論台灣華語新興用語“不錯-V＂的句法構詞特性：一個規則借用的個案研究

Abstract

本文研究台灣華語新興用語“不錯-V＂的構詞句法特性，由此論證它是在語言接觸的情境下，由台灣閩南語中借用構詞規則所造成。我們首先證明這個用語不是在句法層次生成，而應分析為詞，並進而論證它的構詞表現與台灣華語其他詞彙皆不相同，而與台灣閩南語的構詞較為一致。本文結論同時也為句法借用可以造成句法變化的觀點提供了支持。

We study the morphosyntactic properties of the new expression bucuo-V `good to V` in Taiwan Mandarin (TM) and argue that it results from borrowing of a word formation rule in Taiwan Southern Min (TSM) in the context of language contact. We first show that the bucuo V `good to V` sequence is a word and not generated in the syntax proper. Then we demonstrate that the morphological structure of bucuo-V `good to V` is unique for the grammar of TM in patterning more with that of its equivalent(s) in TSM than with that of any other existing word in TM. We move on to argue that a morphological rule that generates bebai/bephai-V ‘good to V’ in TSM is responsible for deriving bucuo-V ‘good to V’ in TM when the rule is borrowed or transferred from TSM to TM via language contact. The results of this study lend support to Thomason’s (2006, forthcoming) theory of rule borrowing as well as provide evidence for the view that syntactic change may result from syntactic borrowing.