Towards a Morphosyntactic Account of Taiwanese Question Particle kam

本文在概化詞組結構語法（GPSG）的架構下初步探討臺灣閩南語疑問助詞kam（敢）之語法與詞態現象；並論及此種現象在語法理論上的可能涵意。根據附加語（clitic）之定義，本文首先證明kam是個次位句附加語（second-position sentential clitic）。在辨別kam和詞綴的分野時，其重要特徵包括了自由選擇其附主詞（host word），無特異詞態變化，不受語法律支配，與對其他詞綴的封閉性等。而kam與詞（word）的分野則在於其連音變調的現象，無代詞，嚴格詞序，及其固定位置等。kam既非詞綴，亦非詞，只能是附加語。本文藉Zwicky與Nevis二氏直接前行（Immediate Precedence）的觀念提出了kam的概化詞組結構語法分析，並首度提出了直接前行的規範定義。直接前行與共存前行（由作者於1985提出）之間的可能交互關係亦作了討論。最後，本文指出漢語與其他漢藏語系語言中末位句附加語最常見，閩南語中亦不例外。唯獨常用的疑問助詞kam是次位附加語，此一現象之歷史與語法解釋值得深究探討。

This article accounts for the interrogative particle kam of the South Min dialect spoken on Taiwan as a second-position sentential clitic in GPSG (Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar) and discusses the theoretical implications of such an account. Because of its free selection of host words, its lack of morphological idiosyncrasies, the inapplicability of syntactic rules to it and its closure of affixation, kam cannot be an affix. Furthermore, based on its prosodic domain, binding, replacement, ordering, and distribution features, kam is shown not to be a word. Following the theory of cliticization outlined in Zwicky and Pullum (1983) and Zwicky (1985), kam is proved to be a clitic. A formal account of the cliticization of kam in GPSG is given, adopting the notion of Immediate Precedence (IP) proposed in Nevis (1986) and Zwicky and Nevis (1986). A formal definition of IP is proposed within the GPSG theory. The possible interaction between IP and LP (Linear Precedence) with existential implication as proposed in Huang(1985)is also discussed. Finally, it is suggested that the existence of kam as a second-position proclitic in a language dominated by sentence final enclitics is worth in-depth future studies.