by historical data and is also supported by cross-linguistic evidence.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 33-62 |
Number of pages | 30 |
Journal | Taiwan Journal of Linguistics |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2010 |
User-Defined Keywords
- directional particle
- Cantonese
- MAAI
- grammaticalization
- subjectification
- 方向助詞
- 粵語
- 「埋」
- 語法化
- 主觀化