Abstract
This study aims to explore the multiple functions of the evaluative word HO2 ‘good’ and its related constructions (HO2-based constructions) in Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM) from the perspective of “grammaticalization” (GRAM), based on the in-depth examination of Modern Southern Min Corpus (MSMC) (Traugott and Dasher 2002; Hopper and Traugott 2003; Brinton and Traugott 2005). MSMC (3472 tokens) comprises the Ming-Qing texts (MQT) featuring play scripts (957 tokens) and the modern Southern Min texts (MSMT) featuring folktales and dialogues (2515 tokens). In the light of the findings in MSMC, this work suggests that the diachronic evolution of the polysemous word HO2 constitutes a bona fide example of GRAM in terms of grammatical aspects, viz., lexical properties, construction types, syntactic positions and discoursal contexts, evidenced by the following examples (1-6). In the Ming-Qing era, HO2 served primarily as an adjective (e.g. predicative adjective), featuring a positive evaluation toward a situation via objective judgment (viz., POSITIVE EVALUATION (POS-EVA)), as in (1). In present-day Southern Min, HO2 has further undergone five grammaticalized stages. Let’s examine them one by one with illustrative examples, as shown in examples (1)-(6): (1) [NP+Degree Adverb + HO2]: chi2 chit8 ki1 hoe1 chiong3 ho2 this one CL flower DEG good ‘This flower is very good.’; (2) NP (agent)+ [activity verb + HO2] + (ASP): soo3 chhian1-ji7 bun5-chiunn1 sia2-ho2 many thousand word article write PHASE ‘The thousands-of-words article is finished.’; (3) [HO2+transitive verb]: goan2 e5 tau7-hu7 hoon0, tek8-piat8 ho2 chiah8 my tofu SFP, especially good-eat ‘The tofu that I made is especially delicious!’; (4) [NP(agent)+event 1+ HO2 +lai5+ event 2] : toa7-lang5 khah4 bo5-eng5 ho2-lai5 chiau3-kou3 chit4 e5 gin2-a2 an1-ni5 adult more busy HO come take care this CL child this way ‘Since the adults bustle about farmland chores every day, they don’t have much time to take care of this kid.’; (5); [CLTopic+[HO2+NEG]ADV]: goan2 cha1-bou2-kiann2 ke3 li2 ho2-bo0 my daughter marry you good NEG ‘How about marrying my daughter?’; (6) [HO2+(SFP)]: ho2-a1! long2 boe2 goa2 a1 ok SFP all sell me SFP ‘Let’s seal the deal! Ok, I’ll take all of the houses and lands.’ HO2 is used as a phrasal complement (viz., COMPLETION (COM)) to signal the accomplishment of an event by an agent/actor, as in (2). HO2 functions as a degree converter in the typical middle construction [HO2+ transitive verb], where HO2 converts a dynamic activity to a static predicate, as in (3), in which the inherently transitive activity verb chiah8 ‘eat’ is turned into a scalar state when put after HO2. HO2 serves as a clausal connector to signal the cause-effect relationship of the combined clauses (viz., event 1 and event 2) and anchor a temporal sequence of two attendant events, as in (4). When the word HO2 takes on the postclausal position, realized in the syntactic template [CLTopic+[HO2+NEG]ADV], it emerges as a question marker featuring an interrogative mood, as in (5). In conversational context, HO2 further grammaticalized into a discourse marker, marking the speaker’s subjective attitude toward the situation evaluated (viz., EXPRESSIVITY (EXP)), as in (6). Summarizing, compared with many other studies on the corresponding evaluative word hao in Mandarin (Biq 2004; Wang and Tsai 2005; Chen and Liu 2009; Wang et al. 2010), little attention has been paid to the diachronic evolution of the evaluation word HO2 in TSM (cf. Cheng 1992; Lien 1994a; Tang et al. 1997; Chen 2003). To bridge the gap, this paper offers a GRAM account, drawing on the the statistical results (viz., the frequency of lexical and grammatical functions of HO2-based constructions). Based on the empirical evidence of the data in MSMC and linguistic evidence such as changes in syntactic structures, semantic meanings and frequencies of token and type, it is evident that the GRAM of HO2 is attested: HO2 reflects various characteristics of GRAM such as unidirectionality, layering, decategorization, persistence and subjectification (Traugott and Dasher 2002; Hopper and Traugott 2003; Brinton and Traugott 2005).