再論汶水泰雅語格位標記

A NEW LOOK AT THE MATU’UWAL ATAYAL CASE MARKING SYSTEM

汶水泰雅語位於台灣苗栗縣泰安鄉，擁有複雜的名詞格位標記系統，曾在過去台灣南島語研究文獻中被分析為四到九個格位範疇，反映出學界對該系統的特性鮮有共識。本文旨在重新探究汶水泰雅語的名詞格位標記系統，指出分析該語言格位標記系統的難點，並提出新的詮釋。作者認為，過去針對該語言格位標記的研究在格位多義性以及格位標記的定義上，皆欠缺完整、系統性的分析。然而，根據Comrie（1991）提出的格位分析架構，汶水泰雅語格位標記結構上的複雜度皆能迎刃而解，顯示汶水泰雅語應有十三個功能相異的格位標記，分布於四個不同的格位範疇：主格、屬格、斜格和處所格。本文所採納的格位分析法能針對台灣南島語格位標記之形式和功能做出系統性的分析，亦能協助區分和格位無關的名詞標記，期盼能對格位標記較不明顯的台灣南島語（如：賽考力克泰雅語）提出新的結構分析指南。

Matu’uwal, a dialect of Atayal spoken in Tai’an Township, Miaoli County, is one of the most researched Formosan languages. The case-marking system in Matu’uwal has received various treatments in the literature, with the number of established cases ranging from four to nine. We attribute this to disagreements among previous studies regarding (i) the analysis of case syncretism/polysemy, i.e., a single case subsuming multiple distinct functions, and (ii) which prenominal markers are considered to serve case-marking functions. Working with the definition of case as a category of marking dependent noun phrases for the type of relationship they bear to their heads, we propose a revised analysis of the Matu’uwal case-marking system, positing thirteen functionally distinct case markers spread across four cases: Nominative, Genitive, Oblique and Locative. The analysis is grounded in Comrie’s (1986, 1991) approach to analyzing case, which takes into account both (i) the formal and functional properties of casemarked lexical nouns and (ii) the formal distinctions of case markers across different referential domains. We argue that the methodology provides a framework under which case syncretism can be analyzed in a systematic way.