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

46 Kitima Indrambarya
He spoke of others.
d. * kháw phûut kɨ̀ɨ / lǎay thɨ̌ŋ
he speak how many / several about
* How many about did he speak?
* He spoke several about.
e. * kháw phûut mây thɨ̌ŋ nɔ́ɔŋ chán
he speak NEG about younger sibling I
He did not speak of my younger sibling.
f. A: kháw phûut thɨ̌ŋ nɔ́ɔŋ chán rɨ́ɨplàw
he speak about younger sibling I or not
Did he speak of my younger sibling?
B: phûut / * thɨ̌ŋ
speak about
He did.
Example (23c) and (23d) show that thɨ̌ŋ2 ‘about’ does not reflect the characteristics of a
noun because it cannot be modified by any determiners or any quantifiers. The word thɨ̌ŋ2
can be left stranding in (23b), a characteristic of verbs and adverbs. However, since it
cannot be negated with mây as in (23e) nor can it be given as a short answer to a yes-no
question, thɨ̌ŋ2 is not a verb. Hence thɨ̌ŋ2 ‘about’ is regarded as a preposition. The fact that
it can be stranded may show that thɨ̌ŋ2 is a preposition grammaticalized from the
homophonous verb thɨ̌ŋ1 ‘to reach’ and that the process is not fully completed.
Preposition càak2 ‘from’
The application of the stranding test, the determiner test, the quantifier test, the cooccurrence
with the negation word mây test, and the short answer to a yes-no question are
shown in (25b), (25c), (25d), (25e) and (25f), respectively.
(25) a. kháw maa càak ʧiaŋmày
he come from Chiangmai
He came from Chiangmai.
b. * ʧiaŋmày nàʔ kháw maa càak
Chiangmai TOP he come from
Chiangmai, he came from there.
c. kháw maa càak *day / *ʔɨ̀ɨn
he come from which / other
* Which from did he come?
* He came from others.
d. * kháw maa kɨ̀ɨ / lǎay càak
he come how many / several from
* How many from did he come?