A multi-dimensional approach to the category ‘verb’ in
Cantonese
Elaine J. Francis and Stephen Matthews
Abstract
Cantonese
exhibits a pattern of variation among verbs that has often been interpreted as
distinguishing a category of adjectives or a subcategory of adjectival
verbs. However, neither of these
approaches takes into account the complex patterns of overlap among the
purported categories or subcategories. To account for these
patterns, we propose a multi-dimensional, feature-based analysis,
whereby morphological, phonological, syntactic, and semantic features interact
to determine the distribution of each verb.
While all verbs bear the same syntactic category feature, there are
other features that affect the distribution of verbs independently of syntactic
category. For example, constructions
that resemble adjectival constructions in other languages license the semantic
classes of verbs that are permanent, gradable, and/or non-dynamic, while
constructions that resemble verbal constructions in other languages license the
semantic classes of verbs that are dynamic, non-gradable, and/or
non-permanent. Typological implications
of this analysis will also be considered.