台灣南島語的受詞分裂現象

Split O in Formosan Languages─A Localist Interpretation

本文主張台灣南島語中之非主事者焦點句可以視為一種應用句式；其中及物受詞O 表現出有規則分裂現象，稱為split O，有些O 只能出現在受事點句，有些只能出現在處所焦點句，有些只能出現在參考焦點句。不同作用的O 構成一個語意空間。語意空間的概念可以解釋並預測不同句構之間的演變與互動關係。

The non-agent focus constructions in Formosan languages can be fruitfully interpreted as a species of the applicative construction which functions to derive transitive clauses from intransitive or transitive clauses. The O argument NPs in these transitive clauses are shown to exhibit a split O phenomenon based principally on the nature of verbal semantics and secondarily on discourse-pragmatic considerations: the nominative NP of a PF clause encodes a patient object, that of the LF clauses an abstract location, and that of the RF clauses a transported theme. Other functions of RF clauses are shown to be secondary to and derivable from this more spatial notion via pragmatic inferencing. This paper treads new ground by integrating the semantics of focus into cognitive grammar and typological approaches. Thus all of the coding patterns for the O arguments together form a semantic space, which then constrains possible coding patterns for language-specific constructions, and allows for predictions about the interaction of these applicative clauses.