proto-southwestern-tai revised: a new reconstruction - seals 22

94 Natsuki Matsui
Now I will show more examples of the difference in semantics between the three
types of stative verbs. Prasithrathsint (2000) uses the example of the imperative with the
auxiliary verb coŋ in the literary style as evidence to argue that predicates such as dii
‘good’ are verbs.
(13) a. coŋ phu�ut mi�a mii khon thǎam
IMPR speak when have person ask
‘Speak when somebody asks you.’ (Prasithrathsint 2000:262)
b. coŋ dii thal���t-pay
IMPR good forever
‘Be good forever.’ (Prasithrathsint 2000:262)
The following colloquial sentences, however, show a semantic difference between the
sentences with eventive and stative verbs when they are employed with the particle si�. The
final particle si� is used in two ways: one for an imperative sentence, and the other as an
emphatic affirmative answer to a question such as ‘Do you work?’, ‘Are you drunk?’, ‘Do
you know?’, and ‘Is (it) beautiful?’.
(14) a. tham-ŋaan si�
work FINAL PTCL.{IMPR/EMP}
‘Work!’/ ‘(I) work, indeed.’
b. maw si�
{be/get} drunk FINAL PTCL.{IMPR/EMP}
‘Get drunk!’ / ‘(I am) drunk, indeed.’
c. rúu si�
know FINAL PTCL.{IMPR/EMP}
‘(I) know, indeed.’ (MOSTLY UNACCEPTABLE ‘Get to know!’)
d. sǔay si�
beautiful FINAL PTCL.{IMPR/EMP}
‘Beautiful, indeed.’ (NOT ‘Be beautiful!’)
As the examples in (14) show, all stative verbs are syntactically able to cooccur with the
final particle si�, although there is a difference in semantics. The difference in semantics
between maw ‘{be/get} drunk’, which semantically involves an inchoative/stative
alternation, and the inherently stative verbs rúu ‘know’ and adjectival verb sǔay ‘beautiful’
is explicit in this case. Note that sǔay ‘beautiful’ in (14d) cannot be construed as the
imperative but rúu ‘know’ in (14c) may coercively have an imperative reading.
Presumably, the final particle si� requires eventivity in the LCS of a head verb to produce
the imperative construal. If the verb does not embrace eventivity, the outcome of the
semantic composition results in an emphatic reading. 6
Let us observe the next examples which display a clear difference between the verb
rúu ‘know’ and the verb sǔay ‘beautiful’.
6
In the case that the LCS of the verb is associated to eventivity, the construal will be pragmatically
determined.