Abstract
This paper explores the grammaticalization path of beh4 卜 in Southern Min. The study is conducted based on the inspection into the data gleaned from the scripts of classical Chinese operas from 16th A. D. to early 20th A.D.. Two main issues are to be tackled in this study. The first one is the development of the modality senses of beh4 as well as the construction in which each sense of beh4 is used in Early Southern Min; the second one is the compounds of beh4 and their development in Early Southern Min and post-war Southern Min. As attested in the data, the modality senses of beh4 developed as follows. Beh4 is originally used as a volitional verb taking a noun phrase complement or used in a pivotal construction. Beh4 is then raised to modal position denoting a boulomaic reading, the predominant use of beh4 during the period of Early Southern Min. The third use of beh4 is the deontic modality use denoting necessity. Fourth, beh4 and a following copula si7 是 is lexicalized as a possibility epistemic modal. The construction has two possible interpretations, one being possibility epistemic and the other conditional, and the construction in which beh4 si7卜是 is used determines its interpretation. Fifth, when beh4 is used as a prospective marker, either its subject excludes the ‘Proto-agent’ properties of volition and sentience under the concept of proto-roles, or beh4 co-occurs with aspectual adverbs or achievement verbs, helping to shape the prospective reading of beh4. Sixth, beh4 with a proximative sense denoting ‘nearness’ is often followed by a quantity-denoting NP or an NP that can be given an quantified interpretation. Finally, beh4’s use as a subordinate marker in conditionals stems from its collocation with na2 那/ 若, a canonical conditional marker. To account for the development path of different uses of beh4, the study identifies the bridging contexts where beh4 occurs, providing clues to the grammatical changes that beh4 may undergo. That is, they may motivate beh4 as a boulomaic modal to the necessity deontic modal, a prospective marker denoting future or to a subordinate marker in conditionals. In terms of compounds with beh4, beh4 can form compounds with a range of modals or adverb-like elements denoting love, hope, wish, willingness, necessity, certainty, and so forth, as in ai3beh4 愛卜, bang7beh4望卜, heng3beh4興卜, guan7beh4/ kam1 guan7beh4 願卜/甘願卜, su1 beh4 須卜, and tiann7beh4定卜/pit8- tiann7 beh4必定卜. I further delve into the compounds’ development in post-war SM and find that disyllabification is a common tendency to make meaning explicit.