Title: The Role of Complementizers in Verb Classification in Thai
1The Role of Complementizers in Verb
Classification in Thai
- Amara PrasithrathsintChulalongkorn
UniversityBangkok, ThailandAmara.Pr_at_chula.ac.th
2Introduction
- What is a complementizer?
- The term "complementiser" was apparently first
used by Rosenbaum (1967). - A complementizer is defined here as
- a syntactic category/function word that marks a
complement clause, which is an argument of a
matrix verb e.g. that - I think that he will leave tomorrow.
3Complemenizer and complement clause
- I think that he will leave tomorrow.
- Complement clause an argument of the matrix
verb think. - Complement clause Sentential complement
4Types 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 - Altogether there are eight complementizers in
English.
5Complementizers in English
- (1) to-infinitive Its easy to park your car
here. - (2) for-to infinitive Its important for us
to get there first. - (3) bare infinitive I saw him enter the
building - (4) participle I saw him entering the
building - (5) poss-ing / gerund I always enjoyed his/him
singing that song. - (6) that-clause I saw that he entered the
building - (7) whether/if-clause I dont know whether he
entered the building. - (8) wh-constructions I dont know who entered
the building
6Complementizers and verb classification--French
- verbs in French related to infinitival complement
clauses 1) perception verbs, and 2) causation
verbs (Archard (1998 93-94). - (10) Jai vu partir Paul. (perception)
- I saw Paul leave.
- (11) Marie fait danser Paul. (causation)
- Mary makes Paul dance.
7Complementizers and verb classification--French
- Verbs of volition, verbs of declaration, and
verbs of thoughts and beliefs are compatible with
que (that)-complement clauses - (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. - (13) Paul dit que Marie est belle. (declaration)
- Paul says that Mary is beautiful.
- (14) Je pense que Jai compris le proble?me.
(thought) - I think I understand the problem.
8Complementizers and verbs in Thai (Higbie
Thinsan 2003 84-85)
- (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?a cha?n ra?k kha?w
- it not true Comp I love him
- It is not true that I love him
9Complementizers and verbs in Thai (Iwasaki
Ingkaphirom 2005 255-268)
- Verbs showing evaluation and emotion
- (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.
- Verbs of speech and cognition
- (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 - He thinks that you are a good person.
10Summary of the review of previous studies
- In Thai, three complementizers are mentioned, but
ha?y is not recognized. - There has been some attempt to sub-categorize
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.
11Problems that remain
- Is ha?y, which is ignored by most linguists, a
complementizer in Thai? - Is it possible to classify verbs according to the
complementizers that occur with them? - How are the verb classes different semantically ?
12Problems that remain
- How are the complementizers different from one
another. What are their cognitive meanings? - 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?
13Purpose and Hypothesis
- To identify complementizers in Thai
- To find out the conditions of their occurrence
with verbs. - Hypotheses Three complementizers are identified.
They have different cognitive values, which
classify the verbs into three groups with
different meanings.
14Data
- Data from a corpus of standard Thai, about
three-million words long.
15Analysis
- Cooccurrences of complementizers and verbs
- Cognitive semantic approach to the interpretation
of meanings.
16Findings--The three complementizers
- grammaticalized words.
- ha?y to give
- wa?a to say
- thi?i place
17The three complementizers
- ha?y
- (21)kha?w ha?y na??-s???? cha?n
- he give book I
- he gave me a book.
- (22)kha?w sa?? ha?y cha?n na?? lo?
- he order Comp I sit down
- He ordered me to sit down.
18The three complementizers
- wa?a
- (23) 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.
19The three complementizers
- thi?i
- (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.
20Verb classification in Thai
- Directive verbs (ha?y-verbs)
- Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)
- Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)
21Directive verbs (ha?y-verbs)
- 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???p-ma?ay to
assign. - (See the appendix for the list of ha?y-verbs)
22Directive verbs (ha?y-verbs)
- (27) kha?w pli?an ha?y thu?k-ya?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.
23Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)
- 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.)
24Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)
- (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 alrea
dy - He was confident that everything had been
better .
25Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)
- (32)kha?w he?n wa?a thu?k-ya?a?
dii kh??n l???w - he saw Comp everything good rise already
- He saw that everything had been better
(improved). - (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?k-ya?a?
dii kh??n l???w - he pretend Comp everything good
rise already - He pretended that everything had been better
(improved).
26Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)
- 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.)
27Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)
- (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 k???n
khon ???n - he intend Comp will tell I before people
other - He intended to tell me before other people.
28Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)
- (37)kha?w cay-yen ma?ak thi?I r?? cha?n s????
chu?a-moo? - he cool-hearted veryComp 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.
29Overlapping
- Some verbs can occur with more than one
complementizer. - However, they have different meanings.
- Each complementizer has its own cognitive
meaning, which influences the meaning of the verb
in the main clause.
30Overlapping
- (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.
31Overlapping
- (40 a) kha?w wa?? 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 ca? t???-?aan ka?p
th?? - he hope Comp will go marry with her
- He hopes to marry her.
32Conclusion
- 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.
33REFERENCES
- 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
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Cognitive Structures. Syntax and Semantics of
French Sentential Complements. Berlin, New York
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complementation. In Jaspers, Dany, Wim Klooster,
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34REFERENCES
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