現代台灣客語與「分佢」相關的致使結構之語法和語意特點

Through the investigation of the data gleaned from modern Taiwanese Hakka, this paper explores the causative constructions consisting of bun¹gi⁵ and the V(erb)-R(esultative) construction. We focus specifically on the cases where bun¹gi⁵ occurs in between and after the V-R construction. Our major findings are as follows. First, the bun¹gi⁵ causative constructions express subjectivity and profile speaker’s volition. Such interpretations are part of the constructional semantics and have nothing to do with the implicit ‘self’ voice. Second, the bun¹gi⁵ causative constructions are bi-clausal in nature, although it also allows a mono-clausal analysis in some cases. The key, we suggest, lies in the referentiality of gi⁵, which has gone through the following stages: singular > singular/plural > plural > generic > non-referential. This results in generalization of subjects. With the increased frequency of use, bun¹gi⁵ further undergoes phonological fusion and comes to be processed as a single grammatical marker, which tightens clausal integration and hence makes these constructions mono-clausal. Third, these bun¹gi⁵ constructions are not morphological causatives, but are analytic causatives. Fourth, the word order of bun¹gi⁵ in the V-R construction is determined by the word order of the recipient in the double object construction headed by the general-purpose verb of giving bun¹ in Taiwanese Hakka and does not correlate with the free alternation due to semantic redundancy, the semantic host of R, or the positions of bun¹+object in the dative construction and the Vbun¹DO construction. Such a proposal is advanced based on our examination of give-type ditransitive constructions in early Hakka texts and on the cross-dialectal observations of the ditransitive constructions in Chinese dialects made in the literature.