It has been widely discussed that Taiwan Southern Min ū “HAVE” (hereafter TSM ū “HAVE”) allows adjectival predicates as its complements, such as Kaka ū suí “Kaka is beautiful”. Besides, TSM ū “HAVE” in this kind of construction is analysed as an emphatic-assertive marker; however, there are quite few studies concerning whether it can select any adjectival predicates as its complements or has any restrictions. I hence investigate whether TSM ū “HAVE” has any restrictions by five tests: (a) mono/disyllabic adjectives, (b) reduplicated adjectives, (c) degree adverbs, (d) comparative morpheme khah “COMP/more” and (e) measure phrases with adjective phrases. Finally, I claim that TSM ū “HAVE” cannot select closed-scale adjectives, non-predicative adjectives and the reduplicated adjectives as its complements. Also, TSM ū “HAVE” is incompatible with degree words, which express the intensified readings, whereas the comparative morpheme khah “COMP/more” can repair those ungrammatical sentences by means of denoting a comparative reading. Finally, the adjectival predicates can be modified by measure phrases like Mandarin Chinese. In conclusion, TSM ū “HAVE” actually cannot select any types of adjectives and it does have the restriction incompatible with the intensified degree adverbs.
The kind of existential constructions in Taiwan Southern Min (TSM) is generally divided into four types, and these are (1) sentences with existential verb ū “HAVE”, (2) those with a verb of appearance or disappearance, (3) those with a locative verb, and (4) those with a verb expressing the existence of an event or experience (Huang, 1987; Tang, 2010). Each type of existential sentences is briefly illustrated, respectively, below.
(1) Guá ū tsi̍t-pún tsheh tsiok tshùbī. (Type 1)
I HAVE one-CL book very interesting
“I have a book (that is) very interesting.”
(2) Sí nn̄g-ê lâng. (Type 2)
Die two-CL men
“Two men died.”
(3) Tshông-tíng tó tsi̍t-ê pēnnlâng. (Type 3)
Bed-top lie one-CL patient
“In the bed lies a patient.” or “A patient lies in the bed.”
(4) Piah-tíng khuà tsi̍t-tíng bō-á. (Type 4)
Wall-top hang one-CL hat-SUFFIX
“On the wall hangs a hat.” or “A hat lies on the wall.”
I however focus on TSM ū “HAVE” constructions (Type 1), and aims to further investigate in that adjectival predicative construction (hereafter AP construction) which TSM ū “HAVE” occurs. TSM ū “HAVE” syntactically differs from that with Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE”. TSM ū “HAVE” can take APs as its internal argument, a complement, whereas Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE” cannot. The compared examples between Taiwan Southern Min and Mandarin Chinese are illustrated below, respectively.
(5) *Zhe-duo hua you mei. (Mandarin Chinese)
this-CL flower HAVE beautiful
Intended: “This flower is beautiful.”
(6) Tsit-luí hue ū suí.
this-CL flower HAVE beautiful
“This flower is beautiful.”
However, previous studies seldom analyse TSM ū “HAVE” in AP construction, and rarely note whether TSM ū “HAVE” can take all kinds of APs or not; therefore, the current study aims to investigate whether or not TSM ū “HAVE” can take those of APs in the existential construction.
In brief, thus, Section 2 plans to review three relevant studies, and points out the research gaps. Then, in Section 3, there are five tests to be examined: (i) mono/disyllable APs, (ii) reduplicate APs, (iii) degree adverbs tsin/tsiok/tsiân “really/extremly/very”, (iv) comparative morpheme khah “COMP” and (v) measure phrases (MPs) with APs, so as to explore whether TSM ū “HAVE” can take all kinds of APs in the existential construction. Finally, the present study, in section 3, briefly concludes what kind of APs that TSM ū “HAVE” can take and also provides a generalisation that TSM ū “HAVE” cannot co-occur with the degree adverbs, expect for TSM comparative morpheme khah “COMP”. TSM ū “HAVE” can take measure phrases with APs as it complement.
In this section, there are three previous studies, concerning TSM ū “HAVE” in existential construction, to be respectively reviewed: (i) Cheng (1979) , (ii) Tsao and Cheng (1995) and (iii) Chen and Wang (2010) .
As Cheng notes, TSM ū “HAVE” shares certain properties with Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE”, that is, TSM ū “HAVE” can take noun phrases (NPs) and verbal phrases (VPs) in order to represent at least four functions: (i) existential use, (ii) possessive use, (iii) identified use and (iv) up-to-the-standard use. The examples are given below, respectively.
(7) Ennàm ū lângkheh. (Existential use)
tonight HAVE guest
“There is a guest tonight.”
(8) Guá ū nn̄g-khoo gîn. (Possessive use)
I HAVE two-CL dollar
“I have two dollars.”
(9) I ū lâi bô? (Identified use)
he HAVE come NEG
“Has he come yet?”
(10) Tsit-tiâu lōo ū tsi̍t-pah tshioh. (Up-to-standard use)
this-CL road HAVE one-hundred meter
“This road is one hundred meter.”
Besides, Cheng notes that TSM ū “HAVE” still syntactically differs from Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE” in that TSM ū “HAVE” can take APs as it its argument. Cheng argues that TSM ū “HAVE” refers to an auxiliary verb, which is treated as an emphatic-assertive marker, as shown in (11).
(11) I ū suí.
She HAVE beautiful
“She is beautiful.”
Moreover, in addition to adjectives, TSM ū “HAVE” can take stative verbs as it argument, as shown in (12).
(12) I ū liáukái guá.
he HAVE understand I
“He understood me.”
Finally, in a word, Cheng claims that TSM ū “HAVE” is an emphatic-assertive auxiliary verb as it takes stative verbs/APs as its complement. TSM ū “HAVE” syntactically behaves like English to be or Mandarin Chinese shi “BE” (Longacker, 1978; Cheng, 1979) .
Tsao and Cheng claim that there are five uses of TSM ū “HAVE” in the existential construction, and these are (i) existential use, (ii) possessive use, (iii) appearance use, (iv) existential marker use and (v) emphasized use; thus, the examples are respectively illustrated below.
(13) Tshù-lāi ū lângkheh. (Existential use)
house-in HAVE guest
“There are guest in the house.”
(14) Guá ū sann-khoo gîn. (Possessive Use)
I HAVE three-CL dollar
“I have three dollars.”
(15) Ū lâng lâi-a. (Appearance Use)
HAVE people come ASP
“Some people are coming.”
(16) Guá ū bé Tiō kàusiū ê tsheh. (Existential Marker Use)
I HAVE buy Tiō professor DE book
“I (have) bought Prof. Tiō”s book.”
(17) Hue ū âng. (Emphasized Use)
flower HAVE red
“Flowers are red enough.”
Then, degree adverbs can modify (17) but not in (14), illustrated in (18) and (19), so as to argue that degree adverbs only modify verbs. It thus shows TSM âng “red” has the feature of adjectives (or stative verb). In addition, Tsao and Cheng agree with what Cheng (1981) names as an emphatic-assertive maker, pointing to emphasize/confirm a condition that an adjective expresses.
(18) *Guá ū tsin sann-khoo gîn.
I HAVE really three-CL dollar
Intended: “I do/really have three dollars.”
(19) Hue ū tsin âng1.
flower HAVE really red
“Flowers are very/really red.”
In short, Tsao and Cheng argue that TSM ū “HAVE” in AP construction should be analysed as a model verb instead of an auxiliary verb (Cheng, 1979) whereas Tsao and Cheng agree with that TSM ū “HAVE” is an emphatic-assertive marker in order to confirm or emphasize the situation of APs/Stative verbs.
Chen and Wang mention that TSM ū “HAVE” has the multiple functions, and they argue that TSM ū “HAVE” can be divided into the main four functions: (i) to affirm an event (E), (ii) to affirm a state (S), (iii) to affirm the reality of a state (RS), and (iv) to affirm a change of state/an accomplished state (CS/AS). The examples are also demonstrated, respectively, below.
(20) Tsaàm i ū lâi. (E)
yesterday he HAVE come
“He came yesterday.”
(21) Tsit-siang ê ū suí. (S)
this-CL shoe HAVE beautiful
“A pair of these shoes is beautiful.”
(22) I ū khì khuànn tiāniánn. (RS)
he HAVE go see movie
“He has been to see movies.”
(23) Tsuí ū ling bô? (CS/AS)
water HAVE cold NEG
“Is water cold?”
Chen and Wang argue that TSM ū “HAVE” is a perfect aspect as affirming an event or a reality of an event; by contrast, TSM ū “HAVE” refers to a resultative aspect as affirming a change of state or a reality of a state; that is, TSM ū “HAVE” functions either a perfect aspect or a resultative aspect as affirming different conditions rather than argue that TSM ū “HAVE” is an emphatic-assertive marker, an auxiliary verb or a model verb in AP constructions.
So far, previous works only indicate that TSM ū “HAVE” in the existential construction can take APs as its complement; in addition, Cheng, Tsao and Cheng mention that TSM ū “HAVE” is an emphatic-assertive marker. Cheng claims that TSM ū “HAVE” is an auxiliary verb whereas Tsao and Cheng argue that TSM ū “HAVE” is a model verb. Furthermore, Chen and Wang argue that TSM ū “HAVE” can be either a perfect aspect or a resultative aspect as respectively affirming an event/reality of an event or affirming a change of state/accomplished state.
However, these relevant studies do not further point out the fact whether TSM ū “HAVE” has the limited contribution in AP construction or not. The current study hence aims to investigate whether the existential verb ū “have” in TSM can take all kinds of APs. Indeed, several counterexamples are found in AP construction, as in (24).
(24) *Lōo ū ti̍t.
road HAVE straight
Intended: “The road is straight.”
Based on (24), it shows that TSM ū “have” cannot any AP as its complement, so this study plans to further explore why the phenomenon exists in AP construction; therefore, there are five tests to be examined: (1) mono/disyllable APs, (2) reduplicate APs, (3) degree adverbs tsin/tsiok/tsiân “really/extremely/very”, (4) comparative morpheme khah and (5) measure phrases (MPs) with APs. Furthermore, before investigating AP constructions with TSM ū “have”, this section plans to first introduce the basic classification of AP in Mandarin Chinese, and the way of classification will be applied into APs in TSM.
As Liu et al. (2001) state, Mandarin Chinese adjectives can be in general divided into two groups: (i) predicative adjectives and (ii) non predicative adjectives. For instance, predicative adjectives roughly include gao “tall”, ai “short”, pang “fat”, shuo “thin” and leng “cold” and so on. Besides, non predicative adjectives generally contain zheng “square”, daxing “major”, yei “wild” and quan “whole” and so on.
Compared to TSM Adjectives, it can be also divided into (i) predicative adjectives and (ii) non predicative adjectives. Based on predicative classification, predicative adjectives are tuā “big”, kuân “tall”, khang “empty” and lahsap “dirty” and so on. Non predicatives are tsiànn “square”, iá “wild”, tsuân “whole”, tsúiàu “main” and si̍ttsāi “practical” and so on. The examples are given in
Besides to Liu et al., Mandarin Chinese adjectives can be in general divided in to (i) scale adjectives and (ii) non-scale adjectives (Lin & Peck, 2013; Chu, 2013) . Based on the scale classification, scale adjectives include mei “pretty”, da “big”, kong “empty” and ai “short” and so on. Non-scale adjectives include guoli “national”, biaozhun “standard”, and mingpai “brand” and so on.
Hence, compared to TSM Adjectives, it can be grouped into (i) scale adjectives and (ii) non scale adjectives as well. Moreover, grounded on scale classification, scale adjectives also include tuā “big”, kuân “tall”, khang “empty” and lahsap “dirty” and so on. Non scales are tsiànn “square”, iá “wild”, tsuân “whole”, tsúiàu “main” and si̍ttsāi “practical” and so on. The compared examples are shown in
In addition, the classification of scale APs in TSM can further be classified into (i) open scale APs and (ii) closed scale APs (Lin & Peck, 2013) . Hence, open scale APs in TSM generally involve tuā “big”, kuân “tall”, é “short” and puî “fat” and closed scale APs include lahsap “dirty”, khang “empty”, kiâu “smart”, and hng “far”. The examples are illustrated in
In short, predicative adjectives involve scale adjectives, including open-scale adjectives and closed-scale adjectives, that is, non-predicative adjectives is similar to non-scale adjectives. Thus, the whole table is in general shown below. The current study aims to investigate whether TSM ū “HAVE” can take all kinds of APs, pointed out above, by means of mono/disyllabic APs test, reduplicate APs test, degree adverbs test, comparative morpheme khah “COMP” test, and MPs with APs.
| Predicative APs | Non Predicative APs | |
|---|---|---|
| MC | a. gao “tall” b. ai “short” c. pang “fat” d. shuo “thin” e. leng “cold” | a. zheng “square” b. daxing “major” c. yei “wild” d. quan “whole” |
| TSM | a. tuā “big” b. kuân “tall” c. khang “empty” d. lahsap “dirty” | a. tsiànn “square” b. iá “wild” c. tsuân “whole” d. tsúiàu “main” e. si̍ttsāi “practical” |
| Scale APs | Non Scale APs | |
|---|---|---|
| MC | a. mei “pretty” b. da “big” c. kong “empty” d. ai “short” | a. guoli “national” b. biaozhun “standard”, c. mingpai “brand” |
| TSM | a. tuā “big” b. kuân “tall” c. khang “empty” d. lahsap “dirty | a. tsiànn “square” b. iá “wild” c. tsuân “whole” d. tsúiàu “main” e. si̍ttsāi “practical” |
| Open Scale APs | Closed Scale APs | |
|---|---|---|
| TSM | a. tuā “big” b. kuân “tall” c. é “short” d. puî “fat” | a. lahsap “dirty” b. khang “empty” c. kiâu “smart” d. hng “far” |
| Predicative APs | Non-Predicative APs | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Scales | Open Scale APs | Closed Scale APs | Non Scale APs |
| TSM | a. tuā “big” b. kuân “tall” c. é “short” d. puî “fat” | a. lahsap “dirty” b. khang “empty” c. kiâu “smart” d. hng “far” | a. tsiànn “square” b. iá “wild” c. tsuân “whole” d. tsúiàu “main” e. si̍ttsāi “practical” |
Grounded on
(25) Tsit-tòng tshù ū kuân.
this-CL house HAVE tall
“This building is tall.”
(26) Sióbí ū suí.
Sióbí HAVE beautiful
“Sióbí is beautiful.”
(27) Tsit-tiunn pn̄gtoh ū tn̂g.
this-CL table HAVE long
“This table is long.”
(28) Tsit-luí hue ū âng.
this-CL flower HAVE red
“This flower is red.”
Based on the examples (25-28), TSM APs kuân “tall”, suí “beautiful”, tn̂g “long”, and âng “red” are predicative APs, and they also belong to open-scale APs; however, the following examples show that TSM ū “HAVE” actually cannot take closed-scale APs, as shown in (29-31)
(29) *I ê simtsîng ū bái.
s/he DE mood HAVE bad
Intended: “His/her mood is bad.
(30) *Lōo ū ti̍t.
road HAVE straight
Intended: “The road is straight.”
(31) *Tsit-king pângking ū khang.
this-CL room HAVE empty
Intended: “This room is empty.”
According to unacceptable sentences in (29-31), it shows the evidence that TSM ū “HAVE” cannot take closed-scale APs as its complement in the existential construction; besides, TSM ū “HAVE” cannot take non-predicative APs (non-scale APs), such as tsiànn “square”, iá “wild”, and tsuân “whole”, either. The ungrammatical examples are shown below, respectively:
(32) *Tsit-tiunn pn̄gtoh ū tsiànn.
this-CL table HAVE square
Intended: “This table is square.”
(33) *Tsit-tsiah gû ū iá.
this-CL cow HAVE wild
Intended: “This is a wild cow.”
(34) *Tsia-ê kakū ū tsuân.
these furniture HAVE whole
Intended: “Pieces of furniture are complete.”
In addition to TSM monosyllabic APs, the disyllabic APs in TSM also permit open-scale predicative APs rather than closed-scale predicative APs and non-scale predicative APs. Open-scale disyllabic APs involve iântâu “handsome”, bílē “pretty”, and kóotsui “cute”, as shown in (35-37).
(35) I ū iântâu.
he HAVE handsome
“He is handsome.”
(36) I ū bílē.
she HAVE pretty
“She is pretty.”
(37) I ū kóotsui.
s/he HAVE cute
“S/he is cute.”
Closed-Scale disyllabic APs in TSM includes tshoolóo “rude”, subûn “gentle” and tshìntshái “causal”, and the ungrammatical examples are briefly illustrated below.
(38) *Sióbîng ū tshoolóo.
Sióbîng HAVE rude
Intended: “Sióbîng is rude.”
(39) *Sióbîng ū subûn.
Sióbîng HAVE gentle
Intended: “Sióbîng is gentle.”
(40) *Sióbîng ū tshìntshái.
Sióbîng HAVE casual
Intended: “Sióbîng is casual.”
Besides to closed-scale disyllabic APs, TSM ū “HAVE” cannot also take non-scale APs, such as tsúiàu “main” and si̍ttsāi “honest”. The examples are given in (41-42):
(41) *Tsit-tiâu têbo̍k ū tsúiàu.
this-CL topic HAVE main
Intended: “This is a main topic.”
(42) *I ū si̍ttsāi.
he HAVE honest
Intended: “He is honest.”
In a word, TSM ū “HAVE” can take open-scale monosyllabic predicative APs and open-scale disyllabic predicatives; however, TSM ū “HAVE” takes neither closed-scale predicative APs nor non-scale/predicative APs; in other words, TSM ū “HAVE” actually cannot all kinds of APs.
The reduplicate forms in TSM APs can be generally divided into (i) AA, (ii) AAA, and (iii) AABB. In TSM, monosyllabic APs can be reduplicated into AA form and AAA form, such as ângâng “red a little bit”, ângângâng “much redder”, tīngtīng “harder” and tīngtīngtīng “much harder”, respectively. The reduplicate forms of TSM APs are illustrated in
(43) *Tsit-luí hue ū ângâng.
this-CL flower HAVE red-RED
Intended: “This flower red a little bit.”
(44) *Thôokha ū tīngtīng.
floor HAVE hard-RED
Intended: “The floor is hard a little bit.”
(45) *Tsit-luí hue ū ângângâng.
this-CL flower HAVE red-RED-RED
Intended: “This flower is redder.”
(46) *Thôokha ū tīngtīngtīng.
floor HAVE hard-RED-RED
Intended: “The floor is harder.”
Besides, disyllabic closed-scale reduplicative APs can be reduplicated into AABB, such as huann-huann hí-hí “very happy”, reduplicated from huannhí “happy”, as shown below; however, disyllabic open-scale cannot be reduplicated into AABB form (Kho, 2000; Yang, 2007; Lu, 2003) .
(47) *I ū huann-huann hí-hí.
s/he HAVE happy-RED glad-RED
Intended: “S/he is very happy.”
Shortly speaking, based on (43-44), TSM ū “HAVE” cannot take reduplicate AA forms of TSM APs as its complement. In addition, TSM ū “HAVE” cannot take reduplicate AAA forms of APs as its complement, either. Moreover, in (47), it shows that TSM ū “HAVE” cannot also take reduplicate AABB forms of APs; that is, TSM ū “HAVE” cannot take reduplicate forms of APs no matter what open-scale, closed-scale and non-scale APs in TSM.
In this section, there are three TSM degree adverbs to be tested, and these are (i) tsin “really”, (2) tsiok “ex- tremely” and (3) tsiân “very”. Besides, these three degree adverbs plan to be investigated in scale AP and non- scale AP constructions (predicative and non-predicative constructions).
| Predicative APs | Non-Predicative APs | |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Scale | Closed-Scale | Non-Scale |
| AA | ângâng “red a little bit” | tīngtīng “hard a liitle bit” |
| AAA | ângângâng “much redder” | tīngtīngtīng “much harder” |
TSM tsin “really” syntactically functions Mandarin Chinese zhen “really”, that is, TSM tsin “really” can modify predicative APs, as shown in (48-49), but not non-predicative APs, as illustrated in (50).
(48) I tsin iântâu.
he really handsome
“He is really handsome.”
(49) Tsit-king pângking tsin khang.
this-CL room really empty
“This room is really empty.”
(50) *Tsit-king pângking tsin tsiànn.
this-CL room really square
Intended: “This room is really square.”
According to (48-49), TSM tsin “really” can modify predicative APs whereas it is not permitted to co-occur with TSM ū “HAVE” in AP constructions. The unacceptable examples are illustrated below, respectively.
(51) *Tsit-tòng tshù ū tsin kuân.
this-CL house HAVE really tall
Intended: “The house is really tall.”
(52) *I ū tsin iântâu.
he HAVE really handsome
Intended: “He is really handsome.”
(53) *Tsit-king pângking ū tsin khang.
this-CL room HAVE really empty
Intended: “This room is really empty.”
In short, based on (51-53), TSM ū “HAVE” cannot co-occur with TSM tsin “really” in AP constructions.
TSM tsiok “extremely” syntactically functions Mandarin Chinese jidu/ji “extremely”, namely, TSM tsiok “extremely” can also modify predicative APs, as shown in (54-55), but not non-predicative APs, as illustrated in (56).
(54) I tsiok iântâu.
he extremely handsome
“He is extremely handsome.”
(55) Tsit-king pângking tsiok khang.
this-CL room extremely empty
“This room is extremely empty.”
(56) *Tsit-king pângking tsiok tsiànn.
this-CL room extremely square
Intended: “This room is extremely square.”
Because of (54-55), TSM tsiok “extremely” can also modify predicative APs while it is not allowed occurring with TSM ū “HAVE”, which syntactically behaves like TSM tsin “really”. The unacceptable examples are hence demonstrated below:
(57) *Tsit-tòng tshù ū tsiok kuân.
this-CL house HAVE extremely tall
Intended: “The house is extremely tall.”
(58) *I ū tsiok iântâu.
he HAVE extremely handsome
Intended: “He is extremely handsome.”
(59) *Tsit-king pângking ū tsiok khang.
this-CL room HAVE extremely empty
Intended: “This room is extremely empty.”
In a word, based on (57-59), TSM ū “HAVE” cannot co-occur with TSM tsiok “extremely” in AP constructions, either.
The third degree adverb is tsiân “very”, and it syntactically functions as Mandarin Chinese hen “very”, which modifies predicative APs as the same as TSM tsin “really” and tsiok “extremely”, that is, TSM tsiân “very” can only modify predicative APs, as in (60-61), instead of non-predicative APs, as in (62).
(60) I tsiân iântâu.
he very handsome
“He is very handsome.”
(61) Tsit-king pângking tsiân khang.
this-CL room very empty
“This room is very empty.”
(62) *Tsit-king pângking tsiân tsiànn.
this-CL room very square
Intended: “This room is very square.”
However, TSM tsiân “very” is syntactically forbidden to occur with TSM ū “HAVE” in AP construction as the same as TSM tsin “really” and tsiok “extremely”. The examples are hence shown in (63-65), respectively:
(63) *Tsit-tòng tshù ū tsiân kuân.
this-CL house HAVE very tall
Intended: “The house is very tall.”
(64) *I ū tsiân iântâu.
he HAVE very handsome
Intended: “He is very handsome.”
(65) *Tsit-king pângking ū tsiân khang.
this-CL room HAVE very empty
Intended: “This room is very empty.”
In brief, based on (63-64), TSM ū “HAVE” cannot co-occur with TSM tsiân “very” in AP constructions, as well.
Grounded on the analyses above, the degree adverbs tsin “really”, tsiok “extremely” and tsiân “very” are not permitted to occur with TSM ū “HAVE” in all kinds of AP constructions; therefore, TSM ū “HAVE” is an emphatic-assertive auxiliary verb/model verb, in term of semantic account, so it can emphasize/confirm a reality of events/states; in other words, the degree adverbs tsin “really”, tsiok “extremely” and tsiân “very” modify APs in order to emphasize the reality of events/states as well (2000).
Then, the current study infers the reason that TSM ū “HAVE” and the degree adverbs cannot co-occur in AP constructions for TSM ū “HAVE” functions similarly to TSM degree adverbs; thus, AP constructions permit either TSM ū “HAVE” or the degree adverbs to grammatically occur so as to modify/emphasize the conditions of APs.
TSM khah “COMP” refers to a comparative morpheme and it indicates a comparative reading, that is to say, TSM khah “COMP” syntactically functions as Mandarin Chinese bijiao “COMP” in order to note a comparative reading. Thus, the examples are illustrated in (66-68)
(66) a. I iântâu.
he handsome
“He is more handsome.”
b. I khah iântâu.
he COMP handsome
“He is more handsome.”
(67) a. Tsit-king pângking khang.
this-CL room empty
“This room is emptier.”
b. Tsit-king pângking khah khang.
this-CL room COMP empty
“This room is emptier.”
(68) a. *Tsit-king pângking tsiànn.
this-CL room square
Intended: “This room is squarer.”
b. *Tsit-king pângking tsiànn.
this-CL room square
Intended: “This room is squarer.”
Based on (66-67), (66a) and (67a) can indicate comparative readings without a comparative morpheme as well as (66b) and (67b) can also point out comparative readings with the comparative morpheme khah “COMP”. by contrast, in (68), the comparative morpheme khah “COMP” cannot occur in non-predicative AP constructions.
Besides, the current study investigate that TSM comparative morpheme khah “COMP” can repair ungrammatical AP constructions of TSM ū “HAVE”, especially in closed-scale predicative APs. Hence, the examples are illustrated below, respectively.
(69) a. Tsit-luí hue ū âng.
this-CL flower HAVE red
“The flower is red.”
b. Tsit-luí hue ū khah âng.
this-CL flower HAVE COMP red
“The flower is redder.”
(70) a. Tsit-tòng tshù ū kuân.
this-CL house HAVE tall
“The building is tall.”
b. Tsit-tòng tshù ū khah kuân.
this-CL house HAVE COMP tall
“The building is taller.”
In addition to (69-70), compared to (71-73), TSM comparative morpheme khah “COMP” repairs those ungrammatical AP constructions of TSM ū “HAVE”. The compared examples are also shown below, respectively.
(71) a. *Lōo ū ti̍t.
road HAVE straight
Intended: “The road is straight.”
b. Lōo ū khah ti̍t.
road HAVE COMP straight
“The road is straighter.”
(72) a. *Sióbîng ū tshìntshái.
Sióbîng HAVE casual
Intended: “Sióbîng is casual.”
b. Sióbîng ū khah tshìntshái.
Sióbîng HAVE COMP casual
“Sióbîng is more casual.”
However, TSM comparative morpheme khah “COMP” cannot still repair the ungrammatical sentence that TSM ū “HAVE” and the reduplicate APs co-occur in AP constructions, as shown in (73-79).
(73) *Tsit-luí hue ū khah ângâng. (cf. (43))
this-CL flower HAVE COMP red-RED
Intended: “This flower is redder.”
(74) *Thôokha ū khah tīngtīng. (cf. (44))
floor HAVE COMP hard-RED
Intended: “The floor is harder.”
(75) *Tsit-luí hue ū khah ângângâng. (cf. (45))
this-CL flower HAVE COMP red-RED-RED
Intended: “This flower is much redder.”
(76) *Thôokha ū khah tīngtīngtīng. (cf. (46))
floor HAVE COMP hard-RED-RED
Intended: “The floor is much harder.”
(77) *I ū khah huann-huann hí-hí. (cf. (47))
s/he HAVE COMP happy-RED glad-RED
Intended: “S/he is far happier.”
Shortly speaking, TSM comparative morpheme khah “COMP” can in general repair, by comparative readings, ungrammatical TSM ū “HAVE” sentences with closed-scale predicative APs, whereas TSM comparative morpheme khah “COMP” cannot repair TSM ū “HAVE” sentences with reduplicate APs. Besides to repair those ungrammatical sentences, TSM comparative morpheme khah “COMP” also assign comparative readings to TSM ū “HAVE” sentences with predicative APs.
In fact, TSM ū “HAVE” syntactically functions as Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE” in that TSM ū “HAVE” can also take MPs with APs as its complement, which behaves like a verb. The examples of Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE” are illustrated below, respectively.
(78) Zhe-dong fangzi you yi-chi gao.
this-CL house HAVE one-meter tall
“This building is one-meter tall.”
(79) *Zhe-dong fangzi yi-chi gao.
this-CL house one-meter tall
Intended: “This building is one-meter tall.”
(80) Zhe-dong fangzi, yi-chi gao.
this-CL house, one-meter tall
“This building, it is one-meter tall.”
According to (79), it indicates that Mandarin Chinese DPs cannot directly take MPs with APs as its internal argument, as a complement; namely, contra to (78), it should have a verb you “HAVE” so as to take MPs with APs. Besides, as DPs become topicalised, the sentence will be repair as well, as shown in (80) above. Therefore, compared to Taiwan Southern Min, TSM ū “HAVE” can take MPs with APs as its complement, as also illustrated below, respectively:
(81) Tsit-tòng tshù ū tsi̍t-tshioh kuân.
this-CL house HAVE one-meter tall
“This building is one-meter tall.”
(82) *Tsit-tòng tshù tsi̍t-tshioh kuân.
this-CL house one-meter tall
Intended: “This building is one-meter tall.”
(83) Tsit-tòng tshù, tsi̍t-tshioh kuân.
this-CL house, one-meter tall
“This building, it is one-meter tall.”
Grounded on (81-83), actually, TSM ū “HAVE” syntactically behaves like Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE”, compared to (78-80); however, TSM ū “HAVE” cannot take any APs with MPs, such that in (84) and (85), contra to (86) and (87), respectively.
(84) Kináji̍t ū gōo-tsa̍p tōo kuân.
today HAVE fifty degree tall
“Today is 50 degrees Celsius high.”
(85) I ū gōo-tsa̍p-kongkin tāng.
s/he HAVE fifty-CL heavy
“S/he is 50 kilos weight.”
(86) *Kináji̍t ū gōo-tsa̍p tōo lua̍h.
today HAVE fifty degree hot
Intended: “Today is 50 degrees Celsius high.”
(87) *I ū gōo-tsa̍p-kongkin puî.
s/he HAVE fifty-CL fat
Intended: “S/he is 50 kilos weight.”
Based on (86) and (87), it can infer that TSM ū “HAVE” selects APs, which can be calculated by numeral phrases in MP constructions; therefore, TSM adjectives kuân “tall” and tāng “heavy” can be modified by numeral phrases (NumPs) while TSM adjectives lua̍h “hot” and puî “fat” cannot. In brief, TSM ū “HAVE” selects the APs, which can be modified by NumPs, as it complements.
As previous studies seldom further note whether TSM ū “HAVE” can select all kinds of APs as its complements, the current study hence investigates the limited distribution of TSM ū “HAVE” in AP constructions via the following five tests: (i) mono/disyllabic APs, (ii) reduplicate APs, (iii) degree adverbs, (iv) comparative morpheme khah “COMP” and MPs with APs.
Based on the above diagnoses, the present study provides a description of the general properties exhibited in TSM ū “HAVE” with AP constructions, and further investigates what kind of APs that TSM ū “HAVE” cannot select in AP constructions. Namely, in can briefly conclude that TSM ū “HAVE” select mono/disyllabically open-scale predicatives but not closed-scale and non-scale predicatives. Besides, TSM ū “HAVE” cannot select reduplicate APs as its complement; moreover, TSM ū “HAVE” and the degree adverbs tsin/tsiok/tsiân “really/ extremly/very” are not permitted to co-occur in TSM ū “HAVE” with AP constructions. This study further infers that TSM ū “HAVE” and the degree adverbs tsin/tsiok/tsiân “really/extremly/very” syntactically/semanti- cally behave similarly so either the degree adverbs or TSM ū “HAVE” is permitted in AP constructions. However, the comparative morpheme khah “COMP” has a syntactic/semantic function to repair TSM ū “HAVE” constructions with closed-scale predicative APs; also, the comparative morpheme khah “COMP” indicate the comparative readings to both open-scale and closed-scale predicatives. Finally, TSM ū “HAVE” syntactically/ semantically functions as Mandarin Chinese you “HAVE”, which select MPs with APs as its complements.
Furthermore, Cheng (1979) argues that TSM ū “HAVE” is an emphatic-assertive auxiliary verb while Tsao and Cheng (1995) claim that TSM ū “HAVE” is an emphatic-assertive model verb; in addition, Chen and Wang (2010) argue that Southern Dialect ū “HAVE” is a resultative aspect in AP constructions.
The future study hence aims to further analyse what syntactic status TSM ū “HAVE” actually is to be in AP constructions in order to argue for/against whether the previous analyses are right or not, and further to account for why TSM ū “HAVE” only select open-scale predicatives in AP constructions. Finally, the future study farther investigate whether TSM ū “HAVE” can select any kind of stative verbs through these five tests as well.