Grammaticalization of The Verb `To Acquire` Into Modality: A Case Study in Vietnamese

Abstract

在多種東南亞語言中，表示「取得」的動詞被認定為多功能語素。該動詞擁有有許多句法功能及語法意義，其中一個重要的語法意義顯示為該動詞可轉換為情狀助動詞。本研究主要探討越南文中表示「取得」的動詞「được」可轉換為助動詞用以標示多種情狀，包含「能力」、「可能性」與「許可」。研究成果發現該動詞尚未完整發展為有機可循的模組，並且提出「được」在轉換為情狀助動詞時，主要受到借喻的影響。

The verbs meaning ‘to acquire’ are known to be highly polyfunctional words in Southeast Asian languages. They have many syntactic functions and many grammatical meanings. One of the important grammatical meanings expressed by the verbs meaning ‘to acquire’ across languages is modality. This study aims to investigate the grammaticalization of the verb ‘to acquire’ in Vietnamese, namely, được, into a grammatical marker of many types of modality. It is found that được can indicate three types of modality, i.e. ability/capacity modality, circumstantial possibility, and permission. It has not developed into a full-fledged epistemic modal yet. It is argued that the grammaticalization of được into different types of modality is primarily driven by metonymic processes.