論郡社布農語之動詞居首語序現象

Verb Initial Order as Predicate Fronting in Isbukun Bunun

本文探討郡社布農語中動詞－－主語－－賓語 (VSO) 語序之本質。我們主張此語言之動詞居首語序並非為基底衍生而來，而是由謂語詞組前移所導致產生的。此種看法可以正確捕捉並合理解釋郡社布農語裡的主、賓語不對稱性以及動詞和語法助詞之句法分布現象。進一步來說，本文所提出的最大投射謂語前移分析至少對下列現象能提出一套系統性的解釋並得到實證支持：動詞組內部如副詞、補語等的分布情形，非動詞性謂語之存在，以及非殊指無定主語和句運符間的範域語意詮釋。

This paper aims to investigate the nature of VSO word order in Isbukun Bunun. It is argued that the basic VSO order is not base-generated but instead is derived as a result of phrasal predicate fronting to the specifier of IP. This view provides a unified characterization for the subject-object asymmetry properties and the syntactic distribution of verbs and grammatical particles. Notably, the maximal projection predicate fronting analysis offers a principled account for the placement of VP-internal material, the existence of non-verbal predicates and, finally, the scope interpretations between indefinite non-specific subjects and sentential operators.