The Role of Complementizers in Verb Classification in
The Role of Complementizers in Verb Classification in Thai Amara Prasithrathsint Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, Thailand Amara. Pr@chula. ac. th
Introduction What is a complementizer? n The term "complementiser" was apparently first used by Rosenbaum (1967). n A complementizer is defined here as: n a syntactic category/function word that marks a complement clause, which is an argument of a matrix verb; e. g. that n I think that he will leave tomorrow. n
Complemenizer and complement clause I think [that he will leave tomorrow]. n Complement clause = an argument of the matrix verb think. n Complement clause = Sentential complement n
Types of complementizers in English ¨that as a complementizer ¨that, for-to and poss-ing (gerund). (Akmajian 1977) ¨to-infinitive, bare infinitive, participle, whether/if, wh-word ¨Altogethere are eight complementizers in English.
Complementizers in English n n n (1) to-infinitive: (2) for-to infinitive: (3) (4) (5) n (6) (7) n (8) n It’s easy to park your car here. It’s important for us to get there first. bare infinitive: I saw him enter the building participle: I saw him entering the building poss-ing / gerund: I always enjoyed his/him singing that song. that-clause: I saw that he entered the building whether/if-clause: I don’t know whether he entered the building. wh-constructions: I don’t know who entered the building
Complementizers and verb classification--French verbs in French related to infinitival complement clauses: 1) perception verbs, and 2) causation verbs (Archard (1998: 9394). n (10) J’ai vu partir Paul. (perception) n ‘I saw Paul leave. ’ n (11) Marie fait danser Paul. (causation) n ‘Mary makes Paul dance. ’ n
Complementizers and verb classification--French Verbs of volition, verbs of declaration, and verbs of thoughts and beliefs are compatible with que (that)complement clauses: n (12) Je veux que je sois en mesure de partir de s demain. (volition) ‘I want that I be in a position to leave as early as tomorrow. ’ n (13) Paul dit que Marie est belle. (declaration) ‘Paul says that Mary is beautiful. ’ n (14) Je pense que J’ai compris le proble me. (thought) ‘I think I understand the problem. ’ n
Complementizers and verbs in Thai (Higbie & Thinsan 2003: 84 -85) n n n n n (15) man ma y ci thi i cha n ra k kha w it not true Comp I love him ‘It is not true that I love him’ (16) man ma y ci wa a cha n ra k kha w it not true Comp I love him ‘It is not true that I love him’ (17) man ma y ci thi i- wa acha n ra k kha w it not true Comp I love him ‘It is not true that I love him’
Complementizers and verbs in Thai (Iwasaki & Ingkaphirom 2005: 255 -268) n Verbs showing evaluation and emotion n n (18) pho m dii-cay thi i da y pho b khun I (m. ) be glad Comp. get meet you ‘I am glad to meet you. ’ n Verbs of speech and cognition n (19) kha w phu ut wa a khun pen khon dii he say Comp. you be person good ‘He says that you are a good person. ’ (20) kha w khi t wa a khun pen khon dii he think Comp. you be person good n n n
Summary of the review of previous studies ¨In Thai, three complementizers are mentioned, but ha y is not recognized. ¨There has been some attempt to subcategorize verbs in Thai according to the complementizers they occur with, but there is no in-depth analysis. ¨Several types of complementizers are recognized in English and French.
Problems that remain Is ha y, which is ignored by most linguists, a complementizer in Thai? n Is it possible to classify verbs according to the complementizers that occur with them? n How are the verb classes different semantically ? n
Problems that remain How are the complementizers different from one another. What are their cognitive meanings? n Are there any verbs that are compatible with more than one complementizer? If so, do they have different meanings when they occur with different complementizers? n
Purpose and Hypothesis n To identify complementizers in Thai n To find out the conditions of their occurrence with verbs. n Hypotheses: Three complementizers are identified. They have different cognitive values, which classify the verbs into three groups with different meanings.
Data n Data from a corpus of standard Thai, about three-million words long.
Analysis n Cooccurrences of complementizers and verbs n Cognitive semantic approach to the interpretation of meanings.
Findings--The three complementizers grammaticalized words. n ha y ‘to give’ n wa a ‘to say’ n thi i ‘place’ n
The three complementizers ha y n (21)kha w ha y na -s cha n n he give book I n ‘he gave me a book. ’ n (22)kha w sa [ha y cha n na lo ] n he order Comp I sit down n ‘He ordered me to sit down. ’ n
The three complementizers n wa a n (23) n n n khun wa a aray na you say what Prt. ‘What did you say? ’ (24) cha n khi t [wa a khun khuan yu t] I think Comp you should stop ‘I think that you should stop. ’
The three complementizers n thi i n (25)cha n kh y maa thi i h ni i l w I used to come place CLS. this alreadly ‘I have been to this place before. ’ (26)cha n si a-cay [thi i khun ma y maa] I be sad Comp you not come ‘I was sad that you did not show up. ’ n n n
Verb classification in Thai verbs (ha y-verbs) n Communicative verbs (wa averbs) n Emotive verbs (thi i-verbs) n Directive
Directive verbs (ha y-verbs) n n verbs signifying making people do what the one wants. 1) verbs of causation, e. g. , pen-he et ‘to cause’, pli an ‘to change’; 2) verbs of pressure. There is some sense of “pressure” at different levels, such as sa ‘to order’, ri ak-r ‘to demand’, m pma ay ‘to assign’. (See the appendix for the list of ha y-verbs)
Directive verbs (ha y-verbs) n n n (27)kha w pli an ha y thu kya a dii kh n he change Comp everything good rise ‘He changed to make everything better, ’ (28)prachachon ri ak-r ha y nayo k laa- k people demand Comp PM resign ‘The people demand that the Prime Minister resign. ’
Communicative verbs (wa averbs) n n n n verbs expressing or communicating ideas, information, and opinions. The complementizer wa a signifies quotation. 1) verbs of saying, such as phu ut ‘to say’, athi baay ‘to explain’, tha am ‘to ask’; 2) verbs of thinking and cognition, such as khi t ‘think’, ru u ‘to know’ ; 3) verbs of feeling, such as klua ‘fear’, ma n-cay ‘to be confident’ ; 4) verbs of seeing, e. g. duu ‘to look at’, ca p-taa ‘to watch’; 5) verbs of hearing, e. g. da y-yin ‘to hear’; 6) verbs of acting, e. g. , se e-s ‘to pretend’. (See a list of these verbs in the appendix. )
Communicative verbs (wa averbs) n n n n n (29)kha w phu ut wa a thu k-ya a diik h n l w he speak Comp everything good rise already ‘He said that everything had been better (improved). ’ (30)kha w ru u wa a thu k-ya a dii kh n l w he know Comp everything good rise already ‘He knew that everything had been better (improved). ’ (31)kha w ma n-cay wa a thu k-ya a dii kh n l w he confident Comp everything good rise already ‘He was confident that everything had been better. ’
Communicative verbs (wa averbs) n n n n n (32)kha w he n wa a thu k-ya a dii l w he saw Comp everything good rise ‘He saw that everything had been better (improved). ’ kh n already (33)kha w da y-yin wa a thu k-ya a dii kh n l w he hear Comp everything good rise already ‘He heard that everything had been better (improved). ’ (34)kha w se e-s wa a thu kya a dii kh n l w he pretend Comp everything good rise already ‘He pretended that everything had been better (improved). ’
Emotive verbs (thi i-verbs) n n n verbs concerning emotions or mental activities. 1) verbs of feeling, such as dii-cay ‘to be glad’, si a-cay ‘to be sad’, pala at-cay ‘to be surprised’, 2) verbs of intention, e. g. ta -cay ‘to intend’, wa ‘to hope’, 3) verbs of mental character, e. g. ci -cay ‘to be sincere’, cay-yen ‘to be cool-hearted’, 4) verbs of possibility (assessed in the mind), e. g. pen-pay-da ay ‘to be possible’, sadu ak ‘to be convenient’. Note that all the verbs with cay ‘heart’ as a component fall into this category. (See the appendix. )
Emotive verbs (thi i-verbs) n n n (35)kha w dii-cay thi i cha n s p pha an he be pleased Comp I take exam pass ‘He was pleased that I passed the exam. ’ (36)kha w ta -cay thi i ca b k cha n khon n he intend Comp will tell I before people other ‘He intended to tell me before other people. ’
Emotive verbs (thi i-verbs) n n n (37)kha w cay-yen ma ak thi I r cha n s chu a-moo he cool-hearted very. Comp wait I two hours. ‘He was so cool-hearted that he waited for me for two hours. ’ (38) pen-pay-da ay thi I cha n ca s p pha an possible Comp I will take exam pass ‘It is possible that I will pass the exam. ’
Overlapping Some verbs can occur with more than one complementizer. n However, they have different meanings. n Each complementizer has its own cognitive meaning, which influences the meaning of the verb in the main clause. n
Overlapping n n n (39 a) kha w phu ut ha y khun pen khon dii he speak Comp you be person good ‘He spoke (persuaded) for you to be a good person. (39 b) kha w phuut wa a khun pen khon dii he speak Comp you be person good ‘He said that you were a good person. ’
Overlapping n n n (40 a) kha w wa a (kha w) ca t aan ka p th he hope Comp he will marry with her. ’ ‘He hopes that he will marry her. ’ (40 b)kha w wa thi i ka p th he hope Comp will ‘He hopes to marry her. ’ ca t - aan go marry with her
Conclusion n n The three complementizers in Thai, ha y, wa a, thi i, occur with different verbs. In other words, they classify verbs in Thai into three main groups: directive, communicative, and emotive verbs. The verbs are not exclusively divided. Some can actually occur with more than one complementizer. However, they signify different meanings conditioned by the meaning of each complementizer; i. e. , ha y suggests forcing or pressure, wa a suggests something quoted, and thi i implies the meaning of mental state. A further study needs to be done on the syntactic characteristics of a complement clause with each of the complementizers.
REFERENCES n Akmajian. A. A. 1977. The complement structure of perception verbs in an autonomous syntax framework. In P. W. Culicover, T. Wasow and A. Akmajian. Formal Syntax. New York: Academic Press. n Archard, Michel. 1998. Representation of Cognitive Structures. Syntax and Semantics of French Sentential Complements. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. n Dirven, Rene. 1989. A cognitive perspective on complementation. In Jaspers, Dany, Wim Klooster, Yvan Putseys, and Pieter Seuren (eds. ). 1989. Sentential Complementation and the Lexicon. Studies in Honour of Wim de Geest. Dordrecht, Holland Providence, U. S. A. : Foris Publications, 113 -139. n Iwasaki and Preeya Ingkaphirom. 2005. A Reference Grammar of Thai. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. n Hantson, Andre. 1989. The complimentizer as. Jaspers, Dany, Wim Klooster, Yvan Putseys, and Pieter Seuren (eds. ). 1989. Sentential Complementation and the Lexicon. Studies in Honour of Wim de Geest. Dordrecht, Holland Providence, U. S. A. : Foris Publications, 207 -219.
REFERENCES n Higbie, James and Snea Thinsan. 2003. Thai Reference Grammar. The Structure of Spoken Thai. Bangkok: Orchid Press. n Horie, Kaoru (ed. ). 2000. Complementation: Cognitive and Functional Perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. n Horie, Kaoru. 2000. Complementation in Japanese and Korean. In Horie, Kaoru (ed. ). Complementation: Cognitive and Functional Perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. n Jaspers, Dany, Wim Klooster, Yvan Putseys, and Pieter Seuren (eds. ). 1989. Sentential Complementation and the Lexicon. Studies in Honour of Wim de Geest. Dordrecht, Holland Providence, U. S. A. : Foris Publications. n Rosenbaum, Peter S. (1967). The grammar of English predicate complement constructions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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