The middle voice in Paiwan

• Main Author: 林萱
• Other Authors: 廖秀娟
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/85781373468630197577

碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 臺灣研究教師在職進修碩士學位班 === 101 === English Abstract I aim to determine whether the middle voice exists in Paiwan in this thesis. Although a number of studies have dealt with verbal constructions in Paiwan, really few studies have touched upon the middle voice in Paiwan. This study aims to discuss the following issues: (i) to determine whether the middle voice exists in Paiwan; (ii) to find out the middle marker (MM) in Paiwan; (iii) to discuss the properties of the Paiwan middle voice; (iv) to discuss the historical development of the Paiwan MM. Some observations are made in this study. First, there exists the middle voice in Paiwan. Second, the MM in Paiwan is ki-. Third, based on Kemmer’s (1993) classification of middle situation types, there are twelve middle situation types that can be found in Paiwan, including indirect middle, grooming (body care), nontranslational motion, changing in body posture, naturally reciprocal events, naturally reflexive, emotion middle, spontaneous events, translational motion, body action, speech action, and perception middle. After classifying Paiwan middle situation types, I synthesize semantic properties of Paiwan middle according to Kemmer (1993). First, the initiator and the endpoint must be the same participant in the Paiwan middle voice. Second, the Paiwan middle voice is in a relatively lower degree of distinguishability of participants. Third, the subject must be the affected one in the Paiwan middle voice. Fourth, the Paiwan middle voice is in a relatively lower degree of elaboration of events. Moreover, morphosyntactic properties of the Paiwan middle voice are also discussed. The Paiwan middle voice has the following morphosyntactic properties. First, based on the principle that the more syllables, the higher degree of elaboration of events, one can assume that the Paiwan middle voice is in a relatively lower degree of elaboration of events because ki- in Paiwan has fewer syllables than other markers. Second, some verbs in similar verb class can be in the middle voice but others cannot. Third, some verbs are obligatorily in the middle voice, such as ki-qedi ‘be jealous’. Fourth, detransitivization also happens in the Paiwan middle voice. Fifth, there are some features on the roles of the agent and the patient, on the specification of event type, and on the case marking of the agent and the patient in the Paiwan middle voice. As for the historical development of Paiwan MM, the source of the Paiwan middle marker ki- could be kisurimadju ‘3SG’, which then developed to ‘reflexive’, and finally, to the middle voice marker at the end of the process. Some mechanisms are involved in the process, such as ‘erosion’, ‘desemantics’, ‘extension’, and ‘decategorialization’.