Abstract
The present paper investigates gei3 in Taiwanese Mandarin(TM). There are three objectives of this study. The first is to pin down the specific meaning of particular constructions associated with gei3 from the perspective of the combination of construction grammar and lexical semantic approach. These constructions include “verb + hoo7i1 + compliment” in Taiwanese Southern Min and “gei3ta1 + adjective/verb”, “verb + gei3ta1 + compliment”, which convey certain pragmatic meaning and feature. “Verb + hoo7i1 + compliment” occurs in the situations that agents are willing to do something or speakers are persuading or giving command. The pronoun i1 refers to the predication of the compliment. “Gei3ta1 + adjective/verb” put emphasis on speaker’s attitude and evaluation. Moreover, by inserting gei3ta1 which is not obligatory, the construction implies speakers affect of neglect and ignorance. “Verb + gei3ta1 + compliment” illustrates the innovative function of gei3 in TM, including marking source, patient and affectee which are not observed in M. The second is to provide a reasonable explanation about the case of category mismatch in TM on the basis of strategies of second language acquisition proposed by Thomason (2001a) and the concept of relexification (Lefebvre 1994, 2001 and Muysken 1981, 2001). The third is to examine the grammaticalization of gei3 in TM. There are two possible factors triggering grammaticalization of gei3 in TM. One is inter-lingual. The other is extra-lingual. The data in the paper is collected from internet, radio or TV programs and certain database. Based on the careful investigation, it is observed that “speakers are not only receivers and imperfect learners but also creators who use what they find in one language and sociocultural environment to shape another language in novel ways” (Heine and Kuteva 2005:37).