Abstract
In the light of functional grammar, this dissertation will discuss the negatives ‘毋’, ‘無’ and ‘未’ in Taiwanese Southern Min (abbreviated as TSM). To detect the developmental universality and typological particularity, I will explore the competition between these negators in different structural positions, construction and dialects. This dissertation features three new findings. First, the merger of ‘毋’ and ‘無’ in ‘VP-Neg’ could destroy the balance of the Chinese grammar system. To make up for the gap, the new forms, ‘VP-Neg-VP’ and ‘VP-ma’, borrowed from Mandarin Chinese, could emerge in TSM. Besides, ‘VP-ma’ found in the records before the end of World War II originating from the Chouzhou variety of Southern Min, and it should not be regarded as being borrowed from Mandarin Chinese after the War. Second, I argue that ‘未’ is used to negate the composite perfect aspect. A cognitive schema will be presented to demonstrate the different uses of ‘未’ for which ‘have not’ is the main and objective meaning, while ‘never’ and ‘have not yet’ involve the speaker’s subjectivity. In addition, I will show a competition between ‘未’ and ‘不’ (used as ‘毋’) in view of the structure [Neg + experiential aspect marker]. Although diachronically, ‘未’ occurs earlier than ‘不’, it is ‘不’ that has been used much more extensively in daily conversations and northern Chinese. Finally, ‘無’ could be found in the paucal construction [Neg wh- XP] meaning ‘few, barely’. In the light of the scalar model (Fauconnier 1975a, 1975b) I will show that the elements found in XP should possess the feature [+scalar] to account for the paucal construction satisfactorily. For adjectives, in particular, the feaure [+positive] will figure prominently as well. In addition, I will use this construction to figure out the difference between northern Chinese and southern Chinese including TSM, Hakka, and Cantonese. Paucal constructions fall into two types: [沒what NP] and [不how VP] in northern Chinese. By contrast, there is only one form, [無 what XP], in southern Chinese. Moreover, I will also deal with the grammaticalization of ‘wh-’(啥物) in conjunction with the paucal construction in TSM.