On the grammaticalization of nominalization marker =ay in Kavalan and Amis: a contrastive study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3765/exabs.v0i0.553Abstract
In light of a functional perspective on nominalization, this paper investigates the nominalization marker =ay in two Formosan languages Kavalan and Amis. In addition to denoting persons/things or events, the marker also indicates perfectivity or emphasis. The latter non-referring functions of =ay are argued to derive from its grammatical status as an epistemic modality marker conveying a speaker's strong commitment to a proposition, which presumably has been grammaticalized from its referring functions. Several types of evidence are presented to support the hypothesized grammaticalization path, including synchronic-intralingual, synchronic-interlingual, historical, and typological.Downloads
Published
2011-07-06
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Published by the LSA with permission of the author(s) under a CC BY 4.0 license.