早期閩南語文本中「緣由／樣式」疑問詞：疑問詞固有屬性和句法位置之互動

‘Why’ and ‘How’ WH-words in Earlier Southern Min Texts: Interface of Inherent Properties of ‘why/how’ WH-words and their Syntactic Positions

本文探討早期閩南語文本中「緣由／樣式」疑問詞固有屬性和句法位置的互動關係，這些早期閩南語文本是潮州和泉州方言的混合戲文，最早可回溯到十六世紀 (Wu 2001a-d)。這類疑問詞分兩大類：「乜」為本的疑問詞和「侢」為本的疑問詞，每類疑問詞的詮釋部分取決於其出現的結構位置，這類疑問詞出現於四個位置：語勢、情態詞前、動詞前及子句後。這類疑問詞出現於語勢、情態詞前、動詞前和子句後的位置都分別產生反詰、緣由、樣式、目的語意。緣由／樣式疑問詞都以「做」為本，「做」充當焦點標記可能是帶有變項的疑問詞蛻變為附加語疑問詞的推手。

The paper examines the interface of inherent properties of ‘why/how’ WH-words and their syntactic positions in earlier Southern Min texts, hybrid playscripts written in a mixture of Chaozhou and Quanzhou dialects, dating back as early as 16th century (Wu 2001a-d). The WH-words falls into two major types: mih4 乜-based WH-words and chai7 侢-based WH-words. The meaning of each type of WH-words is partially conditioned by the structural position it occupies. Four dedicated positions are found: force, premodal, preverbal and postclausal. Force, premodal, preverbal and postclausal WH-words are conducive to rhetorical question, cause/reason, manner, and purpose reading respectively. Most of ‘why/how’ WH-words are headed by cho3 做. I propose that starting out as a marker of focus cho3 做is instrumental in turning variable-bearing WH-words into adjunct WH-words.