Split O in Formosan Languages─A Localist Interpretation *
摘要
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.