The grammaticalization of the verb DO in Hakka

Abstract

客語「到」字是個多義詞，具有主要動詞，副動詞、補語連詞及動詞補語等多重之語法功能，本文主要目的即在從句法結構及語意兩方面的觀點詮釋這個現象。 就句法結構來看，「到」之語法化是一個從道地的動詞、經由副動詞及補語連詞、到動詞補語的過程，這個過程不僅反映了語法化的單一方向性，同時也呈現了實詞語法化到語法功能較強之語法詞位的鏈。從語意的觀點而言，「到」之語意延伸彰顯隱喻的範黷 （從人或物、空間、時間到結果或狀態），這樣的發展佐證了西方語言學家對語意變遷路徑的論點.更具體來說，到」表示一個人或物體存在或到達某個地方賺喻地擴展到說明某行動發生的地點，或指示經由某行爲到達的空間或時間的目標.繼而，進ー步標示因其他行動引發之狀態或結果，最後則轉成表示任何行動結果的補語如此，自然地詮釋了「到」字之不同語法層面間和諧的語意連繋. The polysemous lexeme DO, literally meaning be-at or arrive, in Hakka, a language spoken mainly in Taiwan and China, carries multiple grammatical functions ranging from a main verb, a coverb, a complementizer, to a verbal complement. In regard to these phenomena, the study has two claims. Structurally, DO is grammaticalized from a full-fledged verb, through the path of a coverb, and a complementizer, to a verbal complement. The development not only reflects the unidirectionality of a grammaticalization process but also exhibits a continuous grammaticalization chain by which a lexical item travels from a lexical-content word to a grammatical morpheme, and then from a less grammatical morpheme to an even more grammatical morpheme. (Hopper 1991; Hopper & Traugott 1991, 1993; Heine et al. 1991) Second, the meaning extensions of DO display the scale of a metaphorical abstraction: PERSON/OBJECT > SPACE > TIME > MANNER/RESULT (cf. Heine et al. 1991). The development also exemplifies the three semantic-pragmatic tendencies characterizing paths of semantic change in Traugott (1989). More specifically, DO denoting a person or an object existing or arriving at a certain place is metaphorically extended to specify a location at which some action takes place, or to mark a spatial or temporal goal, which some action has reached. Subsequently, the meaning is further developed to indicate the result or manner caused by some other action. Finally, the resultative meaning of DO may be embodied into a verb to denote achievement resulting from the action of the verb. Hence, the synchronic semantic connections between different lexical domains of DO are accounted for naturally.