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SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC PROPERTIES
OF ASPECTUAL MARKERS IN THAI

presented by

Boonjeera Chiravate

has been accepted towards fulfillment
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Ph.D . degree in Linguistics

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SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC PROPERTIES
OF ASPECTUAL MARKERS IN THAI

By

Boonjeera Chiravate

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Linguistics

2002

ABSTRACT
SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC PROPERTIES
OF ASPECTUAL MARKERS IN THAI
By

Boonjeera Chiravate

In this dissertation I examine the behavior of the aspectual markers yuuz, pay],

maa 1, and laeawit by using the Generative Lexicon idea that multiple related senses are to

be derived from a single underspecified representation as a guideline. Y uu 2, pay], mam,

and laea9w4 not only serve as aspectual markers but also have other functions: yuuz is the

locative copula, pay; and maa, can be used as “go” and “come,” respectively and Iaeaew4

can be used as a temporal conjunction. I argue that rather than cases in which multiple
lexical entries accidentally share the same form, these are cases in which the multiple
meanings can be predicted and, therefore, must be derived and not listed. Semantically, I
propose that yuuz denotes a state with an Exclusion Feature. Pay and maa, add the value

of an antideictic center and a deictic center, respectively, to the direction of the core

meaning of the VP it attaches to. And laeaem denotes the abutment function.

Syntactically, I argue that yuu2,pay1 and mam, can be treated as being underspecified for
transitivity. Either they project a full VP that is part of the eventuality being created or
they are adjoined to a VP. The examination of these elements also reveals two types of
the Progressive and two types of the Perfect. Due to the core properties of yuuz, the

Progressive expressed by yuu; is a state, not a process. And due to the core properties of

maa; and laeaew4, the Perfect expressed by maa; and laeaew4 is the universal Perfect and

the existential Perfect, respectively.

 

 

 

 

To my mother

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Cristina Schmitt who was
a constant source of ideas and comments. I am grateful to her for many helpful
discussions which helped me think about things more clearly. Without her expertise,
patience, encouragement and unfailing confidence in me, this dissertation would not have
been accomplished. I am also grateful to Dr. Alan Munn, Dr. Alan Beretta, and Dr. Yen-
Hwei Lin for their willingness to serve as my committee. I am grateful to them for
reading my dissertation and giving me insightful comments, which makes my dissertation
better than it would otherwise have been.

I am indebted to the Royal Thai Government. My education in USA would not
have been possible without their funding throughout my studies. I am grateful to all the
faculty in the Department of Linguistics at MSU, who have ingrained in me knowledge
of various areas of Linguistics. Also I am grateful to the department for giving me the
opportunity to be a TA for Dr. Cristina Schmitt. I have learned considerably both from
my studies and from being a TA.

I would like to mention those, who in one way or another, have contributed to the
completion of this work. I am thankful to my cousin, Pang, who, on behalf of my family,
never failed to send me messages to show their love, concerns, and support. I am
thankful to my Thai and international friends at MSU who have shared with me various
discussions and given me encouragement. I greatly appreciate the generosity of John
Halliwell who let me take over his office. I will never forget Manoch Srinangyan who

helped me with many things at the expense of interrupting his own work.

 

Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my mother who let me
search for my own way of life. I am grateful for her love, concerns and support which

has given me strength in carrying out this dissertation and completing my studies.

 

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................... xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................... xiv
DATA TRANSCRIPTION GUIDE ................................................ xv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Goals ..................................................................... 1
2 The puzzles .............................................................. 2
3 The Generative Lexicon ............................................... 6
4 Introduction to subeventual structure
and event headedness ................................................... 8
5 Introduction of aspect .................................................. 14
5.1 Situation aspect .................................................... 14
5.2 Viewpoint aspect .................................................. 15
5.2.1 The Progressive ............................................. 17
5.2.2 The Perfect ................................................... 32
6 Organization ............................................................... 36

CHAPTER 2: A UNIFIED ANALYSIS OF yuuz

1 Introduction .............................................................. 39
2 Earlier studies on Thai grammar ...................................... 41
2.1 Uppakitsinlapasarn (1964) ...................................... 41
2.2 Thepkanjana (1986) .............................................. 42

vii

 

2.3 Meepoe (1996) .................................................... 44

2.4 Summary of earlier studies on Thai grammar ................ 45
3 The progressive and the locative ...................................... 48
4 The analysis of yuuz .................................................... 52
4.1 Semantics of yuuz ................................................ 53

4. 1 . 1 Investigating distinction

between kamllanl VS yuuz .............................. 54

4.1.2 Investigating the copular use of yuuz ................... 68
4.1.3 Examing the state described by yuuz ................... 70
4.1.4 The unified meaning of yuuz ............................. 77
4.1.5 Summary for the semantics of yuuz .................... 83

4.2 Syntax of yuuz .................................................... 84

 

4.2.1 yuuz when taking a locative PP

as its complement ......................................... 85
4.2.2 yuuz when taking no complement ....................... 109
4.2.3 yuuz and predicator facts revisited ...................... 121
4.2.4 Unifying the syntax of yuu; ............................. 122
4.2.5 Evidence for the analysis ................................ 125
4.2.6 Summary for the syntax of yuuz ........................ 127
5 Conclusion ............................................................... 128

viii

CHAPTER 3: A UNIFIED ANALYSIS OF pay 1 AND maa,

1 Introduction ............................................................. 129
2 Previous description of payl/maa 1 .................................. 132
2.1 Ratchabandittayasathan (1982) .................................. 133
2.2 Thepkanjana (1986) ............................................... 133
2.3 Wilawan (1994) ................................................... 136
2.4 Mathias (2000) ..................................................... 141
2.5 Muansuwan (2002) ................................................ 145
2.6 Gandour (1978) .................................................... 148
3 Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000) ........................... 152
4 Bouchard (1995) ........................................................ 154
5 Data illustrating the inadequacy
of earlier analyses ...................................................... 161
6 The analysis of payI/maa, ............................................ 163
6.1 Semantics of payl/maal .......................................... 164

6.1.1 Jackendoff’s (1996) proposal

on types of situations ..................................... 164
6.1.2 Investigating pay, ........................................ 171
6.1.3 Summary for the behavior of pay 1 ..................... 185
6.1.4 Investigating maa, ....................................... 185
6.1.5 Summary for the behavior of maa, .................... 203
6.1.6 The unified properties of payI/maa 1 ................... 204

ix

6.2 Syntax of payl/maal .. ........................................... 206

6.2.1 pay, for “go” and maa; for “come” .................... 206
6.2.2 payI/maal as an event modifier ........................ 211
6.2.3 payl/maa] relative to other aspectual markers ......... 215
6.2.4 The unified syntax of payI/maal ........................ 218
7 Conclusion ............................................................... 219

CHAPTER 4: A UNIFIED ANALYSIS OF laeaew4

1 Introduction .............................................................. 220
2 Previous analyses of Iaea9w4 ........................................ 222
2.1 Uppakitsinlapasarn (1964) ....................................... 222
2.2 Ratchabandittayasathan (1982) ................................. 224
2.3 Boonyapatipark (1983) .......................................... 225
2.4 Sookgasem (1990) ................................................ 226
2.5 Visonyanggoon (2000) ........................................... 227
3 The analysis of laeaew4 ................................................ 228

3.] Evidence against Iaeaew, for aspect

and laea9w4 for conjunction

as two separate words ........................................... 229
3.2 Investigating the semantics of [steam ...................... 233
3.2.1 The role of an aspectual marker ........................ 233

3.2.2 The role of a conjunction .............................. 239
3.2.3 The unified properties of Iaea9w4 ..................... 243
3.2.4 Coercion ................................................... 247
3.2.5 The semantics of laeaew4
and of phasal adverbials ................................ 249
3.3 Investigating the syntax of Iaeaew4 ........................... 251
3.3.1 The position of aspectual Iaeaew, ...................... 252
3.3.2 Visonyanggoon’s (2000) proposal

3.3.3

3.3.4

3.3.5

for the height of aspecual laeaew4

relative to other aspectual markers ..................... 255
Argument against
Visonyanggoon’s (2000) proposal

for the height of aspecual laea9w4

relative to kamllaal and yuuz ........................... 259

The position of conjunction Iaeaew4 ................... 262

The identical position of

aspectual laeaew4

and conjunction laeaew4 ................................. 264
3.4 Evidence for the analysis ........................................ 272
4 Conclusion .............................................................. 275

xi

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ........................................... 277

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................... 281

xii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Types of modals in Thai ............................................. 265

xiii

ACC

Asp
AspP
AST—T
Aux

BP
CL
EV-T
EXP
FP
IMP
Irin
Loc
ModP

PERF
PP
PRF
PROC
PROG
ProgP
SC

QP

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Accusative
Agreement

Aspect

Aspectual Phrase
Assertion Time
Auxiliary Verb
Boolean

Boolean Phrase
Classifier

Event Time
Experiential Perfect
Functional Phrase
Imperfective
Imperfective Phrase
Locative

Modal Phrase
Operator

Perfect
Preposition Phrase
Perfective

Process
Progressive
Progressive Phrase
Small Clause
Question Particle

xiv

DATA TRANSCRIPTION GUIDE

1. Consonants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bilabial Labio- Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
dental
Stops
Vd. b d
VLUnasp p t c k 7
V1. Asp ph th ch kh
Fricative f s h
Latera 1
Trill r
Nasal m n I]
Glide w y
2. Vowels
Front Central Back
High i ii i ,1; u uu
Mid 6 ee 9 ea 0 00
Low a are a 83 o 00
Six diphthongs: /ia, iia, ia, iia, ua, Dual
3. Tones
Tones are represented as subscripted number after each syllable.
l 2 3 4 5
mid low falling high rising

 

 

 

 

 

 

XV

 

 

 

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1. Goals

Thai is an isolating language with no agreement morphology, no case and no
tense morphology but rich in aspect markers. In the Thai language there are various
words that serve as aspect markers, but which also have other functions or meanings. In
most cases, their senses or functions are related. In this dissertation, I will use the
Generative Lexicon (Pustejovsky, 1995) idea that related senses are to be derived from a

single representation as a guideline to examine syntactic and semantic properties of four

so-called aspect markers in Thai: yuuz, pay], mm], and laeaew,

Empirically this dissertation has two goals:

1. To describe a set of aspect markers in Thai, more specifically, yuuz,

pay], maal, and lasaew,

2. To describe and explain the related senses of each of these elements,
and to provide a unified semantic and syntactic property that can
account for their different uses.

Theoretically, my goals are as follows:

1. To use Thai aspect markers as a testing ground for the basic intuitions

put forth in the Generative Lexicon.

2. To argue that the macro-categories of the so-called Progressive and
Perfect are too vague to describe cross-linguistic variation.
The results will have consequences for the syntax and semantics of Thai and will serve to
provide support for the Generative Lexicon’s approach.

In what follows, I will introduce the reader to the empirical puzzles exhibited by
each of these aspectual markers (section (2)). Then, in section (3), I will introduce the
main intuition of the Generative Lexicon. As in this dissertation I will make use of the
notion of subeventual structure and event headedness, I provide an introduction to
subeventual structure and event headedness in section (4). Subsequently, in section (5), I
provide a small introduction to aspect. I summarize the basic analysis of the progressive
and the perfect since these terms will be used throughout this dissertation. Finally,

section (6) outlines the organization of this dissertation.

2. The puzzles

Y uu 2, pay], mum, and Imam, among others, are words which seem to carry

multiple related senses. Besides being aspectual markers, they have other functions
which range from serving as copular verbs, verbs, adverbial modifiers, or conjunctions.
Below are examples of the multiple uses of each of these words.

Consider yuuz. Y uu 2 has multiple functions. Yuuz can function as a copular verb
for location as in (1a). Yuuz can also function as a marker for the progressive, habitual,

and temporal states as in (1b), (lo), and (1d), respectively.

(l) a coon/yum thii3 h003sa2mud2
John yuuz at library

“John is at the library.”
I) COO" I 7 (10112 "005sfi5 yuuz
John read book yuuz
“John is reading.”
c caam suubz buzri i2 yuuz song pee

John smoke cigarette yuuz two years
“John smoked for two years.”

d coon; Puuan 3 yuuz

John fat yuuz
“John is, at this time, fat.”

Pay] also has multiple functions. Pay; may function as a verb for “go,” as in (2a).
And pay; can function as a marker for continuative and a marker for excessive degree as

in (2b) and (2c), respectively.

(2) a coon, pay; tha, naa; kaan,
John pay] bank
“John went to the bank.”
b (him tholralsabz dam caanl kao3l Paanz nu05sii5 pay)
although telephone ring John read book payl

“Although the telephone rang, John continued reading.”

c coon, ?uuan3 pay,

John fat pay]
“John is too fat.”

Maa, also has more than one function. Maa, can function as a verb for “come” as

in (3a), and maa, can also function as a marker for the universal Perfect, as in (3b).

(3) a coon, maa; tha, naa; kaan,
John maal bank
“John came to the bank.”

 

‘thia5...koa3 is translated as “although...,...”

b COO") 700112 710055175 maa, pen, wee, 1001 S005 chuua3 ”2001
John read book maa] be time two hours
“John has been reading for two hours.”

Finally, [seam has more than one function. Laea9w4 can function as a

conjunction, as in (4a). And laea9w4 can fimction as a marker for the inchoative as in
(4b) and (4c), and as a marker for the perfective and Perfect as in (4c).

(4) a coon; kin; ?asp4paan3 laeaem 7mm; 1mm sir}
John eat apple laeaew, read book
“John ate the apples and then read a book.”

b coon, win3 (anew;

John run laeaew,
“John has started running.”

c caanlkinl Pam pean 3 Iaeaem
John eat apple Iaeaew4

“John has started eating the apples.”
“John ate/has eaten the apples.”

The question is whether each of these sets are cases of homonymy in which
multiple lexical entries coincidentally share the same form, or whether these are cases in
which multiple meanings can be predicted and therefore the core meaning can correspond
to a single lexical entry.

In this dissertation, I will argue that, rather than cases of homonymy, these are
cases in which multiple meanings are somehow associated and can be treated as a single
lexical entry. The argument comes not only from the fact that we can predict the
different interpretations, but also from the fact that other languages have words that

display similar behaviors.

First, with respect to yuug, the phenomenon in which an element for locative
meaning and an element for progressive meaning shares the same form is found in many
non-related languages, including Chinese, Dutch, and Spanish.

Second, with respect to pay; and maa 1, the phenomenon in which an element for
“go” and an element for “come” serve as an aspectual marker, is not cross-linguistically
uncommon, as it is also found in other languages, including French.

So it seems that rather than cases of homonymy, in which multiple lexical entries
accidentally share the same form, it is more likely that these are cases in which multiple
meanings are somehow associated and could be treated as a single lexical entry. Now

what has to be explained is why it is possible for the lexical items yuuz, pay], mum, and

laeaem to have multiple functions.

In this dissertation in which I scrutinize the elements yuuz, pay], maa 1, and

laea9w4, I will provide an explanation for why it is possible for these elements to have the

multiple functions they have. Each study should be considered as an independent case
study. And because the Generative Lexicon does not develop a complete formalism to
deal with grammatical aspect, I am mainly going to pursue its main ideas and
complement it with other proposals for grammatical aspect.

Now, let’s briefly introduce the main important pieces and points made by the

Generative Lexicon.

3. The Generative Lexicon

In the past twenty years, the role of the lexicon has been a main concern in
linguistic research, and a number of researchers have tried to address this issue. One of
the questions is how the lexicon contributes to syntactic structures, or in another
direction, how the structures contribute to word interpretations? There seems to be
differing views to this question as illustrated in two theories of lexicons: the Sense
Enumerative Lexicon and the Generative Lexicon.

The Sense Enumerative Lexicon (SEL) (as Pustejovsky 1996 calls it) is an earlier
approach to what the lexicon is. Within SEL, the lexicon is viewed as a static set of word
senses or a list of all possible word senses. Each is specified for what structure it has to
be in for a particular sense to be expressed. So, different word senses are generally
associated with distinct lexical items.

The Generative Lexicon (GL) takes an alternative approach. The basic idea is
that the word sense is determined by the interaction between the word and the structure
that carries it, in the sense that words in a structure can “see” other words and, therefore,
can “combine.” So essentially, the interaction of various words or word parts may occur.
The lexicon, therefore, is viewed as a set of basic lexical representations which is
dynamic, in the sense that it can be used to generate many possible word senses, via

operations of coercion and eo-composition.2

 

2 Coercion is “where a lexical item or phrase is coerced to a semantic interpretation by a governing item in
the phrase, without change of its syntactic type.” (p.61)

Co-composition is “where multiple elements within a phrase behave as functors, generating new non-
lexicalized senses for the words in composition.” (p.61)

As discussed in Pustejovsky (1995), SEL seems to be inadequate for the purpose
of linguistic theory since it does not fully describe our lexical competence. Concerning
the inadequacy of SEL, phenomenon in aspectuality seems relevant in two respects.

First, the same aspect marker may have different senses depending on the type of

VP it is modifying. For example, [seem in Thai may provide the interpretation of the

Perfect, perfective, or inchoative (Visonyanggoon 2000) depending on the predicate it
combines with. In SEL, however, these three senses would have to correspond to at least
three lexical entries, in spite of the fact that they are predictable.

Second, it is very common for the same element to act as an aspect marker and
something else. For example, across languages, (i.e., Thai, Chinese, etc.) an element
which contributes to the progressive meaning is also used in locative expressions. In
SEL, however, the two meanings could only be related by means of meaning postulates
which are offline descriptions of the relation between words.

SEL, therefore, fails to account for cross-linguistic partial regularities and has no

explanatory adequacy. In other words, it does not satisfactorily explain why laeaew4 has

three senses, nor why the locative and the progressive senses seem to be marked in many
languages by the same element.

Under the theory of GL, however, extended meanings are derived from the
interaction of core meaning and structure. Thus, multiple related meanings, rather than
corresponding to different lexical entries, should correspond to a single lexical item. In
other words, there should be a unified representation for multiple related meanings, and
multiple related meanings should be predictable from the interaction with other words in

particular structures. In order to do that Pustej ovsky divides lexical representations into

four different levels: an argument structure, an event structure, a qualia structure and a
lexical inheritance structure.

“The argument structure is specification of number and type of logical arguments,
and how they are realized syntactically. The event structure is definition of the event type
of a lexical item and phrase. Sorts include STATE, PROCESS, and TRANSITION, and events
may have subeventual structure. The qualia structure is modes of explanation, composed
of FORMAL, CONSTITUTIVE, TELIC, and AGENTIVE roles. And the lexical inheritance
structure is identification of how a lexical structure is related to other structure in the type
lattice, and its contribution to the global organization of a lexicon.” (p.61) All these
levels are independent but related.

In this dissertation I will mainly make use of the notion of subeventual structures
and event headedness (Pustejovsky 1995). An introduction to subeventual structures and

event headedness will now be provided.

4. Introduction to subeventual structure and event headedness

Pustejovsky (1995), proposes that events can be subclassified into at least three
sorts: PROCESSES, STATES, and TRANSITIONS, and these three sorts of events can be
combined in different ways, resulting in different more complex eventual structures.

Pustejovsky assumes a tuple <, E, 5., <, O, Q, *, >, where E is the set of events
(2), 5 is a partial order of part-of, < is a strict partial order, 0 is overlap, ; is inclusion,
and * designates the “head” of an event. An event complex has at most two subevents (e1

and e2). The relation between the two subevents can be defined in terms of the relation of

“exhaustive ordered part of,” “exhausative overlap part of, ” and “exhausative ordered
overlap.”

“Exhaustive ordered part of’ is the subeventual structure denoted by verbs for
causatives and inchoatives (i.e., break). The subeventual structure is represented in (5)

and its definition is Shown in (6), where e1 stands for a process and e; for a result state.

(5) e<oc
(p.69)
(6) a [c3 6’1 <°C e2] =def <°C (iei, 62}, e3)
b V e1, e2, e3 [<0c ({e1, e2}. e3) ._. 61$ e3 A e2 3 es A e: < 82 A

Ve[eje3—»e=e1Ve=e2]]

(p.69)
This definition states that the event e3 is a complex event structure constituted of two
subevents, e 1 and e2, where e] and e2 are temporally ordered such that the first precedes
the second, each is a logical part of e3, and there is no other event that is part of e3.
(p.69).

“Exhaustive overlap part of’ is the subeventual structure denoted by verbs such as
accompany. The event denoted by the verb accompany involves two subevents occurring
Simultaneously. Therefore, the subeventual structure can be represented as (7) and its

definition is shown in (8).

(7) 300:

/\

e1 82
(p.71)
(8) a [c3 81 0°C 82] =def 0°C ({81, 92}, e3)
b Vex, 62, e3 [0°c 681,62}. e3) H e13 e3 A e2 5 e3 A e1; e2 A Q

e;AEle[e§e1/\e;e2Ae=e3] A‘v’e[e$e3—+e=e1Ve=e2]]
(p.70)

Finally, “exhaustive ordered overlap” is a subeventual structure denoted by verbs
such as walk. As for the event denoted by walk, the two motion processes are structured
in an overlapping relation; that is, the efficient motion of the legs bring about the final
motion of the body. The subeventual structure, therefore, can be represented as (9) and
its definition is Shown in (10), where init is a function over events, returning the initial

part of the event, and end is a function returning the final part of the event.

(9) e<ooc
(p.71)
(10) a [e3 61 <00: 82] =def <00: (iei, 82}, e3)
b Vet, 82, 83 [<Ooc ({8}, 82}. e3) H 313 e3 /\ 82 $ e3 /\ 810 82 /\

init (2,) < init (e2) A end (cl) = end (e2) A V e [e 5 e;; —> e = e, V e = e; ]]

(p.70)

10

So, the relation <Ooc defines an event containing two subevents, e, and e2, where e I starts

before e2.

Talmy (1975, 1976) and others note that the information conveyed by a verb can
be much richer than the temporal ordering relation (i.e., <OC, 0°C, and <00: ) of the

subevents.

For two combined subevents, relative prominence of the subevents of a larger
event is also information conveyed by a verb. To capture the relative prominence of the
subevents of a larger event event headedness then, is proposed (Pustejovsky 1998).
Informally, the head, notated by *, is the most prominent subevent in the event structure
of a predicate, which contributes to the “focus” of the interpretation.

Assuming a binary event structure and the three temporal ordering relations, there

are twelve possible head configurations as listed in (l 1).

(11) [ed 81* <oc 82]
[ed e. <0: 82*]

[ea ens <0: ezae]

0-0 CTN

[ed en <oc e2]

[ea ens Ooc e2]
[ed e1 00: e2*]

[ed e” 00: 82*]

5‘00in

[ed 91 0°C 32]

Ho

[,0 en <00: e2]
[ed e1 <00: eza]

[ea ewe <00: czar]

— w B-

11

Each configuration in (11) represents a different kind of verb. For example, (11a)
represents accomplishment verbs where the initial event is headed, focusing on the action
bringing about a state. (1 lb) represents achievement verbs, for which the persistence of
the final state is the focus of interpretation.3

The configurations in (11d), (11h), and (111) represent lexical expressions which
are unspecified with respect to headedness, i.e. headless. When a lexical expression is
unspecified with respect to headedness, ambiguity arises. (11d), therefore, represents
causative/inchoative predicates such as break and sink. (11h) represents argument
inversion predicates, such as rent. And (1 11) represents raising/control predicates, such
as begin and stop.

Talmy discusses that positing headedness as part of an event structure accounts

for facts concerning adverbial modification. It seems that adverbial phrases not only

 

3 Pustejovsky (1995) provides an example of each type as follows.

a [,0 else <0: e2] - build

b [90’ 81 <0: czar] - arrive

c [,6 81* <0: e2*] - give

(1 [ed 81 <oc 82] - UNDERSPECIFIED
e [ed ens 00: e2] - buy

f [ed e1 Ooc czar] - sell

g [ea e1* Occ 82*] - man-y

h [ed 8] Doc 82] - UNDERSPECIFIED
i [ed e” (0°C 82] - walk

j [ed e1 <00: err] - walk home

It [ed 81* <00: 82*] - 7?

1 [,a e; <00: e2] - UNDERSPECIFIED

The detailed discussion for each type is not crucial here.

12

modify the entire event, but they can also take scope over the individual subevents. For
example, the durative adverbial in (12) modifies the designated head of the event rather

than the entire event structure.

 

 

(12) a John ran home for an hour.
b My terminal died for two days.
c Mary left town for two weeks.
(p.74)

Generally, durative adverbials, such as for-phrases can modify processes and states, but
not accomplishments or achievements. However, in (12), the for-phrase can naturally
occur with accomplishment (i.e., run home) and achievement (i.e., die and leave).
Moreover, the interpretation of (12a) to (12c) is that “John spent an hour at home,” “The
terminal was dead for two days,” and “Mary was out of town for a period of two weeks,”
respectively. This suggests that the for-adverbials modify the duration of the final state,
not the entire event. This is naturally accounted for under the assumption that in
examples in (12a) to (120) e; is the designated head of the event. Since e; is the state,
for-adverbial can occur in (12) and, consequently, such interpretation is expressed.

Therefore, positing headedness as part of an event structure accounts for facts
concerning adverbial modification. In chapter 2 and 3 I will make use of a modified
notion of headedness when discussing the syntax of yuuz and payllmaal.

Now, since the topic of aspect is the main concern of this dissertation, we need a

little introduction to aspect.

13

5. Introduction to aspect

Aspect concerns temporality in language. Aspect may be conveyed by the
inherent temporal feature of the verb (and its complements), or by a grammatical
morpheme associated to the verb. The former may be referred to as situation aspect and

the latter as viewpoint aspect (Smith 1997).

5.1 Situation aspect

With respect to situation aspect, I assume Vendler’s (1967) quadripartition of
Situations: state, activity, accomplishment, and achievement. The distinctions among the
four types of situations have to do with the properties of culmination, instantaneity, and
dynamism.

Basically, accomplishments and achievements are situations which have
culmination points, while activities and states are situations which have no culmination
points.

Achievements differ from accomplishments, activities, and states in terms of
instantaneity. While achievements are instantaneous, accomplishments, states, and
activities are not.

States differ from accomplishments, achievements, and activities in terms of
dynarnicity. While states are non-dynamic, accomplishments, achievements and

activities are.

14

The situations described by the predicates love Bill, run, draw a circle, and win a

race, are considered to be state, activity, accomplishment, and achievement, respectively.

5.2 Viewpoint aspect

With respect to vieWpoint aspect or aspect encoded by grammatical morpheme, I
assume Comrie ’s (1976) proposal that viewpoint aspect falls into two main types;
perfective and imperfective. Perfective aspect is when a situation is viewed as a single
whole, while imperfective aspect is when the internal structure of a situation can be
viewed.

As perfective refers to a situation as a single whole, it denotes the termination or
completion of a situation. In English, the simple form such as “John ate the apple” may
encode perfective as the event of John’s eating is not divided into phases and it denotes
that the event of John’s eating is terminated or completed.

On the other hand, imperfective does not denote the termination or completion of
a situation. In English, the progressive form such as “I am eating the apple” encodes
imperfective as the event of John’ eating is divided into phases and the speaker is
describing the event at some point afier the beginning of the event and before the end of

the event.

15

Comrie, proposes the classification of aspectual oppositions as follows in (13).
(13) I

Perfective Imperfective

Habitual Continuous

l
| |

Nonprogressive Progressive

 

(Comrie 1976, p.25)

As seen in (13), perfective and imperfective are two main types of aspect. Imperfective
includes habitual, and continuous. And continuous includes non-progressive and
progressive.

Comrie notes that the Perfect, although rather different from the other viewpoint
aspects, may also be treated as a viewpoint aspect. According to him, the Perfect is
different from other vieWpoint aspects since it tells us nothing directly about the situation
in itself, but indicate the continuing relevance of a past situation. For example, while the
non-Perfect sentence I lost my pen has no implication that the pen is still lost, the Perfect
sentence I have lost my pen does.

In Thai verbs are not inflected for tense nor aspect. A bare verb phrase may have
either a present tense interpretation or a past tense interpretation, depending on contexts.

Aspects are expressed by particles including yuuz, pay], maa 1, and lmmm, as seen in (1)

to (4).

l6

As in this dissertation we will have to deal with the Progressive when discussing

yuuz and the Perfect when discussing maa 1, and lmmm, in the following two sections I

provide a summary of the basic analysis of the Progressive and the Perfect.

5.2.1 The Progressive

In a progressive sentence like Mary is building a house, the function of the
progressive aspect be —ing is to present an internal perspective, meaning that the event of
Mary’s building a house is perceived as an event in progress. However, what has to be
explained is what it means for Mary’s building a house to be in progress. (Landman
1992)

There are several proposals for the meaning of the progressive. Starting with an
early proposal given by Scott and Montague, a summary of subsequent analyses by
Bennett and Partee (1972), and Dowty (1979), Parsons (1989), and Landman (1992) will

be provided.

5.2.1.1 Scott and Montague

Scott and Montague propose that “a simple sentence in the progressive is true at a
given time t if and only if the corresponding nonprogressive sentence is true at every
moment throughout some open interval about t. Thus ‘John is walking’ is true at time tin
case there is an open interval of times surrounding t such that ‘John walks’ is true at each

moment in the interval.” (Montague 1974, p. 125)

17

This analysis is known to be insufficient, as it leads to what has been called
“imperfective paradox.” (Dowty 1979, p.133) “The imperfective paradox” is the
observation that, although for verb phrases expressing activities, like push a cart, the
inference from the past progressive to the simple past is valid; for verb phrases
expressing accomplishments, like draw a circle, it is not. So, while Mary was pushing a
cart entails Mary pushed a cart, Mary was building a house does not entail Mary built a
house.

In the same way that Mary was building a house does not entail Mary built a
house, Mary is leaving does not entail Mary has left. In Scott and Montague’s analysis,
however, Mary is leaving should entail Mary has left. 4 According to them, if Mary is
leaving is true at t then there is an open interval of times surrounding t and thus
containing points of time prior to t — such that Mary leaves is true at every point in the
interval. And, as Mary leaves is true at some time or times before t, Mary has Iefi is true
at t. So, within Scott and Montague’s analysis if Mary is leaving then Mary has left.

Obviously, this is not correct and their analysis needs to be modified.

5.2.1.2 Bennett and Partee (1972)

Hoping to provide a possible solution for imperfective paradox, Bennett and
Partee (1972) propose an analysis in which sentences, rather than being viewed as being
true at instants of time, are viewed as being true with respect to intervals of time. They

propose that “a simple progressive sentence is true at an interval of time I, if and only if I

 

" Although they do not try to account for achievements, by their reasoning, we should conclude that “Mary
is leaving” entails “Mary has left.” .

l8

is a moment of time, and there is an interval 1’ which contains 1 such that the
nonprogressive form of the sentence is true at 1’.” (Bennett and Partee, 1972, p. 13)
According to them, therefore, John is building a house is true at an interval (i.e., today’s
evening) iff that interval is a subinterval of a larger, later ending interval (i.e., an interval
starting last year and terminating next year) where John build a house is true.

Although, in their analysis, the progressive sentence does not require for its truth
at I that there be any totally past interval at which the nonprogressive sentence is true,
their analysis still does not avoid the imperfective paradox. Within their analysis, if John
is now building a house, then it will be true at some time in the future that John has built
a house. For, if John is building a house is true at today’s evening, then, according to
their analysis, there is an interval surrounding today’s evening at which the sentence John
builds a house is true. But then there will be some moment later than every instant in that
interval, and at that moment, the sentence John has built a house will be true. Again, this
is not correct because John may never finish building a house.

Although Bennett and Partee’s (1972) analysis is still problematic, the intuition
that forms the basis of their analysis seems to play an important role in later analyses of
the progressive. Assuming Bennett and Partee’s idea that John’s building of a house is in
progress at a certain period iff it will continue beyond this period and eventually be fully

realized, Dowty (1979) proposes an alternative analysis for the progressive.

l9

5.2.1.3 Dowty (1979)

Dowty (1979) proposes that an event in progress for a certain period does mean
that it will continue beyond that period; however, the continuation is not necessarily in
the actual world, but in some other worlds closely related to the actual world; or using his
term, the inertia worlds.

An inertial world is a possible world that is exactly like the actual world up to the
time in question, and in which the future course of events after this time develops in ways
most compatible with the past course of events. (Dowty 1979, p. 148)

Thus, inertia worlds for our world are like our world up to some moment in time
but where, after that moment, nothing unexpected happens. Unexpected things may only
happen in the real world. .

Dowty’s analysis of the progressive is as follows: Mary is building a house is
true in a world w at an interval i iff in every inertia world U for w at i this interval is a
subinterval of a larger interval where Mary build a house is true.

Thus, Mary is building a house is true, if this event will continue beyond that
interval and be fully realized eventually in the inertial world. So Dowty’s analysis of the
progressive allows for the possibility that an event in progress may be interrupted and not
being fully realized in the real world, yielding a possible account for the imperfective
paradox.

Dealing with the imperfective paradox, Dowty discusses that the difference
between activities and accomplishments is relevant. While an accomplishment has an

activity part and a result part, an activity does not have a result part. He then proposes an

20

activity postulate which states that, “If A is an activity and A is true at interval i, then A
is true at every reasonably large subinterval of i.”

Then, the fact that the entailment holds for activities (i.e., Mary was pushing a
cart entails Mary pushed a cart) can be explained as follows. Suppose Mary was pushing
a cart is true in w now. Then, according to the semantics of the progressive, Mary push a
cart is true in every inertial world i) for w and i at some j surrounding i. Then by the
activity postulate, Mary push a cart is true in every inertial world 0 for w and i at i, as i is
a subinterval of j . Then by the definition of inertia worlds, the inertia world for w at i is
identical to w up to i. This means that if Mary push a cart is true in an inertia world for w
at i, it is true in w at i. Thus Mary push a cart is true in w at i. Then Mary pushed a cart
is true in w now.

The fact that the entailment does not hold for accomplishments (i.e., Mary was
drawing a circle does not entail Mary drew a circle) can be explained as follows. The
activity postulate applies to the activity part (i.e., Mary drew) but the result part (i.e., the
circle coming into existence), is only required to take place in the inertia worlds at the
interval which is typically later than the interval at which the progressive is evaluated.
Since the inertial world may differ from the actual world after the interval of the
evaluation, there is no requirement that a circle has to come into existence in the actual
world. And so Mary was drawing a circle does not entail Mary drew a circle.

However, as pointed out in Vlach (1981), there are difficulties with Dowty’s
analysis. Vlach points out that Dowty’s analysis encounters problems when considering
cases such as Mary was crossing the street when the truck hit her. According to Dowty,

the progressive is true if in the inertial worlds — worlds in which everything takes its

21

normal course - Mary manages to cross. However, the problem is that this sentence is
appropriate to report a situation in which the truck is seconds away from Mary. If
everything takes its normal course, the truck will hit Mary and Mary will not manage to
cross. Thus, the progressive is true, although in the inertial worlds, Mary does not
manage to cross.

In summary, grasping the definition of the progressive requires an explanation of
the imperfective paradox phenomenon. Earlier analyses on the progressive including
Scott and Montague (1974), Bennette and Partee (1972), and Dowty (1979); however, do
not seem to be successful in explaining such phenomenon. However, two competing
theories of the progressive that further develop the previous theories and are worth

consideration are proposed in Parsons (1989) and Landman (1992).

5.2.1.4 Parsons (1989)

Parsons (1989) proposes a completely different approach to the meaning of the
progressive. Parsons’s basis for his approach to the progressive are the following two
assumptions. First, assuming Davidson’s (1967), a sentence such as “Caesar died” says
something like (14).

(14) For some event e,
e is a dying, and
the object of e is Caesar, and
e culminates before now

(Parsons 1994, p.6)

22

Second, assuming Ramsey (1927), a sentence such as “Caesar died” is really an
existential proposition, asserting the existence of an event of a certain sort, and can be
represented as (15).

(15) 3e

Based on these assumptions, “Caesar died” can then be represented in terms of the
logical form (16).

(16) (3e) [Dying (e) & Objects (e, Caesar) & Culminate (e, before now)

(Parsons 1994, p.6)

With respect to the progressive, Parsons’s proposal is concerned with how the
meaning of a sentence using the progressive is related to the meaning of the
corresponding non-progressive. His idea is that an event e can either culminate at time t
or hold at time t. Culmination is represented as Cul (e, t) and Hold is represented as Hold
(e, t), respectively.

For a simple non-progressive sentence, its logical form contains Hold if the verb
is a stative verb, and its logical form contains Cul if the verb is an event verb, as in (17)
and (18), respectively.

(17) a Mary knows Fred.

b (Be) [Seeing (e) & Subject (e, Mary) & Object (e, Fred) & Hold (e, now)]
(18) a Mary built a bookcase.

b (3!) (t < now & (3e) [Building (e) & Subject (e, Mary) & Object (e, the

bookcase) & Cul (e,t)])

(Parsons 1994, p. 221)

23

 

The rule for dealing with the progressive form of the verb is as follows:
(19) “If ‘A’ is an event verb then ‘be A-ing’ is to be treated semantically as a state
verb; otherwise, ‘be A-ing’ is to be treated the same as ‘A.”’
(Parsons 1994, p.222)
Thus, changing an eventive verb to a progressive form requires that it be treated as a state
verb. More precisely, changing the verb to a progressive form means that the sentence in
question will require for its truth that the event in question holds, not that it culminates.
Consequently, the non-progressive sentence Agatha crossed the street, and the
progressive sentence Agatha was crossing the steer can be represented as (20) and (21)
respectively.
(20) a Agatha crossed the street
b (3t) [t < now & (3e) [crossing (e) & Subject (e, Agatha) & Objects (e, the
street) & Cul (e,t)]].
(Parsons 1994, p.222)
What (20b) expresses is that there exists a time which is before now, and there exists an
event (i.e., a crossing event) such that the subject of the event was Agatha, and the object
of the event was the street and the culmination of the event (i.e., the end point) was at
time t.
(21) a Agatha was crossing the street
b (St) [I < now & (3e) [crossing (e) & Subject (e, Agatha) & Object (e, the
street) & Hold (e,t)]]

(Parsons 1994, p.222)

24

What (21b) expresses is that there exists a time which is before now, and there exists an
event (i.e., a crossing event) such that the subject of the event was Agatha, and the object
of the event was the street and the event holds (i.e., was on going) at time t.

As the sentence in the progressive form requires for its truth that the event holds,
and not that it culminates, Parsons correctly predicts that the progressive
accomplishment, like Mary was drawing a circle, does not entail a simple past
accomplishment, like Mary drew a circle, and thus his proposal accounts for the
imperfective paradox.

However, as discussed in Zucchi (1999), within Parsons’analysis, there are some
difficulties with respect to creation verbs (i.e. build a house, draw a circle, etc).
According to Parsons’s analysis, for (22a), if (22b) is true (22c) is true.

(22) a Mary is building a house
b He 31 3t [1 = now A t 6 IA building (e) A Agent (e, Mary) A 3x[house (x)
A Theme (e, x) A Hold (e, t)]
c 3x(house(x))
(Zucchi 1999, p. 186)
Thus by Parson’s analysis, if Mary is building a house, there is a house. The problem
arises in the case in which Mary only built the foundation, then she is building a house,
but there is no house yet. Parsons’s response to this problem is that people do refer to
unfinished houses as houses, so if the house-building process is interrupted, the house
exists but it is an unfinished house. The consequence of Parson’s response is that a
version of the imperfective paradox is brought back. This can be illustrated by the

following.

25

(23)

9)

Mary was building a house when she died

b Mary built Villa Maria

c Villa Maria is a house

d Mary built a house

(Zucchi 1999, p.187)
According to Parsons, the object of a building event that makes (23a) true is a house.
Suppose the object of the building event, which may not be much of a house, is called
Villa Maria. Then (23b) is true. However, (230) is also true. Thus the conclusion is that
(23d) is true. This, therefore, amounts to bringing back the imperfective paradox as if
Mary was building a house, she built one.

In dealing with the problem posed by Parsons’ theory, Zucchi discusses that
creation verbs should be assumed to be intensional. Zucchi notes that the idea of treating
verbs of creation as intensional is not new, as it has been discussed in Bennett (1977).
Bennett argues that the fact that John is building a house does not imply the existence of
a house should be explained by analyzing build as an intensional verb. In particular, the
verb phrase build a house should be analyzed as build something to be a house. So John
is building a house does not imply that there is, or will be a house. Similarly, draw,
paint, compose, write, and make should also be analyzed as intensional verbs.

So, by treating creation verbs as intensional, Parsons’ theory may avoid the

problem of imperfective paradox and serve as one of the theories of the progressive.

26

5.2.1.5 Landman (1992)

Landman (1992), on the other hand, proposes a different approach for the
progressive which, besides accounting for the imperfective paradox, arguably accounts

for cases involving modality and interruptions as illustrated in (24) and (25) respectively.

 

(24) God was creating a unicorn, when He changed his mind

(Landman 1992, p.8)

(25) Mary was crossing the street when the truck hit her

(Landman 1992, p.10)

Besides the imperfective paradox, (i.e., the observation that while Mary was
pushing a cart entails Mary pushed a cart, and Mary was drawing a circle does not entail
Mary drew a circle), Landman’s analysis claims to account for the fact that sentence (24)
is true without there being an actual unicorn, complete or incomplete, that God was
creating, and that sentence (25) is true even if there are several trucks waiting in line to
hit her.

Landman’s analysis, referred to as “the continuation branch,” is based on
assumptions about event stages and normality. With respect to event and stages,
Landman assumes that “an event is a stage of another event if the second can be regarded
as a more developed version of the first. That is, if we can point at it and say “It’s the
same event in a further stage of development.” Thus, not every part of e at an interval is
a stage of e; to be a stage, a part has to be big enough and share enough with e so that we

can call it a less developed version of e.” (p.23)

27

So, following this assumption, when an event stops in a world, there is a bigger
event of which it is part in that world, but there is no bigger event in the world of which it
is a stage. This can be stated as (26).

(26) Let e be an event that goes on at i in w. Let f be an event that goes on at j in w,

where i is a subinterval of j.

f is a continuation of e iff e is a stage of f.

Let j be a non-fmal interval.

f stops at j in w iff no event of which f is a stage goes on beyond i in w (i.e., at a
later ending interval).

(Landman 1992, p.24)

Landman’s analysis of the progressive also relies on the notion of normality.
Landman discusses that what makes Mary was crossing the street true in a situation
where there are several trucks waiting in line to hit her, and Mary was wiping out the
Roman army false in a situation where there are thousands of soldiers waiting to kill her,
has to do with “reasonable chance.”

Landman discusses that although in both cases, due to the trucks and the soldiers,
Mary does not have a chance of crossing the street nor a chance of wiping out the Roman
army, the difference between them is that if the trucks and the soldiers were zapped
away, in the former case, Mary’s internal capability to cross the street is reasonable while
in the latter case, Mary’s internal capability to wipe out the Roman army is not
reasonable.

Assuming that for Mary was crossing the street, a stage of c is going on in U, we

can say that v is a reasonable option for c in w, as based on what is internal to c in w it is

28

reasonable that c will continue in w as far as it does in D. On the other hand, assuming
that for Mary was wiping out the Roman army, a stage of r is going on in 2, we can say
that z is not a reasonable option for r in w, as based on what is internal to r in w, it is not
reasonable that r will continue in w as far as it does in 2.

Consequently, Landman assumes that a model assigns to event e in w a set of
worlds, R(e, w), the set of reasonable options for e in w, where R(e, w) is understood as
follows:

(27) u £R(e, w) iff there is a reasonable chance on the basis of what is internal to e in

w that e continues in w as far as it does in U.

(Landman 1992, p.25)

On the basis of theses assumptions, Landman’s idea for the progressive, is that
we follow the actual continuation of our event e in our world w until it stops. Then we
perform a though experiment: on the basis of what is internal to e, how would e have
continued if it hadn’t stopped? If it is reasonable that e will continue and later be
completed, the progressive is true. If it is not reasonable that e will continue nor later be
completed, the progressive is false.

As Landman puts it: “You follow e in our world: if its continuation stops, you
follow it in the closest world where it doesn’t stop, if that world is a reasonable option for
e in w; if the continuation stops in that world, you go to the closest world again, if it’s
reasonable, and you continue until either in some world it doesn’t stop (and then you stay
in that world) or, in the more normal case, you reach a point where going to the closest
world is no longer reasonable and you stop there.” (p.27) Landman, subsequently,

provides the semantics of the progressive as the following.

29

 

 

(28) [Prog (e, P)]Wg = 1 iff afar): (f, U) eCON (g (e), w) and [P],,,g (f) = l

where CON (g(e), w) is the continuation branch of g(e) in w.

(Landman 1992, p.27)
Thus the progressive is a relation between an event e and an event type P. PROG(e, P) is
true in w relative to g if in some world on the continuation branch of g(e) in w, some
event realizes the event type P.

Now within Landman’s analysis, the imperfective paradox, the case of modality
and the case of interruption can all be explained by the following. Consider (29).
(29) a Mary was pushing a cart.

b Mary pushed a cart

c Mary was drawing a circle

(1 Mary drew a circle

(Landman 1992, p.2)
(29c) does not entail (29d) as for (29c) to be true in w, the world in which some stage of
an event realizing the event type Mary draw a circle on the continuation branch does not
have to be an actual world w. However, (29a) entails (29b) because if the stage realized
on the continuation branch is a process stage, it shares the process characteristic with the
event, which means that it itself is an event that realizes the event type Mary push a cart.
So this means that it makes Mary pushed a cart true.

Concerning modality, following Landman’s analysis, the progressive creates an
intensional context. A sentence containing a creation verb like (24), therefore, can be

explained by the following. (24) is repeated here as (30).

30

(30) God was creating a tmicorn, when He changed his mind.

In this sentence, we follow the creation in our world w up to the moment where God
changes his mind. Then, we go to the closest world where God doesn’t change his mind.
A unicorn gets created in that world or some later worlds. So the sentence is true without
entailing that there is a unicorn the God was creating in the real world.5

For interruptions, as in the discussion about normality, Landman accounts for the
fact that (31) is true even if there are several trucks waiting in line to hit Mary.

(31) Mary was crossing the street, the truck hit her.

We follow the crossing in our world w up to the moment the truck hit Mary. Then we go
to the closest world where the crossing is not interrupted and she manages to cross.
Solely on the basis of her internal capability, it is reasonable that, in the real world Mary
manages to cross as she does in this world. So the sentence is true.

Being able to account for the imperfective paradox, as well as the other cases,
Landman’s analysis of the progressive, therefore, can serve as another alternative theory
of the progressive.

In conclusion, these theories, more or less, account for the meaning of the
progressive. However, we still need to account for the individual differences of
progressive markers. In chapter 2, I will address the differences between progressive

markers in Thai and English.

 

5 Zucchi (1999) discusses that with respect to extensional verbs phrases like cross the street, in Landman’s
theory will have to be supplemented with appropriate principles concerning the stages of events in the
denotation of extensional verbs. In particular, for cross, we need a principle that tells us that if an event e is
occurring in w that has a possible e ' of crossing the street on its continuation branch, then there is a street
in w that is the theme of e '.

31

5.2.2 The Perfect

The most well-know property of the perfect is what has been called continuing
relevance. Comrie (1976) proposes that there are specific manifestations of this property,
in other words, types of Perfect. According to Comrie, there are four types of perfect: i)
perfect of result, ii) the experiential perfect, iii) the perfect of persistent situation, and iv)
the perfect of recent past. Based on Comrie’s proposal, each type of Perfect can be
summarized as follows.

The perfect of result indicates that a present state is the result of some past
situation. For example, the difference between “John arrived” and “John has anived” is
that the latter indicates persistence of the result of John’s arrival, i.e., that he is still here,
while the former does not indicate persistence. So, in answer to the question “Is John
here yet?,” an appropriate answer is “Yes, he has arrived,” not “Yes, he arrived.” (p.56)

The experiential perfect indicates that a given situation has held at least once
during some time in the past leading up to the present. For example, while “Bill has gone
to America” is the perfect of result, “Bill has been to America” is the experiential perfect.
The former implies that Bill is now in America while the latter says that on at least one
occasion Bill did in fact go to America. (p.59)

The perfect of persistent situation describes a situation that started in the past but
continues into the present. Examples given in Comrie are sentences like “We have lived
here for ten years, I have shopped here for ten years, I have been waiting for hours.” The

situation referred to, therefore, is both past and present. (p.60)

32

The perfect of recent past is used where the present relevance of the past situation
referred to is very recent, for example, “I have recently learned that the match is to be
postponed, Bill has just (this minute) arrived.” It is noted that the present relevance does
not imply recentness; however, recentness may be a sufficient condition for present
relevance. (p.60)

Comrie also notes that in some languages, there may be different forms for
different types of perfect, and in some languages a form for perfect may have only some
of these meanings.

With respect to the treatment of the perfect, McCoard (1978) proposes that the
perfect serves to locate some event within an interval stretching back in time from a
given reference time; for a present tense sentence, the reference time is the time of
utterance.

This treatment of the perfect as serving to locate some event within an interval
stretching back in time from a given reference time is referred to as the Extended-Now
theory for the perfect (XN, for short).

Based on the XN theory, there are several proposals for the meaning of the

perfect. Here I summarize proposals made by Richards (1982), and Mittwoch (1988).

5.2.2.1 Richard (1982)

Richard’s (1982) analysis for a Perfect sentence like ( ) is that ( ) means there has

been a twenty-minute period in the relevant XN interval during which Sam was in

Boston.

33

(32) Sam has been in Boston for 20 minutes.

(Richard 1982, p.142)
Sentence (32) can also be used, more naturally in fact, to imply that the twenty minute-
period extends up to the moment of utterance, with the further implication that Sam is
still in Boston. In that case, the twenty minute-period is in fact co-extensive with the XN
interval implied by the Perfect.

So, more formally, sentence (32) has two reading referred to as the existential

reading and the universal reading as illustrated in (32i) and (32ii), respectively.
(32) Sam has been in Boston for 20 minutes.

i) There was somewhere in the past, a twenty minute period, during

which Sam was in Boston.
ii) Sam is in Boston now and this state of affairs has already been
going on for twenty minutes.

To account for the ambiguity, Richard assumes Dowty’s (1979) view that the ambiguity
of sentences like (32) is due to the relative scope of the perfect operator have and the
durational adverbial for 20 minutes. Upon the first reading have has wider scope than the
adverbial; upon the second reading, it is within the scope of the adverbial, as represented
by (33a) and (33b), respectively.
(33) a Pres (w, i) [Have [For 20 minutes (Sam be in Boston)]]

(Richard 1982, p. 140)

b Pres (w, i) [F or 20 minutes [Have (Sam be in Boston)]]

(Richard 1982, p. 143)

34

In support of this view, Richard, following Dowty, refers to a sentence in which the
adverb is preposed:
(34) For 20 minutes Sam has been in Boston
(Richard 1982, p.142)
Sentence (34) can only have the second interpretation (i.e., the universal reading), in
which for 20 minutes extends up to the present.
Assuming Richard (1982), the truth conditions for durational for adverbials and
for the perfect are as follows:
(35) For 20 minutes (A) is true in M relative to (w, i') iff i’ is an interval of a 20
minute duration and for every subinterval and for every subinterval j of i’ A is
true in M relative to (w, j).
(Richard 1982, p.138)
(3 6) Have (A) is true in M relative to (w, i) iff there is a subinterval j of i such that A is
true in M relative to (w, j).

(Richard 1982, p. 117)

5.2.2.2 Mittwoch (1988)

Mittwoch (1988) argues that the existential and the universal Perfect should
receive separate treatrnents-- the common ground between them being that both are
evaluated with reference to an XN interval.

According to Mittwoch (1988), the XN theory of the perfect makes crucial use of

the notion of reference time: it serves to locate an event within an interval stretching back

35

from a reference time provided by the moment of utterance, a temporal adverbial or a

contextually given event.

Mittwoch proposes revised truth conditions for the existential perfect and the
universal perfect as shown in (3 7) and (3 8), respectively, where the superscript E stands
for “existential” and U for “universal”

(3 7) HaveE (A) is true in M relative to (w, i) iff i is the final moment of an interval j
and for some subinterval k of j A is true in M relative to (w, k), where A is
interpreted as an event.

(Mittwoch 1988, p.218)

(38) HaveU (A) is true in M relative to (w, i) iff i is the final moment of an interval j
such that A is true in M relative to (w, j), where A is interpreted as a state.
(Mittwoch 1988, p.218)

The analyses of the Perfect based on Extended Now theory, more or less, render a
plausible account for the meaning of the perfect. However, we still need to account for
the individual differences of perfect markers. In chapter 3 and 4 I will address the

differences between progressive markers in Thai and English.

6. Organization

In this dissertation, I will provide an analysis of yuuz, payl/maa 1, and Immm,

using aforementioned concepts and assumptions. Yuuz acts as a progressive, and mam,

and lmmm, as a Perfect. Each of these Thai aspectual markers will be analyzed

independently in consecutive chapters, each of which begins with a description of these

36

items given by Thai linguists and grammarians. I will then attempt to provide an account
that allows me to unify the different senses into a simple representation, since their senses
and functions are predictable from the syntax and semantics of the elements they
combine with. And finally I will deal with the syntax of each of these elements.

Chapter 2 deals with yuuz. Yuuz, not only is a progressive marker, but it also is
the copular verb for locative constructions. In developing my analysis of yuuz, I will start
with the progressive use and then move to the copular use. For the semantics of yuuz, I
will argue that progressive yuuz and copular yuuz unifonnly denote a state with an
exclusion feature (Iatridou, 2000). Syntactically, by making use of a modified notion of
headedness (Pustejovsky, 1995), I will argue that when yuuz acts as a head that is part of
the extended projection of the clause, it takes a locative complement, and when it does
not act as a head, it is used as an adjunct to the verb. In both cases, it is a verbal element
with the same core meaning. The differences are derived from the elements it combines
with.

Chapter 3 considers the behavior of pay, and maa 1. Pay, and mum, in addition to
expressing “go” and “come,” respectively, have other fimctions. Pay, may function as a
particle expressing continuation of an action and a particle expressing excessive degree.
Maa, may also function as a particle for expressing persistence of a situation. In order to
provide a unified semantics of payl/maal, I will adopt Jackendofi’ s (1996) proposal of
viewing an event as projecting a cross-section onto bound axes. I then will argue that
pay, adds the value of an antideictic center to an axis. And maa, adds the value of a
deictic center to an axis. Again for the syntax of payI/maa 1, I will argue that payl/maa,

acts as a head that is part of the extended projection of the clause when it takes a locative

37

complement, and when it does not act as a head, it is used as an adjunct to the verb.
Again in both cases it will have the same core meaning.

Chapter 4 concerns the analysis of lmmm. mem may function as a marker for

inchoative and the completion of an action, and as a conjunction indicating a sequence of
events. I will argue that when functioning as an aspectual marker or as a conjunction,

lmmm uniformly denotes an abutment function (Kamp and Reyle, 1993). Subsequently I
will show that as lmmm functions as an aspectual marker and as a conjunction, it
occupies the same position in the syntax, in particular, a VP right-adjunct. When lmmm

functions as an aspectual marker, it is intransitive (i.e., taking no complement). When

lmmm functions as a conjunction, it is transitive (i.e., taking a complement).

Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation with a summary of what the studies of yuu 2,

pay l/maa I, and Immm have revealed with respect to the goals I initially established,

repeated here as follows.
1. To describe a set of aspect markers in Thai, more specifically, yuuz,

pay], maal, and lmmw4.

2. To describe and explain the related senses of each of these elements,
and to provide a unified semantic and syntactic property that can
account for their different uses.

3. To use Thai aspect markers as a testing ground for the basic intuitions
put forth in the Generative Lexicon.

4. To test specific proposals made for the sometimes not carefully used

labels of Progressive and Perfect.

38

CHAPTER 2

A UNIFIED ANALYSIS OFyuu2

1. Introduction

In this chapter I provide an analysis of yuuz. Y uuz may behave like a copular verb
for locatives as well as an aspectual marker which is claimed to denote the progressive, as

illustrated in (1a) and (1b) respectively.

(1) a coon; yuuz thii3 h003 sazmudz
John yuuz at library
“John is at the library.”

b coon, ?aan2 na05sii5 yuuz
John read book yuuz
“John is reading.”

Crucially, the phenomenon in which a word expressing locative meaning and a
word expressing progressive meaning share the same form is found in many non-related
languages, (i.e., Chinese, Dutch, Spanish, etc.). Therefore, rather than a case of
homonimy, in which two lexical entries accidentally share the same form, it is more
likely to be the case that the two meanings are somehow associated and could be treated
as a single element. The task set forth here is to explain how these two senses of yuuz are
connected.

This chapter is organized as follows. In section (2), I summarize earlier studies

on Thai grammar. It will be apparent that the multiple meanings of yuuz have been noted

in a number of earlier studies of Thai grammar; however, the studies do not capture the

39

 

 

properties of yuuz as in none of the studies, its multiple meanings are connected. In
section (3), I summarize one analysis that attempts to connect the progressive and the
locative, namely Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000). Although this analysis
provides a general idea of why an item which conveys locative meaning may also express
progressive aspect, it fails to make detailed distinctions necessary to account for cross-
linguistic variation. 1 then, discuss the inadequacy of earlier analyses.

In section (4), I will develop my analysis of yuuz, starting with the progressive use
and then moving to the copular use. In examining the progressive use, it is going to be
important to compare it not only with a well-studied language like English, but also with
another progressive in Thai. Upon completing the examination of the progressive use
and the copular use, the connection between the two uses will be drawn, in other words,
the seemingly multiple meanings of yuuz will be Imified. Subsequently, I will examine
the syntax of yuuz. As well as the unified core meaning of yuuz, there is a unified
syntactic property of yuuz. By making use of a modified notion of headedness, I argue
that progressive yuuz and copular yuuz denote a state with an exclusion feature. Being
underspecified for headedness I will argue that when yuuz acts as a head that is part of the
extended projection of the clause, it takes a locative complement. When it does not act as
a head, it is used as an adjunct to the verb. In both cases, it is a verbal element.

Finally in section (5) the conclusion of the chapter will be drawn. As well as
providing empirical support for the theory of the Generative Lexicon, the analysis
developed here may provide a basis for further research on locative/progressive

expressions among languages.

40

2. Earlier studies on Thai grammar

The multiple meanings of yuuz have been noted in a number of earlier studies of
Thai grammar. However, although useful, the studies do not capture the properties of
yuuz as in none of the studies, its multiple meanings are connected. Y uuz has been

glossed in different ways. In this section I will use each author’s own glosses.

2.1 Uppakitsinlapasan (1964)

Uppakitsinlapasan (1964), in discussing auxiliary verbs, proposes that there are

certain verbs which may function both as a main verb and as an auxiliary verb. Such

verbs include thuukz and tag 3, as illustrated in (2) and (3), respectively.

(2) a kh993 nii4 thuuk;
one this correct
"This one was correct."

I) khaw4 thuukz tii,
he ACC hit
"He was hit"

(3) a khom nii4 tog; taa, chan 5

thing this attract eye I
"This thing attracted my eyes."

b khaw 5 tan 3 noon;
he must go-to-bed
"He must go to bed."

Thuukz may function as a main verb for “ be correct,” as in (2a) and as an auxiliary verb

indicating that the main verb assigns the theta role theme to NP in subject position, as in

(2b). Tom may function as a main verb for “attract,” as in (3a), and as an auxiliary verb

41

indicating that the subject is obligated to do the action denoted by the main verb as in

(3b).
According to him, yuuz, similar to thuukz and tom, is also a verb which may

function both as a main verb and as an auxiliary verb, as illustrated in (4).

 

(4) a khaw; yuuz nay, hoop 3
He yuuz in room 1
“He is in the room.” ‘

b kham kin 1 khaam yuuz

He eat rice yuuz
“He is eating rice.”

In (4a), yuuz functions as a main verb for “be located,” and in (4b), yuuz functions as an

auxiliary verb indicating that the situation denoted by the main verb is in progress. So he

considers yuuz to be one of the verbs which may function both as a main verb and as an

auxiliary verb. Although this may describe the behavior of yuuz, it does not explain why

a certain verb may have two fimctions, namely, the verb for “be located” may also

function as an auxiliary verb for the progressive.
2.2 Thepkanjana (1986)

The multiple roles of yuuz are also noted in Thepkanjana (1986). In her study of
serial verb constructions in Thai, Thepkanjana describes that certain verbs, when not

serialized (i.e., occurring as a main verb) and when serialized (i.e., occurring after

another verb), play different roles. For example, khin3 and 100,, when not serialized,

denote “ascend” and “descend,” respectively.

42

(5) a ban ,luun 1 [thing yanzchaa4chaa4
balloon ascend slowly
"A balloon is slowly going up."

b ban Iluun I log] yanzchaa4chaa4
balloon descend slowly
"A balloon is slowly coming down."

However, when khin 3 is serialized after a creation verb and 1001 after a destruction verb,
khin3 and 1001 indicate that the action denoted by the main verb is perfective.

(6) a kh0W5 S003 ban 3 khin 3
he build house PRF
"He built a house."

I) ban 3 ph001 [001
house collapse PRF
"The house collapsed."

And when serialized after a directed motion verb, khin 3 and lot], denote direction “up”

and “down,” respectively.

(7) a kh0W5 W10 3 [thin 3 banlday,
he run up stair
"He ran up stairs."

b khaW5 with (on; ban [day]
he run down stair
"He ran down stairs."

In her terms, while Min: and log, in (5) are main verbs, khin 3 and 1001 in (6) are

”6 ”7

“aspectual verbs, and khin3 and log, in (7) are “coverbs.

 

6 An aspectual verb is defined as “a lexical verb which when serialized, gives aspectual value to the action
denoted by the main verbs.” (p.131)

7 A coverb is defined as “a preposition which has a synchronic corresponding verb which is homophonous
with and semantically closely related to it.” (p.191)

43

 

In her analysis, yuuz, Similar to khin3 and 100 1, plays the role of a main verb, as

well as playing the roles of an aspectual verb and a coverb depending on the

environment, as illustrated in (8).

(8) a coon] yuuz thi3 romriian,

John be-located at school
"John is at school."

b wan, Paanz naa5gsii5 yuuz
John read book PROG
"John is reading."

c caanl Paanz naa5gsii5 yuuz nay; hoa5
John read book at in room

"John is reading in his room"
In (8a), yuuz plays the role of a main verb denoting “be located.” In (8b), yuu; plays the
role of an aspectual verb denoting the progressive. And in (Se), yuuz plays the role of a
coverb denoting “at.” Again, although this analysis may describe the behavior of yuu 2, it

does not explain why a certain meaning is present in a certain environment.

2.3 Meepoe (1996)

By focusing on the aspectual meanings of yuu 2, Meepoe (1996), in her study of
imperfectivity in Thai, proposes that yuu; may denote multiple aspects (i.e., progressive
and habitual) as it is undergoing a process of grammaticalization. Based on the theory of
grammaticalization by Bybee (Bybee et a1 1994), Meepoe proposes that yuuz participates

in the process of grammaticization, as in (9).

44

(9) locative -r progressive —> continuous —r imperfective —+ present

(139)

Meepoe claims that the meaning distribution of yuu 2 follows along this imperfective
pathway, developing from a locative verb into a progressive marker, and extending its
temporal aspectual meaning to the imperfective.

However, what seems to be missed by Meepoe (1996) is an explanation for why
the Shift from locative meaning to temporal meaning is possible in the first place. And

also, why the same element can appear in different positions in this pathway.
2.4 Summary of earlier studies on Thai grammar

We have seen that although the multiple senses of yuu 2 have been noted in earlier
studies on Thai grammar, studies in which the multiple senses of yuu; are connected do
not seem to exist.

In addition, the claim that yuuz expresses the progressive aspect, and a sentence in
which yuuz as an aspectual marker can be translated as a progressive sentence in English
(Uppakitsinlapasarn 1964, Thepkanjana 1968), does not seem to be completely correct.
The distribution and interpretation of yuuz differ from the progressive morphology (i.e.,
be — ing) in English in several ways. .

First, while the progressive morphology in English is considered to be
inappropriate when co-occurring with a for-adverb, yuuz is appropriate when co-
occurring with such adverbs and it describes that the eventuality is habitual. This can be

illustrated in (10) and (11).

45

(10)

(11)

a

a

John smoked for two years.

*John was smoking for two years.

*caanlsuubz buzriiz song pee
John smoke cigarette two years
“John smoked for two years.”

coonlsuubz buzri i2 yuuz song pee
John smoke cigarette yuuz two years
“John smoked for two years.”

Second, while the progressive morphology in English is considered to be

inappropriate when co-occurring with certain stative verbs, (i.e., fat), yuuz is appropriate

when co-occurring with such stative verbs and it describes that the state is temporal. This

can be illustrated by (12) and (13).

(12)

(13)

a

b

a

John is fat.

*John is being fat.

man, Puuan3

John fat
“John is fat.”

coon 1 Puuan3 yuuz

John fat yuuz
“John is at the mode of being fat.”

Third, while the progressive morphology in English, given an appropriate context,

can co-occur with an achievement verb, yuuz never co-occurs with an achievement verb,

as illustrated in (14) and (15).

(14)

a

b

Mary arrived at 8 o’clock.
Mary was arriving at the station when she heard that trains to Jerusalem

had been cancelled because of the state of the line.

(Rothstein 2000, pl)

46

( 15) a Mmm,rii3 maa,thir_75 roan, pmmdz moor),
Mary arrive when eight o’clock
“Mary arrived at eight o’clock.”

I) * Mmm,rii3 maa,thi05 3011110057117.) yuuz {OOH} thee, day3yin, W003
Mary arrive station yuuz when she hear that

r0t4fay, pay, yee,ruu,saa,lem, thuukz y0k4lak3
train go Jerusalem be cancel

“Mary was arriving at the station when She heard that trains to Jerusalem
had been cancelled.”8

So, the claim that yuuz is a particle for the progressive whose meaning does not differ
from the progressive morphology (i.e., be -ing) in English, is not completely correct.

In sum, the earlier studies do not capture fully the properties of yuuz. Not only
does the label progressive fail to make a distinction between English be -ing and Thai
yuuz, but also none of the studies connect the aspectual role and the locative role of yuu 2.
In the following section, I summarize a major analysis concerning the connection

between the progressive and the locative.

 

8 Expressing that “Mary was arriving at the station when she heard that trains to Jerusalem had been
cancelled,” another aspectual marker, in particular, kam,lam, Will be used, as in (i).

(i) Mmm,rii3 kam,lay, maa,thi05 sa,thaa5m‘i, toon, rhea, day3yin, waa, rotfay, pay,
Mary kam.larj, arrive station when she hear that train go

yee,ruu,saa,lem , thuuk; yok418k3
Jerusalem be cancel

The aspectual marker kam,lag, will be investigated in section (4.1.1).

47

3. The progressive and the locative

An account for the connection between the progressive and the locative has been
proposed by Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000). Demirdache and Uribe-
Etxebarria (2000) point out that the phenomenon in which the progressive meaning is
contributed by a word for the locative meaning, is found in Dutch, Spanish, etc.

In Dutch, the progressive is formed by a locative preposition aan “at” combining
with an infinitive verb, as illustrated in (16).

(16) Ik ben het huis aan het bouwen
I am the house at the build
“I am (at the) building (of) the house.”
(Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria 2000, p. 178)

In Spanish, there are two copular verbs: ser and estar. Generally ser is used
either in equational sentences or with individual-level predicates whereas estar is used
with either locative or stage-level predicates. AS expected. the copular used to form

progressive is estar, as illustrated in (l7).

(17) a Oihana esta en Oba
Oihana is at/in Oba

b Oihana esta estudiando
Oihana is studying

(Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria 2000, p. 179)

Since the phenomenon in which progressive meaning is contributed by a word for
locative meaning is cross-linguistically common, rather than the case of homonymy in
which two lexical entries accidentally share the same form, the two meanings must

somehow be associated and could be treated as a single element.

48

In connecting the two meanings, Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000)
propose that a word for locative/progressive has the core meaning of “central
coincidence.” The idea is that a word for locative/ progressive takes two arguments and
describes a relation between the two arguments. The two arguments are a “figure” and a
“ground” and the relation between the two arguments is central coincidence. This is

illustrated in (18).

(18) PredP
A

FIGURE Pred’
/\

Pred GROUND
central
coincidence
A figure and a ground can either be an entity and a place or an assertion time and an
event time. In cases where figure is an entity (i.e., a cat) and ground is a place (i.e., a

box), central coincidence describes that an entity is within a place, so locative meaning is

expressed. This is illustrated in (19).

(19) PredP
/\
CAT Pred’
A

Pred BOX
within
Similarly, in cases where the figure is an assertion-time and the ground is an event-time,

it describes that assertion time is within event time, so progressive meaning is expressed,

as illustrated in (20).

49

(20) AspP
/\

AST-T Asp’
/\
Asp EV-T
within

Event time can be regarded as an event denoted by a VP, whereas assertion time
can be regarded as an interval of an event picked to be asserted. For example, in (21) an
interval before the initial bound of an event is picked to be asserted, so assertion time is
before an event time. In (22) an interval after the final bound of an event is picked to be
asserted, so assertion-time is after an event-time. (////// stands for an interval picked to be
asserted. I and F stand for the initial and the final bound of an event )

(21) a /////[I F]

b I am going to write a letter.
(22) a [I F] /////

b I have written a letter.

An item whose core meaning is central coincidence, however, denotes that an
assertion time is within an event time, so the interval picked to be asserted is within the
initial and the final bound of an event. Therefore, the progressive meaning is expressed.
This is illustrated in (23).

(23) a [I ///// F]
b I am writing a letter.

So the general idea of why an item conveying locative meaning may also express

progressive aspect is provided in Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000).

50

Although this idea of why an item conveying locative meaning may also express
progressive aspect is provided, it seems to be too general since it is unable to make fine-
grained distinctions necessary to account for cross-linguistic variation.

Cross-linguistically, the aspectual value denoted by an element for the locative
does not seem to be identical. For instance, zai in Chinese may at first sight look like
yuu; in Thai, as it appears both with locatives as well as a progressive marker and thus
fits in the “central coincidence” description.

(24) a Lisi zai bangongshi li
Lisi zai office inside
“Lisi is in the office”
(Yang 1985, p. 123)
b Ta zai tiaowu
he zai dance
“He is dancing.”
(Yang 1985, p. 126)
However, upon closer look, the aspectual values denoted by yuuz in Thai and zai in
Chinese do not seem to be identical. One of the evidences is that, given an eventuality

description “put on leather shoes,” yuuz provides two readings whereas zai provides only

one reading. This is illustrated in (25).

(25) a kham say; romtham nan5 yuuz
He put on shoes leather yuuz
"He is putting on his leather shoes"
"He has his leather shoes on."

b ta zai chuan pi xie
He zai put on leather shoes
"He is putting on his leather shoes."
*"He has his leather shoes on."

(Li &Thompson, p. 221)

51

Say; r00,thaw5 na05 “put on leather shoes” in Thai and chuan pixie “put on

leather Shoes” in Chinese can refer to both an action of putting leather shoes on and a
state of having leather shoes on. However, in Thai co-occurrence with yuu, still conveys
the two interpretations, while in Chinese co-occurrence with zai can convey only the first
interpretation. So, it seems that yuuz in Thai and zai in Chinese modify differently an
eventuality; more precisely, yuuz and zai denote different types of the progressive.

AS an item denoting locative/aspectual meaning behaves differently cross-
linguistically, a more detailed analysis of yuu 2 in Thai, as compared to its counterparts in

other languages, is called for.

4. The analysis of yuuz

In this section, I propose an analysis of yuuz that accounts for its semantic

properties and its syntactic properties. I will start by comparing yuuz with another

progressive marker in Thai, kam,lay, and to the progressive marker in English be -ing. It

will become apparent that while kam,lay and the English progressive share various

features in common, yuuz behaves differently.

Then, I will examine the role of yuuz as a copular for locative constructions. It
will become clear that both uses of yuu 2 share the property of being stative. I will make
then a proposal for treating yuuz as a state and I will provide evidence for such treatment.

I then show that if besides denoting a state we assume that yuuz has what Iatridou

(2000) assumes to be an Exclusion Feature, we can account for the implication of yuu; as

52

denoting a state that in a previous or ulterior time was different. Basically yuug will force

that topic time9 exclude all other times.

4.1 Semantics of yuuz

In order to provide the semantics of yuuz, it is crucial to take into consideration

the meaning of another so-called progressive marker, kam,lar7,. A sentence in which

kam,lag, is an aspectual marker, as well as a sentence in which yuuz is an aspectual

marker, can be (and has been) translated as a progressive sentence, as illustrated in (26)

and (27), respectively.

(26) 800"] 7 kamllam 00712 na05sii5
John kam,lay, read book
“John is reading.”

(27) coon, Paanz na05sii 5 yuuz
John read book yuuz
“John is reading.”

Based on the earlier grammar descriptions, it is hard to establish precisely the

difference between the aspect denoted by kam,lay, and the aspect denoted by yuuz. Also
as kam,lay, and yuuz can co-occur, as in (28), some linguists (Sookgasem 1990,

Warotamasikkhadit 1996, etc.) analyze kam,lar], and yuug as a unit for progressive

 

9 Assuming Klein (1994), topic time is the time span to which the speaker’s claim on this occasion is
confined (p.4). Topic time (TT) is to be distinguished from situation time (Tsit). To illustrate, in a
sentence The door was open, we can distinguish between finite time (FIN) and infinite time (INF). INF is a
description of a possible situation; in this particular utterance, INF simply consists of the subject the door
and the (non-finite) predicate be open. FIN, on the other hand, is the time for which, on some occasion, a
claim is made. In this case, if the sentence The door was open is the answer to the question What did you
see when you checked the cellar?, the FIN is the time at which the speaker of the sentence The door was
open checked the cellar. According to Klein, Tsit is the time which corresponds to INF, and TT is the time
which corresponds to FIN.

53

meaning. According to them, there is no distinction between the aspect denoted by

kam,lay, and the aspect denoted by yuug.

(28) 830111 Fkamflam aan; nu05sii5yuu2

John kam,lay, read book yuuz
“John is reading.”

Sookgasem (1990) and Warotamasikkhadit (1996) consider kam,lay, yuuz to be “a
discontinuous temporal verb” and “a discontinuous auxiliary,” respectively.

I will argue that there is a distinction between the aspect denoted by kam,lay, and
the aspect denoted by yuuz. The distinction between kam,lay, and yuu; will render the

meaning of yuu 2 apparent. Once the aspectual meaning of yuu 2 is explicit, the fact that
yuuz plays a role when the locative is to be expressed, can naturally be connected. And

finally, the unified core meaning of yuuz can be stated.

4.1.1 Investigating distinction between kam,lag, VS yuuz

4.1.1.1 Earlier studies on karmlay, and yuuz

Both kam,lar7, and yuuz have been claimed to be associated with the meaning of

the progressive. Whether there is a distinction between kam,lar7, and yuuz and what the

distinction between them is, however, has not been made clear in earlier studies of Thai

grammar.

Haas (1964), argues that kam,lar7, is a progressive adverb auxiliary indicating

action going on or state prevailing at a given time whereas yuuz indicates the state of

54

doing something. Kampang (1976) provides a different description. He describes
kam,lay, as indicating that the event is in progress, whereas yuuz indicates that the event
has not yet been terminated. Burusphat (1991), on the other hand, says that both

kam,lay, and yuuz are continuous markers. According to him, while kam,lar7, indicates

the process of doing something, or being in some state, yuuz indicates the continuation of
the event for a certain length of time.

Meepoe (1996) investigates the aspectual functions and the meanings of the

aspectual markers kam,lay, and yuuz when used by native speakers in natural spoken
discourse and concludes that kam,lay, and yuuz have distinct, though similar and

overlapped aspectual meanings and functions on a discourse level. While kam,lay, is

more limited to its progressive meaning, yuuz is more general in its use, as it is used for

imperfective meaning. Similarly, Visonyanggoon (2000), in her discussion of Thai

aspectuality, considers kam,lay, to be a progressive marker and yuug, an imperfective

marker.

From the summary above, it is clear that the distinction between the aspect

denoted by kam,lar7, and the aspect denoted by yuuz has not been made clear nor

formalized, in any of the earlier studies on Thai grammar.

55

4.1.1.2 Preliminary data for the distinction between kam,lam and yuuz

There are cases which would be hard to explain if we assumed that kam,lar7, and

yuuz denote the same meaning. There are cases in which only kam,lay, would be
appropriate, as illustrated in (29).

(29) a Nam 2 kam,lao, ron,

water kam,lay, hot
“Water is getting hot.”

b #Namz ron, yuuz '0

Water hot yuuz
“Water is getting hot.”

So, for expressing “Water is getting hot,” by which the process is viewed, only kam,lay,

is an appropriate aspectual marker. There are also cases in which only yuuz would be

appropriate, as illustrated in (30).

(30) a Praztuu, peed; yuuz
Door open yuuz
“The door is at the mode of being open”

b #Pra,tuu, kam,laa, peed, ”

Door kam,lay, open
“The door is at the mode of being open.”

So, for conveying “The door is open,” by which the state is viewed as holding, only yuuz

is an appropriate aspectual marker.

 

'0 # stands for the fact that this sentence is not ungrammatical but it does not correspond to the translation.
The correct translation for (29b) would be “The water is at the state of hot.”

” Similar to (29b) # says that the sentence is not ungrammatical but it does not correspond to the
translation. The correct translation for (30b) would be “The door is getting more and more open.”

56

If we assume that kam,lay, and yuuz denote the same meaning, cases where only

kam,lay, is appropriate or cases where only yuuz is appropriate would never be predicted.

As has clearly been demonstrated above, there are such cases, suggesting that there is

distinction between them.

4.1.1.3 Interaction of yuuzl kamflay, with expressions of duration

In investigating the distinction between kam,lay, and yuuz, the behavior of

expressions of duration, in particular, for-adverbials is relevant. An expression of
duration “ for x time” can naturally occur with states and activities, as in (31).
(31) a John was sick for two years.

I) John ran for five minutes.

“For x time,” however, cannot occur with accomplishments or achievements as in
(32a) and (32b), respectively, unless an iterative reading or a habitual reading is forced,
as in (32c) and (32d), respectively.
(32) a *John ate an apple for an hour.

b *John arrived for twenty minutes.

c John played the sonata for about eight hours.

(de Swart 1998, p. 359)
d For months, the train arrived late.

(de Swart 1998, p.359)

57

Similarly, in Thai, an adverb such as “for x time” can naturally occur with states

and activities, as in (33a) and (33b), respectively.

(33)

a

coon, puuayz pen, wee,laa, soa5 pii,
John sick be time two years
“John was sick for two years.”

coon, with pen, wee,laa, haa3 naa,thii,
John run be time five minute
“John ran for five minutes.”

An adverb such as “for x time,” however, cannot occur with accomplishments or

achievements as in (34a) and (34b), respectively, unless an iterative reading or a habitual

reading is forced, as in (34c) and (34d), respectively.

(34)

a

* coon, kin, 7mm4pan 3 nit); p0n5 pen, wee,laa, haa3 naa,thii,
John eat apple one CL be time five minute
“*John ate an apple for five minute.

* coon, maa, thi05 pen, wee ,laa, haa3 naa,thii,
John arrive be time five minute
“*John arrived for five minutes.”

coon, kho4 pra,tuu, pen, wee,laa, haa3 naa,thii,
John knock door be time five minutes
“John knocked the door for five minutes.”

pen, wee ,laa , laay5 diian, thii 3 rot4rooa,riian, maa, thia5 chaa4
be time several month that school bus arrive late
“For several months, the school bus arrived late.”

States, activities, iterative accomplishments and habitual achievements are

considered to be situations which have no culmination point, or homogeneous

situations”. “For x time,” therefore, seems to be an aspectual operator which takes as an

input a homogeneous Situation and outputs something within temporal boundaries.

 

'2 Assuming Verkuyl (1993, p.198), an interval is considered homogeneous if its structure does not deviate
from the structure of its arbitrary chosen subintervals, that is if it has the subinterval property. On the basis

58

Going back to yuuz and kam,lay,, crucially, “for x time” can naturally occur with
yuuz but not with kam,lay, . This is illustrated in (35a) and (35b) respectively.

(35) a coon, suubz bu,rii2 yuu; pen, wee,laa, son; pii,
John smoke cigarette yuuz be time two year
“John smoked for two years.”
b * coon, kam,lan, suubz bu,rii2 pen, wee,laa, s005 pii,

John kamllarj, smoke cigarette be time two year
“John smoked for two years.”

This suggests that (35a) “John smoke cigarette yuuz,” is a homogeneous situation

whereas (3 5b) “John kam,lay, smoke cigarette,” is not. In particular, while yuu; provides

the reading that the event of John smoking a cigarette repeatedly occurs or is habitual,

kam,lay, does not. So it seems that yuu; is an aspectual operator that outputs a

homogeneous situation, whereas kam,lay, is not.'3

 

of this concept, situations like walk in the park are considered homogeneous because Mary walk in the
park, being true at an interval i is also true at any subinterval of 1. On the other hand, situations like walk to
Rome are non-homogeneous because Mary walked to Rome being true at i cannot be true at any proper
interval of i.

'3 I assume that the durational adverbial (for-adverbial) takes scope over kam,lay, and yuu2. (35a) and
(35b), therefore, can be represented as (la) and (lb), respectively.

(i) a VP

VP pen, wee ,laa , sot]; pii,

/\ “for two years”

VP yuu;

suub; bu ,rii;
“smoke”

59

4.1.1.4 Interaction of yuuzlkamflay , with expressions of gradual transition

Facts concerning expressions of gradual transition are also relevant in

investigating the distinction between kam,lay, and yuuz. An expression of gradual

transition like “more and more,” although able to co-occur with a stative predicate (i.e.,
believe), sounds more appropriate if the predicate is in progressive form, as in (36).
(36) a ?Sue believes in God more and more

b Sue is believing in God more and more

(Binnick 1991, p. 282)

 

kamllayr

kam,lay, pen, wee,laa, s00; pii,
“for two years”
kam,lay, VP

suub; bu ,rii;
“smoke”

Note that another possibility for explaining the ungrammaticality of (35b) is that the structure of (35b) is as
in (ii).

(ii)
[CUM/100]
V
VP V
suubz bu,rii2 pen, wee,laa, 5005 pii,
“smoke” “for two years”

Then, the sentence could be considered ungrammatical, if for-adverbial is not an event-predicate but a
universal quantifier over subintervals of measured intervals. (Moltrnann, 1991 ). The predicate suub;

bu ,rii 2 pen, wee ,laa , son, pii, “smoke for two years,” therefore, is not a predicate of events. The aspect
marker, kam,lay,, however, applies to predicates of events. (35b) is therefore, a case of wrong semantic

type to the input of the aspect marker. However, we still would have to say that the for-adverbial is above
yuu2, otherwise the same ungrammaticality would result.

60

The difference seems to be that the non-progressive form indicates a state where
stability is assumed, whereas, the progressive form indicates a process where
development is the focus. While the non-progressive form is relatively incompatible with
“more and more” the progressive form is compatible, suggesting that “more and more,”
rather than stable eventuality or state, requires eventuality in progress or process.

Crucially, while an expression for “more and more” can naturally occur with

kam,lay,, it cannot co-occur with yuuz. This is illustrated in (37).

(37) a * coon, choob3 Mmae,rii3 yuuz mak3 khin3 riiy3 riiy3
John like Mary yuuz more and more
“John is liking Mary more and more.”
b coon, kam,lar7, choob 3 Mmm1rii 3 mak3 khin; riiy3 riiy3

John kam,lay, like Mary more and more
“John is liking Mary more and more.”

This demonstrates that while yuuz describes “John likes Mary” as a state where liking

stays unchanged, kam,lay, describes “John likes Mary” as a process where “liking”
develops. In other words, yuuz outputs a state where there is no transition, while

kam,lay, outputs a process where there is a possibility of incremental changes and,

therefore, gradual transition.

4.1.1.5 The interactions of yuuzlkamflay , with achievement verbs

Distinctions between kam,lay, and yuuz can be also found when examining their

selection restrictions. Assuming Vendler’s (1967) analysis, as we have seen, verbs can be

classified into four categories: activity verbs, (i.e., run, sleep, etc.), state verbs (i.e., like,

61

know, etc.), accomplishment verbs (i.e., eat an apple, build a house, etc.), and
achievement verbs (i.e., win the marathon, reach the summit, etc.). Basically,
accomplishments and achievements have culmination points while activities and states
lack culmination points.

Rothestein (2000) suggests that an achievement differs from an accomplishment
in the sense that, while an accomplishment is an event which leads up to a change of
state, an achievement is a change of state without a preliminary event. Rothstein’s
proposal is based on Dowty’s (1979) proposal as he represents accomplishments and
achievements as (38a) and (3 8b), respectively. (1]) stands for the meaning of the VP plus
variable subject.)

(3 8) a Accomplishments: [DO (11)) [CAUSE [BECOME (Ill)]]]

b Achievements: BECOME (III)

In accomplishments, there are submeaning components DO, CAUSE and BECOME, but
in achievements there is only BECOME. As BECOME is basically a transition, only a

transition is described by achievement verbs.

What is crucial is that while kam,lay, can co-occur with both accomplishment
verbs and achievement verbs, yuuz can co-occur only with accomplishment verbs, as
illustrated in (39) and (40), respectively.

(3 9) a coon, kam,lay, saa03 baan 3

John kamllarj, build house
“John is building a house.”

b 800"] kam,lay, m00flhf05

John kamllarj, arrive
“John is arriving.”

62

(40) a coon, soon 3 baan 3 yuuz
John build house yuuz
“John is building a house.”
b * coon, maa,thi05 yuuz
John arrive yuuz
“John is arriving.”

Consistently, this suggests that kam,lay, is compatible with transition, but yuuz is not.

4.1.1.6 The interaction of yuuzlkamflay , with eventive/stative verbs

Finally, the distinction between kam,lay, and yuuz is also exhibited when
occuning with a predicate which may refer to both an event and a state such as say;
taaazhuu5 “put on earrings.” The predicate say; taut]; huu; yuuz “put on earrings” may
refer to both an action of putting earrings on earlobes as well as a state of having earrings
on earlobes.

When say, taaljzhuu5 yuuf‘put on earrings” occurs with yuuz and with kam,lar7,,
different restrictions can be found. When it occurs with yuuz, both the readings of being

in the state of putting earrings on earlobes and the state of having eanings on earlobes,

are possible, although the latter is a preferred reading. However, when it occurs with

kam,lay,, only the reading of an action of putting earrings on earlobes is possible. This is

illustrated in (41).

(41) a Mmm,rii 3 say; taanzhuu5 yuuz
Mary wear earrings yuuz
i) “Mary is putting earrings on her earlobes.”
ii) “Mary has earrings on her earlobes.”

63

b Mmm ,rii 3 kam,lay, say; taanzhuu5

Mary kam,lay, wear eanings
i) “Mary is putting earrings on her earlobes.”
*ii) “Mary has earrings on her earlobes.”

As the reading of result state is available with yuuz but not with kam 1100!, this confirms
that yuuz describes an eventuality as a state, while kam,lay, describes an eventualtiy as a

process.

4.1.1.7 Generalization for the distinction between kamflay, and yuuz

It is apparent that yuuz and kam,lay, convey different viewpoints that the speaker
has on an eventuality or that yuuz and kam,lay, denote different aspects. The interactions

of yuuz/ kam,lay, with duration adverbs “for 2 years,” gradual transition adverb “more
and more,” achievement verbs and eventive/stative predicates like “wear earrings,” reveal
that while, kam,lay, describes an eventuality as a process, yuuz describes an eventuality
as a state

At this point, the aspects denoted by kam,lar7,, and by yuuz, can, therefore, be

schematically represented as in (42) and (43) respectively.

 

 

process
(42)
)1 71+] x+l+1 x+l+1+1
state
(43)
x x x x x

64

In (42) and (43), the line stands for the flow of time with time progressing from left to
right and x stands for eventuality. While in (42), xs differ in degree, in (43), xs are all
identical. In other words, while in (42) all scanned phases are not the same, in (43) all

scanned phases are equivalent, hence describing a state. "

4.1.1.8 Accounting for the distribution of kam,lam and yuuz

Assuming the proposed distinction between yuuz and kamrlam, the puzzles in (29)

and (30), repeated here as (44) and (45), can now be accounted for.

(44) a Non, kamflag, ron,

water karmlarj, hot
“Water is getting hot.”

b # Nam, ron, yuuz
Water hot yuuz
“Water is getting hot.”

(45) a Pra,tuu,paad2yuu2
Door open yuuz
“The door is open”

b # Pra,tuu, kamflam p330)

Door kamllarj, open
“The door is open.”

 

'4 It is worth noting that the distinction between yuu; and kam,lay, is not peculiar to just verbal aspect as it
is not totally different from distinction in nominal domain. To illustrate, in the nominal domain, “salt” and
“furniture”, for example, although both are considered to be homogeneous nouns, they seem to differ in
that while each grain of salt is identical, each piece of fumiture is not necessarily identical. Similarly, in
the verbal domain, although both the state denoted by yuu; and the process denoted by kam,lay, are
considered to be a homogeneous eventuality, they differ in that each interval of a state has to be identical,
while each interval of a process is not identical.

65

For “Water is getting hot,” the speaker’s vieWpoint is on the process, in particular,

the gradual change from water not being hot to water being hot. As kam,lay, denotes

process in which changes in degree occur, kam,lay, is to be used in this case. And as the

speaker’s viewpoint is not on the state where the degree of the water being hot remain
stable, yuuz which denotes state in which no changes occur, cannot be used.

On the other hand, for “The door is open,” the speaker’s viewpoint is on the result
state after the change from the door not being open to the door being open has occurred.

Therefore, yuuz, expressing state, is to be used in this case. And as the speaker’s point of

view is not on the change from the door not being open to the door being open, kam,lay,,

denoting process, cannot be used.

As predicted, if the opposite were to be described, the appropriate use of yuuz and

kam,lay, would be the opposite. That is, if the Speaker were to describe that the water

remained hot, yuuz would be an appropriate aspectual maker. And if the speaker were to

describe the door being more and more open, kam,lay, would be an appropriate aspectual

marker.

4.1.1.9 Is the progressive in English more like kamflam or yuuz?

Deciding whether the progressive in English is more like kam,lay, or yuuz

amounts to determining whether it expresses a process or a state. Descles and

Guentcheva’s (1993) proposal on the notion of process is relevant here.

66

Descles and Guentcheva draw distinctions among three aspectual meanings:
“descriptive state” (or simple state), process in progress and state of activity. The
description is that a “descriptive state,” such as John is happy, denotes an intrinsically
stative situation; there is no underlying process. For a state of activity like The army is
on the move; however, there is an underlying process, although the speaker does not
encode the dynamic character of the situation. And, when the aspectual meaning is a
process in progress, as in The army is moving on, the speaker encodes the dynamic
character of the denoted situation.

Descles and Guentcheva, then, propose that a process in progress is a non-static
notion. The progressive forms never express simple states. Some occurrences of the
progressives may be considered states of activity; however, most of the progressive
occurrences are instances of processes in progress.

Assuming Descles and Guentcheva’s analysis, it seems that the progressive in
English requires that there is an underlying process, although the output is stative. More
precisely, the progressive in English, describes either a state inside the process, or a
transition between the initial situation S before the process and the inside of the process,
as in He is going to Paris, for example.'5

As the progressive in English must be associated with a process, it seems to be
more like kam,lay, rather than yuuz. This, however, is not unexpected as we have seen
that the distribution of the progressive in English is similar to kam,lay, but different from

yuuz in several respects. First, the progressive in English does not co-occur with the

duration adverbs (i.e.,for—adverb). Second, the progressive in English co-occurs with

 

'5 Cases like He is staying here in Mary 's house, and He is loving it here seem to be problematic for
Descles and Guentcheva’s (1993) proposal for the progressive in English.

67

adverbs of gradual transition (i.e., more and more). And third, the progressive in English
may apply to achievements (assuming Rothstein 2000).

Therefore, adopting Descles and Guentcheva’s (1993) analysis as a basis, the

progressive in English seems to be more like kam,lay, than yuuz.

4.1.2 Investigating the copular use of yuuz

Having investigated the aspectual use of yuuz, I will now investigate its copular
use in this section. It should be noted that the progressive marker appears at the right
edge of the VP while the copula verb yuuz appears in the normal verbal position, after the
subject.

I will argue that yuuz, when it is used as a copular verb (i.e. taking a PP
complement), rather than denoting a locative marker as it has been claimed in the earlier
studies, just describes a state in the same way that it does when it behaves as an aspectual
marker.

Remember that it has been claimed that yuuz, is a locative element.
Uppakitsinlapasarn (1964) claimed that yuuz is a verb for “be located.” Thepkanjana
(1986) claimed that yuuz may behave like a coverb (i.e., a preposition which has a
synchronic corresponding verb which is homophonous with and semantically closely
related to it (p.59)).

However, consider (46). Yuuz takes a locative PP as its complement. Without a

preposition the sentence is ungrammatical.

68

(46) a Na05sii5yuu2 bon, to,

book yuuz on table
“The book is on the table.”

b *Na05sii5 yuuz to,

book yuuz table
“The book on the table”

As a preposition is required, it is relevant to take a look at the role of prepositions.
Maienbom (1998) proposes that locative prepositions denote a two-place relation LOC
between a located entity and a landmark or relatum y stating that x is located in a
neighborhood region of y. Each locative preposition differs in terms of determining a
particular neighborhood region y. For instance, the locative preposition in picks out the
inner region of y, while the locative preposition at picks out the external region of y.

According to Maienbom, the lexical entry for a locative preposition follows the
general schema given in (47) with f p standing for a function from objects to spatial
region.

(47) Locative Preposition P: Ay Ax [LOC (x, f p (y))] (with x,y of type c)

(ID-2)

For instance, the spatial function IN maps objects onto their inner regions, and the

spatial function EXT maps objects onto their external region, etc., as represented in (48a)

and (48b), respectively.

(48) a in Ay 2.; [LOC (x, IN (y))]
b at Ay Ax [LOC (x, EXT (y))]
(112)

Assuming the property of being located in a certain spatial region is denoted by a

locative PP, the role of yuuz in sentences such as (46a), therefore, is not locating an entity

69

in a certain spatial region. It is possible, then, to hypothesize that the role of yuug in
sentences such as (46a), is nothing more than stating that a state holds.

The role of yuuz when taking a locative PP is, therefore, no different from its role
when being interpreted as a progressive marker, except that as we will see it behaves as a

main verb.

4.1.3 Examining the state described by yuuz

Having investigated the distinction between kam,lay, and yuuz, it is clear that yuuz

describes a state, not a process. Having investigated yuuz when it behaves like a copular
verb (i.e., taking a complement), the role of yuuz also seems to be describing a state. In
this section, I will examine the state described based on the interaction of yuu 2 with stage-
level and individual-level predicates and the interaction of yuu 2 with PPS for permanent

and non-permanent location.

4.1.3.1 yuuz with stage-level and individual-level predicates

Carlson (1977) distinguishes two types of predicates: stage-level predicates and
individual-level predicates. Stage-level predicates refer to temporal states such as “being
depressed” and “sitting on the floor.” Individual-level predicate refer to permanent
states, such as “being American” and “having brown eyes.”

There are some restrictions concerning the co-occurrence of yuuz with stage-level

predicates and with individual-level predicates. This can be illustrated by the following.

70

(49)

m

coon, puuayz

John sick
“John is sick.”

I) 803’!) kl’OOdz Mmm,rii3
John angry Mary
“John is angry at Mary.”

(50)

DD

coon, pen, 7a,me,ri,kan,
John be American
“John is an American.”

b Mmm,rii 3 mii, taa, sii5 nam, tan,
Mary have eyes color brown
“Mary has brown eyes.”
The predicates in (49) are considered to be stage-level predicates and the predicates in
(50) are considered to be individual—level predicates.

Yuuz can co-occur with stage-level predicates and as such it describes that a state

holds at a particular interval of time, as illustrated in (51).

(51) a coon, puuayz yuuz
John sick yuuz
“John is sick. Before he was not sick and/or later he will not be sick.”

b coon, kroodz Mmm,rii 3 yuu,
John angry Mary yuuz
“John is angry at Mary. Before he was not angry at her and/or later will
not be angry at her.”
As yuuz describes that, at a particular interval of time, the states (i.e., John being sick and
John being angry at Mary) hold, an implication of temporariness becomes available. In
(51a), with yuuz, there is an implication that sometime before John was not sick and/or

later he will not be sick. In (51b), with yuuz, there is an implication that before John was

not angry at Mary and/or later he will not be angry at Mary.

71

Similarly, when individual-level predicates occur with yuuz, [predicate + yuuz]

also describes that a state holds at an interval of time. This is illustrated in (52).

(52) a Mmm,rii3 pen, 7a,me,ri,kan,yuu2
Mary be American yuuz

i) “Mary is American. Later, this situation may be different (i.e., She
probably will marry a Thai man and becomes Thai)”

ii) “Mary is American. Before, this situation might have been different.

(i.e., She might have been born Thai but she married an American man
and became American. )”

b Mmm,rii3 mii, taa, sii5 nam, tan, yuuz
Mary have eyes color brown yuuz

i) “Mary has brown eyes. Later, this situation may be different (i.e., She

will probably be wearing blue contact lenses and then she will have blue

eyes)”

ii) “Mary has brown eyes. Before, this situation might have been

different. (i.e., She might have been born with blue eyes but she is

wearing brown contact lenses so her eyes are brown.)
As yuuz describes that, at an interval of time, the state (i.e., Mary being American and
Mary having brown eyes) holds, an implication of non-inherent or non-pennanent states
becomes available. In (52a), the implication is either that later Mary will not be American
or that before Mary was not American, as in the first and the second readings,
respectively. In (52b), the implication is either that later Mary will not have brown eyes
or that before Mary didn’t have brown eyes, as in the first and the second readings,
respectively.

It is important to make clear that the interpretation of temporariness (i.e., non-

inherent/non-permanent states) is not in the assertion of yuuz. More precisely, yuuz

72

asserts that property x holds at time t, and it is silent about whether the state x holds at

other times. This is supported by the following.

(53) a M$$1rii3 pen, 7a,me,ri,kan, yuuz
Mary be American yuuz

“Mary is American. Before, this situation might have been different. (i.e.,

She might have been born Thai but she married an American man and
became American. )”

b Mmm,rii3 pen, Pa,me,ri,kan, yuuz kwaamu'it], thee, pen, 7a,me,ri,kan,
Mary be American yuuz in fact she be American

ta03tmmz keed,
since born

“Mary is American. In fact, she has been American ever since she was
born.”

In (53a), the interpretation received is that before Mary was not American. However, in
(53b) when kwaamu'ilj, thee, pen, Pa,me,ri,kan, tazlootz “In fact She is American since
she was born,” is added, no contradiction arises. As no contradiction arises, yuuz, in

asserting that the state of Mary being American holds at this period of time, asserts

nothing about Mary’s. nationality at the other periods of time.‘6

 

'6 Two related points arise here: i) the temporariness (i.e., that the state of affairs at other times is different
from the state of affairs at the asserted time) conveyed is more like a case conversational implicature, not a
conventional irnplicature (or presupposition), and ii) the temporariness is in the implication is consistent
with Grice’s Cooperative Principles. (1967)

First, with respect to implicatures, while conversational implicatures can be cancelled without contradiction
conventional implicatures cannot. (Green 1996). This can be illustrated in the example below.

(i) a Some of my friends like fudge.
b Some of my friends like fudge. In fact all of my friends like fudge.
(ii) a He is an English man; he is therefore brave.
b He is an English man; he is therefore brave. But English men are not brave.

In (ia), the irnplicature is that ‘Some of my friends don’t like fudge,’ and in (iia) the irnplicature is that
‘English men are brave.’ As there is no contradiction in (ib), the irnplicature is cancelable, hence,
conversational irnplicature. And as there is contradiction in (lib), the irnplicature is not cancelable, hence, a
conventional irnplicature. For the case of yuuz, as seen in (53b), the temporariness can be cancelled out

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It then can be assumed that yuuz asserts that property x holds at time t and it is silent

about whether the state x holds at other times.

4.1.3.2 yuuz with for-adverbials

Supporting the hypothesis that yuuz asserts that property x holds at time t and that

it is silent about whether the state x holds at other times, can be supported by the behavior

of yuuz when co-occurring with for x time adverbials. This can be illustrated by the

following.
(54) a coon, suubz bu,rii2 yuuz pen, wee,laa,soa5 pii,
John smoke cigarette yuuz be time two year
“John smoked for two years.”
b coon, suubz bu,rii2 yuuz pen, wee,laa, $005 pii, kwaamu'ia toon, nii,

John smoke cigarette yuuz be time two year in fact nowadays

kh0W5 koo3 suubz
he also smokes

“John smoked for two years. In fact, nowadays he still smokes”

In (54a), the implication is that before and after the two-year period, John did not / will

not smoke. However, as seen in (54b), when kwaamu'ia toon, nii, koo3 suubz “In fact

nowadays he still smokes” is added, no contradiction arises. This, therefore, supports

 

without a contradiction, so the temporariness is a conversational implicature, not a conventional
irnplicature.

Second, consistent with Grice’s Cooperative Principles (1967), when the speaker chooses to predicate x of
an interval, other than the other intervals, the speaker does not think that the other intervals are x intervals,

although the speaker has not asserted that the other intervals are ~x intervals. For this reason, that the
property x holds at the asserted interval, not at the other intervals, is in the implication.

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that yuu, asserts that property x holds at time t and it is silent about whether the state x

holds at other times.

4.1.3.3 yuuz with stative verbs

Again, evidence that yuu, asserts that the property x holds at time t without
asserting anything about property x at other times, is a case where yuuz co-occurs with a

stative verb, illustrated by the following.
(55) a 7aa,kaat2 ron4 yuuz
Weather hot yuuz
“The weather is hot. Before or later this situation was/will be different.”
b Paa,kaat2 ron4 yuuz kwaamu’ia, knoonz nii, koo3 ron,
Weather hot yuuz in fact before this also hot
“The weather is hot. In fact, before it was also hot.”
0 7aa,kaat2 ron, yuuz 1mm, laaag'aakz nii, koo3 khot], ron4

Weather hot yuuz and after this also probably hot
“The weather is hot and later it will probably be hot.”

In (55a), the interpretation received is that at the prior and following periods of time, and

the weather was not /will not be hot. However, in (55b) when kwaamu’in, knoonz nii,

koo3 ron, “in fact before this period of time it is also hot” is added, no contradiction

arises. Similarly, in (55c), when 1mm, laaag'aakz nit, koo3 khon, ron, “and probably

after this period of time it is also hot” is added, there is also no contradiction.
As there is no contradiction in (55b) and (55c), yuuz, in asserting that the weather
is hot at this period of time, asserts nothing about the weather condition at the other

period of time. This confirms that the property x holds at time t, and it is silent about

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whether the state x holds at other times. So, the state x might hold or might not hold at

other times.

4.1.3.4 yuuz with locative PP

If we assume that yuuz asserts that the property x holds at time t, and it is silent
about whether the state x holds at other times, facts concerning the compatatibility of
yuu, with PP for permanent/non—permanent location can also be accounted for.

Y uu 2 is compatible with both a PP denoting permanent location and a PP denoting

non-permanent location, as illustrated in (56a) and (56b), respectively.

(56) a coon, yuu, nay, hot73sa2mud2
John yuuz in library
“John is in the library.”
b Praztheet3 7i,taa,lii3 yuu, nay, yu3roop2

country Italy yuuz in Europe
“Italy is in Europe.”

In (56a), yuu, asserts that the state of John being in the library holds at an interval of time
t and it is silent about whether or not at other intervals of time, the state of John being in
the library holds. Similarly in (56b), yuu, asserts that the state of Italy being in Europe
holds at an interval of time t, and it is silent about whether or not at other intervals of time
the state of Italy being in Europe holds.

So, under the assumption that yuuz asserts that the property x holds at time t, and
it is silent about whether the property x holds at other times, it is not unexpected that yuuz
is compatible with both locative PP denoting permanent location and non-permanent

location; it is, actually, predicted.

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4.1.3.5 Summary

By investigating the roles of yuu 2, it seems that yuuz describes an eventuality as a
state holding at time t, more formally represented as (57) where e stands for eventuality
and t for time.

(57) < e, t > = state

And by describing that the property x holds at time t, yuuz describes nothing about
that property at other times. The property at other times could either be the same as or
different from the property at time t. In other words, yuu, excludes everything that is not
in the interval of the state asserted.

Consequently, yuuz can co-occur with both a stage-level predicate and an
individual-level predicate. In both cases, as yuuz describes that property x holds at time t,
the implication is that the property x does not hold at other times, hence the interpretation
of temporariness.

Moreover, by describing that the property x holds at time t without describing the
property at other times, yuuz can co-occur with both a PP for non-permanent location and

a PP for permanent location.

4.1.4 The unified meaning of yuuz

It is clear that it is the role of describing that a state x holds at time t that unifies

the multiple roles of yuuz. By describing that state x holds at time t, yuu, does not

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describe that at other times, the state is ~x. Y uu 2 asserts nothing about the state at other
times. The state at other times could be x or ~x .

That yuuz says nothing about the state of affairs at other times, (although the
interpretation that the state of affairs at other times is different from the asserted time is
available), or that yuuz excludes anything that is not in the asserted time, seems to
suggests that something like the Exclusion Feature proposed by Iatridou (2000) is part of
the semantics of yuuz.

Iatridou (2000), proposes the Exclusion Feature to account for counterfactuality.

For example, sentences like (58) are considered to be counterfactual constructions.

(58) a I wish I had a car.
b If he were smart, he would be rich.
(p.231-232)

What is conveyed in sentences (58a) and (58b) is (59a) and (59b) respectively.

(59) a “I don’t have a car now.”
b “He is not smart” and “he is not rich.”
(p.231—232)

Iatridou, in assuming Anderson (1951), Stalnaker (1975), Karttunen and Peter
(1979), and Palmer (1986), argues that the conterfactuality of conditionals is
conversationally implicated and not asserted, nor presupposed. Two types of arguments
are taken to support this position.

First, counterfactuality can be cancelled without producing a contradiction. This

is illustrated in (60).

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(60) If the patient had the measles, he would have exactly the symptoms he has now.
We conclude, therefore, that the patient has the measles.
(p.232)
The second argument for the conterfactuality of conditionals not being in an assertion, is
that the falsity of p can be asserted without producing redundancy. This can be illustrated
by (61).
(61) If the butler had done it, we would have found blood on the kitchen knife. The
knife was clean; therefore, the butler did not do it.
(p.232)
Iatridou, then, sides with the view that counterfactuality of conditionals is a
conversational implicature and She investigates how the meaning of counterfactuality is
derived as an implicature.
In investigating how the meaning of counterfactuality is derived as an implicature,
data from Modern Greek is relevant. According to her neither (62) nor (63), are
counterfactuals (CF), as they both can be used as imperatives (i.e., instructions to a

patient’s caretaker)”.

(62) An pari afto to siropi Ha Y,ini kala
if take/NPST/PRF this syrup FUT become/NPST/PRF well
“If he takes this syrup, he will get better.”

 

'7 The following abbreviations are used:
FUT for future
NPST for non-past tense
PRF for perfective
PST for past-tense
IMP for imperfective

79

(63) An eperne afio to siropi 0a Y,inotan kala

if take/PST/IMP this syrup FUT become/PST/IMP well

“If he took this syrup, he would get better.”

(p.234)
The difference between (62) and (63) is that (62) is considered to be future neutral valid
(FNV) and (63) is considered to be future less valid (FLV). Assuming that both (62) and

(63) can be schematically represented as if p, q, FLV has an implicature that the actual
world is more likely to become a ~p world than p world, while FNV does not have such

an implicature.

As (63) can be used as an instruction as well as (62), the occurrence of the past
tense morpheme in (63) does not receive a temporal past interpretation. Iatridou then,
discusses that when a morpheme does not appear to be receiving its expected
interpretation, one of the approaches is that it always has the same meaning, but the
domain it operates on varies according to the environment.

Subsequently, she proposes that what we call the “past tense morpheme” denotes
Exclusion Feature (Exch) of the form (64).

(64) T(x) excludes C(x).

(p. 246)

T(x) stands for “Topic (x)” (i.e., “the x that we are talking about”). C (x) stands for “the x
that for all we know is the x of the speaker.”

To illustrate, in the conversation that follows, the condition of Exch is observed.
(65) A: What do you think about Peter and Ian?

B: Well, I like Ian.

(p. 247)

80

B’s response excludes his/her feelings about Peter. Although it can have the implicature
that B does not like Peter, B has asserted no dislike for Peter. A contradiction, therefore,
does not arise, if adding that he/she likes Peter too, or does not know how he/she feels
about Peter.

According to Iatridou, the domains over which Exch operates includes times and
worlds, or the Exch may range over times or worlds.

When it ranges over times, it says that the topic time excludes the utterance

time.18 The discourse in (66) can, therefore, be explained by the following.

(66) a John was in the classroom.
b In fact, he still is.
(p. 248)

By (66a), the speaker asserts that, at the topic time, John was in the class room, but the
speaker asserts nothing about where John is at the utterance time, although the
implicature is that John is not in the classroom at the utterance time. Since John’s not
being in the classroom at the utterance time is implicated, not asserted, canceling it by
adding (66b) does not cause contradiction.

As well as over times, the Exch may range over worlds. When it ranges over
worlds, it says that the topic world excludes the actual world. The case of F LV as in

(63), repeated here as (67), therefore, can be explained by the following.

 

'8 Iatridou assumes Klein’s (1994) proposal of situation (or event) time, topic time, and utterance time. The
basic idea is that tenses express relation between the topic time and the utterance time, not between the
utterance time and the situation (or event) time (the interval through which the predicate holds). The past
tense expresses a temporal relation of precedence between the topic time and the utterance time.

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(67) An eperne afto to siropi 0a Y,inotan kala

if take/PST/IMP this syrup FUT become/PST/IMP well
“If he took this syrup, he would get better.”

(p.234)
By (67), the speaker chooses to predicate p of worlds other than the actual one, because

he or she does not think that the actual world is a p world. But the speaker has not

asserted that the actual world is ~p. That the actual world is ~p world is implicated, not
asserted. So, that the actual world is ~p is predicted to be cancelable. That is, the actual

world may be a p world as well as a ~p world.

Finally, the case of counterfactuality in (58), repeated here as (68), can be
accounted for by the following.
(68) a I wish I had a car.

b If he were smart, he would be rich.

(p.231-232)

Cases of (68a) and (68b) are considered to be instances where Exch ranges over worlds.
That is, as the speaker predicates p of worlds other than the actual one, the speaker does
not think that the actual world is a p world; however, the speaker has not asserted that the
actual world is ~p. So, the information made available by (68a) and (68b) is, “I don’t
have a car now,” and, “He is not smart,” and “he is not rich,” respectively; however, it is
implicated, not asserted.

Going back to the case of yuu 2, it is plausible that the Exclusion Feature may be
something more general in natural language, and it could be that the interval of time

asserted excludes other intervals of time. Then, the exclusion for yuuz is as in (69).

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(69) T (t): the time interval we are talking about (topic time)
C (t): the time that for all we know is the time of the event (event time)
Plugging these values into the schema in (69), results in:
(70) The asserted time interval excludes other time intervals.
However, it has been shown that yuuz describes an eventuality as a state holding at time t,
as in (71), where e stands for eventuality and t for time.
(71) < e, t > = state
What yuuz denotes, therefore, is that the state holds at the topic time. How long or short

the topic time is will depend on other adverbial elements and on the context.

4.1.5 Summary for the semantics of yuuz

To summarize, first, we have seen that there are differences between yuuz and

English be —ing. In various respects, distribution and interpretation of English be —ing

more similar to another progressive in Thai, kam,la[)1, than to yuuz.

Second, we have seen that the main properties of yuu 2 involve a state and an
exclusion feature. More precisely, yuu, denotes a state and it has an exclusion feature
which marks that the topic time excludes all other times.

Third, we have seen that the net effect of these properties allows us to explain
facts concerning the distribution and interpretation of yuu2. The fact that yuuz can
generally be used as a copular verb for locative construction can be explained. That is, as

yuuz asserts that the property x holds at time t, yuu, asserts nothing about that property at

83

other times; yuuz is compatible with both a PP for non-permanent location and a PP for
permanent location.

Also, the fact that when modifying an event, the implication of yuuz is that the
state in a previous or subsequent time is different, can be explained. That is, as the
speaker chooses to predicate x of an interval other than other intervals, the speaker does
not think that other intervals are x intervals, although the speaker has not asserted that the
other intervals are ~x intervals.

In conclusion, it is clear that there is a unified meaning of yuuz. In the following
section, it will be demonstrated that, as well as a unified core meaning of yuuz, there is a
unified syntax of yuuz. I would like to argue that the different uses (i.e. progressive and
locative) of the copular can be predicted from the syntax context in which it occurs,

without the need to create lexical entries.

4.2 Syntax of yuuz

In this section, I investigate the syntax of yuuz. First, an examination of yuuz as a
locative copular, and yuuz, which expresses the progressive will be presented. Then,
based on Pustej ovsky’s (1995) notion of subeventual structure and event headedness, I
argue that there is a partially unified syntax of yuu 2 that can predict its different

interpretations.

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4.2.1 YUU2 when taking a locative PP as its complement

4.2.1.1 Argument for yuuz as a verb

The first task will be determining into which syntactic category, (i.e., verb,
preposition, etc.) yuuz fits. Remember that yuu, has been categorized in various ways.
For example, Uppakitsinlapasan (1964) suggests that yuuz is a main verb as well as an
auxiliary. Thepkanjana (1986) analyzes yuuz as a main verb, an aspectual verb (i.e.“ a
lexical verb which when serialized, gives aspectual value to the action denoted by the
main verbs” (p. 131)), and a coverb (i.e., “a preposition which has a synchronic
corresponding verb which is homophonous with and semantically closely related to it,”
(p.191)). Meepoe (1996) considers yuuz to be a locative verb as well as an aspectual
marker.

I will argue that yuuz is a verbal element. First, consider (72).

(72) a Naa5sii5 bon, to,
book on table
“The book on the table”
b Na05sii5 yuuz bon, to,

book yuuz on table
“The book is on the table.”

In (72), when a noun phrase is followed by a locative PP, it is still a noun phrase,
however, when a noun phrase is followed by yuuz and then a locative PP, a sentence is
formed. Subsequently, (73a) is grammatical, as a noun phrase is at the subject position of

the sentence. However, (73b) is not.

85

(73) a Nan 5.9!? 5 bon, to, naa3son5cay,
Book on table interesting
“The book on the table is interesting.”

b * Nat] 5sii 5 yuuz bon, to, naa3son5cay,
Book yuuz on table interesting
“The book which is on the table is interesting.”

When thii 3 “that,” which is considered to be a complementizer is inserted, (73b) becomes

grammatical, however (73a) is not, as illustrated in (74).

(74) a *Naa5sii5 thii3 bon, to, naa3son5cay,
Book that on table interesting
“The book on the table is interesting.”

b Na05sii5 thii3 yuu; bon, to4 naa3son5cay,
Book that yuuz on table interesting
“The book which is on the table is interesting.”

This shows that yuuz is a verb. Moreover, I argue that yuu, is subcategorized as a

transitive verb and selects for a locative PP as its complement. Consider (75)

(75) a * Na05sii5 yuuz
book yuuz
“book is”

b Na05sii5 yuu; ban, to,
book yuuz on table
“The book is on the table.”
In (75a), yuuz occurs without a complement (i.e., PP) and the sentence is ungrammatical.

In (75b), the PP is present and the sentence is grammatical. This clearly suggests that

yuuz is a verbal element that takes a locative PP as its complement.19

 

'9 An explanation for why yuu, takes only a locative PP as its complement might have to do with the fact
that adjectives are verbal and there is a copular verb for nominals. Yuuz selects for a subevent that is
stative.

86

4.2.1.2 Serial verb construction as bivalent VPs

In order to investigate the syntax of yuuz, facts concerning serial verb
constructions seem relevant here. I will provide basic facts about serial verb constructions
in Thai and then summarize Dechaine’s (1993) proposal for the structures of serial verb
construction.

Thai is considered to be one of the serializing languages. In particular, Thai has
monoclausal constructions which consist of a sequence of concatenated verbs, without
any marking of dependency relations. In the literature, these constructions are referred to
as “Serial Verb Constructions” (c.f. Bendix, 1972; Boadi, 1968; and Sebba, 1987). This

can be illustrated in (76).

(76) a coon, sir} wmmn5 hay3 maem,rii 3

John buy ring give Mary

“John bought Mary a ring.”

b coon, chuuay3 mmm ,rii 3 sir} rot4

John help Mary buy car

“John helped Mary to buy a car.” 20
In each of the sentences in (76), the two VPs share the same subject (i.e., John), so each
sentence is considered to be monoclausal. Also, in each of the sentences, the two

sequential verbs are not marked in a dependency relation. So, they are considered to be

sentences of serial verb constructions.

 

2° It is worth noting here that although in English John helped Mary buy a car is not considered to be a
serial verb construction, the string help someone buy something is considered to be a serial verb
construction. (Dechaine I993, Thepkanjana 1986, Wilawan 1993, Muansuwan 2002)

87

Dechaine (1993) similarly defines a serial verb construction as a succession of
verbs and their complements (if any) in a single clause with one subject and one tense or
aspect value.

Assuming Awoyale’s analysis (1987, 1988), Dechaine argues that serial
constructions are adjoined verb-projections, differing in whether the first or the second
verb is the “core” (or head) verb of the whole.

Notating Awoyale’s V’as VP, Yoruba sentences such as (77) have the structure in
(79), and sentences such as (78) have the structure in (80).

(77) a Jimo o ra ewu bun mi
J imo Agr buy garment present lsg
“J imo bought me (a) garment.”

b Jimo 0 ran mi ni obi
Jimo Agr send lsg have kola
“J imo sent me for kolanuts.”

c Jimo o mu apoti fun mi
Jimo Agr take box give lsg
“J imo gave me (a) box.”

d Jimo o mu apoti de ile
J imo Agr take box arrive home
“J irno brought home (a) box.”

(p.802)
(78) Jimo 0 ba mi ra moto
J imo Agr help lsg buy vehicle
“J imo helped me buy a car.”

9)

b Jimo 0 fi omo re ran ise
J imo Agr use son 3ngen send job
“J imo sent a message via his son.”

c Won fi suuru yanju oro naa

3pl use patience sort word Def
“They patiently sort out the affair.”

88

d Jimoo ba mi de ile

Jimo Agr accompany lsg arrive house
“J imo came home along with me.”

(p.803)
(79) VP,
/\
VP, VP2
/\ /\
VI NP V2 NP
head
(p.803)
(80) VP2
/’——\
VP, VP2
/\ /\
V, NP V2 NP
head
(p.803)

In (79) and (80), each verb bears a lexical index, but only one index percolates to
the higher VP. In (79), V, is the head, the whole projection (VP,) bears the index of V,,
and VP2 is adjoined. In (80), V2 is the head, the whole projection (VP2) bears the index
of V2 and VP, is adjoined. As (79) is the structure for sentences in (77), in the sentences
in (77), VPl is considered to be the core VP. And since (80) is the structure for sentences

in (78), in the sentences in (78), VP2 is considered to be the core VP.

89

The bivalent VP structure allows a given serial string to be structurally
ambiguous: headed by either V, or V2. Awoyale cites examples where the same surface
string is associated with two distinct interpretations.

(81) a Jimo o je isu tan
J imo Agr eat yam be.finished
i) “Jimo ate up all the yarn.”
ii) “Jimo finished eating the yarn.”

b Jimo o sare 10

J imo Agr ran go

i) “J imo ran away”

ii) “Jimo went in a hurry.”
c Jimo 0 we lo

J imo Agr bath/swim go

i) “Jimo swam away.”
ii) “J imo bathed before going.”

(p.803)

For sentence (81), for example, tan “be.finished” can either be construed with isu
“yarn,” or with Jimo. Within his analysis, if tan “be.finished” is construed with isu
“yam,” V1 is considered to be the core VP and V2 the right-adjunct. And if tan
“be.finished” is construed with Jimo, V2 is considered to be the VP and V1 the left-

adjunct. This can be illustrated in (82a) and (82b) respectively.

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(82) a IP

/\
NP I
Jimo /\
Infl VP]
0 /\
VPl VP2
/\ tan
V1 NP1 “finish”
Je isu
“eat” “yam”
=Jimo ate up all the yarn.
(p.804)
b IP
/\
NP I
Jimo /\
Infl VP2
O /\
VPl VP2
/\ tan
V1 NP1 “finish”
Je isu
“eat” “yam”
= J imo finished eating the yarn.
(p.804)

4.2.1.3 Thai serial verb constructions and the structure of bivalent VPs

As seen in (76), a succession of verbs and their complements (if any) in a single

clause with one subject is also found in Thai. (76) is repeated here as (83).

91

(83) a 80011] Sff4 W$$n5 hay3 mmm,rii3
John buy ring give Mary
“John bought Mary a ring.”

b coon, chuuay3 mmm,rii 3 sii, rot4
John help Mary buy car

“John helped Mary to buy a car.”
According to Awoyale and Dechaine, serial strings like buy something give
someone are cases where V1 is the head, and serial strings like help someone buy
something are cases where V2 is the head. So sentences such as (83a) can be represented

as (84a) where V1 is the head, and sentences such as (83b) can be represented as (84b)

where V2 is the head.
(84) a IP
/\
NP I
coon, /\
“John” Infl )K
K VP2
v1 NP1 A
S”; wmmn 5 hay3 mmm,rii3
66 buyS, G‘fing9, ‘Cgive,, “Ma1y’,
b IP
/\
NP 1
coon, /\
“John” Infl 2

K VP2
v1 NP1 A

chuuay3 maeaswii 3 sit} rot, .
6‘help,, ‘SMary’, ‘Sbuy,, 66cm39

92

In order to Show that a succession of verbs and their complements (if any) in a
single clause with one subject found in Thai can also be treated as bivalent VPs, facts
concerning extractions are relevant.

The Constraint on Extraction Domains (CED) prohibits extraction out of adjuncts.
(Huang 1982). Assuming that a conditional sentence such as (85a) corresponds to the
structure in which the if-clause (CP) is an adjunct adjoined to IP2, as in (85b), the
prediction is that extraction out of the CP will cause ungrammaticality while extraction
out of 1P2 will be fine. This is illustrated in (86).

(85) a If Fred goes to Paris, Bill will go to London.

b 1P2
or“ m
CA m A
l /\ Bill will go
If MS to London
to Paris

(86) a *This is the place, that if Fred goes to t,, Bill will go to London.

b This is the place, that if Fred goes to Paris, Bill will go to t,.
In (86a), the extraction of "the place" out of the first clause, the adjunct clause, results in
ungrammaticality, but in (86b), the extraction of "the place" out of the second clause is
grammatical.

Crucially, for sentences such as (83a) and (83b), both extraction out of VP] and

extraction out of VP2 are fine. This can be illustrated in (87) and (88).

93

(87) a

(88) a

Nii 3 khr'i, wmmns, thii3 coon, sill, t,- hay3 mmm,rii3
this be ring, that John buy t, give Mary
“This was the ring that John bought for Mary.”

N03 th1 “mm, ([1173 COD") Sfi4 wmmn; hay3 I,
this be person, that John buy ring give t,
“This was the lady whom John bought a ring for.”

Nii3 khii, kham, thii3 coon, chuuay3 t, sir} rot,
This is person, that John help t, buy car
“This was the lady whom John helped with buying a car.”

Nii 3 khii, rota thii 3 coon, chuuay3 mmm,rii3 sir} t,
This is car, that John help Mary buy t,
“This was the car that John helped Mary with buying.”

In (87a), wmmn 5 “ ring” extracts out of VPl and in (87b) khon,“person” extracts out of

VP2. Similarly, in (88a), khon, “person” extracts out of VP2 and in (88b), rot, “car”

extracts out of VPl.

The fact that these sentences are grammatical suggests a serial verb construction

sentence may correspond to both a structure in which VPl is a phrase to which VP2

adjoins and a structure in which VP2 is a phrase to which VPI adjoins.

More precisely, it can be assumed that (89b) and (89c) are two alternate structures

of (89a), and similarly, (90b) and (90c) are two alternate structures of (90a). And when

uttering the sentence, which of the two structures is referred to, is contextually

determined.

(89) a

coon, sii, wmmn 5 My mesa? ,rii 3
John buy ring give Mary
“John bought Mary a ring.”

94

b IP

/\
NP I

coon, /\

“John” hrfl /vPI\
/\LPI\ VP2

V1 NP1
sii, wmmm hay3 mmm,rii3
“ buy” “ring” “give” “Mary”
c [P
,/”A\\\\
NP I

COOn] ”//A\\\\

“John” Infl 2K

V1 NP1
sir} wmmn 5 hay 3 mmm ,rii 3
“ buy39 SSring9, ‘tgive33 S‘Mary9,

(90) a coon, chuuay3 mmm,rii 3 sit} rot,
John help Mary buy car
“John helped Mary to buy a car.”

b IP

/\
NP I
coon, /\

“John” Infl /vm\
v1 NP1 A

chuuay3 mmm,rii3 sit} rot, .
6‘help,9 C‘Mary’, ‘Sbuy99 “Gain,

95

b IP

/\
NP I

800111 /\

“John” Infl /VPI\

/\LP1\ VP2
v1 NP1 A

chuuay3 mmm,rii 3 Sit} rot, .
‘6help’9 “Mal'Y” ‘6buy,9 S‘Car93

In summary, at first, the CED facts argue that a succession of verbs and their
complements (if any) in a single clause with one subject and one tense or aspect value, or
a serial verb construction, has to be treated as adjoined VPs. If this is correct, we can
assmne that the structure of bivalent VPs is instantiated in Thai, and that which verb is

the head of the VP will depend on the intended reading.
4.2.1.4 Uninstalling the bivalent VPs structure

Although the extraction facts, at first glance, support that the structure in which
either VPl or VP2 can be the head VP to which another VP right or left adjoins, is
instantiated in Thai, in this section I will Show that this is not correct. When taking a
closer look at the extraction facts, it becomes clear that assuming the two alternate
structures is not the right way to account for these assumptions.

In this section, I take a closer look at the extraction facts. I will argue that, rather
than two alternate structures, the structure of sentences containing serial verbs is the

structure in which VPl is the head and VP2 is an adjunct.

96

Taking argument extraction as a basis for the claim that the structure for sentences

containing serial verbs could be either the structure in which VPl is the head to which

VP2 right-adjoins, or the structure in which VP2 is the head to which VPl left-adjoins,

does not seem to be adequate.

(91)

(92)

(93)

Consider again, sentences in (91) and the extractions in (92) and (93).

m

m

coon, sii, wmmn5 hay3 mmm,rii3
John buy ring give Mary
“John bought a ring for Mary.”

coon, chuuay3 mmm ,rii 3 sir} rot,
John help Mary buy car
“John helped Mary buy a car.”

Nii3 khff] wmmns, ”103 800111 51.44 I, hay3 mmm,rii3
this be ring, that John buy t, give Mary
“This was the ring that John bought for Mary.”

Nii3 th] kham, thii3 830"] Si!) W$$n5 hay3 (i
this be person, that John buy ring give t,
“This was the lady whom John bought a ring for.”

Nii3 khii, khonn thii3 coon, chuuay3 t, sit} rot,
This is person, that John help t, buy car
“This was the lady whom John helped with buying a car.”

Nii 3 khii, rota thii3 coon, chuuay; maem ,rii 3 sit} t,
This is car, that John help Mary buy t,
“This was the car that John helped Mary with buying.”

In (91a), wmmn 5 “ring” is a complement of sii, “buy,” and mmm ,rii 3 “Mary” a

complement of hay 3 “give.” In (91b) mmm,rii3 “Mary” is a complement of chuuay3

“help,” and rot, “car” a complement of sii, “ buy.” So the extractions in (92) and (93) are

considered to be extraction of arguments.

97

(94)

(95)

Now, consider sentences in (94) and (95) when adverbial modifiers are present.

a

m

coon, sii, wmmn5 dooy , geomphoonz hay3 mmm,rii3
John buy ring by monthly payment give Mary
“John bought a ring for Mary by monthly payment.

coOn, sit} wmaen5 hay3 mmm,rii3 dooy, waamway4 ban, to; “room
John buy ring give Mary by put on desk of

thee,
her

“John bought a ring and gave it to Mary by putting it on her desk.”

coon, chuuay3 mmm ,rii 3 dooy,phaa, thee,pay, dii,lee3 sit} rot,
John help Mary by take her go dealer buy car
“John helped Mary to buy a car by taking her to the dealer.”

coon, chuuay3 mmm,rii3 sit} rot, dooy, aeea,phoon2
John help Mary buy car by monthly payment
“John helped Mary to buy a car and she paid by monthly payment.”

In (94), dooy, neat] ,phoon 2 “by monthly payment” is considered to be a modification of

sii, wmmn 5 “buy ring” and dooy, waa0,way., bon, to, khooa5 thee, “put on her desk” a

modification of hay3 mmm,rii 3 “give to Mary.” In (95), dooy, phaa, thee ,pay, dii,lee 3

“by take her go dealer” is considered to be a modification of chuuay3 mmm,rii3 “help

Mary” and dooy, geomphoonz “by monthly payment,” a modification of sir} rot4 “buy

car.” So for the serial verbs, both VP] and VP2 can be modified.

What is crucial is that extraction of a modifier out of VP] is allowed but

extraction out of VP2 is not. To illustrate, in Thai, forming interrogative sentences with

yaanzray, “how” for (94) and (95), the position of yaat] 2ray, “how” occurs at the end of

98

the sentences (i.e., at the position after VP2), as illustrated in (96) and (97),

respectively.2|

(96)

(97)

coon, sii, wmmn5 hay 3 mmm,rii3 yaaazray,
Johh buy ring give Mary how
“How did John buy a ring for Mary?”

coon, chuuay3 mmm,rii3 sir} rot, yaaazray,
John help Mary buy car how
“How did John help Mary buy a car?”

However, in answering the question (96) and (97), the following restrictions are

observed.

(98)

(99)

Q: a coon, sit} wmmn5 hay3 mmm,rii3 yaaazray,

Johh buy ring give Mary how
“How did John buy a ring for Mary?”

dooy, khoo5hay3 phuu3yi0 5 thii roan, Iiiak3
By ask lady at store choose
“By having a lady at a jewelry store choose one.”

A: *c dooy, waa0,way4 bon, to, khooa5 thee,

Qza

A:b

A: *c

By put on desk of her
“By putting it on her desk.”

coon, chuuay3 mmm,rii3 sir} rot, yaaazray,

John help Mary buy car how
“How did John help Mary buy a car?”

dooy, phaa, thee ,pay, dii,lee 3

By take her go dealer
“By taking her to the dealer.”

dooy, 08801ph00n2
by monthly payment
“By monthly payment.”

 

2' Thai is one of the wh-in-situ languages.

99

In (98), while (98b) can be an answer to the question, (98c) cannot. As (98b) is

considered to be an adjunct of sit} wmmn 5 “buy ring” which is VP1 and (980) an

adjunct of hay mmm ,rii 3 “give Mary” which is VP2, this suggests that yaaazray, “how”

can only extract out of VP1, not VP2. Similarly in (99), while (99b) can be an answer to

the question, (99c) cannot. As (99b) is considered to be an adjunct of chuuay3 mmmfiii 3

“help Mary” which is VP1 and (99c) an adjunct of sii, rot, “buy car” which is VP2, this,

again, suggests that while extraction out of VP1 is allowed extraction out of VP2 is not.
As extraction out of VP1 is grammatical, but extraction out of VP2 causes

ungrammaticality, I argue that rather than the two alternate structures in (100a) and

(100b), the structure of sentences containing serial verbs, is one in which VP1 is the head

VP to which VP2 adjoins, as in (101a).

(100) a b
VP1 VP2
/\ /\
VP1 VP2 VP1 VP2
(101) a b
VP1 *VP2
/\ /\
VP1 VP2 VP1 VP2

Assuming that the structure of sentences containing serial verbs is one in which
VP1 is the head VP to which VP2 adjoins, as in (101a), the extractions in (92a) and (93a)
are not a problem as they are cases of extraction out of the main VP. However, the
argument extractions in (92b) and (93b) need to be explained. I argue that the extractions

in (92b) and (93b) can be explained in terms of an empty operator.

100

With respect to an empty operator, Chomsky (1977) proposes that sentences like
(102), known as tough movement, contain an empty operator.
(102) Mary, is tough to please I,
In (102), there is a gap corresponding to an argument position. It might appear that (102)
is derived by movement of the DP Mary, given that (103) is also grammatical.

(103) It is tough to please Mary

But such movement analysis cannot be correct because tough assigns a B-role to its

subject, as can be seen in (104).
(104) a Mary is tough
b To please Mary is tough

If there is movement from the object position of please to the subject of tough, the chain

that is formed has two B-roles, in violation of the G-Criterion.22

(105) Mary, is tough to please t,
| |
6] 92

 

It is, therefore, proposed that movement in sentences like (102) involve empty operators,
as schematically represented in (106).
(106) Mary is tough [cp Op, [,p to please t, ]]

Supporting an empty operator analysis the grammaticality and ungrammaticality
in (107), which would otherwise be mysterious, can be explained.
(107) a John bought this book to read t,

b *John bought this book to show who would read t,

 

2’ 6-Criterion (Culicover 1997, p.100):
A chain has at most one 6-position; a B-position is visible in its maximal chain.

101

The grammaticality of (107a) and the ungrammaticality of (107b) can be accounted for if
we assume that there is an empty operator at [Spec, CP], as illustrated in (108) and (109)

respectively.

(108) John bought this book [cp Op [,p PRO to [vp read e

I |

(109) *John bought this book [cp Op [,p PRO [vp to show [cp who [,,> would [vp read e

t | t x I

In (109), in order for e to move to Op which is at the higher [Spec, CP], it has to move
past the lower [Spec, CP]. The lower [Spec, CP], however, is filled by the wh-element
who. This lower CP, is therefore, an island between the e and the Op. Consequently, the
sentence is ungrammatical. In (108), however, there is no island in between e and Op.
So the movement is not blocked and the sentence is grammatical.

I argue that the movement in (92b) and (93b) can also be accounted for by an

empty operator. (92b) and (93b) are repeated here as (110a) and (1 10b).

(110) a Nii3khfi] kham, thii} 8091115024 wmmn, hay3 (1

this be person, that John buy ring give t,
“This was the lady to whom John bought a ring for.”

b Nii3 khff] rota thii 3 COO", chuuay3 Maw/I'll. 3 Shh I,
This is car, that John help Mary buy t,
“This was the car that John helped Mary with buying.”
Although at first glance (110a) and (1 10b) are considered to be cases of extraction out of
VP2 which is contextually considered to be the main VP, the movement in (110a) and

(11%) can alternatively be explained by an empty operator.

102

Arguably, in (110a) and (110b), there is an empty operator at some projection,

possibly a VP adjunct, which is co-indexed with the gap, as schematically illustrated in

(111)

VP 1
/\
VP 1 VP2
A A
Op, VP2
/\
V9
/\
V NP

Evidence that the structure is as in (111), can be found when an island is added between

the trace position and the operator position. This is illustrated in (112).

(112) a

*Nii 3 khii, kham, thii 3 coon, sii, wmmn, Puuadz kray, hay, e,
This be person that John buy ring Show who give e,
“This was the lady that John bought a ring to Show who would give to.”

*Nii3 khii, rota thii, coon, chuuay, mmm,rii3 Puuadz kray, sit} c,
This is car, that John help Mary show who buy e,
“This was the car that John help Mary to show who would buy.”

In (112a) and (112b), there is a wh-island in between the Op and the e, as illustrated in

(113).

 

23 As the structure above VP1 is not crucial for the discussion here, I will focus only on the structure below

VP1.

2" Assuming that there is an empty operator at the projection adjoined to VP2 is consistent with Barriers
framework (Chomsky, 1986). Adjunction to VP is proposed in Barrier to be an operation for operator

movement.

103

(113) VP1

 

 

 

 

/\
VP1 VP2
A A
Op, VP
/\
4 VP CP
Puuadz /\
Show kray,, C’
WhO /\
C IP
A /\
t, I,
/\
I VP2
/\
V NP
A
ei
x

In (113), as the [Spec, CP] is occupied by the wh-element who, e cannot stop at this
position before moving to Op. So the movement from e to Op is blocked. Consequently,
the sentences are ungrammatical.

So, assuming that the structure of sentences containing serial verbs is the one in
which VP1 is a head and VP2 is an adjunct, both the argument extractions and the
adjunct extraction can be explained.

In conclusion, I have argued that although, at first glance, the extraction facts
support an assumption that the structure in which either VP1 or VP2 can be the head VP
to which another VP right or left adjoins, is instantiated in Thai, when taking a closer

look, this clearly is not the case. Upon closer scrutiny of the extraction facts, it becomes

104

clear that the structure of sentences containing serial verbs is the structure in which VP1

is the head and VP2 is an adjunct.

4.2.1.5 The position of yuu; when taking a locative PP as a complement

As seen in (114), yuu, may occur as a single verb in which case it is presumably
the head of VP and takes a locative PP as its complement. The structure of(114a), is

therefore, as shown in (114b).

(114) a coon, yuu; nay, hon3sa,mut2
John yuu in library
“John is in the library.”
b IP
/\
NP 1’
A /\
800", I VP
John /\
V PP
yuu, /\
P NP
nay,
in hoa3sa,mut2

library
Yuu, can also occur as one of the verbs in a sequence. Yuu, can either be in VP1

or VP2 as in (115a) and (115b), respectively.

(115) a coon, yuu; nay, hoa3sa,mut2 ?aan2 na05sii5
John yuu2 in library read book
“John is in the library for studying.”

b Mmm,rii3 lop2 Bil, yuu; nay, roan, kaau’mm,

Mary hide Bill yuu; in coffee shop
“Mary hid Bill by staying in a coffee shop.”

105

In cases where yuu2 occurs as one of the verbs in sequence, observations
concerning an extraction are the same as the other cases of verbs in sequence.

Concerning extractions, extraction of adjuncts out of the VP1 is allowed but
extraction out of the VP2 is not. This can be illustrated by the following.

First, as expected, both VP1 and VP2 can be modified as illustrated below.

(116) a coon, yuu2 nay, suuan5sa5tha,ra,na5 dooy, naa3 ban, maa4 aanz na05sii5
John yuu2 in park by sitting on bench read book
“John is in the park (by) sitting on the bench and reads a book.”
b coon, yuu2 nay, suuan5sa5tha,ra,na5 aan; naa5sii5
John yuu2 in park read book

yaaaz tan, 70k; tam chay,
seriously

John is in the park and seriously reading a book.”

(1 17) a coon, aan, na05sii5 yaaaz tan, Tok; tag, chay, yuu2 nay,
John read book seriously yuu2 in
suuan5sa5tha,ra,na5
park

“John seriously reads a book in the park.”

b coon, aan; nan5sii5 yuu2 nay, suuan5sa5tha,ra,na5 dooy, naa3 ban, "1004
John read book yuu2 in park by sit on bench
“John reads a book in the park by sitting on a bench.”

However, extraction of adjuncts out of VP1 is allowed while extraction of

adjuncts out of VP2 is not. This can be illustrated by the following.
(118) Q: a coon, yuu2 nay, suuan5sa5tha,ra,na5 aan; naa5sii5 yaaagray,

John yuu2 in park read book how
“In what manner is John in the park for reading?”

106

A: b dooy, nan3 bon, maa4
by sit on bench
“By sitting on a bench.”

A: *c your]; tag, 70k2 ta03 chay,

Seriously
“Seriously”

(119) Q: a coon, aan, naa5sii5 yuu2 nay, suuan5sa5tha,ra,na5 yaaazray,
John read book yuu2 in park how
“How good/bad did John do his reading in the park?”
A: b yaaag tam 70k, tam chay,
Seriously
“Seriously”
A: *c dooy, na03 bon, maa,

by sit on bench
“By sitting on a bench.”

In (118), while (118b) can be an answer to the question, (118C) cannot. As (118b) is

considered to be an adjunct of yuu2 nay, suuan 5sa5tha,ra,na 5 “yuU2 in par ” which is

VP1, and (118C) an adjunct of aan, nan 5sii 5 “read book” which is VP2, this suggests that

yaanzray, “how” can only extract out of VP1, not VP2. Similarly in (119), while (11%)

can be an answer to the question, (119c) cannot. As (11%) is considered to be an adjunct
of aan, na05sii5 “read book” which is VP1 and (119c) is an adjunct of yuu2 nay,
suuan5sa5tha,ra,na5 “yuu2 in park” which is VP2, this, again, suggests that while
extraction out of VP1 is allowed, extraction out of VP2 is not.

Based on these considerations, the structure of sentences (115a) and (1 15b) is

that of VP1 being the head to which VP2 adjoins, as represented in (120) and (121)

respectively, consistent with the other serial verbs constructions.

107

(120) a

(121) a

coon, yuu2 nay, hoa3sa,mut2 Paanz na05sii5
John yuu2 in library read book
“John is in the library for studying.”

IP
/\
NP 1’
coon, /\
“John” I VP 1

/\
V 1 /PP\ V2 N?

yuu2 Paan 2
yuu2 P NP read naa 5in 5
nay, book
in hoa3sa,mut2
library

Maem,rii3 lop, Bil, yuu2 nay, raan5 kaafmae,
Mary hide Bill yuu2 in coffee shop
“Mary hid Bill by staying in a coffee shop.”

IP
/\
NP 1’
Mmm,rii3 /\
Mary I VP1
/’\
VP1 V 2
/\ A
V1 NP V2 PP

10192 yuu2 /\
hide A yuu2 P NP
Bil, nay, '
Bill in A
roan,-

kaafmm,
coffee shop

108

So with respect to the position of yuu 2 which takes a locative PP as its complement, in
addition to occuning as a single verb in a sentence in which case yuu2 is the head of VP,
yuu2 can occur as one of the verbs in sequence. When yuu2 occurs as VP1, it is a head of
the main VP and when yuu2 occurs as VP2, it is a head of an adjoining VP. So yuu2,
which takes a locative PP as its complement, may either be the head of the main VP or

the head of a VP adjunct.

4.2.2 Yuuz when taking no complement

4.2.2.1 Visonyanggoon’s (2000) proposal for the position of auxiliaries in Thai

The position of yuu2, when expressing aspect, has been discussed in
Visonyanggoon (2000). Visonyanggoon, in her studies of parallelism between noun
phrases and clauses in Thai, claims that Thai auxiliaries which include modals and aspect
markers may have different syntax. The evidence comes from their behavior as
predicators.

In Thai some modals occur pre-verbally and some modals occur post-verbally.
Similarly, some aspect markers occur pre-verbally and some aspect markers occur post-
verbally. According to Visonyanggoon, while post-verbal modals are base-generated
pre-verbally, post-verbal aspects are not.

Based on Noss (1964), Visonyanggoon discusses that a single word which can

stand alone in the response to a yes-no question to represent the whole predicate, referred

109

to as predicator, is an element with verbal properties that takes the widest scope

can be illustrated by the following example.

(122) a Q: khaw5 Paanz naa5sii5 may,
he read book QP
“Does he read?”

b A: Paang

read
“Yes, he read(s).

(123) Q: kham yaak2 Paan2 na05sr'i5 may5
he want read book 0?
“Does he want to read?”

A: a yaak2
want

b * Paan
read

“Yes, he wants to read.
(124) Q: khaw 5 ruu4sik2 yaakz Paang naa 5sii 5 may5
he feel want read book QP

“Does he feel like reading?”

A: a ruu4sik2

feel
b * yaak,
want
0 * Paan,
read

“Yes, he feels like reading.

(p.118)

110

. This

In (122), Paanz “read” is considered to be a predicator. However, in (123), the predicator
is yaakz “want,” as it has scope over the VP Paan, naa 5sii 5 “read the book.” In (124),

ruu4sik2 “feel” is a predicator as it has scope over the VP yaakz Paanz na05sii5 “want to

read the book.”

Visonyanggoon, assuming Martins’s analysis (1994), argues that an element with
verbal properties that takes the widest scope can be a minimal response to a yes/no
question because it is an element which can legitimately move to the head of Sigma
phrase (2P).

EP is proposed to be the locus of Affirmation/Negation and is located in a C
projection. The 2 head has the strong V-feature and so an element with verbal properties
has to move to E to check off its features. The element with the verbal properties which
may move to 2, however, has to be the highest element, as “Attract Closest” (Chomsky
1995: 296, Pesetsky 1998) has to be obeyed.25 The highest element with v-feature,

however, is an element with verbal properties that takes the widest scope. The fact that in

(123), repeated here as (125), yaakz “want” is a minimal response but Paanz “read” is not,

then, can be accounted for.

 

2’ Attract Closest (Chomsky 1995: 296, Pesetsky 1998):
a can raise to target K only if there is no legitimate operation Move [3 targeting , where B is closer to K.

111

(125) Q:

(126)

(127)

Aza

yaakz,
want

khaw 5 yaak, 700112 nan 5sii 5 may5
he want read book QP
“Does he want to read?”

yaak2
want

* Paan
read

“Yes, he wants to read.

2P

v /w\

I___tli v DP

(p.121)

?aan 2 na05sii5
read book

*EP

/\

E
Paan2,

9%

read yaak,V

DP
1100 5SH 5
lti book

(p.122)

112

The legitimate response to the question in (125) is yaak2 “want” because it is closer to the

2 head than the word Paanz “read,” as in (126). If Faan2 were to raise to the 2 head as in

(127), “Attract Closest” would be violated and ungrammaticality would arise.26

On the basis of the predicator test, Visonyanggoon, then, proposed an analysis for
that post-verbal modals, in particular day, “can, may,” pen, “can,” and way5 “can” as in

(128) to (130), respectively.27

(128) kham ?aan2 na05sii5 day3
he read book can/may
“He can/may read.”

(129) khaw5 ?aan2 na05sii5 pen,
he read book can

“He can read”

(130) khaw5 yok, na05sii5 ways
He lift book can
“He can lift the books”

She proposed that day, “can, may,” pen, “can,” and way, “can,” although occur
after VP, are not VP right-adjunct. All three words, although post-verbal, are able to be

predicators, as illustrated in (131) to (134).

(131) Q: kham Paanz na05sii5 day3may4
he read book may QP
“May he read?”

A: a day,
may
“Yes, he may read.”

 

26 Note that the 2 head is not necessarily immediately above VP.

27 It is noted that day, expresses either ability or permission. Pen, and way, express ability. The difference
between the three modals of ability is that day, conveys general ability, pen, denotes mental or intellectual
ability and way, expresses physical ability (V isonyanggoon, 2000).

113

(132) Q:

(133) Q:

A:

(134) Q:

a

* Faan2
read

(p.141)

khaw, Faan2 naa5sr'i5 day3 may,
he read book can QP
“Can he read?”

day3
can
“Yes, he can read.”

* Paan2
read

(p.141)

khaw, Faanz na05sii5 pen, may,
he read book can QP
“Can he read?”

,pen,
can
“Yes, he can read.”

* Paanz
read

(p.141)

khaW5 yok, not] 53!? 5 way5 may,
he lift book can QP
“Can he lift the books?”

WW5
can
“Yes, he can lift the books.”

”yak,
lift

(p.142)

114

These clearly show that post-verbal modals day 3 “can, may,” pen, “can,” and way5 “can”
are heads situated above VP. And in order to derive the surface word order, the VP raises

to some position higher than the modal, as demonstrated in (135).

(1 3 5) MOdecnnission/ability
/\
VP1 MOdeermission/ability
700,72 n005SH5 /\
read book Mod’
/\

Mod VP
days I i
can

(p. 142)

For the Thai post-verbal aspect markers, however, Visonyanggoon proposes that

they differ from post-verbal modals. Post-verbal aspect markers are not heads situated

above VP. Post-verbal aspect markers are lmmw, and yuu2 as in (136) and (137)

respectively.
(136) kh0W5 700"; na05sii5 lmmw,

he read book already

“He has read.”/“He has started reading.”28
(137) khaW5 Paanz naa5sii5 yuu2

he read book IMP29
“He is/was reading.”

Supporting that lmmw, and yuu2 are not heads situated above VP is the fact that neither

lmmw, nor yuu 2 are able to be predicators, as illustrated in (138) and (139)

respectively.30

 

2“ The two readings will be discussed in detail in chapter 4.
29 In Visonyanggoon (2000) the gloss for yuu, is imperfective.

115

(138) Q:

(139) Q:

Visonyanggoon, then, proposes that lmmw, and yuu2 are right-adjuncts. While lmmm

is claimed to right-adjoin to several phrases from AspPexpflkmm to XP above

ProgP/ImpP, yuu2 is claimed to right-adjoin to ProgP/ImpP, as illustrated in (140).31

khaW5 Paanz naI] 5sii 5 lmmw, yan,
he read book already yet
“Has he read yet?”

* Paan2
read

*Immw,
already

Paan2 18.9mm
read already

(p.220)

kham Paanz na05sii5 yuu2 may,
he read book IMP QP
“Is he reading?”

*yuu,

IMP

Paan2
read

(p.211)

 

3° Visonyanggoon (2000) does not seem to have an account for why Paan, “read” alone is not an acceptable
answer for (138) but it is an acceptable answer for (139). However, what is more important here is that
neither lmmw,, nor yuu, are acceptable answers for the question in (138) and (139), respectively.

3 ' Visonyanggoon (2000) assumes Cinque (l999)’s proposal that each adverb occupies a different

projection.

116

()

AspPexperiential
//\
AspPexpericntial (1% a W4)

/\
kheey 1 Aschontinuative

/\
Aschontinuative (laws!)

A
yon, ProgP/ImpP

/\
ProgP/ImpP yuu2
/\

k0m11001 VP

(p.222)

4.2.2.2 ProgP/ImpP

According to Visonyanggoon (2000), yuu2 is claimed to adjoin to a phrase whose

head is kam,la0,. Her proposal for kam,la0, is based on the predicator test, as illustrated

in(141).

(141) Q:

Aza

khaW5 kam,laa, Paanz naa5sii5 rii5
he PROG32 read book QP
“Is he reading?”

*kam [[00]
PROG

*Paan2
“read”

 

32 In Visonyanggoon (2000) the gloss for kam,laa, is progressive

117

c kam,lar_), Paanz
PROG read

“Yes, he is.”
(p.197)

From (141), it is clear that the required predicator is a verb together with kam,la0,. To

account for this, her idea is that kam,lan, is derived from the noun which means

“strength” or “power” (Ekniyom 1979, Meepoe 1996), so it could be taken as nominal or,

at least, not purely verbal.33 However, a head with V-features has to move to 21 to

function as the minimal response. It is, then, possible that kam,la0, is the head without

V-feature and the verb under kam,la0, adjoins to kam,lar_7, on its way to E, as illustrated

in (142).
(142) a SP
/\
E ProgP
/\
Prog VP
/\ i
Prog V, V
kam,lal], Paanz t,
read

 

33 Visonyanggoon notes that this is pointed out by Cristina Schmitt. One example suggested by Asuncion
Martinez, is the French progressive “en train de” which is a PP.

118

Z ProgP
/\
|Prog, Prog VP
/\ t]- I
Prog V, V
kam,la0, P00n2 I,
read

Subsequently, Visonyanggoon proposes that as the combination of kam,la0, and
yuu 2 simply conveys the meaning of the progressive, not the continuative, kam,lat], is in

ProgP/ImpP to which the imperfective yuu2 right-adjoins. The structural representation
is, therefore, as in (143).
(143)
ProgP/ImpP
Prog/Imp VP

kam, [an] /\
V XP

4.2.2.3 Yuuz as a VP-right adjunct

Visonyanggoon’s proposal for treating kam,la0, as a head of Prog/hin seems

plausible. However, her proposal that yuu2 right—adjoins to Prog/ImpP seems to be

problematic.
When kam,lan, and yuu2 co-occur, the interpretation received is the process, not

state. This can be illustrated by the following example.

119

(144) a

In (144a), say2 taa0,huu5 “wear earrings” co-occurs with kam,la0, and the process of

wearing earrings is described. In (144b), say2 taa0,huu5 “wear earrings” co-occurs with

yuu2 and the state both in the sense of progressive and in the sense of result state is

described. Crucially, in (144c) where say, taan,huu5 “wear earrings” co-occurs with

kam,la0, and yuu2, only the process of wearing earrings is described. This clearly

suggests that kam,lan, takes scope over yuu2, or that yuu2 has to adjoin to a phrase lower

than kam,la0,, possibly a VP. The structure of sentences where kam,la0, and yuu2 co-

occur as in (144c), therefore, should be represented as (145).

(145)

Maem,rii 3 kam,laa, say2 [000 ,huu 5

Mary kam,lat], wear earrings
“Mary was putting earrings on.”

Maeaefiii 3 say2 taaa,huu5 yuu2
Mary wear earrings yuu2
“Mary was putting earrings on.”
“Mary has earrings on her earlobes.”

Mmm,rii3 kam,laa, say; taa0,huu5 yuu2
Mary kam,laI), wear earrings yuu2

“Mary was putting earrings on.”

/\
ProgP/ImpP

Prog/Imp VP
kam I [an] /\

VP VP

say; taa0,huu5 V
“wear earrings” yuu2

120

Y an 2, therefore, rather than adjoining to ProgP/ImpP whose head is kam,lat_7,, adjoins to a

phrase lower than kam,la0,, possibly VP.

4.2.3 Yuuz and predictor facts revisited

With respect to the ability of yuu2 to be a predicator, yuu2, when behaving like a
copular verb can be a predicator, but when behaving like an aspectual marker cannot, as

illustrated in (146) and (147) respectively,

(146) Q: khaW5yuu2 thii3 h003 sazmudz may,

he yuu2 at library QP
“Is he at the library?”

A: yuu2
W02

“Yes, he is”

(147) Q: kham Paanz na05sii5yuu2 may,
he read book yuu2 Q?
“Is he reading?”

A: a "yuu 2
W02

b ?aan2
read

“Yes, he is”
I propose that an alternative explanation for why yuu2 in (147) cannot be a predicator,
while yuu2 in (146) can has to do with whether it takes a complement or not. More
precisely, I propose that for a verbal element to be a predicator, it needs to have a

complement.

121

Under the assumption that for a verbal element to be a predicator, it needs to have
a complement, facts in (146) and (147) can be explained. Both yuu2 in (146) and (147) is
a verbal element. As yuu2 in (146) takes a complement, it can be a predicator. And as
yuu2 in (147) does not take a complement, it cannot be a predicator.

Evidence that this hypothesis is on the right track comes from lmmw, which will

be discussed in chapter 4.

4.2.4 Unifying the syntax of yuu2

It is clear that yuu2 can either be transitively used or intransitively used. When
transitively used, it takes a locative PP as its complement. When intransitively used, it
right-adjoins to a VP. The position of VP right-adjunction that intransitive yuu2 occupies,
however, is also a position of transitive yuu2 when occurring as VP2. To unify the syntax
of yuu2, I will make use of Pustejovsky’s (1995) notion of subeventual structure and
headedness.

Remember that Pustejovsky treats events as being composed of subevents which
are subclassified into three sorts: PROCESSES, STATES, and TRANSITIONS, and these three
sorts of events can be combined in different ways.

The relation between two combined events (i.e., e, and e 2) can be exhausative

order (i.e., <OC), exhausative overlap (i.e., 0 CC) or exhausative ordered overlap (i.e.,

<Ooc), as in break, accompany, and walk, respectively.

Crucially, verbs such as break have both the causative reading and the inchoative

reading, as illustrated in (148a) and (148b), respectively.

122

(148) a John broke a cup.

b The cup broke.
To distinguish between the causative reading and the inchoative reading of break,
Pustejovsky appeals to the notion of headedness. More precisely, he proposes that the
causative reading corresponds to the event structure in which e, is headed and that the

inchoative reading corresponds to the event structure in which e2 is headed, as illustrated

in (149a) and (14%), respectively.

(149) a
e<oc
e /\
1* 82
b
e<oc
/\

e, 82“

Since either e, or e2 can be the head, he proposes that verbs like break are unspecified for
headedness.

Now we can go back to see how yuu2 would fit in Pustejovsky’s proposal for
subeventual structure and headedness.

Y uu 2 is a subevent that denotes a state. It never takes an external argument of its

own. In locative constructions like coon, yuu2 thii, hon3 sazmud “John yuu2 at library,”

the subject coon, “John” is the external argument of thii 3 hot) 3 sazmud “at library.”

Locatives like thii 3 hon 3 sazmud “at library” cannot be the main event of a clause. They

need to combine with a verbal head.

123

Yuu 2 can combine with a locative. When it combines with a locative it can form a
complex event where e, denotes a state (yuu2), and e2 denotes a locative subevent which
is also a state. The relation between e, and e2 is overlap. In this case yuu2 acts as the
head of the VP and in main clause as in (150a) will be marked for tense etc,. Now
sometimes yuu2 can combine with an already complete event structure and, although the
relation is again overlap, in this case yuu2 is not the head of the main VP. Rather, it is

adjoined to it and contributes a stative reading, as in (150b).

(150) a VPiooc

v,/\ PP

yuu2 Ihii3 11003 sazmud2
yuu2 at library

b VPiooc

/\
VP, VP

?aan2 na05sii5 yuu2
read book yuu2

This situation of yuu2 does not differ from cases of verbs like break. For such
cases, the properties of being unspecified for headedness are exhibited in the subeventual
structure. If a subevent e is headed, it is part the core event description (i.e., the building
up of the event). So if e, is headed, PROCESS is part of the core event description, and if
e2 is headed RESULT STATE is part of the core event description. For the case of yuu 2,
however, headedness is used with respect to whether it takes a complement or not. If
yuu2 takes a complement it is the head and it is part of the core event being described. If

yuu2 is not the head, it does not take a complement and it is an adjunct used intransitively.

124

In conclusion, by making use of a modified notion of headedness, I am arguing
here that yuu2 is unspecified for headedness. Being unspecified for headedness, yuu2 can
be used as the head of a VP projection (in which case it selects for a locative PP
complement) and an intransitive adjunct (in which case it acts as an event modifier).

However, only in the transitive case, it is part of the building up of the core event.

4.2.5 Evidence for the analysis of yuu 2

By assuming that yuu2 is a lexical item that stands for the notion that property x
holds an interval of time and it is syntactically not specified for headedness, facts
concerning co-occurrence and ambiguity can be explained.

As sentence (151a) is an acceptable sentence, clearly main verb yuu, and adjunct
yuu2 can co-occur. By the proposed syntax, the co-occurrence of yuu2 is not ruled out, as

sentence (151a) can be represented as (151b).

(151) a coon,yuu2 thii, baan3 yuu2
John yuu2 at house yuu2
“John is still at home at this time.”

b [P
A
coon] I’
John /\
I VP,
/\
VP, VP
/\ yuu 2
V, PP
yuu2 /\
P NP
thii3 A
at baan3
house

125

In (151b), yuu2 may occupy the head of the VP, as well as the head of the phrase adjoined
to the VP,. The interpretation however, is that John was/is still at his house at a particular
period of time.34

Moreover, as yuu2 can be both transitively and intransitively used, maybe the

differences in meaning of (152) and (153) can be explained.

(152) a coon, kin, khaaW3 yuu2 thii3 baan3
John eat rice yuu2 at home
“John eats rice at home.”

b
IP
/\
coon] I’
John /\
I VP,
/\
VP, VP
/\ /\
V, NP V PP
kin, A yuu2 /\
eat khaam P NP
rice thii, A
at baan3
house
(153) a c00n, kin, khaaW3yuu2thii3 baan3

John eat rice yuu2 at home
“John is eating rice at home.”

 

3" It seems that when there are two yuuzs, the Exclusion Feature of the modifying yuu, is taking worlds.
The modifying yuu, indicates that the state (i.e., John being at home) is not different from what it could
have been, and thus “still” is expressed.

126

b IP

/\
coon] P
John /\
I VP,
/\
VP, P
/\
VP, VP
/\ thii 3 baan 3
V, NP at house
kin, yuu2
eat A
khaaw 3
rice

In (152) when taking a locative PP as its complement, yuu2 describes that the state of
John being at home holds at a certain period of time. In (153) when taking no
complement, yuu2 describes that the state of John eating rice holds at a certain period of

time.

4.2.6 Summary for the syntax of yuu2

In conclusion, it is clear that yuu2 can behave as the main predicate and/or as an
adjunct. In the same way that a certain element (i.e., break, sink, stop, begin) may be
unspecified for headedness with respect to a subeventual structure, yuu2 can be
considered to be an element which is unspecified for headedness with respect to‘ whether
it projects to a full VP or not. In other words, for yuu2, its property of being unspecified
for headedness is exhibited in terms of whether it is part of what is necessary to build the
event description or not. Consequently, yuu2 can either be used as a copular verb taking a

PP as its complement or the head of a VP adjunct taking no complement.

127

5. Conclusion of the chapter

Having investigated the semantics of yuu2 it is clear that yuu2 has only one core
meaning. Yuu2 denotes a state with an exclusion feature. Denoting a state with an
exclusion feature, the interpretation of a non-inherent/non-pennanent state may be
derived as an implicature. As such interpretation is derived as an implicature, it is not
asserted by yuu2. Consequently, yuu2 is compatible with both permanent and non-
permanent states.

Moreover, having investigated the syntax of yuu 2, yuu2 can be considered to be a
verbal head which is not specified for headedness. Therefore, it can be the head of the
main VP or the head of a VP adjunct. In both cases, however, yuu2 is clearly a verbal
element.

Moroever, the analysis of yuu2 shows that with respect to the progressive, two

types of the progressive can be distinguished: the progressive which is a process and the

progressive which is a state. While the progressive denoted by kam,la0, is a process, due

to the properties of yuu2, the progressive denoted by yuu2 is a state.

To conclude, I have shown that rather than postulating multiple lexical entries for
multiple related senses of the word, there is a unified representation of yuu2. The analysis
of yuu2, therefore, provides empirical support for the idea that logically related senses do

not necessarily correspond to different lexical items.

128

CHAPTER 3

A unified analysis of pay, and maa,

1. Introduction

In this Chapter we examine the behavior of pay, and mom. Pay, is considered to

be a verb for “go” and maa, is considered to be a verb for “come,” as illustrated in (l a)

and (1b), respectively.

(1) a

89011] pay, tha, naa, [(00111
John pay, bank
“John went to the bank.”

coon, maa, tha, naa, kaan,

John maa, bank
“John came to the bank.”

However, in addition to denoting “go” and “come,” pay, and maa, have other

functions as well. For example, pay, may behave like a particle for the imperfective, and

maa,, a particle for a version of the Perfect, as illustrated in (2a) and (2b), respectively.

(2) a

suzrii, Paanz na05sii 5 pay, con, cob,
Suri read book pay, until end
“Suri kept reading until she finished the book.”

(Thepkanjana 1986, p. 156)
suzrii, tad; phom 5 man,
Suri cut hair maa,

“Suri has just got a hair cut.”

(Thepkanjana 1986, p.166 )

129

In (2a) pay, has been described as denoting the continuation of an action and in (2b) maa,
has been described as denoting the Perfect aspect.

A phenomenon in which an element for “go” and an element for “come” may also
play the roles of aspectual markers is also cross-linguistically common. For example, in
French, venir and aller, as well as expressing “come” and “go” as in (3a) and (3b), can
also express the Perfect and the prospective, as in (4a) and (4b).

(3) a Max vient de Paris demain
Max comes from Paris tomorrow
“Max will come from Paris tomorrow.”

(Bouchard 1995, p.121)

b Max va a Quebec (de Montreal)
Max goes to Quebec City (from Montreal)

(Bouchard 1995, p.149)
(4) a Max vient de partir
Max comes from leaving
“Max has just left.”
(Bouchard 1995, p.139)

b Elle va courir le marathon (demain)
Elle is-going to run the marathon (tomorrow).

(Bouchard 1995, p.153)

Therefore, rather than a case of homonymy, in which elements accidentally share
the same form, it is more likely to be a case in which the multiple senses are somehow
associated and could be treated as a single element. What has to be explained, then, is
how the multiple senses are connected.

In this chapter, by investigating the semantics and the syntax of pay, and maa,, I

provide an explanation for how the multiple senses are connected; more precisely, why it

130

is possible for the lexical items pay, and maa, to have multiple functions without the
need to postulate different lexical entries for either pay, or maa,.

This chapter consists of 7 sections. In section (2), I summarize previous
description of pay ,/maa ,. Again, we will see that researchers have noted multiple
meanings but very few have attempted to connect them, In section (3), I summarize
Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria’s (2000) proposal for why an element for “come” and
an element for “go” may also denote aspect cross-linguistically. Although they provide
an idea for why an element of “come” and an element for “go” may also denote certain
aspects, we will later see that the behavior of pay, and maa, in Thai requires a more fine-
grained analysis.

As the phenomenon in which an element for “go” and an element for “come” may
also play the role of an aspectual marker is found in French, Bouchard (1995) attempts to
account for the behavior of French venir “come” and aller “go.” In section (4), I
summarize Bouchard’s analysis for French venir “come” and aller “go.” Again we will
later see that although the behavior of French venir and aller may be accounted for, the
behavior of Thai pay, and maa, is not able to be accounted for in exactly the same way.

In section (5), illustrating the inadequacy of the earlier analyses, I provide
preliminary data concerning the behavior of Thai pay, and maa,. Subsequently, section
(6) is the proposed analysis which consists of two main parts: the basic semantic
properties of pay, /maa, and the syntax of pay,/maa,.

In dealing with the semantic properties of pay,/maa,, I will base my analysis on
Jackendoff s (1996) proposal. As I investigate the multiple uses of both pay, and maa,, it

will be demonstrated that pay, and maa, both have one core meaning.

131

With respect to the syntax of pay , /maa ,, first I will investigate pay, and maa, as
they behave like verbs for “go” and “come,” respectively. As in chapter 2, the extraction
facts will again be used as a basis for the analysis. Then, I will investigate pay, and maa,
as they behave as event modifiers. The predicator test will again be used as a basis for
the investigation. Based on scope facts, I will also determine the position of pay, /maa ,
when used as event modifier relative to other aspectual markers. Finally, based on the
idea of headedness (Pustejovsky 1995, 1998), I will argue that pay, /maa, can be treated
as having very similar syntactic properties.

Finally in section (7), I will summarize the most important points of the chapter.
This analysis not only provides an empirical support for the Generative Lexicon’s idea
that, rather than multiplying entries in the lexicon, logically related senses can correspond
to a single lexical entry, but it will also contribute to the description of the aspectual

system in Thai.

2. Previous descriptions of pay, and ma,

A number of earlier studies of Thai grammar including Ratchabandittayasathan
(1982), Thepkanjana (1986), Wilawan (1994), Mathias (2000), and Muansuwan (2002)
have noted that pay, and maa, have multiple meanings. However, there do not seem to
be any studies in which the multiple meanings are formally connected. As we will see,
pay, and maa, have been glossed in different ways. In this section I willl use each

author’s own glosses.

132

2.1 Ratchabandittayasathan (1982)

Ratchabandittayasathan (1982), states that pay, is a verb denoting moving from a
place and its use is opposite to maa, “come.” When pay, occurs after another verb,
however, pay, denotes that an action continues. Pay, may also occur afier an adjective in
which case, pay, strengthens the degree of the state denoted by the adjective. For maa,,
he states that maa, is a verb denoting movement from a place and its use is opposite to
pay, “go.” When maa, occurs after another verb, however, maa, indicates that an action
continues up to the present time. In Ratchabandittayasathan (1982), therefore, the
multiple meanings of pay, and maa, are listed; however, neither the connection among
the multiple meanings of pay, nor the connection among the multiple meanings of maa,

is provided.

2.2 Thepkanjana (1986)

Thepkanjana (1986) includes pay, and maa, in her studies of serial verb
constructions in Thai. According to her, pay, and maa, are verbs whose meanings
depend on whether they are serialized and what the other members of the serial verb
constructions are.

Pay, and maa,, when not serialized or occurring as a main verb, denote “go” and

“come,” respectively as illustrated in (5).
(5) a coon, pay, paa,riid3

John go Paris
“John went to Paris.”

133

b coon, maa, paa,riid3
John come Paris
“John came to Paris.”

However, when serialized after a verb involving movement (i.e., deen, “walk,”

win, “run”) pay, and maa, denote directions away from and toward the speaker,

respectively, as illustrated in (6).

(6) a coon, dean, payr
John walk pay
“John walked (in a direction away from the speaker)”

b coon, dean, maa,

John walk come’
“John walked (in a direction toward the speaker)”

It is also noted that since pay, denotes direction away from the speaker, it may be
serialized after a verb involving destruction and disappearance, such as hak, “break,”
taay, “die,” haay, “disappear,” etc. This is illustrated in (7).

(7) ton 3may5 taay, pay,
tree die go

“The plant is dead.”

(Thepkanjana 1986, p.153)
Moreover, pay, may be serialized after stative verbs such as dii, “good,” sa2?aat2
“clean,” khom5 “bitter,” etc. In this case pay, indicates excess degree, translated as “too,”
as illustrated in (8).
( 8) niia, suk2 pay,

meat cooked go
“The meat is too cooked.”

(Thepkanjana1986, p.153)

134

When pay, and maa, are serialized after a verb not involving movement,
according to her, pay, denotes imperfective aspect and maa, Perfect aspect, as illustrated
in (9a) and (9b), respectively.

(9) a su2rii, Faanz nag5sii5 pay, con, cob,
Suri read book go until end
“Suri kept reading until she finished the book.”
(Thepkanjan 1986, p.156)
b suzrii, tad, phom 5 maa,
Suri cut hair come
“Suri has just got a hair cut.”
(Thepkanjana 1986, p.166)
In her terms, pay, and maa, in (5) are main verbs. Pay, and maa, in (6) are directional
verbs. And pay, and maa, in (9) are aspectual verbs.

Thepkanj ana notes that the meanings of pay, and maa, when occurring as main
verbs and when occurring as aspectual verbs are not unrelated. According to her, pay,
inherently indicates that the subject is moving away and forward (from the speaker’s
center of attention). Consistently, the verb sequence in which pay, is an aspectual verb
implies that something is moving forward, or more and more progress is being made.
(p.175)

Cases where pay, occurs with destruction and disappearance verbs can be
considered the same way. According to her, we usually regard the destruction and the
disappearance of something as a change or a departure from normal state (i.e., state in
which things exist, work, and proceed normally and properly). We tend to fix our point

of reference at a normal state. If anything lacks the properties of being normal, that thing

is viewed as departing from the speaker, and so pay, can be used. (p. 1 52-1 53)

135

For pay, which occurs after stative verbs, she proposes that excess is another case
where there is a lack of the properties of being normal. According to her, a reasonable
degree is the speaker’s point of reference. Exceeding a reasonable degree is regarded as a
departure from the speaker’s point of reference, and so pay, is also used in this case.

For maa,, she proposes that maa, indicates that the subject is moving toward the
speaker and this directional implication still remains when maa, functions as an aspectual
verb. That is, maa,, as an aspectual verb, indicates that the agent has just done something
at a place away from where the speaker is. The time when the sentence is uttered is
simultaneous with the time when the result of a prior action carried out by the agent
becomes obvious to the speaker. Presumably there is a motion made by the agent from
the place where the prior action happened to the place where the speaker is. (p.166-167).

It seems, then, that in Thepkanjana (1986), there is concern about connecting the
multiple meanings of pay, and connecting the multiple meanings of maa,. However, it is

not explicit what the lexical representations for pay, and maa, are.

2.3 Wilawan (1994)

Wilawan (1994), on the other hand, argues that the so-called serial verb
constructions in Thai should be analyzed as subordinate constructions. Setting up a
separate serial verb construction is thus unnecessary and it is better to consider pay, in

(10a), (10b) and (10c) to be different lexical items.

136

(10) a coon, Fuuan3 pay,
John fat go
“John is too fat.”

(Wilawan 1994, p.100)

b COW3 yin 5 kan,smm.g5 pay, lmmw,
Princess cry go already
“The princess cried.”

(Wilawan 1994, p.108)

0 Nak, thood3 khon, nit) nii5 pay, mua3wan,
Prisoner one CL escape go yesterday
“One prisoner sneaked away yesterday.”
(Wilawan 1994, p.109)
In her analysis, pay, in (10a) is an adverb conveying the meaning that the condition of the
patient of the main verb deviates in an undesirable way from the standard assumed by the
speaker. Pay, in (10b) is an adverb for perfective aspect of the main verb as it identifies
the end point of the action up to the point of speech. And pay, in (10c) is considered to
be an adverb indicating direction away from the speaker.
Similarly, maa, in (11a) and (11b) are considered to be different lexical items.

Maa, in (11a) is an adverb identifying perfective aspect. And maa, in (11b) is an adverb

indicating direction toward the speaker.

(11) a Dekz rmmk3 kheed3 khon, nan, haayg'ay, maa, haa3 naa,thii, lmmw,

child just born CL that breathe come five minute lmmw,
“That infant has breathed for five minutes.”

(Wilawan 1994, p.106)

b Maa,lii, hoobz naa 5sii 5 maa, miia3waan,
Maalee carry book come yesterday
“Maalee carried books here yesterday.”

(Wilawan 1994, p.116)

137

Wilawan argues that pay, and maa, in (10) and (11) behave differently from
pay,and maa, which are motion verbs in several respects and so they should be
considered to be different lexical items.

For example, pay, and maa, which are motion verbs can be nominalized and

topicalized, as illustrated in (12). ((12) is not from Wilawan, 1994)

(12) kaan,pay, / kaan,maa, paa,riid3 kht'i, sin 2 thii 3 coon, tham,
going / coming Paris be thing that John do

ra4waa0; pit; teem,
during break

“Going / coming to Paris was what John did during the break.”
However, neither pay, in (10) nor maa, in (11) can undergo nominalization and
topicalization, as (13) and (14) are unacceptable.
(13) a *kaan,pay, khii, sin; thii 3 dmma, Puuan 3 tham,

going be thing that Dang fat do

*“Going is what Dang is fat to do.”

(Exceeding an appropriate degree was how fat Dang was.)

(p.102)

b *kaan,pay, th] Si02 (11113 COW3yi05 [(011 ,smmp 5 tham 1 [W4
going be thing that princess cry do PRF35
*“Going is what the princess cried do.”

(Harder and harder was how the princess cried.)

c *kaan,pay, khr'i, sin; thii3 nak3 thood3 khon, nit], nii5 tharn,
going be thing that prisoner CL one escape do

miia3waan,
yesterday

 

3’ I am using perfective (PRF) as a gloss for Item; however, in chapter 4, in which I provide an analysis of
1mm, we will see that the gloss PRF does not capture exactly the properties of Imam.

138

*“Going is what the prisoner escaped to do yesterday.”

(Further and further away from here was how the prisoner escaped
yesterday.)

(p.179)

(14) a "7600111111001 11003 naa,thii, th1 S102 thii3 dek; rmmk, [(113903 khon,
coming five minutes be thing that child just born CL

nan, haayg'ay, tham,
that breathe do

*“Coming five minutes is what that infant breathed do.”

(For five minutes is how long that that infant has been breathing.)
(p. 108)

b *kaan,maa, baan3 Nit, miia3waan, khii, sin; thii 3 maa,lii1hoob;
coming house Nit yesterday be thing that Malee carry

na05sii5 tham ,
book do

*“Coming to Nit’s house is what Malee carried the books do.”

(Toward Nid’s house is the direction to which Malee carried the book.)

(p.118)
According to her, sentence (13a) to (13c) are unacceptable because pay, for excessive
degree, pay, for perfective aspect, pay, for the direction away from the speaker,
respectively, cannot be nominalized or topicalized. The same goes for (14a) and (14b)
which are unacceptable because maa, for perfective aspect and maa, for the direction

toward the speaker, respectively, cannot be nominalized or topicalized.

139

Moreover, in royal language,36 pay, and maa, which are motion verbs can be

replaced by so; ded;pra, root 3 cha, dam, niian, “go”/”come,” as illustrated in (15).

(15) cow, yin, sa;ded;pra,raat,cha,dam,niian, lon,don,
princess go/come London
“The princess went/came to London.”

However, neither pay, nor maa, which behave like an adverb can be replaced by so; ded;

pra, raat, cha, dam, niian,, as the unacceptability of (16) and (17) illustrate.

(16) a *cow,yin, suup3pra, Pan, sa;ded;pra,raat,cha,dam,niian,
princess thin go
“The princess is too thin.”

(p.105)

b *cow, yin, kan ,smmn 5 sa;ded;pra,raat,cha,dam,niian, lmmw,
Princess cry go already
“The princess cried.”
(p.108)

c *cow, yin, son ,dam ,nir'an , sa;ded2pra,raat,cha,dam,niian,
princess walk go

“The princess walked away.”

(p. 111)
(17) a *cow, yin, son ,kansmmn sa;ded;pra,raat,cha,dam,niian,
princess cry come

haa 3 naa,thii, lmmw,
five minutes already

“The princess has cried for five minutes.”

 

36 Royal language refers to words which are used when talking about or with people in the royal family.

140

b *cow, yin, son,dam,niian, sa;ded;pra,raat,cha,dam,niian ,
princess walk come
“The princess walked here.”

Because these words are different in meaning and distribution, Wilawan (1994),
concludes that they must be considered to be different lexical items. In other words, she

concludes that the lexicon of Thai must includes the entries shown in (18):

(18) pay,l motion verb (go)
pay,2 adverb for “deviates from what is assumed by the speaker”
pay,3 adverb for perfective aspect
pay ,4 adverb for “direction away from the speaker”
maa ,1 motion verb (come)
maa ,2 adverb for perfective aspect
maa ,3 adverb for “direction toward the speaker”

Apparently, Wilawan (1994) does not take into account the fact that the
phenomenon in which an element for “go” and an element for “come” may denote aspect
is found cross-linguistically. Assuming multiple lexical entries would leave the issue of

why in so many languages these verbs tend to have similar behavior unexplained.

2.4 Mathias (2000)

Mathias (2000) in his studies of the aspect system of Thai, on the other hand,
Shows that most of the Thai aspect markers are also used as full verbs or have developed

from verbs. For this reason, it is difficult, if not impossible, to decide whether a

141

particular word we are dealing with is a verb with its own semantics or a grammatical

aspectual morpheme”.

For pay], Mathias says that pay, is widely used as an “orientation

”38 VCI’b

denoting a motion away from the point of reference. Pay, can be considered either

transitive or intransitive, as illustrated in (19a) and (19b) respectively.

(19) a

khaw, diian, pay, roon,riian,
he walk ORgo school
“He walks to school.”

(p.44)

kh0W5 703k2p0y1 1003I£$2 (H0113
He exit ORgo since noon
“He left at noon.”

(p.44)

However, pay, also has other uses which varies from “away from the present moment

into the future” to“ away from the speaker or his/her interest,” as illustrated in (20a) and

(20b) respectively.

 

37 The following abbreviations are used in Mathias (2000):

OR
CNT
DES
COMM
IMP
NEG
3s
PERF
TEMP
RED
FIN

Orientation verb
Continuous
Desiderative
Comment marker
Imperative

Negative

3rd person and singular pronoun
Perfect

Temporal Preposition
Reduplication

Final

3" Mathias (2000) does not define “orientation.”

142

(20)

a

hay, nak,riian, Paan; nan,sii, pay, Piik; yii,sip; naa,thii,
cause students read book CONT more twenty minute

“The students have to keep reading in their books for another twenty
minutes.”

(p.45)

yaak; phuut, Pa,ray, koo 3 phuut, pay, the;
DES speak what COMM speak ORgo IMP
“If you want to say something, go on speak!”

(p.47)

In (20a) the use of pay, is aspectual, more precisely, pay, is considered to be an aspectual

marker of a continuance into the future. In (20b), however, pay, is rather modal, as it

implies that the speaker is not going to listen what the addressee is going to say.

Mathias also notes that pay, co-occurring with a durative predicate without

prominent limits (“stative”) denotes “exceedingly, too much.” According to Mathias, in

this case, pay, is combined with keen, “go beyond, exceed,” and both the full form (i.e.,

keen, pay,), and abbreviated from (pay,) can be used. This is illustrated in (21).

(21)

man, nii, may, yaak; kin,, man, phmmn, (kaan,) pay,
shop this NEG DES eat 35 expensive (exceed) ORgo
“I don’t want to eat in this restaurant, it is too expensive.”

(p.46)

For maa,, Mathias describes maa, as an orientation verb for “come, motion

toward center of attention.” Similar to pay,, maa, can be considered either transitive or

intransitive, as illustrated in (22a) and (22b) respectively.

(22)

a

khaw, diian, maa, roon,riian,
he walk ORcome school
“He walks to school.”

143

b

kh0W5 kh0W3 "1001 (003lwfiz [110113
He enter ORgo since noon
“He got in at noon.”

However, maa, is also used to express that a situation extends towards the center of

interest, i.e. the present time. It therefore provides Perfect reading. Mathias notes,

though, that the spatial dimension, whenever available, is the dominant one. This can be

illustrated in (23) and (24).

(23) a
b

(24) a Q:
b A:

luuk, tham, Fa;ray, maa, siia, piian, mot;
child do what PERF shirt dirty all
“What have you done, son? Your shirt is all dirty.”

phom, kin, kwaaw, maa, toon, tian,
I eat rice PERF TEMP noon
“I had lunch at noon.”

(p.79)

wan, nii, mii, ?a1ray, may2may; maa, hay, duu, rii, plaw;
day this have what new:RED ORcome FIN look or NEG
“Have you got anything new to show me today?”

mii,, (&Ez may, day, Paw, "1001
have but NEG get take ORcome
“Yes, I do, but I didn’t bring it along.”

(p.80)

In (23), maa, behaves like a Perfect marker because it expresses that a situation has

started at some point in the past and has present relevance, although it does not

necessarily have to persist at the present time. However, in (24), maa, is considered to be

a verb for “come,” as it expresses motion toward the center of attention.

Mathias also noted that if the verbal expression lacks prominent limits, the use of

maa, is restricted. It is, in this case, compatible only with time expressions like

144

“since...” and “for. . .time,” however, it is not compatible with specific time expressions

like “when. . . .”

(25) khaw, ruuay, maa, tan ,tmm; (*toon ,) tham , naan, boo,ri,sat; nan,
he rich PERF since (TEMP) do work company that
“He has been rich since he started working for that company.”

(p.79)
In (25), as khaw, ruuay, “he rich” lacks prominent limits, maa, can co-occur, only if a

certain type of time expression is present. According to Mathias the time expression that

can license the occurrence of maa, in this case, is the time expression like tan ,tmm;. ..

“since. . .,” not the time expressions like toon,. .. “when...”

In his conclusion Mathias, realizing the need for unifying the multiple related
sense, states that for each Thai aspectual morpheme, it has to be kept in mind that it is a
case of one morpheme with different uses, not a group of homophonous morphemes.
However, in Mathias (2000), the task of unifying the multiple related uses does not seem

to be accomplished.

2.5 Muansuwan (2002)

The most recent study in which the behavior of pay, and maa, is discussed seems
to be that of Muansuwan (2002). Muansuwan (2002) in her studies of verb complexes in
Thai has a discussion of pay, and maa,.

Focusing on the aspcectual uses of pay, and maa, she shows that paJ’I functions
both as an imperfective marker and a perfective marker, while maa, functions only as a

Perfect marker.

I45

According to her, pay, encodes perfective aspect when combined with change of
state verbs such as taay, “die,” tmmk; “break,” and mot; “be gone” as in (26a), (26b) and

(26c) respectively”9

(26) a khaw, taay, pay,
he die PFTV(go)

“He died.”
(p.127)
b khmmw, tmmk; pay,
Glass break PFTV(go)
“The glass broke.”
(p.127)
0 nam,man, mot; pay,
oil be-gone PFTV(go)

“The gas is all gone.”

(p.127)

And pay, encodes an imperfective aspect when combined with verbs from state, activity,

or accomplishment classes, and followed by a durational adverbial phrase.

(27) a Wii,ra, chiia, riian, phii, pay, pen, wee,laa, sam, pii,
Wira believe issue ghost IMPFV(go) be time three year
“Wira believed in ghost for three years.”

(p.130)

b Wii,ra, win, pay, pen, wee,laa, saam, chuua3mon,
Wira run IMPFV(go) be time three hour
“Wira ran for three hours.

(p.130)

 

39 The following abbreviations are used in Muansuwan (2002):

PFTV Perfective
IMPF V Imperfective
PFCT Perfect

I46

c Wii,ra, teen; kloon, pay, pen, wee ,laa , saam, chuua3mon,
Wira compose poem IMPFV(go) be time three hour
“Wira composed a/the poem/poems for three hours.”

(p.130)
She notes that a durational adverbial phrase is necessary in a clause containing pay, “go”
in order for pay, to have an imperfective meaning, except in those cases in which pay, is
used to mark a backgrounding event, i.e. when pay, is used to mark that an event
provides the background for another event. According to her, this usage is similar to that

of the Imparfait in French and is illustrated below.

(28) Pi;ti; Paan; nan,sii, nay,kha,na; thii, Maamii, koo, tham, kaan,baan; pay,
Piti read book in moment that Manee then do homework IMPFV(go)
“Piti was/is reading a/the book while Manee was/is doing her homework.”

(p.131)
Furthermore, she shows that pay, can also be used in imperative sentences and encode
imperfective aspect, as illustrated in (29).
(29) Su;rii,, tham,kaan,baan; pay,

Surii, do homework IMPFV(go)
Surii, keep doing your homework.”

(p.131)
For maa,, she argues that maa, encodes Perfect aspect and maa, can be combined
with any class of verbs. The Perfect morpheme maa, is ambiguous between three
readings: existential, continuative and resultative as illustrated in (30a), (30b) and (30c)

respectively.
(30) a Piztiz kin, h30y51h00k5 maa, [(110311]

Piti eat snail PFCT(come) before
“Piti has eaten snails before.”

(p.134)

147

b Pi ;ti 2 tmmn , kloon, maa,
Piti compose poem PFCT(come)
“Piti has been composing a/the poem.”

(p.134)
0 Pi ;ti ; tharn, kwaam,sa,?aat; baan; maa,
Piti do cleanliness house PFCT(come)
“Piti has cleaned the house.”
(p.135)

In Muansuwan, again, the multiple aspectual meanings of pay, and maa, are
described. However, neither the connection among the multiple aspectual meanings nor
the connection between the aspectual meaning and the fact that pay,and maa, are also

verbs for “go” and “come,” respectively is provided.

2.6 Gandour (1978)

Focusing on non-spatial uses of pay, and maa,, Gandour (1978) analyzes the
deictic use of verbs of motion come and go in Thai. Gandour bases his analysis on
Clark’s (1974) proposal that the verbs of motion “come” and “go” may be used as idioms
to refer to change of state rather than to motion. In such idiomatic uses, the goal of the
motion associated with “come” is always the deictic center and the goal of the motion
associated with “go” is always the complement of the deictic center. Clark hypothesizes
that the deictic center includes some normal state of being.

According to Gandour (1978), Clark’s hypothesis is supported by the uses of pay,
and maa,, as when describing departure from a normal state, only pay, can be an event

modifier, as in (31).

148

(31) 10111703 S105
Machine out of order

“The machine went out of order.”

m

b phom, pen ,lom ,
I faint
“I fainted.”

C khrH0 3 Sid 5 pay,
Machine out of order pay,

“The machine went out of order.”40

(I phom, pen ,lom , pay,
I faint pay,
“I fainted.”41

(p.383)
Gandour argues that, in (31a) the deictic center is something like the expected or normal
function and in (3 lb), it is something like a normal state of consciousness. Substituting
maa, for pay, in (3 lo) and (31d) would result in ungrammaticality.
Gandour, proposes that an abnormal state also includes a state in which the degree

of the quality of an object exceeds a normal degree of the quality of the class of the object

in question. In Thai, keen, can be used to express such a state, as illustrated in (32).

(32) a tha,non, kwan,
road wide
“The road is wide.”

b (’10 1110115 Wang 3 keen,

road wide exceed
“The road is too wide.”

 

4° The translation does not seem to be correct. In the same line as pay, which co-occur with verbs
involving destruction and disappearance I argue that the correct translation is “The machine was getting
out of order.”

4' Again, the translation does not seem to be correct. The correct translation is “I was getting faint.”

149

C I ha 111011 5 khmmb 3

road narrow
“The road is narrow.”

d tha ,non 5 khmmb 3 keen,

road narrow exceed
“The road is too narrow.”

Crucially, while pay, can co-occur with keen ,, maa, cannot, as illustrated in (33).

(33) a tha,non, kwang, keen, pay/*maa,
road wide exceed pay,/*maa,
“The road is too wide”

b tha,non, khmmb, keen, pay,/*maa,

road narrow exceed pay,/*maa,
“The road is too narrow.”

(p.391)

Gandour, then, states that since pay, can co-occur with keen, but maa, cannot,

pay, “go” associates with an abnormal state and maa, “come” with a normal state,

supporting Clark’s hypothesis.

Gandour’s analysis for the use ofpay,, however, seems to be problematic when

closely examining cases such as (3 3). For such cases, keen, is optional. Without keen ,,

the meaning of exceeding a certain degree is still conveyed, as illustrated.
(34) a tha,non, kwang, pay,

road wide pay,
“The road is too wide”

b tha,non, khmmb, pay,
road narrow pay,

“The road is too narrow.”

As seen in the translation, the meaning of exceeding a certain limit remains, so the

meaning of exceeding a certain limit has to be in the denotation of pay,.

150

Moreover, for cases where an amount is specified, the amount specified is

interpreted differently when it occurs with keen, from when it occurs with keen, pay,,

This is illustrated in (35).

(35) a to, tua, nii, yaaw, keen, sib; fad,
Table CL this long keen, ten foot
“The length of this table is more than ten feet.”

b to, tua, nii, yaaw, keen, pay, sib;/ad,
Table CL this long keen, pay, ten foot
“This table is ten feet longer than what it is supposed to be.”

c to, tua, nii, yaaw, pay, sib2fitd,

Table CL this long pay, ten foot
“This table is ten feet longer than what it is supposed to be.”

As seen in the translations, in (35a), with keen, the amount specified is the amount that

the quality of the object has surpassed. However, when pay, is present, with or without

keen ,, the interpretation is that the amount specified is the amount of how much the

contextually assumed limit of the quality of the object has surpassed, as seen in the
translations in (3 5b) and (3 5c), respectively. This, not having been taken into
consideration in Gandour’s (1978) analysis, calls for an explanation.

Gandour (1978) provides a description for certain non-spatial uses of pay, and
maa,. However, how these non-spatial uses are connected to the other non-spatial uses
(i.e., pay, used for expressing continuation of action, and maa, used for expressing the
Perfect) and to the spatial uses “go” and “come” is not addressed.

In conclusion, it seems that going through earlier studies on aspect in Thai, most
of the studies noted the multiple senses of pay, and the multiple senses of maa,. In some

studies (i.e., Ratchabandittayasathan 1982, Wilawan 1994, Muansuwan 2002, and

151

Gandour 1978) the task of unifying the multiple uses of them is ignored or denied. In
some studies, the task of unifying the multiple senses is noted (i.e., Thepkanjana 1986,
Mathias 2000). However, there does not seem to be any earlier studies in which the task
of unifying the multiple senses is accomplished. More precisely, there do not seem to be
any earlier studies in which the question of how the multiple senses are connected is
explicitly answered.

In the following section, I summarize a major account on the connection between

the aspectual sense and the movement sense.

3. Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000)

Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000) observing that an element for “go” is
commonly used for expressing prospective aspect and an element for “come” is
commonly used for expressing Perfect aspect, account for this observation by proposing
that an element for “go” / “prospective” has the core meaning of “centripetal
coincidence” and an element for “come” / “Perfect” has the core meaning of “centrifugal
coincidence.”

The idea is that motion verbs such as French aller “go” and venir “come” take
two arguments (i.e., figure and ground) and describe a relation between the two
arguments. A motion verb for “go” describes that the figure moves toward the ground,
and a motion verb for “come” describes that the figure moves from the ground.

The figure and the ground can be either a pair of an entity and a place or a pair of

an assertion time and an event time. In cases where the figure is an entity and the ground

152

is a place, the interpretation is “go” and “come” as illustrated in (36a) and (36b)

respectively.

(3 6) a PredP
/\
Max Pred’
/\
Pred Paris
centripetal
coincidence

b PredP
/\
Max Pred’
/\
Pred Paris
centrifugal
coincidence

 

In (36a), the interpretation received is that Max moves toward Paris and in (36b) is that
Max moves from Paris.

In cases where the figure is an assertion time and the ground is an event time, the
interpretation received is prospective aspect and Perfect aspect, as illustrated in (37a) and
(37b) respectively.

(3 7) a AspP
Ase/TN,
Am-T

centripetal
coincidence

153

b AspP

/\
AST-T Asp’
/\
Asp EV-T
centrifugal
coincidence

In (37a) what is expressed is that the assertion time moves toward the event time, or that
the assertion time ends before/at event time and so the interpretation of prospective
aspect is the result. In (3 7b) what is expressed is that the assertion time moves from the
event time or that the assertion time starts after the event time, yielding the interpretation
of Perfect.

The major accomplishment in Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria (2000), is,
therefore, providing a general idea for why an element for “go” and an element for

“come” may be used for temporal information.

4. Bouchard (1995)

Bouchard (1995) accounts for the multiple uses of venir ‘come’ and aller ‘go’ in
French by proposing that venir ‘come’ and aller ‘go’ each has only one meaning and the
multiple uses are derived by the interaction of linguistic factors and extralinguistic
factors.

Bouchard (1995) investigates six French verbs: venir ‘come,’ aller ‘go,’ arriver
‘anive,’ partir ‘leave,’ entrer ‘enter,’ and sortir ‘go out.’ His observation is that
although these verbs have been assumed to be verbs of movement, there are a number of

the uses of these verbs which do not involve movement.

154

Focusing on venir ‘come’ and aller ‘go,’ he points out that venir, in addition to its

movement use as in (38a), has other uses that do not involve movement. For example,

venir may be used for expressing extension, and time as in (38b) and (38c) respectively.

(38)

a

Max vient de Paris demain
Max comes from Paris tomorrow
“Max will come from Paris tomorrow.”

(p.121)

Cette route vient de Montreal
That road comes from Montreal
“That road comes form Montreal.”

(p.138)

Max vient de partir
Max comes from leaving
“Max has just left.”

(p.139)

Similarly, aller “go,” in addition to its movement use as in (39a), has other uses

which do not involve movement. For examples, aller may be used for expressing

extension, and time as in (3 9b) and (39c) respectively.

(39)

3

Max va a Quebec (de Montreal)
Max goes to Quecbec City (from Montreal)

(p.149)

Cette route va de Montreal a Quebec
That road goes from Montreal to Quebec

(p.152)

Elle va courir le marathon (demain)
Elle is-going to run the marathon (tomorrow).

(p.153)

155

Bouchard proposes that the multiple uses of venir and aller are derived by
interaction of linguistic factors and extralinguistic factors; however, venir and aller each
have only one meaning. More precisely, he proposes that venir denotes an orientation
toward a deictic center and aller denotes an orientation toward a non-deictic center.

Concerning the notion of orientation, Bouchard argues that the orientation relation
remains constant across domains; however, it may be nontransparent due to
extralinguistic factors.

To illustrate this point, Bouchard shows that in the domain of space (i.e., how we
perceive objects in space), the extra-linguistic factors (i.e., whether an object is
considered to be instrisically-oriented or nonintrinsically-oriented’z) must be taken into
account. For example, the situation such as (41a) and (41b) can both be described by
(40).

(40) Le chien est devant I’arbre

“The dog is in front of the tree.”

(41) a

train ’1‘

——) (—-—

Ti'zt <3

 

‘2 Basically an intrinsically-oriented object is an object whose front part, back part and sides can be
identified, for example, a man, a car, etc. A nonintricsically-oriented object is an object whose fi'ont part,
back part and sides cannot be identified, for example, a tree, a lake, etc. This will be discussed in more
detail later.

156

Although the situation in (41a) and (41b) are different as the dog is on the
opposite side of the tree, both can be described by (40). Bouchard argues that it is the
extralinguistic property of the argument l’arbre “the tree” that is responsible for the fact
that the same sentence can be used to describe two different situations.

For the extralinguistic properties, Bouchard assumes the following functional
properties of objects.

(42) a Human beings and animals are oriented “frontally,” by the position of
their organs of perception and interaction (eyes, mouth, ears, arms, legs,
etc.)

b Furniture, tools, other “physical objects” are oriented functionally by the
condition of their normal use (e. g. side with drawers for desk, normal
direction of movement for car.)

c The orientation of nonintrinsically-oriented objects, such as trees,
columns, and the like, is determined by interaction with other actants43 .
(p. 124)

Since l’arbre “the tree” is considered to be a non-intrinsically oriented object, the
speaker may regard any side of the tree as the front side. In other words, the side of the
tree with which the speaker interacts face-to-face is changeable. So devant l'arbre “in
front of the tree” can correspond to both figure in (41a) and in (41b).

Therefore, a preposition like devant “in front of” makes the same semantic
contribution to the computation of any sentence. As it combines with extra-linguistic

factors, the same sentence can refer to different situations.

 

‘3 Actants refer to arguments and adjuncts. (p. 120)

157

Bouchard shows that not only does the contribution of prepositions such as devant
to orientation remain constant across spatial uses, but it also remains constant across
conceptual domains.

In the same way that there are extralinguistic factors at play in determining
orientation in spatial domain, there are extralinguistic factors at play in determining
orientation in each conceptual domain.

The relevant extralinguistic factors in each conceptual domain, however, are
different. For example, while the factors in (42) have effects on uses such as (43), they
will be irrelevant for uses such as (44).

(43) a Jean est devant / derriere Marie
Jean is in front of / behind Marie

 

b Jean est devant / derriere l’auto
Jean is in front of / behind the car

c Jean est devant / derriere l’arbre
Jean is in front of / behind the tree
(p.124)
(44) a lean est devant un probleme de taille

Jean is in front of a problem of size
“Jean is facing a sizeable problem.”

b Jean a tout son avenir devant lui
Jean has all his future ahead- of him

c Jean est courageux devant Ie danger
Jean is brave in the face of danger

d Ne t’inquiete pas, Jean, nous sommes derrriere toi
Don’t worry, Jean, we are behind you.
(p.126)

158

The different situations that a sentence can refer to result from differences in the
nature of the elements combined, not from different notions of orientation.

According to Bouchard venir “come” denotes an orientation toward a deictic
center, and aller “go” denotes an orientation toward a non-deictic center. The deictic
center is defined as ME-HERE-NOW (essentially the speaker).

Then, based on the idea that extra-linguistic factors are at play in determining the
specific interpretation of a sentence, the interpretation of sentences (3 8a) and (39a),
repeated as (45a) and (45b) can then be accounted for by the following.

(45) a Max vient de Paris demain

Max comes from Paris tomorrow
“Max will come from Paris tomorrow.”

(p.121)

b Max va a Quebec (de Montreal)
Max goes to Quebec City (from Montreal)

(p.149)
In (45a) verb venir tells us is that Max is oriented toward his being at the deictic center
with the tail end of the orientation being in Paris. And in (45b) verb aller tells us is that
Max is oriented toward his being at the antideictic center which is specified as Quebec
City, with the tail end of the orientation being Montreal. However, there are extra-
linguistic factors involved. Typically, Max refers to a human being and Paris, Quebec
City and Montreal refer to places. Given these typical properties we attribute to the
actants, movement is the most likely way for Max to establish the orientation relation
with Paris, Quebec City and Montreal. So the interpretation of movement is derived from

prototypical, extralinguistic properties of the actants in the sentence. The same goes for

(46).

159

(46) a Cette route vient de Montreal
That road comes from Montreal
“That road comes form Montreal.”

(p.138)

b Cette route va de Montreal a Quebec
That road goes from Montreal to Quebec City

(p. 152)

By venir “come,” cette route “this road” is oriented toward its being at the deictic
center, with the tail end of the orientation at Montreal. And by aller “go,” cette route
“this road” is oriented toward its being at the deictic center which is specified as Quebec
City, with the tail end of the orientation being Montreal. The extralinguistic factors
involved, however, is that we resort to what we generally know about roads and what is
best known about Montreal and Quebec City. In such circumstance, the most likely way
for cette route to establish the relationship described by the sentence is by extending from
Montreal to the deictic center or to the antideictic center Quebec City. So again the
extension interpretation is deduced from the prototypical, extralinguistic properties of the
actants in the sentence.

Finally, the cases of temporal uses of venir and aller are similarly explained.

(47) a Max vient de partir
Max comes from leaving
“Max has just left.”
(p. 1 39)
b Elle va courir le marathon (demain)
She is-going-to run the marathon (tomorrow).
(p.153)

160

To account for the temporal uses of venir, Bouchard’s idea is that these uses are temporal
because on of the actants (i.e., partir “leave,” in (47a) and courir le marathon “run the
marathon,” in (47b)) are temporal. According to him, whether the interpretation is past
or future is determined by the interaction of linguistic and extralinguistic factors.44

In conclusion, it seems that the major accomplishment in Bouchard (1995) is that
the lexical representation of aller/venir is neither spatial nor temporal nor any other

particular semantic field. The multiple interpretations of aller/venir are generated by the

interaction between linguistic factors and extralinguistic factors.

5. Data illustrating the inadequacy of earlier analyses

It seems that the behavior of French aller “go” and venir “come,” is captured in
Bouchard (1995), and the general idea for why an element for “go” and an element for
“come” may also convey temporal information is provided in Demirdache and Uribe-
Etxebarria (2000). However, the distributions and interpretations of pay, “go” and maa,
“come” in Thai seems to be problematic for the earlier analyses.

For example, unlike aller “go” in French which expresses future, pay, “go” is

used to express a certain type of continuation of an action”, as illustrated in (48).

(48) a cairn, Paan; nan,sii, lem, nan,
John read book CL that
“John read that book.”
b coon, Faan; nan,sii, lem 3 non, pay,

John read book CL that pay,
“John continued reading that book.”

 

’4 Detailed discussion of the interaction between linguistic and extralinguistic factors are not crucial to here.
‘5 The continuation of action denoted by pay, will be discussed in more detail later.

161

c coon ,, tham, kaan ,baan;

John, do homework
John, do your homework.”

(I coow, tham , kaan,baan; pay,

John, do homework pay,
John, carry on doing your homework.”

Furthermore, pay,“go” may be used to express the exceeding degree of a state, as

illustrated in (49)
(49) a man, Pauun,
John fat
“John is fat.”
b wan, Pauun 3 pay,

John fat pay,
“John is too fat.”

Neither applying Bouchard’s analysis nor Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria’ proposal
seems to be the way in which the behavior of pay, can be accounted for. Something else
has to be said since aller “go” in French cannot provide the interpretation of exceeding
degree.

For maa,, unlike venir “come” which may express both Perfect and future, maa,
“come” may be used to express only a version of the Perfect. Moreover, maa, “come”
may express the Perfect only if it co-occurs with adverbials such as for-adverbials and
since-adverbials. Without adverbial modification, spatial movement is denoted, as

illustrated by (50a) and (50b) respectively.

(50) a coon, Paan; nan,sii, maa, pen, wee,laa,son, chuua, mon,
John read book maa, be time two hours
“John has been reading for two hours.”

b coon, Faan; nan, sit, maa,

John read book maa,
“John came in having been reading.”

162

In (50a), maa, behaves like a particle for a version of the Perfect, in particular, the
universal Perfect, because it indicates that John is reading now and that this state of
affairs has already been going on for two hours. In (50b), however, maa, describes that
the event of John reading occurs at a place away from where the sentence is uttered and
the result of John reading (i.e., John being able to tell what the book is about) may be
present at the time when the sentence is uttered. Again, neither applying Bouchard’s
analysis nor Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria’ proposal seems to be the way in which
the behavior of maa, can be accounted for. Something else has to be said, since the
restrictions on maa, are different from the restrictions on venir.

Therefore, Bouchard’s (1995) analysis for French aller “go,” and venir “come,”
and Demirdache and Uribe-Etxebarria’s (2000) generalization for the behavior of an
element for “go” and an element for “come” do not seem to be adequate to account for
the distribution and interpretation of pay, and maa, in Thai. In other words, the behavior

of pay, and maa, in Thai calls for more explanation.
6. The analysis of pay, and maa,
It should be apparent that the distribution and interpretation of pay , and maa, in

Thai has not been well-described in earlier studies of Thai grammar nor can the behavior

of pay, and maa,be captured in earlier analyses of elements for “come” and element for

163

In this section I propose an analysis in which the distribution and interpretation of
pay, and maa, can be explained. The analysis consists of two main parts: the semantics

of pay, and maa,, and then the syntax of pay, and maa,.

6.1 Semantics of pay,/rnaa ,

In this section, I investigate the semantics of pay, and maa,. I will start the
investigation with Jackendoff’ s (1996) proposal for types of situations. Then, I will use
his proposal to analyze, the behavior of pay, and maa,. Finally, I will propose a unified

meaning ofpay, and a unified meaning of maa,.

6.1.1 Jackendoff’s (1996) proposal on types on situations

Traditionally, we have seen before that the notions that have been used to
categorize kinds of situation are things like culmination points, instantaneity, and
dynamism. Accomplishments and achievements are considered to be situations which
have culmination points while activities and states are considered to be situations which
have no culmination points. Achievements differ from accomplishments, activities and
states in terms of instantaneity. While achievements are instantaneous, accomplishments,
activities, and states are not instantaneous. States differ from accomplishments,
achievements, and activities in terms of dynamicity. While states are considered to be

non-dynamic, accomplishments, achievements and states are considered to be dynamic.

164

J ackendoff (1996) argues that the properties of culmination, instantaneity, and
dynamism exhibited in events are a matter of projecting a temporal cross-section of an
event onto temporal axes and establishing relationships among these axes. "6

J ackendoff proposes that an event can be viewed in the same way as a generalized
cone. Assuming Marr (1982), a generalized cone is a three-dimensional shape that is
formed by moving a cross-section along an axis. The cross-section may smoothly vary in
size, but its shape remains the same. A tube, for example, is a generalized cone. A cross-

section of a tube is an annulus shape (i.e., a ring) and this cross-section is projected onto

axes, as illustrated by the decomposition in (51).

=@+/‘\

Because the annulus shape remains over the length of the axes, the axes can be assumed

,(51)

to be linked to one another, or, in J ackendoff’ 5 terms, the axes are “structure-preserving
bound” (Sp-bound). Any part of the axes, therefore, has a corresponding cross-section.
Jackendoff discusses that an event can also be viewed in the same way. An event
of motion such as The cart rolled to New York can also be viewed as projecting a cross-
section onto axes.
The cross-section of an event The cart rolled to New York consists of BE function
which takes thing and space as arguments and time as a modifier. Each has the feature 0d

(zero dimensionality)“, as represented in (52).

 

‘6 It should be noted that Jackendoff’s system is not always clear.
’7 Zero dimensionality basically refers to a point.

165

(52) [Oct [ 0d 1,] E M]
Sit BE ( [Thing/Y], Space Time _r‘

This cross-section is projected onto three axes. The point-situation is projected
onto a durative event. The point of space is projected onto a path and the point in time is

projected onto a time interval, as represented in (53) where 1d stands for one

dimensionality“.
(53) [Id] [1d] [1d]
1 1
0d

Sit BE ( [Thing/Y] 9 [Space 0d] ); [Time 0d]

The three axes are sp-bound, as notated by the superscripting Greek letters to the axes, as

demonstrated in (54).

(54) [1d]°‘ [ld]“ [1d]“l
II II II
0d
Sit BE ( [Thing/Y] 9 [Space 0d I ); [Time 0d]
Consequently, for each point t, on the time axis, there will be a cross-section of the event
that represents the theme at some location 1,.

According to J ackendoff, this captures the fact that when the space is bounded,
the time interval and the situation are unbounded (i.e., able to be modified by in x time)
And when the space is unbounded, the time interval and the Situation are unbounded (i.e.
able to be modified by for x time), as in The cart rolled to New York in/*for two days, and

The cart rolled along the road in/"for two days, respectively.

 

‘8 One dimensionality basically refers to a line.

166

By viewing an event in the same way as a generalized cone, a distinction among
kinds of events can be seen in terms of projecting a temporal cross-section onto sp-bound
axes.

J ackendoff argues that in events involving performance such as Bill read the
paper and Bill sang, the entities being performed such as the paper are object through
which the performer realizes the event over time. In other words, at a particular moment
in time, the performer is involved with a particular part of the object.

Because a point in an object being performed and a point in time are related, it
can be assumed that for events involving performance, a point in an object and a point in
time are projected onto axes which are sp-bound. Assuming a ftmction PERFORM (X,
Y), where X is the performer and Y is the object being performed, events involving

performance can be represented as (55).

'— [1d]“ [1d]: [1d]?
i

0d
L— Sit PERFORM ( [Thing/Y]: [Thing 0d] ); [Time 0d] —4

(55)

 

 

According to J ackendoff, in cases where there is a bounded object (e.g., the
paper), the event is telic (i.e., able to be modified by in x time) and in cases where there is
a non-bounded object (e.g., fiction) or no object is specified, the event is atelic (i.e., able
to be modified by for x time).

In his discussion about events of creation/consumption, J ackendoff points out that

an event of creation/consumption involves three different interpretations. First, in an

167

event of creation/consumption, at each point in time, the corresponding part of the object
comes into existence/goes out of existence. For example, for building a house, at each
point in time, a corresponding part of the house comes into existence and for eating an
apple, at each point in time, a corresponding part of the apple goes out of existence. For
this interpretation, his analysis is that, similar to an event of performance, a point in an
object being created/consumed and a point in time are projected onto axes which are sp-

bound, as represented in (5 6).49

(56) a X comes into existence bit by bit over interval T:

_ INCH [BEEx([Od],INEXISTENCE)]; [0d]

,—

 

 

b X goes out of existence bit by bit over interval T:

1d“1 1d a 1d "—
1“] [f] [I]

INCH [BEEx ( I 0d ], OUT EXISTENCE ) 1; [0d]

F

 

 

However, in an event of creation/consumption, it is also possible that the object as
a whole appears or disappear gradually, for example, the “beaming” in Star Trek or the
gradual fading out of the Cheshire cat. For this second interpretation for an event of
creation/consumption, the existence is treated like a scalar property: there is a gradual

route from existence to non-existence, or vice-versa. This scale is then bound to time,

 

‘9 Jackendoff assumes INCH (inchoative) and Ex (existence) to be primitives.

168

giving us the reading in which the object as a whole appears or disappears gradually, as

represented in (57a) and (57b).50

 

 

(57) a. _X as a whole comes into existence gradually over in—terval T:
Ed I [‘1
IN EXISTENCE T
11 II II
INCH [BEEX (X , [0dl)] ; [0d]
b. X as a whole goes out of existence gradually over time T:
_ [1,1]“ [Ed :| [in] 7
OUT EXISTENCE T
II II II
LINCH [Ben (X . 10cm] ; 1041

 

 

The third interpretation for an event of creation/consumption is that the object is
created or destroyed abruptly. For example, one can have a new idea spring “fully
formed” into one’s mind or gulp down a handful of popcorn all at once. For this
interpretation, J ackendoff’ 3 analysis is that the time axis has no points between the initial
point and the end point. J ackendoff considers this kind of events to be “a point-event.”
Events in which the whole object appears or disappears instantaneously can be

represented as (58a) and (5 8b), respectively.

 

5° Jackendoff notes that the reading in (56) and the reading in (57) are differentiated only by pragrnatics for
verbs like appear and disappear and for causatives such as create and destroy.

169

(58) a X comes into existence at T:

[OdIGI [0d]“

INCH [BE Ex (X, IN EXISTENCE)] ; [T]
b X goes out of existence at T:

[0d]“ [0d]“

INCH [BE Ex (X, OUT EXISTENCE)] ; m

In (58a) and (58b), the period of time is taken as zero-dimensional and the event is
regarded as a point-event; the whole object appears or disappears instantaneously.

What can be derived from his discussion is that achievements such as John won,
express instantaneous change, so an achievement should also be regarded as a point-
event.

The ideas of projecting a temporal cross-section and axial binding also render the
distinction between events and states apparent. Intuitively, for events continuous change
over time is exhibited; however, for states there is no continuous change over time.

For states, the time interval may be a point or an open or closed interval but the
states remains unchanged. So for states, there is no dependence between time and the
structure of the situation. Jackendoff proposes that states have no axis that is sp-bound to
time and can be represented as (59).

(59) Canonical State:

[Sit F(xs Y); [Time TI]

170

In conclusion, by assuming an analogy between generalized cones and events
proposed by J ackendoff (1996), two different kinds of situation can be assumed: i)
situations in which a point in time is projected onto an axis that is sp-bound with other
axes, and ii) situations in which a point in time is not projected onto an axis. The first
kind of situation includes accomplishments and activities and the second kind of situation
includes achievements and states.

Consequently, accomplishments and activities are situations in which continuous
change over time is exhibited, while achievements and states are situation in which

continuous change over time is not exhibited.

6.1.2 Investigating pay,

Taking Jackendoff s idea that an event can be viewed as projecting a cross-section
onto structure-preserving bound axes as a basis, in this section, I investigate pay, which is
used for expressing “go,” for expressing continuation of action, and for expressing “too.”

The idea I will pursue is that pay, adds a value of NOT HERE5 I to a space axis, a
time axis or a property axis. As a result, pay, imposes a scalar structure on one of three
components: SPACE, TIME, or PROPERTY.

When a scalar structure is imposed on space, a motion event is expressed. When
a scalar structure is imposed on time, the continuative is expressed. And when a scalar

structure is imposed on property, “too” is expressed.

 

5 ' For NOT HERE, I don’t necessarily mean space. It could be time or norm.

17l

6.1.2.1 pay, for “go”

I will analyze what has been assumed to be the most salient use of pay,, that is, its
use as an element describing movement away from the speaker, or “go.” I will Show that
pay, adds direction to an event. We will encode that by assuming that pay, assigns a
value NOT HERE/ NOT THE CONTEXTUALLY DETERMINED PLACE to a space
axis.

Bouchard (1995) discusses that the logic of movement involves a starting point,
and an ending point, and a path of movement, and a certain temporal-spatial constraints:
for instance, if some entity E moves, then there are at least two times, t1 and t2, and two
places, p1 and p2, such that at t1 E is at p1 and at t2 E is at p2. (p.120)

“Go” is one of the verbs of movement and for the movement denoted by verb
“go,” p1 is a deictic center (i.e., HERE) and p2 is an antideictic center (i.e., NOT HERE).
Therefore, by sentence (60), John, at t1, is at deictic center and at t2 is at an antideictic

center which, in this case, is the bank.

(60) coon, pay, tha, naa, kaan,
John pay, bank
“John went to the bank.”
However, it seems that, for p1, as well as a deictic center, a certain contextually
determined place is permitted.

To illustrate, suppose John is in New York, Bill is in London , and Fred is in

Tokyo, as depicted in (61).

(61) Bill John Fred
London New York Tokyo

172

Also John, Bill, and Fred know where each other lives. John could appropriately tell
Fred over the phone that Bill would go to Tokyo, although for John, the place where Bill
is, is not considered to be HERE”.

As p1 and p2 have to be two different places, it can be derived that in cases where
p1 is HERE p2 is NOT HERE, and in cases where p1 is A CONTEXTUALLY
DETERMINED PLACE (i.e., London), p2 is NOT THE CONTEXTUALLY
DETERMINED PLACE (i.e., not London).

A verb of movement denotes an event of motion. As discussed in section (6.1.1),
Jackendoff (1996) proposes that an event of motion (i.e., The cart rolled to New York)

will minimally be associated with the representation in (62).

 

 

(62) C [Id]: [1d]° [1d]:—
II II II
0d
Sit BE ( [ThingX] 9 I Space 0d I ) i I Time 0d I

In (62) the cross-section of an event of motion consists of a BE function which takes
thing and space as arguments and time as a modifier. Each has the feature 0d (zero
dimensionality). This cross-section is projected onto three axes. The point-situation is
projected onto a durative event. The point of Space is projected onto a path and the point
in time is projected onto a time interval. The three axes are sp—bound, as notated by the
superscripting Greek letters on the axes. Consequently, for each point t, on the time axis,

there will be a cross-section of the event that represents the entity at some location 1,.

 

’2 It is important to note that while it is appropriate for John to say that Bill would go to Tokyo, it is not
appropriate for John to say that Bill would come to Tokyo.

173

For the movement denoted by verb “go,” entity E moves in a way that at t1 E is at
a deictic center or a contextually determined place, and at t2 E is at an antideictic center,
or at another contextually determined place. I propose that based on the representation of
an event of motion as in (62), for an event of motion denoted by pay, “go,” the space axis
is assigned the value NOT HERE/N OT THE CONTEXTUALLY DETERMINED
PLACE and this axis is bound with other axes.

Now the event described by sentence (60),can be represented as (63), where CDP

stands for the contextually determined place.

(63) [1d]°‘ 1d a no)“
[NOT HERE/N OT CDIZ|
II II
0d
_ Sit BE ( [Thing X] a I Space 0d I ) i I Time 0d I

 

 

In (63), the value NOT HERE/NOT CDP is added to the space axis and this axis
is bound with other axes (i.e., an axis projected from a point in time, and an axis
projected from a point situation), hence the interpretation that there is gradual change of
location of an entity to NOT HERE/N OT CDP.

In summary, it seems plausible that pay,, which is used to express movement

away from the speaker or “go,” is parasitic to a space axis and that it marks a value NOT

HERE/NOT CDP on the space axis.

174

6.1.2.2 pay, for continuation of action

Expressing continuation of action, there are certain selection restrictions. Pay,
can naturally co-occur with accomplishments and activities, as illustrated in (64) and

(65), respectively.

(64) a coon, ?aan; nan,sii, pay,
John read book pay,
“John continued reading.”

b Mmm,rii, waad, ruub, pay,
Mary draw picture pay,
“Mary continued drawing.”

(65) a coon, ten;ram,pay,
John dance pay,
“John continued dancing.”

b coon, roon,pleen, pay,
John sing pay,
“John continued Singing.”

However, pay, cannot co-occur with achievements nor states, as illustrated in (66)

and (67), respectively.

(66) a * COOn, cha,na, pay,
John win pay,
“John continued to win.”

b * coon, phob, kra,paw,sa,than, pay,
John find wallet pay,
“John continued to find the wallet.”

(67) a * c03n, chiia, nay, pra,]'aw, pay,

John believe in God pay,
“John continued to believe in God.”

175

b * coon, choob, Mmm,rii, pay,
John like Mary pay,
“John continued to like Mary.”

Pay, may co-occur with verbs involving destruction and disappearance
(Thepkanjana 1986) or change of state verbs (Muansuwan 2002), such as hak; “break,”
taay, “die,” haay, “disappear,” etc., as illustrated in (68).

(68) a tonsmays may: pay,
tree die go
“The plant is dead.”

(Thepkanjana 1986, p.153)

b khmmw, tmmk; pay,

Glass break go
“The glass broke.”

(Muansuwan 2002 p. 127))
The interpretation conveyed in (68a) and (68b), however, is that the tree goes out
of existence over an interval of time, and that the glass goes out of existence over an
interval of time, suggesting that the situations in (68a) and (68b), are not different from

the situations in (64) and (65).

One piece of evidence supporting this is that when an adverbial such as khooy 3
khooy, “gradually” is present, pay, is required, as illustrated in (69) and (70).53

(69) a *ton,may, khooy 3 khooy, taay,
tree gradually die
“The plant is gradually dead.”

b ton ,may, khooy, khooy, taay, pay,
tree gradually die go
“The plant is gradually dead.”

 

’3 English also has similar cases. For example, The crowd went quite and The line went dead.

176

(70) a *khmmw, khooy, khooy, tmmk;

Glass gradually break
“The glass is gradually broken.”

b khmmw, khooy, khooy, tmmk; pay,

Glass gradually break go
“The glass is gradually broken.”

These selection restrictions are not unexpected. That is, as pay, is parasitic to an axis, it
is compatible with events in which there is projection of points onto an sp-bound axes
and it is not compatible with events in which there is no projection of points onto sp-
bound axes. Accomplishments and activities are events in which there is projection of
points onto sp—bound axes but achievements and states are events in which there is no
projections of points onto sp-bound axes, so, not surprisingly, pay ,, expressing
continuation, applies to accomplishments and activities, but not to achievements and
state.54

The role of expressing continuation of action of pay , has been described in a
number of earlier studies (Uppakitsinlapasarn 1964, Thepkanjana 1986, Mathias 2000,
Muansuwan 2002); however, upon taking a closer look at the continuation expressed by
pay ,, the earlier descriptions do not seem to be adequate.

The continuation of action expressed by pay, involves a particular sense. Pay,

does not only indicate that an action continues, but also that the action could have

stopped at an earlier point. This can be illustrated by the co-occurrence of thin,... koo,

“although” and pay,, as in (71) and (72).

 

’4 Neither an iterative nor habitual reading are available when pay, co-occurs with achievements. An
explanation might have to do with the relatively low position of pay,, Generally, an iterative or habitual
reading may be forced by a generic operator which is higher in the structure.

177

(71)

8)

thin, tho ,ra ,sab ; dan, coon, koo, Paan; nun ,sii , pay,
although telephone ring John read book pay,
“Although the telephone rang, John continued reading.”

b * thin, tho ,ra,sab; dan, coon, koo, Paan; nun,sii,
although telephone ring John read book
“Although the telephone rang, John continued reading.”

(72)

91

lhi05 don,trii, yud; 80011] [(033 181131‘0111] pay,
although music stop John dance pay,
“Although the music stopped, John continued dancing.”

b * thi05 don,trii, yud; 83011] [(303 (81131'01111
although music stop John dance
“Although the music stopped, John continued dancing.”
In (71), the action of reading could have stopped at the point when telephone rang,
however, the action of reading continued. Similarly, in (72), the action of dancing could
have stopped at the point when the music ended, however the action of dancing
continued. As pay, is required in these cases, pay, describes that the action continues
although it could have stopped.
That pay, is used in imperative sentences also supports that pay, describes that the
action continues, although it could have stopped. This can be illustrated in (73).
(73) a Su;rii,, tharn, kaan,baan,
Suri, do homework
“Suri, do your homework.”
b Su;rii,, thorn, kaan,baan, pay,
Suri, do homework pay,

“Suri, carry on your homework.”

(Thepkanjana, 1986, Muansuwan 2002)

178

While (73a) is a command used in general contexts, (73b) is a command Specifically used
in a context in which, for some reason (i.e., her roommate just turned a TV on), Su;rii,
could stop doing her homework.

As pay, describes that an action continues, although it could have stopped, pay,
describes that from a certain contextually determined point of time (i.e., a point of time
where an event should stop), an event goes on.

Cases in (71) and (72) which are not cases of imperatives, can be considered to be
cases where the point of time where an event should stop does not coinside with NOW,
and cases in (73), which are cases of imperatives can be considered to be cases where the
point of time where an event should stop coincide with NOW.

Describing that from NOW or from a certain contextually determined point of
time (i.e., a point of time where an event should stop), an event goes on, or that an event
goes on in the sense of more and more away from NOW or more and more away from a
contextually determined point in time (i.e., a point of time where an event should stop),
pay, only operates on events in which a point in time is projected onto an axis that is sp-
bound with other axis.

This, therefore, supports the idea that pay, is parasitic to a time axis and it assigns
a value of NOT NOW or NOT THE CONTEXTUALLY DETERMINED TIME to the
time axis.

Assuming Jackendoff (1996), events such as reading, dancing, and doing
homework are events in which the function PERFORM is encoded and can be

represented as (74).

179

(74)

_ no)“ [Id] [In]?
Y
II || II

(M
_ Sit PERFORM ( [ThingX ], [Thing 0d] ); [Time 0d] __,

 

 

I propose that when events such as reading, dancing or doing homework have
pay, as an event modifier, the representation is as in (75) where CDT stands for the

contextually determined point in time.

(75) T _
[1d] a [1,1]“ [ 1d :1 °
Y NOT NOW/NOT CDT
II II 1
0d
Sit PERFORM ( [Thing X], [Thing 0d] ); [Time 0d] __

 

 

In (75), the value of NOT NOW or NOT THE CONTEXTUALLY DETERMINED
TIME is introduced, and the axis marked for this value (i.e., an axis projected from a
point in time) is bound with the other axes (i.e., an axis projected from a point situation
and optionally an axis projected from an object being performed ), hence the
interpretation that from NOW or THE CONTEXTUALLY DETERMINED TIME (i.e., a
point of time where an event should stop) an event goes on. What is crucial is that the
event goes on beyond the now/expected.

In summary, it is apparent that pay,, which is used to express the continuation of

an action adds value of NOT NOW or NOT THE CONTEXTUALLY DETERMINED

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TIME to a time axis and this axis is bound with other axes, in particular, an axis projected

from a point situation and optionally an axis projected from an object being performed.

6.1.2.3 pay, for “too”

States are situations denoted by predicates such as believe and like as in (76), as

well as situations denoted by predicates such as fat and salty, as in (77).

(76) a man, chiia, nay, pran'aw,
John believe in God
“John believes in God.”

b coon, choob, Mmm,rii,

John like Mary
“John likes Mary.”

(77) a coon, Fuuan 3

John fat
“John is fat”

b keen, kem,
Soup salty

“The soup is salty.”

There is, however, a difference between the states in (76) and the states in (77).
Assuming Kennedy (2000), the states in (76) and (77), differ in terms of scalar properties.
While the states in (77) wear their scalar properties on their sleeve, so to speak, the states
in (76) do not.

Representing the states in (77), the representation of an event of change of
properties can be taken as a basis. Jackendoff (1996) discusses that Gruber (1965)

considers predicates of change of state as in The water got hot in two minutes or The

181

water got hotter for two minutes to express motion in the Identificational domain and
their representation is as in (78), where the property is laid out in the projection of the

Property constituent and the time interval and the course of the event are sp-bound to it.

(p.331)

(78) T 1141“ IIdI“ 11d)"

L Sit BEldent ( [Thing )fl 9 [ Property 0d I ); [ Time 0d ]

 

 

However, as in (77), there is no change of state over time (i.e., the time interval
may be a point, or an open, or closed interval but the state remains unchanged), it can be
assumed that the representation of states in (77) is as in (79) where property and time are

not projected onto sp—bound axes.

(79) [ Sit BEIdent ( [Thing )fl 3 [ Property 0d I ); [Time 0d I I

As the state in (77) differs from the state in (76) in that the scalar properties are
exhibited, it is plausible that for property in (77), there is a projection of a point onto a

scalar axis, as in (80).

(80) [1d] a _

L Sit BEIdent( [Thing X I 9 I Property 0d I ) ; [Time 0d]

 

 

d

So, while in (76) there is no projection of a point onto an axis, in (77) there is a

projection of a point onto an axis. As expected, pay,, adding a certain value on an axis,

182

cannot co-occur with the states in (77), but can co-occur with states in (76) as illustrated

by (81), and (82).

(81)

(32)

a * coon, chiia 3 nay, pra,jaw, pay,
John believe in God pay,
“John believes in God too much.”

b * coon, choob, Mmm,rii, pay,
John like Mary pay,
“John likes Mary too much.”

a coon, ?uuan, pay,

John fat pay,
“John is too tall.”

b keen, keml pay,

soup salty pay,
“The soup is too salty.”

In (82), however, pay, describes that a situation exceeds a certain point on the scale of

being fat and being salty, respectively, and it can be translated as “too.”

That pay, in (82) describes a situation that exceeds a certain point on the scale

indicates that it is not incompatible with the assumption that it adds a certain value on an

axis.

I propose that in the cases of (82) pay, adds the value NOT NORMAL to an axis

projected from the property.

(83)

Now, sentences (82a) and (82b), can be schematically represented as (83).

0d
[ NOT INIIIORMAL

Sit BE Ident( [Thing X 1, [Property 0d ] ) ;

 

—

183

1

[ Time 0d I

 

In (83), the value of NOT NORMAL is marked on the property axis which is taken as
zero-dimensional. Therefore, NOT NORMAL is the degree of the property. In (82a) and
(82b), therefore, the property of being fat and being salty is at the degree of NOT
NORMAL.

Under the assumption that pay, adds NOT NORMAL to the property axis, cases
which are problematic for Gandour’s analysis, as in (3 5), repeated here as (84a) and
(84b), can also be accounted for.

(84) a to, tua, nii, yaaw, pay, Sibzfild4
Table CL this long pay, ten foot

“This table is ten feet longer than what it is supposed to be.”

b to, tua, nii, yaaw, keen, sib; fild,
Table CL this long keen, ten foot
“The length of this table is more than ten feet.”

In (84a), pay, adds the value NOT NORMAL to the axis of being long. When there is a
specified amount, not surprisingly, the specified amount is associated with how much the
point considered to be a normal degree of being long has been surpassed. On the other
hand, in (84b), without pay,, the property of being long is not on the scale in which the
value of NOT NORMAL is assigned. The amount specified is, therefore, not going to be
associated with the degree of being not normal. Therefore, within the current
assumption, the facts which would otherwise be hard to account for can naturally be
accounted for.

In summary, it is demonstrated that pay,, which is used to express excessive
degree, or “too,” adds a value of NOT NORMAL to a property axis, hence the
interpretation conveyed is that the property is carried on in a way that the degree of NOT

NORMAL is reached, or that the degree considered to be normal has been surpassed.

184

6.1.3 Summary for the behavior of pay,

We have seen that pay, which is used to express movement away from the
speaker or “go” adds a value of NOT HERE /NOT CDP to the space axis. Pay,,
therefore describes that a point with the value NOT HERE/N OT CDP is where the space
axis reaches or that a point with the value HERE/CDP has been surpassed.

By taking a closer look at pay, when it is used to express continuation, it is
apparent that pay, also adds a value of NOT NOW/N OT CDT to a time axis.
Consequently, pay, describes that NOT NOW or NOT CDT is where the time axis
reaches, or that a point with the value of NOW/CDT has been surpassed.

And similarly, from the examination of pay, when it is used to express excessive
degree, or “too,” it is clear that pay, adds a value of NOT NORMAL to a property axis.
As a result, pay, describes that NOT NORMAL is a degree where the property axis
reaches, or that a point which is considered to be a normal degree has been surpassed.

The behavior of pay,, then, is parasitic to a space axis, a time axis, or a property
axis and it assigns a value of NOT HERE/NOT CDP, NOT NOW/NOT CDT, NOT

NORMAL to the space axis, the time axis, or the property axis, respectively.

6.1.4 Investigating maa,

Again, taking Jackendoff s idea that an event can be viewed as projecting a cross-

section onto structure-preserving bound axes as a basis for an investigation, in this

185

section, I investigate maa,. As we will see maa, has the same role as pay,. Essentially,
the difference is that it goes from NOT HERE/NOT NOW to HERE/N OW.

In section (6.1.4.1) to (6.1.4.4), we will see that maa, is parastic to a space axis, a
time axis or a situation axis, and that it adds a value of HERE to a space axis or situation
axis, and a value of NOW to a time axis. Assuming this, restrictions on the distribution
and interpretation of maa,, which would otherwise be hard to be accounted for, can

naturally be accounted for.

6.1.4.1 maa, for “come”

As the movement use seems to be the most salient use of maa,, in this section, I
investigate maa, as it is used for expressing movement in a direction toward the speaker,
or “come.” It will be demonstrated that maa,, like pay,, adds direction to an axis
projected from a point in space and this axis is bound with other axes.

For movement denoted by “come,” p1 is an antideictic center (i.e. NOT HERE)
and p2 is a deictic center (i.e., HERE). Therefore, by sentence (85), John, at t1, is at an
antideictic center and at t2, he is at a deictic center which, in this case, is the bank.

(85) coon, maa, tha, naa, kaan,
John maa, bank
“John came to the bank.”

Since (85) is an event of motion, according to Jackendoff (1996), the

representation is minimally as in (86).

186

(86) [1d] a [1d]Cl [1d]‘1

0d
Sit BE( [Thing/Y] 9 [Space 0d ] ); [Time 0d]

In (86) the cross-section of an event of motion consists of a BE function which takes
thing and space as arguments and time as a modifier. Each has the feature 0d (zero
dimensionality). This cross-section is projected onto three axes. The point-situation is
projected onto a durative event. The point of space is projected onto a path and the point
in time is projected onto a time interval. The three axes are sp-bound, as notated by the
superscripting Greek letters on the axes. Consequently, for each point t, on the time axis,
there will be a cross-section of the event that represents the entity at some location 1,.

For the movement described by the verb “come,” entity E has to move in a way
that at t1 E is at an antideictic center, and at t2, E is at a deictic center. I propose that
based on the representation of an event of motion as in (86) for an event of motion
denoted by maa, “come,” the space axis is assigned the value HERE, and the axis is
bound with other axes.

Therefore, the event described by sentence (85), can be represented as (87).

 

 

(87) — [1d]“ 1d a no)“
I: HERE.
II || ||
0d
L Sit BE([ThingX]s [Space Odl); [nmCOd] _

In (87), the value HERE is introduced to the space axis and this axis is bound with

other axes (i.e., an axis projected from a point in time, and an axis projected from a point

187

 

situation) , hence the interpretation that there is gradual change of location of an entity to
HERE.

To summarize, it seems plausible that maa, which is used to express movement
toward the speaker or “come ” is parasitic to the space and it marks a value HERE on the

space axis.

6.1.4.2 maa, NOT for the Perfect of result

Remember that in a number of earlier studies, maa,, when it occurs after a VP
which does not involve movement, has been claimed to describe the Perfect, in particular,
the Perfect of results“56

For example, Thepkanjana (1986) describes that maa,, when it occurs after a non-
movement verb, indicates the Perfect of result, as illustrated in (9b), repeated here as
(88).

(88) su;rii, tad; phom 5 maa,
Suri cut hair come
“Suri has just got a hair cut.”
(Thepkanjana 1986, p. 1 66)

Mathias (2000) describes that maa, can be used to express Perfect, as illustrated in (23),

repeated here (89).

 

55 Ma which occurs after a VP involving movement (i.e. walk, run, fly, swim, etc.) describes direction
toward the speaker. (Thepkanjana, 1986, Wilawan 1994, Muansuwan 2002)

56 As the definition of the perfect of result is not provided in Thepkanjan (1983), Mathias (2000) and
Muansuwan (2002), I assume here the definition of the perfect of result given by Comrie (1976). Based on
Comrie (1976), the perfect of result indicates that a present state is the result of some past situation. For
example, the difference between John arrived and John has arrived is that the latter indicates persistence of
the result of John’s arrival, i.e. that he is still here while the former does not. So in answer to the question

Is John here yet?, an appropriate answer is Yes, he has arrived, not Yes, he arrived. (p.56)

188

(89) a luuk, tham, 7a2ray, maa, siia, piian, mot;
child do what PERF shirt dirty all
“What have you done, son? Your Shirt is all dirty.”

b phom, kin, kwaaw, maa, toon, tian,
I eat rice PERF TEMP noon
“1 had lunch at noon.”
(Mathias 2000, p.79)

Also, Muansuwan (2002) describes that maa, can be used to encode resultative Perfect as

illustrated in (30), repeated here as (90).

(90) Pi ;ti 2 tham, kwaam,sa, Paat; baan; maa,
Piti do cleanliness house PFCT(come)
“Piti has cleaned the house.”
(Muansuwan 2002, p.135)
In this section, I take a closer look at the role of maa, in cases like (88), (89) and
(90). Although in these cases maa, has been claimed to denote the Perfect, I will argue
that rather than the Perfect, the role maa, plays is describing movement of an agent from
an antideictic center NOT HERE to the deictic center HERE, or “come.”
I will first examine the selection restriction of the so-called Perfect denoting maa,
(i.e., maa, which occurs after a VP not involving movement). Then, I will point out that
what maa, denotes is significantly different from what the English Perfect morphology
does. It will be demonstrated that, rather than the Perfect of result, maa, expresses
movement of an agent from an antideictic center (i.e., a place marked NOT HERE) to a

deictic center (i.e., a place marked HERE.) More data illustrating this role of maa, will

be provided.

189

With respect to selection restrictions, maa, can co-occur with accomplishment

verbs, achievement verbs, and activity verbs, but not with stative verbs, as illustrated in

(91) to (94), respectively.57

(91) a
b
(92) a
b
(93) a
b
(94) a
b

coon, diim; law, maa,

John drink beer maa,
“John came having been drinking.”

coon, waad, ruub, maa,

Jon draw picture maa,
“John came having been drawing a picture.”

coon, cha,na, maa,

John win maa,
“John came having won.”

coon, phob 3 kra;paw,sa,than, maa,
John find wallet maa,
“John came having found a wallet.”

coon, ten ,ram , maa,

John dance maa,
“John came having been dancing.”

coon, roon,plen, maa,
John sing maa,
“John came having been singing.”

* coon, choob, Mmm,rii, maa,
John like Mary maa,
“John came having liked Mary.”

* coon, chiia, nay, pra,/'aw, maa,
John believe in God maa,
“John came having believed in God.”

A situation which sentence (91a) may describe is, for example, John coming with the

properties of being drunk. A situation which sentence (92a) may describe, is for

 

57 Mao, cannot co-occur with a stative verb, unless certain types of adverbials are present. The co-
occurrence of maa, with stative verbs and adverbials will be examined in the next section.

190

example, John coming with the properties of being happy. And a situation which
sentence (93a) may describe is, for example, John coming with the properties of being
tired.

Although maa, in sentences like (91) to (93) has been claimed to denote the
Perfect, in particular, the Perfect of result, it can be observed that what maa, denotes is
significantly different from what the Perfect morphology in English does.

While the Perfect in English requires that an event is complete, maa, does not.
This can be illustrated in (95) and (96).

(95) a *John has drunk that cup of coffee but he didn’t finish it.

b *Mary has knitted a scarf but she didn’t finish it.

(96) a coon, diim; kaafmm, thuuay, nan, maa, teem, may, mod;
John drink coffee CL that maa, but not finish
“John came with the property of coffee-drinking but he didn’t finish the
cup of coffee.”

b Mmm,rii, thak; phaa,phan,khoo, phiin, nan, maa, tmm, may, sed;

Mary knit scarf CL that maa, but not finish
“Mary came with the property of scarf-knitting but she didn’t finish the
scarf.”

While contradiction arises in (95a) and (95b), there are no contradictions in (96a) and

(96b), suggesting that, while the Perfect in English requires that an event be complete,

maa, does not. In other words, while the English Perfect morphology in (95a) and (95b)

denote completion of an event, maa, does not. What is the role of maa,, then? Consider,

again (97).

(97) a coon, diim; kaafmm, maa,

John drink coffee maa,
“John came with the properties of coffee-drinking.”

191

b M$891rii1 th0k2 ph003ph0111kh00] 11100,
Mary knit scarf maa,
“Mary came with the properties of scarf-knitting.”

A situation which may be described by (97a) is John coming here with the property of
being awake and a situation which may be described by (97b) is Mary coming here with a
half-finished or finished scarf in her hand. Crucially, while these situations can be
described by sentences in (97), they cannot be described by sentences in (98) where maa,

is not present.

(98) a coon, diim; kaafmm,
John drink coffee
“John drinks/drank coffee.”
b Mmm,rii, thak; phaa,phan,khoo,

Mary knit scarf
“Mary does/did a scarf-knitting.”

What sentence (98a) describes is that John is a coffee-drinker or John drank some coffee.
And what (98b) describes is that Mary knits or Mary did some knitting.58 In (98a) and
(98b), the reading in which the agents (i.e., John or Mary) are undergoing a movement is
not possible. This clearly suggests that the denotation of maa, is sentences like (97a)
and (97b), is not the Perfect of result but movement of an agent from a place marked
NOT HERE to a place marked HERE.

Supporting that movement of an agent from a place which is NOT HERE to a
place which is HERE is the denotation of maa,, it is situational contexts in which maa,

sentences are considered to be unacceptable or acceptable, as illustrated by the following.

 

5" Remember that like other languages in which verbs are not inflected for tense, in Thai, a bare verb phrase
may have either a present tense interpretation or a past tense interpretation, depending on context. (Koenig
and Muansuwan, 2001)

192

(99) a coon, tad, phom, maa,

John cut hair maa,
“John came with the properties of having a hair cut.”

b coon, diim; law, maa,
John drink beer maa,
“John came with the properties of drinking beer.”
In a situation in which Bill met John at a barbershop where John got a hair cut, Bill’s
description of John in (99a) would be considered unacceptable. However, if Bill met
John with a new hair style in a classroom, Bill could appropriately describe John by
(99a). Similarly, for (99b), in a situation in which Bill met John at a bar where John was
drinking beer, Bill’s description of John in (99b) would be unacceptable. However, if
Bill met John who was drunk in a parking lot Bill could appropriately describe John by
(99b).
So when co-occurring with accomplishments, activities, and achievements, the
denotation of maa, is movement from an antideictic center (i.e., a place considered to be
NOT HERE) to the deictic center HERE (i.e., a place considered to be HERE).

Representing events like (99), I, therefore, propose that the representation is

minimally as in (100).

 

 

(100) [0d] “ 0d “ [0d] “
HERE
II II 1
0d
L Sit BE ( [Thing X] 9 [ Space 0d I ) ; [ Time .Od ] ; [Property 0d] _

In (100) the value HERE is introduced to the space. The path, the period of time, and the
situation are taken as zero-dimensional. The thing (i.e., an agent) and the property (i.e.,

having a hair cut, drinking beer, etc.) are not projected onto axes that are sp-bound to the

193

other axes. (100), thus, captures the interpretation that an agent appears at HERE with a

certain property.

6.1.4.3 maa, for the universal Perfect

Remember that the co-occurrence of [VP + mom] with an expression of duration
provides a certain reading. For example, Wilawan (1994) notes that in such a case, maa,

identifies the end point of the action up to the point of speech, as illustrated in (101).

(101) Dek; reemk, kheed, khon, nan, haay,/'ay, maa, haa, naa,thii, Immw,
child just born CL that breathe come five minute already
“That infant has breathed for five minutes.”
(Wilawan 1994, p.106)

In this section, I examine the interaction of maa, with expressions of duration, in
particular, for-adverbials and since-adverbials. I will provide data illustrating that maa,
can be used to describe that a situation started in the past and continues into the present,
or the universal Perfect.

Accounting for the fact that maa, can be used to express the universal Perfect, I
propose that maa, adds direction to an axis. More precisely, maa, adds the value of
NOW to a time axis and the axis is bound with some other axis.

I will first, introduce relevant facts about English Perfect sentences with for-
adverbial and since-adverbials, based on Iatridou, Anagnostopoulou, and Izvorski (2001).

Then, I will examine the interaction of maa, with for-adverbials and since-adverbials.

We will see that restrictions on the interpretation of maa,, which would, otherwise, be

194

difficult to account for, can naturally be dealt with under the assumption that maa, is
parasitic to the time axis and that it adds the value of NOW on the time axis.

Concerning the Perfect in English, Iatridou, Anagnostopoulou, and Izvorski
(2001) propose that there are two types of Perfect: existential Perfect and universal
Perfect. The existential Perfect includes the experiential Perfect (i.e., I have read
Principia Mathematica five times), the Perfect of result (i.e., I have lost my glasses),
and the Perfect of recent past (i.e., He has just graduated from college). The Perfect of
persistent situation (i.e., Mary has lived in Boston for three years.) is considered to be the
universal Perfect.

According to them, the generalization for the Perfect in English is that the present
Perfect morphology in English has in its denotation only the existential Perfect. The
universal Perfect is available only with the presence of adverbial modification (i.e. since
phrase and for phrase).

Their idea is that what the universal Perfect denotes is that the predicate holds
throughout some interval stretching from a certain point in the past up to the present.
Unmodified Perfects (i.e. a Perfect sentence without adverbial modification) in English,
however, leave whether the predicate holds at present, silent. This can be illustrated by
the following.

( 1 02) a Q: I haven’t seen Mary in a while. Where is she?

b A: She has been sick.

(p.197)

The Perfect sentence (102b) can appropriately be continued with and she still is

and so she hasn ’t been coming to the office. So (102b) seems like a universal Perfect.

195

However, (102b) can also be continued with but she is fine now and she will come to the
oflice soon. So, in fact, (102b) is simply silent about whether Mary is sick at present.

As it does not require that Mary is sick at the present, it does not denote that the
predicate holds throughout some interval stretching from a certain point in the past up to
the present. Therefore, they conclude that the unmodified Perfect in English is never a
universal Perfect.

Given their analysis, adverbial modification such as for-adverbials and since-
adverbials make the universal reading available; however, it does not get rid of existential

reading. A Perfect sentence with adverbial modification such as (103a), therefore has

both universal and existential readings.

( 1 03) a I have been sick since 1990.

 

b 1990 NOW ( = time of utterance )
c 1990 NOW (= time of utterance )
(p.191)

Sentence (103a) has both the reading of there is a sickness eventuality that holds
throughout the named interval, that is a period extending from 1990 up to now as in
( 1 03b), and the reading of within the interval that extends from 1990 till now there is
SOme (at least one) interval in which I was sick, as in (103C); hence universal Perfect and
existential Perfect, respectively.
Going back to maa,, for-adverbials and since-adverbials can co-occur with [an
accomplishment verb + maa,], [an activity verb + maa,], and [a stative verb + maa,], but

not [an achievement verb + maa,] as illustrated in (104) to (107), respectively.

196

U11.

(104) a

(105) a

(106) a

(107) a

coon, Paan; nan, sii, maa, pen, wee, laa, son, chuua, mon,
John read book maa, be time two hours
“John has been reading for two hours.”

coon, Faan; nan, sii, maa, tan;tmm; pmmd; mon,
John read book maa, since eight o’clock
“John has been reading since eight o’clock .”

80011] 181131'0111] "1001 p811] W881 [001 S005 811111103 m001
John dance maa, be time two hours
“John has been dancing for two hours.”

80011] ten ,ram 1 "1001 (0021$832 pmmd; 111001
John dance maa, since eight o’clock
“John has been dancing since eight o’clock.”

coon, chii, nay, pra,jaw, maa, pen, wee,laa, son, pii,

John believe in God maa, be time two years

“John believes in God and this state of affairs has already been going on
for two years.”

coon, chii, nay, prag'aw, maa, tan;tmm; khaw, ?aa,yu, sib;haa,
John believe in God maa, since he age fifteen

“John believes in God and this state of affairs has begun since he was
fifteen.”

*coon, cha,na, maa, pen, wee, laa, son, chuua, mon,
John win maa, be time two hours
“John has been winning for two hours.”

*coon, cha,na, maa, tan;tmm; pmmd; mon,
John win maa, since eight o’clock
“John has been winning since eight o’clock.”

What is crucial is that by sentences (104) to (107), the reading is that the end

point of the interval of time described is equated with the time of utterance or the time

when the sentence is uttered. More precisely, in (104) to (107), only the reading of

universal Perfect is available.

197

This becomes clear when we examine the readings of sentences with for-

adverbials and a since-adverbials in (108) where maa, is not present and in (109) where

maa, is present.

(108) a

(109) a

coon, yuu; thii, lon,don, pen, wee ,laa, soon, pii,
John be at London be time two years

i) “There was, somewhere in the past, a two year period during
which John lived in London.”

ii) “ John is living in London now and this state of affairs has already
been going on for two years.”

80011, yuu; thii} 1011100111 tan,tmm; pii, 1990
John be at London Since year 1990

i) “Within the interval that extends from 1990 till now there is some
(at least one) interval in which John lived in London

ii) “There is an eventuality of John living in London that holds
throughout the period extending from 1990 up to now.”

coon, yuu; thii, lon,don, maa, pen, wee ,laa, soon, pii,
John be at London maa, be time two years

*i) “There was, somewhere in the past, a two year period during
which John lived in London.”

ii) “ John is living in London now and this state of affairs has already
been going on for two years.”

80011] yuu; thii3 1011161011] "1001 (003t$$2 pii11990
John be at London maa, since year 1990

*i) “Within the interval that extends from 1990 till now there is some
(at least one) interval in which John lived in London

ii) “There is an eventuality of John living in London that holds
throughout the period extending from 1990 up to now.”

In (108), without maa,, sentences with for-adverbials and since-adverbials may be

interpreted both as existential Perfect and universal Perfect. However, in (109), with the

198

presence of maa,, the sentences can only be interpreted as universal Perfect, as only the

reading of universal Perfect is available.

The difference between existential Perfect and universal Perfect concerns the
location on a time line of an interval in which the predicate holds. For an existential
Perfect, the right boundary of an interval is not equated with the time of utterance but for

a universal Perfect, the right boundary of an interval must be equated with the time of

utterance .

So, on the time line where time progresses from left to right, for an existential

reading, the deictic center NOW is not the right edge of a period in which the predicate

holds, but for a universal reading, the deictic center NOW is the right edge of a period in

which the predicate holds.

Since with the presence of maa,, the sentences have only a universal reading, it

can be assumed that maa, indicates that the deictic center NOW is where the predicate

holds.

This is naturally accounted for, if we assume that maa, adds the value of NOW on
the time axis and this axis is bound with some other axis. Sentences like (104) to (106),

Will, therefore, be minimally represented as in (110), where F stands for function.

(1 10)
_ '7
no)“ [Nld °‘
OW
II 11
0d 0d
51:17sz Y); [Time T]

 

 

199

 

In (110), the value NOW is introduced to the time axis and this axis is bound with other
axes (i.e., an axis projected from a point situation), rendering the reading that there is a
temporal route in which NOW is the point where the predicate holds, or, the reading of

the universal Perfect.

To summarize, it seems plausible that maa, which is used to express the universal

Perfect is parasitic to the time and it marks a value NOW on the time axis.

6.1.4.4 Why is “too” expressed by pay,, not maa,?

We have seen in (82) that pay,, when co-occurring with states with scalar
properties (i.e., being fat, being salty, etc.) expresses excessive degree, translated as

“too.” (82) is repeated here as (111).

(l 11) a coon, Puuan, pay,

John fat pay,
“John is too tall.”

D [(8801 kem, pay,

soup salty pay,
“The soup is too salty.”

Substituting pay, with maa, in (111) would result in ungrammaticality.

(1 12) a *coon, Puuan, maa,
John fat maa,
“John is too fat.”
b *keen, kem, maa,

soup salty maa,
“The soup is too salty.”

200

The question why “too” is expressed by pay, but not by maa, is posed here. I
propose that an explanation has to do with the direction of change which pay,/ maa,
describe.

This can best be illustrated in the spatial domain. We have seen that pay,
describes change from HERE to NOT HERE and maa, describes change from NOT
HERE to HERE. As HERE is considered to be a deictic center and NOT HERE an
antideictic center, pay, describes change from a deictic center to an antideictic center and
maa, describes change from an antideictic center to a deictic center.

Assuming that a deictic center includes NORM (i.e., a normal degree) (Gandour
l 974, Thepkanjana 1986), pay, describes the change from a point considered to be a
normal degree to a point considered to be an abnormal degree (i.e., an excessive degree).
Maa,, on the other hand, would describe the change from a point considered to be an
abnormal degree (i.e., an excessive degree) to a point considered to be a normal degree.

This can be schematically represented as (113) and (114) respectively.

( l 1 3)
1d
NOT leRMAL
[Property 0d]
( 1 14)
1d
NOIIIKMAL
[Property 0d]

Intuitively, “too” is a change on a property axis (i.e., a scale) from a point
considered to be a normal degree to a point considered to be an abnormal degree (i.e., an

excessive degree). Therefore, rather than maa,, pay, is used to express “too.”

201

Another related question is then why aren’t (115a) and ( 1 15b) used for

expressing “John became normally fat” and “The soup became normally salty,”

respectively.
(115) a *coon, Puuan, maa,
John fat maa,
“John became normally fat.”
b *keen, kem, maa,

soup salty maa,
“The soup became normally salty.”

The explanation for the absence of (1 15) has to do with the fact that predicates “fat” and
“salty” without a modifier, denote a normal degree of being fat and a normal degree of
being salty, respectively. (116a) and (1 16b) are used when describing a normal degree of

being fat and a normal degree of being salty.

( l 16) a coon, Puuan,

John fat
“John is fat.”

b [C8801 [(8111 1

soup salty
The soup is salty.”

Since the predicate “fat” and “salty” already describe a normal degree of being fat and a
nor‘mal degree of being salty, respectively, maa,, which would redundantly mark the

Value of being at a normal degree, is not expected to occur here.59

 

’9 If this is true, the restriction is universal, not just peculiar properties of Thai.

202

6.1.5 Summary of the behavior of maa,

We have seen that maa, which is used to express movement toward a deictic
center, or “come” adds the value of HERE to an axis projected from a point in space.

The axis projected from a point in space is bound with an axis projected from a point in
time, and an axis projected from a point situation. Hence, the interpretation that there is
gradual change of location of an entity to HERE, or “come” is received.

By taking a closer look at maa, which has been claimed to denote the Perfect of
result in the earlier studies, it is apparent that rather than the Perfect of result, maa, still
describes movement toward a deictic center, more precisely, that an agent appears at a
deictic center. It, then, can be assumed that maa, assigns the value HERE to space.

Finally, from the examination of maa, which co-occurs with expressions of
duration, in particular, for-adverbials and since-adverbials, it is clear that maa, adds the

value NOW to a time axis and it is bound with the other axes (i.e., the axis projected from
a point situation).
So, stating a generalization for the behavior of maa,, it is that maa, is parasitic to

an axis projected from a point in space or a point in time and it adds the value of HERE

01- NOW to the space axis or the time axis, respectively.

203

6.1.6 The unified property of pay,/maa,

Having investigated the seemingly multiple roles of pay, and maa,, it is clear that
the unified properties of pay, and maa, have to do with the properties of being parasitic
to certain axes and marking those axes with certain values.

For pay,, it seems that the role of pay, is adding the value of NOT HERE/ NOT
CDP, or NOT NOW/ NOT CDT, or NOT NORMAL to the space or time or property axis
respectively. For maa,, it seems that its role is adding the value of HERE to the space
axis and NOW to the time axis.

Assuming that HERE, NOW, NORM are deictic centers in spatial, temporal and
property continuums, respectively, (Bouchard 1995, and Gandour 1974), pay, adds
antideictic center value or the value of not being a contextually determined point to an
axis. And maa, adds a deictic center value to an axis. While pay, operates on a property
continuum as well as on spatial and temporal continuums, maa, only operates on spatial
and temporal continuums.

So, with respect to the core representation of pay, and maa,, it can be assumed
that schematically, the core representation of pay, and maa, is as in (117) and (118),
respectively, where D stands for deictic center and CDP stands for a contextually

determined point (i.e., either a point in time or a point in space).

204

(117) 1d
NOT D/NOT CDP

[........0dl
(118) 1d
[ D I
11
[........0d]

In (117) and (118), an axis projected from a point may vary, as it may be an axis
projected from a point in space, a point in time, or, for pay,, a point on a scale.

Under the assumption that pay, adds antideictic center value or value “not the
contextually determined point” to an axis, and maa, adds a deictic center value to an axis,
the gradability and directionality found in the uses of pay, and maa, are naturally
accounted for. In other words, the multiple roles of pay,/maa , which would otherwise be
hard to unify, can naturally be unified.

The representations of pay, and maa, as in (117) and (118) is compatible
J ackendoff’ s (1996) proposal that an event can be viewed as projecting a temporal cross-
Section onto sp-bound axes. As discussed in Jackendoff, the notion of projecting a cross-
Section onto an axes is cognitively necessary as not only that it provides an account for
phenomenon, such as telicity in languages, but it also captures the way we understand
objects. (Marr, 1982).

Moreover, the representation of pay, and maa,, in (117) and (118), respectively, is
not contradictory with Bouchard’s (1995) analysis for French aller/venir, in the sense that

while (anti) deictic value is present in the lexical representation of pay, / maa,, neither

205

Spatial, temporal nor any other particular semantic field, is present in the lexical
representation of pay,/maa ,.

In conclusion, it is clear that there is a unified representation of pay, and a unified
representation of maa,. In the following section, I will argue that, as well as the unified

semantic properties, there is unified syntactic property of pay,/ maa,.

6.2 Syntax of pay,/ maa,

In this section, I investigate the syntax of pay,/maa ,. I will first investigate the
syntax of pay,/maa, as they play the roles of a verb for “go” and a verb for “come,”
respectively. Then, I will investigate the syntax of pay,/maa , as they play the roles of
event modifiers. Finally, based on Pustjovsky’s proposal of subeventual structure and
event headedness, I will argue that pay ,/maa , can be treated as having the same syntactic

properties despite their different roles.

6.2.1 pay, for “go” and maa, for “come”

In order to determine the syntax of pay , and maa, I will use the extraction test
discussed at length in section (4.2.1.4) of chapter 2. I will show that pay, and maa,, in
addition to occupying the head of a main VP, may occupy the head of an adjoining VP.

As seen in (119), pay,/maa, may occur as a single verb in which case pay,/maa,
is presumably the head of VP and takes an NP as its complement. The structure of

(119a), is therefore, as in (11%).

206

(119) a

coon, pay,/maa, hon ,sa ,mut;
John go/come library
“John went/come to the library.”

IP

/\
NP I’

A /\
800111 I VP
John /\

V NP
pay ,/maa ,

hon 3sa,mut;
library

Pay,/maa, can also occur as one of the verbs in sequence. Pay ,/maa , can either

be in VP1 or VP2, as illustrated in (120a) and (120b) respectively.

(120) a

coon, pay,/maa, hon,sa,mut; yiim nan,sii,
John go/come library borrow book
“John went/came to the library to borrow a book.”

coon, khap; rot, khan, may; pay,/maa, haan,
John drive car CL new go/come mall
“John drove his new car to go/come to the mall.”

Concerning extraction of adjuncts (i.e., an adverb modifying a VP), as expected,

observations are as follows. First, both VP1 and VP2 can be modified by adverbials, as

illustrated below.

(121) a

coon, pay,/maa, hon ,sa ,mut; dooy, khin 3 rot3meey, yiirn nan ,sii 5
John go/come library by take bus borrow book
“John went/came to the library to borrow a book by taking a bus.”

coon, pay,/maa, hon,sa,mut; yiim nan,sii, dooy, chay, bat; khoon,
John go/come library borrow book by use card of

“$111.53
Mary

207

(122) a

“John went/came to the library to borrow a book and he borrowed it by
using Mary’s card.”

coon, triiam, Paa,haan5 klaan,wan, dooy, tham, smmn,wit, pay,/ maa,
John prepare lunch by making sandwich go/come

roon,riian ,
school

“John prepared his lunch by making a sandwich and then went/came to
school.”

coon, triiam, Paa,haan, klaan,wan, pay,/ maa, roon,riian, dooy, khin,
John prepare lunch go/come school by take

rot ,meey 1
bus

“John prepared his lunch and went/came to school by taking a bus.”

However, while the extraction of an adverb modifying VP1 is allowed, the extraction of

an adverb modifying VP2 is not. This can be illustrated by the following.

(123) Q: a

coon, pay,/maa, hon,sa,mut; yiim nan,sii, yaan;ray,
John go/come library borrow book how
“How did John go/come to the library to borrow a book?”

dooy, khin, rot3meey,
by take bus
“By taking a bus.”

dooy, chay, bat; khoon, mmm,rii 3

by use card of Mary
“By using Mary’s card.”

208

(124) Q: a coon, triiam, 7aa,haan, klaan,wan, pay,/ maa, roon,riian,yaan;ray,

A:b

John prepare lunch go/come school how
“How did John prepare his lunch before going to school?”

dooy, tham, smmn,wit,
By make sandwich
“By making a sandwich”

A: *c dooy, khin, rot,meey,

By take bus
“By taking a bus.”

In (123) while (123b) can be an answer to the question, (123C) cannot. AS (123b) is

considered to be an adjunct of pay,/ maa,, hon ,sa ,mut; “go library” which is VP1 and

(123C) an adjunct of yiim nan ,sii , “borrow a book” which is VP2, this suggests that

yaan;ray, “how” can only extract out of VP1, not VP2. Similarly in (124), while (124b)

can be an answer to the question, (124C) cannot. As (124b) is considered to be an adjunct

of triiam, ?aa,haan, klaan,wan, “prepare lunch” which is VP1 and (124C) an adjunct of

pay,/maa, roon,riian, “go school” which is VP2, this, again, suggests that while

extraction out of VP1 is allowed extraction out of VP2 is not.

Based on these considerations, the structure of sentence (123) and (124) is that of

VP1 being the head to which VP2 adjoins, as represented in (125) and (126) respectively,

consistent with the other serial verbs constructions.

209

(125) a

(126) a

coon, pay,/maa, hon ,sa,mut; yiim nan,sii,
John go/come library borrow book
“John went/came to the library to borrow a book.”

IP
/\
NP 1’
coon, /\
“John” I VP1

/\

VP1 VP
/\ A
V1 NP V2 NE
pay ,/maa , F 00112

go/come hon ,sa ,mut; read nan ,sii 5
library book

coon, khap; rot, khan, may; pay,/maa, haan,

John drive car CL new go/come mall
“John drove his new car to go/come to the mall.”

IP
/\
NP 1’
coon, /\
“John” I VP1
//\\
VP1 VP2
/\ /\
V1 NP V2 N
khap; A pay,/maa, A
drive rot, khan, may; go/come haan,
car CL new mall

210

Therefore, with respect to the position of pay, “go” and maa, “come,” in addition
to occurring as a single verb in a sentence in which case pay,/ maa, is the head of VP,
pay,/ maa, can also occurs as one of the verbs in sequence. When pay,/ maa, occurs as
VP1,pay,/ maa, is the head of the main VP. And when pay,/ maa, occurs as VP2, pay,/
maa, is the head of an adjoining VP. So pay, “go” and maa, “come” may either be the

head of VP1 or the head of VP2.

6.2.2 pay,/maa, as an event modifier

As discussed in section (4.2.2.1) of chapter 2, an element’s ability to be a
predicator (i.e., a minimal answer for a yes/no question) indicates, partially, its syntactic
position. An element which is able to be a predicator is argued to be an element with
verbal properties (i.e., modals, aspect markers, and verbs) which is situated at the highest
head.

Before examining the behavior of pay ,/ maa, when behaving like an event
modifier with respect to the ability to be a predicator, it is relevant to examine the
behavior of pay,/ maa, when behaving like a verb for “go” and “come” respectively, with
respect to the ability to be a predicator.

With respect to the ability to be a predicator, pay, when used as the main
verb“go” and maa, when used as the main verb “come” as can be a predicator, as

illustrated in (127) and (128) respectively.

211

(127) pay, for “go”

Q: coon, pay, (ha, naa, kaan, rii
John pay, bank QP
“Did John go to the bank?”

A3 pay,
1331’]
“Yes, he did.”

(128) maa, for “come”

a Q: coon, maa, tha, naa, kaan, rii
John maa, bank QP
“Did John come to the bank?”
A: maa,

maa,
“Yes, he did.”

b Q: coon , tad, phom, maa, rii
You cut hair maa, QP
Did John come with the properties of having a hair out?”

A: maa ,
maa,

“Yes, he did.”

*tad, phom,

cut hair
As seen in (127), pay, which is used as the main verb“go” can be a predicator. Similarly,
in (128), maa, which is used as the main verb “come” can be a predicator. The fact that
in (128b), maa, can be a predicator confirms that the analysis in section (6. 1.4.2) (i.e.,

maa, as a main verb) is on the right track.”0

 

”0 It seems that, in this case, maa, takes a null complement which is interpreted as HERE. This is plausible
because in a discourse like (i) where there is no overt complement, HERE is assumed.

212

Now let’s look at the behavior of pay,/maa ,, when behaving like event modifiers

with respect to their ability to act as predicators.

(129) pay, for the continuation

Q:

Ihf0 5 ([10 11‘01S002 d610, 800111 [(00 3 700112 1100 5SH 5 pay, rii
although telephone ring John COMM read book pay, QP
“Did John continue to read, although the telephone rang?”

700112
read

“Yes he did.”

* pay,
P3YI

It is clear that pay,, when it is used for expressing the continuation, cannot be a

predicator, and so it is not supposed to be a head situated above VP.

 

(i) Q: coon, maa, rii
John maa, QP
“Did John come here?”

A: maa,
maa,

“Yes, he did.”

I hypothesize that the structure of (iia) is as in (iib).

(ii) a coon, tad, phom, maa,
John cut hair maa,
“John came having a hair cut.”

/\

/\

maa, SC
maa,
€00", tad, phOM5 HERE

John cut hair
I

As nominalization seems to be essential in analyzing this case, I will leave a more detailed analysis for

future research.

213

(130) pay, for “too”

Q:

coon, Puuan, pay, rii,
John fat pay, QP
“Is John too fat.”

Puuan,
fat

“Yes, he is.”

”P010
PaYl

Similarly, pay,, when it is used for expressing excessive degree, cannot be a predicator

either. Now let’s look at the behavior of maa, which is used for expressing the Perfect.

(131) maa, for the Perfect

Q:

coon, chiia, nay, pra,caw, maa, pen, wee ,laa, soon 3 pii , rii,
John believe in God maa, be time two years QP
“Has John believed in God for two years?”

chiia 3
believe

“Yes, he has.”

*maa,
maa,

The same goes for maa,. Maa, which is used for expressing universal Perfect cannot be

a predicator either. So, the position of maa, when it is used for expressing universal

Perfect cannot be a head situated above VP.

On the basis of the predicator test, therefore, it does not seem that the position of

pay,/maa, when playing the role of event modifiers is a head situated above VP. More

precisely, it is unlikely that pay ,/maa , are pre-verbally generated, and that the word order

214

is derived by raising VP to some position higher than pay ,/maa ,, as demonstrated in

(132), as this would allow them to be a predicator.

(132)
* VP
A
VP, VP
/\
V t,
T pay,/maa, l

 

It is then arguable that pay,/maa,, when used as event modifiers, adjoins to the
right of a phrase, possibly VP, as schematically represented in (133).
(133)
VP,
/\

VP, VP
pay,/maa,

So, pay,/maa, when modifying another event, rather than being heads taking VP as their

complement, pay,/maa, adjoin to a phrase, possibly a VP.

6.2.3 Pay,/ maa, relative to other aspectual markers

Concerning the co-occurrence of pay,/ maa, with other aspectual markers,
neither pay, for the continuative nor maa, for the universal Perfect can co-occur with

yuu2. This is illustrated in (134) and (135), respectively.

(134) a *thin, tho,ra,sab; don, coon, koo, Taan; nan,sii, pay, yuu;
although telephone ring John COMM read book pay, yuu;
John is continuing to read, although the telephone rang.

b *thin, tho ,ra,sab; dan, coon, koo, Faan; nan,sii, yuu; pay,

although telephone ring John COMM read book yuu; pay,
John is continuing to read, although the telephone rang.”

215

 

(135) a *coon, chiia, nay, pra,caw, maa, yuu; pen, wee,laa, soon, pii,
John believe in God maa, yuu; be time two years
“John has believed in God for two years.”

b *coon, chiia, nay, pra,caw, yuu; maa, pen, wee ,laa , soon, pii,
John believe in God yuu; maa, be time two years
“John has believed in God for two years.”
The explanation has to do with the incompatibility in their meanings. We have seen that
while yuu 2 modifies an event as a state, more precisely, a stage-level state, in which no
transitions are viewed, pay ,/maa , impose continuous change with direction on an event.

That yuu; and pay,/maa, cannot co-occur is, therefore, not unpredicted.

As predicted, pay, for the continuation and maa, for the universal Perfect can

co-occur with kam,lam. as illustrated in (136).

(136) a coon, kam,lan, Paan; nan ,sii 5 pay, yaan;pleed,pliian,

John kam,lan, read book pay, happily
John is happily reading (although he should have stopped reading).

b coon, kam,lan, Paan; nan,sii 5 maa, pen, wee ,laa , soon, chuua,mon,

John kam,lan, read book maa, be time two hours
“John has been reading for two hours.”

As kam,lan, describes an event as a process in which successive transitions are viewed, it

is compatible with pay, and maa,. Given these interpretations, both pay, and maa, seem

to be under the sc0pe of kam,lan,. I have assumed that kam,lan, is the head of the

ProgP/ImpP, and, therefore, pay ,/ maa, in (136) have to adjoin to a phrase lower than the
ProgP/ImpP, possibly a VP. (136a) and (136b), therefore, can schematically be

represented as (137).

216

(137)

ProgP/ImpP
/\
Prog/ImpP VP,
kam,lan, /\
VP, VP

pay,/maa,

mem is another aspectual marker. Basically, lmmw, marks the left boundary

(i.e., the beginning) or the right boundary (i.e., the end) of an event and it adjoins to a VP.

(1 will provide an analysis of lmmw, in chapter 4). Pay,/ maa, seem to be lower than

lmmw,. Consider (138).

(138) a

coon, Paan; nan ,sii , lem nan pay, lmmw,

John read book CL that pay, lmmw,

John has read that book (although when reading he should have stopped
before finishing it.)

coon, chiia, nay, pra,caw, maa, pen, wee,laa, soon, pii, lmmm

John believe in God maa, be time two years lmmw,

John has believed in God for the last two years (Before the last two years
he didn’t believe in God.)”

In (138a) the end or the right boundary of the event of John “continuously” reading, is

marked. And in (138b), the beginning or the left boundary of the state of John believing

in God is marked. Given these interpretations, pay,/ maa, seems to be under the scope of

1mm,, or they adjoin lower than lmmw,, as schematically represented in (139).

217

(139)
VP
/\
VP Ava

1$$W4
VP VP

pay I," maa ,

So relative to other aspectual markers, pay, and maa, are lower than kam,lan, and

Iaeaew,

6.2.4 The unified syntax of pay,/maa,

From what we have seen it is reasonable to think that pay ,/ maa, are verbal
elements occupying a position within the VP.

As discussed in section (4.2.4) of chapter 2, not totally different from the idea that
verbs such as break should be treated as lexical items which are unspecified for
headedness, pay ,/maa , can be considered to be lexical items which are also unspecified
for headedness.

Again, for the cases of verbs like break, the properties of being unspecified for
headedness are exhibited in the subeventual structure. If e, is headed, PROCESS is part of
the core event description, and if e; is headed RESULT STATE is part of the core event
description. For the case of pay ,/maa ,, however, headedness is again used with respect
to whether it takes a complement or not. If pay,/maa , take a complement, then it is part
of the core event being described. If pay ,/maa , are not the head of the event being

composed, it does not take a complement, and it is an adjunct used intransitively.

218

In conclusion, not totally different from Pustej ovsky’s (1995) proposal on event
headedness, stating the unified syntax of pay,/maa ,, pay,/maa, are not specified for

headedness in the lexicon, and so it can either be the head of the main VP or an adjoining

VP.

7. Conclusion of the chapter

Having investigated the semantic properties of pay, and maa,, it is clear that pay,
and maa, each are associated with only one property. More specifically, pay, adds an
antideictic center value or the value of not being a contextually determined point, to axes
which may range from a space axis, a time axis, and a property axis. Maa, adds a deictic
center value to axes which may range from a space axis, a time axis and a situation axis.

Regarding the syntax of pay, and maa,, the investigation for the syntax of pay,
and maa, make it clear that pay, and maa, are lexical items which are unspecified for
headedness, and so, they can be the head of a main VP or the head of an adjoining VP.
When they are the head of the main VP, they take NP arguments, and when they are the
head of an adjoining VP, they modify an event type.

Moreover, the analysis of maa, shows that with respect to the Perfect, due to the
inherent property of maa,, the Perfect described by maa, is the universal Perfect.

To conclude, I have shown that rather than postulating multiple lexical entries for
multiple related senses of these words, there are unified representations of pay, and maa,.
The analysis of pay, and maa, therefore, provides empirical support for the idea that

logically related senses do not necessarily correspond to different lexical items.

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CHAPTER 4

A unified analysis of laeaew,

1. Introduction

In this chapter I provide an analysis for Iaeaew, Laaew, seems to have multiple

functions, as it may function as a particle indicating completion of an action
(Uppakitsinlapasan, 1964) and also as a conjunction denoting a sequence of events

(Phanthumetha, 1982). This is illustrated in (1).

(1) a coon, pay, niw, yook, [arena
John go New York laeaew4
“John has gone to New York.”

b coon, pay, niw, yook, laeaew, pay, boos, tang

John go New York laeaew4 go Boston
"John went to New York and then went to Boston."

In (1a) laeaew, indicates that the event of John going to NewYork is complete. In (1b)

lax-Jaw, indicates that the event of John going to Boston occurs after the event of John

going to New York. Therefore, laeaew, behaves in (1 a) like an aspectual marker and in

(1b) like a conjunction.

The case of lacaew, is different from the case of yuu2, pay,, and maa,. Yuuz, pay,,

and maa, form a natural class because they can all behave like regular verbs and have

cross-linguistic counterparts. The case of laeaew, is unique because laeaem is never a

220

main verb and cross-linguistically behaves more like an adverbial and preposition that

can be adjunct with and without complements.“

Since it seems that laeaew, can play a role as an aspectual marker and as a
conjunction, the question is whether this is a case of homophony or not. If there is only
one lexical la9a9w4, we need to explain why it is it possible for it to have the functions of
both an aspectual marker and a conjunction. In this chapter, by investigating the

semantics and syntax of laeaew4, I provide an explanation for how the lexical item
laea9W4 can have these two functions without the need to postulate two different lexical

entries. Laeaew4, unlike yuu2, pay,, and maa,, is never a main verb and, therefore, we

will proceed in slightly different way from the previous chapter.

I will show that the Iaeaew, that functions as an aspectual marker and the lasaew4

that functions as a conjunction have the same meaning and occupy the same structural

position. Since they have both the same meaning and the same structural position, I

argue that there is only one lexical entry for Iaeaew4. This again is different from the

previous cases where yuu2, pay ,, and maa, showed up either as main verbs or adjuncts to
main verbs. Here it will always be an adjunct. However, like the other cases we have
seen, we will have transitive and intransitive uses of this elements.

This chapter consists of 4 sections. In section (2), I summarize earlier analyses of

Iaea9w4_ In section (3) by investigating the semantics and syntax of laea9w4, I propose an

 

6' In English, “before” can be considered to be an element which behaves like an adverbial and a
preposition that can be adjunct with and without complements, as illustrated in (i).
(i) a John did this before

b John did this before Bill did

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explanation for Iasa9w4 as a lexical item with two apparently different functions. Section

(4) is the conclusion of the chapter.

2. Previous analyses of laeaew,

In this section, I provide a summary of previous studies on Thai that include an

analysis of Iaeaaw4. The studies include Uppakitsinlapasan (1964),

Ratchabandittayasathan (1982), Boonyapatipark (1983), Sookgasem (1990) and

Visonyanggoon (2000). As we will see Iaeaew, has been glossed in different ways. In

this section I will use each author’s own glosses.

2.1 Uppakitsinlapasarn (1964)

Uppakitsinlapasarn (1964) considered laasw, to be either a main verb meaning

“to be finished” or an auxiliary verb denoting the completion of an action. This is

illustrated in the following examples.

(2) a gun, khoom chan5 (anew; ta?) wan,
job of I finish since early morning
“My job has been finished since this morning.”

(Uppakitsinlapasan, 1962 p. 86)

b khaw 5 (ham, tandem

He do AUX
“He has done it.”

(Uppakitsinlapasan, 1962 p. 86)

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In (2a), laeaew, is a main verb and in (2b), laeaew, is an auxiliary verb indicating that the

action is complete.

In accounting for the lasaew, that occurs in a position between two phrases,

Uppakitsinlapasan claims that Iaeaew, that occurs in a position between two phrases is an

auxiliary verb that is required by conjunction koo3 “afterwards,” as in (3).

(3) kham kin, khaaW3 [seem khaw; koo 3 noon,
he eat rice AUX he afterwards sleep
“He ate rice and then went to bed.”

Under Uppakitsinlapasan’s analysis, koo3 “afterwards” is a conjunction that requires the
occurrence of Iaeaew, in the first conjunct. According to him, laeaew, indicates that the
event denoted by the second conjunct temporally follows the first.

Considering laeww, to be a main verb for “to be finished” seems to be
problematic in a certain way. Laaew, seems to lack an important property of verbs in

Thai. That is, while verbs can undergo negation, Iaeaew4 cannot, as shown in (4).

(4) *yan, khooy 5 chan5 may3 Iaeaew4
Job of I not finish
“My job has not been finished.”

Also there seems to be a problem with the claim that [seam is an auxiliary verb

required by a conjunction. In sentence (3), koo 3 “afierwards” is optional. Without 1:993

“afterwards,” the two phrases are still conjoined, and the event denoted by the second

conjunct is understood as temporally following the first, as shown in (5).

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(5)

khaw5 kin, khaaw; [seam kham noon,

He eat rice AUX he sleep
“He ate rice and then he went to bed.”

It seems that laeaew, not only plays the role of an auxiliary but also of a conjunction

conjoining two phrases by indicating that the event denoted by the second phrase is

temporally following the first.

2.2 Ratchabandittayasathan (1982)

Differing from Uppakitsinlapasarn (1964), Ratchabandittayasathan (1982)

categorizes laeaew4 as an adverb denoting that an action has ended or that at a later time

another action began. This can be illustrated in the examples below.

(6) a

coon, khiian5 cot, may5 Iaeaew,
John write letter completely
“John has written a letter.”

coon, khiian5 cotzmay5 laeaeuu pay, pray,sa,nii,
John write letter at a later time go post office
“John wrote a letter and then went to the post office.”

In (6a), Iaeaew, modifies the VP khiian 5 cotgmay5 “write a letter” by indicating that the

event denoted by the VP is complete. In (6b), laeaew, modifies the VP pay, pray,sa,m'i ,

“go to post office” by indicating that the event denoted by that VP occurs at a later time

than the first VP, khiian 5 cotzmay5, “write a letter.”

224

Apparently Ratchabandittayasathan (1982) has realized that Iaeaew, has different

meanings in different environments or that lasaew, plays two different roles. However,

he does not attempt to connect the different roles.

2.3 Boonyapatipark (1983)

Later studies provide different accounts of the aspectual roles of laeaew4.
Departing from the earlier studies, Boonyapatipark (1983) suggests that
Iaeaew4 not only indicates the completion of an action but also indicates the beginning of
an action. Boonyapatipark suggests that“ laeaew4 indicates that a crucial amount of

some activity has been carried out, a crucial point of a situation has been reached (not
necessarily the completion point), i.e., a change to or arrival at a new situation has come

about, at the time of reference.” (Boonyapatipark 1983 p.158-159 in Bisang 1995 p.650).

Although Boonyapatipark (1983) has realized that Iaeaew, has both the property

of indicating completion of an action and the property of indicating beginning of a

situation, he suggests la9a9w4 is “a perfective marker” which seems to be a term that

excludes the latter property of laeaam.

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2.4 Sookgasem (1990)

Sookgasem (1990) considered Iaeasw4 to be two separate aspectual words: a

word for Perfect and a word for Perfective. Sookgasem shows that when occurring with
a stative verb, Iaeaew, indicates Perfect62 as shown in (7). When it occurs with an
eventive verb, it indicates perfective. The differences between the two aspects are
illustrated in the examples below.
(7) a coon, chap 3 maaawrii 3 saam 5 pii, (anew;

John like Mary three year PERF

“John has liked Mary for three years.”

b coon, pay, haa5 moo; team miia3 wan,
John go meet doctor PRF yesterday
“John went to see a doctor yesterday.”

Under his analysis, in (7a) Iaea9w4 occurs with the stative verb chop 3 “like,” and it

denotes Perfect meaning by indicating that the state of liking started three years ago and

it continues to the time of utterance. In (7b), laeaew, occurs with the eventive verb pay,

(haa5 moo 5) “go (to see a doctor),” and it denotes perfective meaning by indicating that
the event of going to see a doctor has ended.

Implicitly Sookgasem (1990) realizes that lasasw4 can indicate both the beginning

and the end of a situation. However, under his analysis, the Iaeaaw, that indicates the

 

62 As the definition of perfective and perfect is not provided in Boonyapatipark (1983) or Sookgasem
(1990), I again assume here the definition of perfective and perfect given by Comrie (1976). Based on
Comrie (I976), perfective is to be distinguished from imperfective. While perfective refers to a situation as
a single whole, imperfective refers to the internal structure of a situation. (p.52)

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beginning of a situation is considered to be a Perfect marker, and the [seam that

indicates the end of a situation is considered to be a perfective marker.

2.5 Visonyanggoon (2000)

Visonyanggoon (2000) has pointed out that Iaaw, can convey several meanings,

as illustrated in (8).

(8) khaW5 kin, Pap, poem 3 taaw4
He eat apple Iaaw,
i)“He ate the apples.”

ii)“He has eaten the apples.”
iii)“He has started eating the apples.”

(V isonyanggoon 2000, p. 217)
The sentence (8) has three readings. In the first reading, Iaaw, indicates the
termination of the event of eating the apples. In the second reading, Iaaw, indicates the

result state of eating the apples; that is, the agent is now full. In the third reading,

taaw, indicates the beginning of the event of eating the apples. So Iaaw, is used as a

particle for Perfective, Perfect, and inchoative meanings.

So it seems that while the Perfect and Perfective meanings of laaw, have been

widely discussed, the inchoative meaning of laaw4 had not been explicitly discussed

until Visonyanggoon (2000).

However, by focusing on the aspectual marker role of laaw4, the studies by

Boonyapatipark (1983), Sookgasem (1990) and Visonyanggoon (2000) seem to put aside

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laaw, as a conjunction and so leave the question of whether laaw, that plays a role of

an aspectual marker and laaew, that plays the role of a conjunction are the same lexical

item unanswered.

3. The analysis of Iaaw,

In this section I argue that there is only one lexical entry for laaw4. In (3.1), I

start the section with some phenomena that would be hard to explain under the
assumption that there are two separate lexical items, in particular, the Iaaw4 that plays
the role of an aspectual marker and the laaw4 that plays the role of a conjunction.
Subsequently, in (3.2) and (3.3), I investigate the semantic properties and the syntactic
position of laaw, respectively. It will be apparent that the taaw, that plays the role of
an aspectual marker and the Iaaw, that plays the role of a conjunction have an identical

meaning and occupy an identical position, suggesting that they are the same lexical item.
Finally in (3.4), as evidence for this analysis, I provide an explanation for puzzles which

would otherwise be hard to explain.

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3.1 Evidence against Iaaw, for aspect and taaw, for conjunction as two separate

words

Three phenomena would be hard to explain under the assumption that there are

two independent lexical items: laaw4 as an aspectual marker and Iaaw4 as a

conjunction.

The first problem concerns the co-occurrence of an aspectual marker and a

conjunction. While aspectual markers khaay,, kam,lan,, and yuu2 can naturally occur

with laaw, as a conjunction, Iaaw, as an aspectual marker cannot, as illustrated in (9).

(9) a

coon, khaay, pay, may, pha, yaa, baan, taaw, pay, pray, sa, nii,

John EXP go hospital laaW4 go post office

“John had the experience of going to a hospital and then going to a post
office.”

coon, kam,lan, kin, Pap, paan3 laaw, th00,ra,sap, day,

John PROC eat apple laaw4 telephone ring
“John was eating an apple and then the telephone rang.”

coon, kin, Pap, paan 3 yuu2 taaw, thoo,ra,sap, day,

John eat apple STATE laaw4 telephone ring
“John is eating an apple and then the telephone rang.”

* coon, pay, rooy, pha, ya, ban, taaw, laaw, pay, pray, sa, nii,

John go hospital laaw4 laaw4 go post office
“John went to a hospital and then went to a post office.”

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e *coon, pay, ray, pha, ya, ban, taaw4 mii3 wan, taaw, pay,
John go hospital laeaw4 yesterday laaw4 go

pray, sa, nii,
a post-office.”

“Yesterday John went to a hospital and then went to a post-office.”

In (9a) and (9b) the aspectual particles khooy, and kam,lan, which appear on the left of
the VP can occur with Iaaw4. Similarly, in (9c) the aspectual particle yuu2, which
appear on the right of the VP, can occur with Iaaw4. However, in (9d) the particle

laaw4 cannot occur with laaw4, as the sentence becomes ungrarmnatical. (9e) shows

that the ungrammaticality of (9d) cannot be attributed to a simple phonetic fact, as the

ungrammaticality remains even when the Iaam showing aspect and the [seam
showing conjunction are not adjacent. Under the assumption that laaw, as an aspectual

marker and laaw4 as a conjunction are two independent words, it is hard to explain why

the two independent words which perform independent functions cannot co-occur.

The second phenomenon involves the position of aspecual laaw, and a
conjunction (3.989% with respect to epistemic modals, which express the speaker’s

degree of confidence about a proposition (Cinque 1999, p. 86). For example, tam is an
epistemic modal for certainty and Paar; ca 2 is an epistemic modal for probability. Both
laaw, as an aspectual marker and as a conjunction seem to be in a position

hierarchically lower than epistemic modals. This is illustrated in (10) and (11).

230

(10)

(11)

93

D

coon, top 3 pay, niw, yookz taaw,

John must go New York laaw4.
“John must have gone to New York”

coon, Pact, ca; pay, niw, yookz taam

John probably go New York Iaaw4.
“John probably has gone to New York”

coon, tom pay, niw, yookz taaw4 ha5 yan, day5

John must go New York laaw, get job can
“John must go to New York and then must be able to get a job.”

coon, Pant, ca; pay, niw, yookz taaw, ha5 nan, day5

John probably go New York Iaaw, get job can

“John probably will go to New York and then he probably will be able to
get a job.”

From the data in (10) and (11), it seems clear that the epistemic modals take scope over

the aspectual Iaaw4 and the conjunction Iaaw, respectively, suggesting that both the

aspectual laaw4 and the conjunction Iaaw, are in a syntactic position below epistemic

modals. Assuming that aspectual Iaaw, and conjunction Iaaw4 are two independent

words, why they both should have to be under epistemic modal has to be treated as a

mere coincidence.

The third phenomenon concerns the meaning components of laaw4. Both

aspectual Iaaw4 and conjunction Iaaw4 seem to share a certain meaning component;

both indicate the end and the beginning of situations. This is demonstrated in (12).

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(12) a coon, kin, Pep4paan 3 taaw,
John eat apple laaw,

“John has eaten the apples.” 63

b coon, kin, Pep4paan3 laaw; diim; nam, 30m 3
John eat apple laaw, drink orange juice
“John ate the apples and then drank orange juice.”

In (12a), the aspectual Iaaw, tells us that the situation of “John eating the apples” has

ended and at the same time implies the subsequent situation, which is that John is not

eating the apples. In (12b), the conjunction laaw, indicates that the situation of “John

eating the apples” ended and that the situation of “John drinking orange juice”

subsequently started. The aspectual Iaaw4 and the conjunction laaw, share the

property of denoting the beginning and the end of situations. Again, under the
assumption that the aspectual Iaaw, and the conjunction laaw, are two independent
words, this must be unfavorably attributed to a coincidence.

In conclusion these three phenomena seem to be problematic under the hypothesis

that there are two separate lexical entries: aspectual laaw, and conjunction laaw4. In

section (3 .4), I will provide an account for the three puzzles above. More precisely, I will

provide an explanation for the ungrammaticality of sentence (13a) which illustrates the
unacceptability of Iaaw4 modifying the first clause and the conjunction. I will also
provide an explanation for the grammaticality of sentence (13b), where a sequence

reading is available, and the grammaticality of sentence (13c), where a sequence reading

is not available.

 

‘3 In addition to the reading “John has eaten the apples,” this sentence has the reading “John has started
eating the apples.” This will be discussed when investigating the interaction of Iaaw, with different types
of verbs in section (3.2.1.1).

232

(13)

* coon, pay, niw, yookz Iaaw, taaw, pay, boos4 tan;

John go New York laaew4 laaw4 go Boston
“John went to New York and then went to Boston.”

coon, pay, niw, yookz taaw, pay, boos4tan3
John go New York laaw4 go Boston
“John went to New York and then went to Boston.”

coon, pay, niw, yookz laaw; 1a., pay, boos4tan3 taaw,
John go New York beam, and go Boston laaw4
“John has been to New York and has been to Boston.”

3.2 Investigating the semantic properties of laaw,

In this section, I investigate the meaning of laaw, when it occurs in different

environments. In particular, I investigate the role of Iaaw4 when it appears to the right

of a VP (the role of an aspectual marker) and the role of [aan/4 when it appears between

two VPs (the role of a conjunction). It will be apparent that laaw, plays these two roles

while keeping its meaning constant.

3.2.1

The role of an aspectual marker

I will investigate the role of the aspectual marker laaw, by considering the

interaction of laaw, with different types of verbs including individual-level predicates,

which are considered to be aspectualless.

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3.2.1.1 The interaction of taaw, with different types of verbs

Laaw, appearing to the right of a VP indicates that the event denoted by the VP
has either completed or started, depending on the type of the verb. Laaw, occurring

with verbs that lack culmination points (i.e., states and activities) indicates that the

event/state denoted by the VP has started, as illustrated in (14).

(14) a coon, wiy3 taaw4
John run Iaaw,
“John has started running.”
b coon, choop 3 7113989 ,rii 3 taaw,

John like Mary Iaaw,
“John has started to like Mary.”

In (14a), laaw4 indicates that the event of John running has started. Similarly, in (14b)

laaw4 indicates that the state of John liking Mary has started.64 Assuming that “x”

stands for event/state and “c: ”the beginning, the semantics of (14a) and (14b) can be

represented as (15).

(15) c: xxx

 

6‘ To say that “John has just run,” a lexical item set, “finish” will be inserted at the position following the
verb wig, “run”. And to say that “John has stopped liking Mary,” a lexical item leak, “stop”will be inserted
at the position preceding the verb choop; “like,”as illustrated by the following.
(i) coon, wiy3 set, Iaaw,

John run finish Iaaw,

“John has just run.”
(ii) coon, lea/(3 choop3 maa,rii3 Iaaw,

John stop like Mary Iaaw,

“John has stopped liking Mary.”

234

However, beam, in indicating the beginning of an event/state, also implies a previous
event/state. In (14a), laaw4 also implies the previous event of John not running.

Similarly, in (14b), Iaaw4 also implies the previous state of John not liking Mary.

Assuming that “ox” stands for the negation of “x,” and “3” the end, the semantics of

(14a) and (14b) can be represented as (16) where the bold x characters indicate the part

that is asserted and the normal characters indicates the part that is implied.65

(16) “'x—‘x—‘x DC XXX

The Iaaw4 that occurs with verbs that have culmination points

(accomplishments and achievements) indicates that the event denoted by a VP has either

started or been completed.66 This is illustrated in (l 7).

(17) a coon, kin, Pep4paan3 taaw4
John eat apple Iaam

i) “John has started eating the apples.”
ii) “John has eaten the apples.”

 

6’ It is important to make clear that while the previous contrasting situation is implied, the transition
between the two situations is asserted. So in (16), while -'x-rx~x is implied 3 is asserted.

”6 The behavior of laaw, is not peculiar. The particle [e in Chinese behaves similarly. Le indicates
change of state/status (Yang ,1985), as illustrated in (i).

(i) John chi pingguo 1e
John eat apple 1e
“John has started eating the apples.”
“John has eaten the apples.”

In the first reading 1e indicate the change from the earlier event of ‘not eating the apple’ to the present event

of ‘eating the apple.’ In the second reading 1e indicates the change from the earlier event of ‘eating the
apple’ to the present event of ‘not eating the apple.’

235

b coon, cha,na, taaw,
John win Iaaw4

i) “John has started winning the game.”67
ii) “John has won the game.”

In the first reading of (17a) and (17b), Iaaew4 indicates the start of the event, and in the
second reading, Iaaw, indicates the end of the event. Therefore, the first reading of

(1 7a) and (17b) can be represented as (18a) and the second readings can be represented as

(18b).

(18) a C XXX
b XXX 3

However, in describing the start of the event, laaw4 implies a previous event,

and in describing the end of the event, taaw, implies a subsequent event.
To illustrate, consider (17a). In the first reading, taaw4 describes the start of the

present event and implies a previous event. In particular, Iaaw4 describes that the event
of “eating the apples” has started and implies a previous event of “not eating the apples.”
In the second reading, taaw, asserts the end of the earlier event and implies the
subsequent event. So laaew4 describes that the event of “eating the apples” has ended

and implies the subsequent event of “not eating the apples.”
Therefore, the first and second readings of the sentences (17a) and (17b) can be

represented more precisely as (19a) and (19b), respectively, where the bold x characters

 

’7 This reading seems to be possible in the situational context that John was playing so well that apparently
he would be the winner of the game.

236

indicate the part that is asserted and the normal characters indicates the part that is

implied.68
(19) a oxpx-rx DC XXX
b XXX DC “'X‘XDX

From the representations in (16) and (19), it seems clear that laaw, marks the

beginning or the end of situations or the boundaries between situations. As situations are

located on a time line, the assumption for the role of laaw, is that laaw4 creates

temporal boundaries. More precisely, taaw4 introduces a boundary that coincides with

a boundary of the event described by the VP. Whether the left or the right boundary will

be picked depends on the kind of eventualities denoted by the VP. 69

3.2.1.2 The interaction of taaw, with individual-level predicates

It is the interaction of taaw, with individual-level predicates that supports the

assumption that laaw4 marks a boundary. As discussed in chapter 2, Carlson (1977)

 

6’ Again, it is important to make clear that in (193), while the previous contrasting situation is implied, the
transition between the two situations is asserted. And in (19b), while the subsequent situation is implied,
the transition between the two situations is asserted.

’9 The role marking a boundary is similar to English “suddenly.”

i) a Mary ran.
b Suddenly Mary ran.
ii) a Mary was in the hallway.
b Suddenly Mary was in the hallway.

In (ia), no boundary is marked but in (ib), the left boundary is marked. Similarly, in (iia), no boundary is
marked, but in (iib) the left boundary is marked.

237

distinguishes between two types of predicates, state-level predicates and individual-level
predicates. Stage-level predicates refer to temporal states such as “being depressed” and
“sitting on the floor.” Individual-level predicates refer to permanent states such as “being
an American” and “having brown eyes.”

Crucially while the permanent state reading is available in (20), it is not available

in (21), where individual-level predicates occur with Iaaew4.

(20) a coon, pen, khan, ?a2 me, ri, khan,
John be person American
“John is an American”.

b maa,rii 3 mii, taa, sii 5 nam, tan,
Mary have eyes color brown
“Mary has brown eyes”

(21) a coon, pen, khan, Pa, me, ri, khan, taaw,
John be person American laeaew,
“John has become an American (since he received American citizenship)”
b maa,rii 3 mii, taa, sii5 nam, tan, taaw,

Mary have eyes color brown laeaew,

“Mary’s eyes have become brown (since she started wearing brown
contact lenses).”

While the reading of permanent state is available in (20), it is not available in (21). In

(21), laaw, forces the reading of a temporal state by indicating a change of state. In
(21a), Iaaw, indicates a change from the state of not being an American to the state
being an American. In (21b), laaw, is equated with the change from a state of not
having brown eyes to a state of having brown eyes. By indicating changes, taaw,

marks the end and the beginning of situations, confirming that laaw, has the property of

creating temporal boundaries.

238

In conclusion, it seems clear that the role of laaw4, which is consistent in all

occurrences of beam, is to mark the beginning or the end of a situation. Where there is

none in the predicate, it coerces the event into an event with a boundary.

3.2.2 The role of a conjunction

In this section, I begin an investigation of the role of laaw, as a conjunction in a
negative sentence. Then, I investigate the role of laaw, by considering its interaction

with stative and activity verbs. Finally I investigate its interaction with individual-level

predicates.

3.2.2.1 Negation facts

As shown in (lb), when Iaaw, occurs at a position between two phrases, it

seems to play the role of a conjunction,conjoining the two phrases. A crucial piece of

evidence supporting this role of Iaaw, can be seen in a negative sentence.

Generally the form for negation in Thai is [may, (day,) + VP].70 This is

illustrated in (22).

 

7° With respect to the difference between may, and may, day,, Ekniyom (1976) claims that may, denotes
irrealis negation whereas may, day,, realis, as illustrated in the examples below.
(i) a khaw, may, pen, khruu, naa, naa,

he not be teacher certainly

“He certainly will not be a teacher.”

b khaw, may, day, pen, khruu, naa, naa,
He not be teacher certainly
“He certainly is/was not a teacher.”

239

(22) coon, may, day, pay, niw, yook,
John not get go New York
“John did not go to New York.”

In (22), any piece can be focused and denied, as (22) can be continued with any of

the sentences in (23).

(23) a maam'i, pay, niw, yook,
Mary go New York
“Mary went to New York.”
b COO”, ph903 klapz chaak; niw, yook,

John just back from New York
“John just came back from New York”

c coon, day, pay, paa,riit3
Johh get go Paris

“John went to Paris.”

If continued by (23a), the target of the negation in (22) must be coon, “John.” If

continued by (23b), the target of the negation in (22) must be pay, “go.” And if

continued by (23c), the target of the negation in (22) must be niw, yook, “New York.”

Now consider a negative version of a sentence in which Iaaw, plays a role of a

conjunction.

(24) coon, may, day, riiany'op, Iaaw, thamman, hay, rat, tha,baan,
John not get graduate laaw4 work for government
“John didn’t graduate and then work for the government.”

Sentence (24) can be continued with any of the sentences in (25),
(25) a biw, riianu'opz Iaaw, thamman, hay, rat, tha,baan,

Bill graduate laaew, work for government
“Bill graduated and then worked for the government.”

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b coon, pit, ran, laaw, thamman, hay, rat, tha,baan,
John close restaurant laaeW4 worked for government.
John closed the restaurant and then work for the government.

c coon, riianu'opz laaw, peed, ran, Paa ,haan 5
John graduate laeaW4 open restaurant
“John graduated and then opened a restaurant.”

If continued by (25a), what is focused and denied in (24) has to be the NP subject coon,
“John.” If continued by (25b), what is focused and denied in (24) has to be the first VP
riianu'op, “graduate.” And if continued by (25c), what is focused and denied in (24) has
to be the second VP thamman, hay, rat, tha,baan,“work for government.”

What is crucial is that in addition to the sentences in (25 ), (24) can be continued

by any of the sentences in (26) as well.

(26) a coon, thamman, hay, rat, tha,baan, nay, [cha,na, thii, khaw, kam,lan,
John work for government in time that he PROCESS
riianu'op,
graduate

“He worked for the government at the same time that he was graduating.”
b coon, thamman, hay, rat, tha,baan, khoon, khaw, riianu'op,

John work for government before he graduate
“John worked for the government before he graduated.”

In (26a) and (26b) what is focused and negated is the ordering of the two events.

Therefore, there must be a word which orders the two events in such a way that the

second event starts after the first event ends in (24). Obviously, that word is laaw4.

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3.2.2.2 The interaction of Iaaw, with states and activities

As shown in (lb), repeated as (27) below, Iaaw, conjoining two phrases
indicates a sequence of the events denoted by the two phrases. More precisely, Iaaw4
seems to require the event denoted by the first conj unct to be completed before the
beginning of the event denoted by the second conjunct.

(27) coon, pay, niw, yook, taaw, pay, boos, tan,
John go New York laaew4 go Boston

"John went to New York and then went to Boston."

The first piece of evidence supporting this is the behavior of laaw, when the

conjoined VPs are state verbs and activity verbs. While accomplishment verbs such as

kin, fep4paan, “eat an apple,” and achievement verbs such as cha,na,, “win” have a
culmination point, state verbs such as choop, “like,” ruu, “know, ”etc. and activity verbs
such as daan, “walk,” wig, “run”, etc. lack a culmination point.

Crucially, when state verbs and activity verbs are conjoined by laam, the states

and activities denoted by these verbs are ordered. This is illustrated in (28).

(28) a coon, choop, maa,rii, taaw, choop, suu, san,

John like Mary laeaew4 like Susan
“John liked Mary and then liked Susan.”

b coon, dean, taaw, wig,

John walk laeaew, run
“John walked and then ran.”

As the two states in (28a) and the two activities in (28b) get ordered, this suggests that

laaw, requires the end of the first state or activity before the beginning of the second

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state or activity. As the state and activity verbs lack a culmination point, the completion

of the first state or activity cannot be attributed to the property of the verbs themselves.

So this suggests that it is Iaaw, that marks the end of the first state or activity.
Laeaw, simultaneously marks the end of the first state or activity and denotes the

beginning of the second state or activity, supporting the argument that the role of [seam

is to mark the end and the beginning of situations or to create temporal boundaries.

3.2.3 The unified property of taaw,

Having investigated the two roles of beam, the property of marking a temporal
boundary between situations unifies the two roles of laaw, Subsequently, the boundary

indicates the end of the earlier situation and the beginning of the subsequent situation,
where the subsequent situation starts at the moment the earlier situation ends.

The property of creating a temporal boundary has been associated to phasal
adverbials (i.e., still, no longer, not yet, already), but also is a notion which has been used
and defined in Discourse Representation Theory terms (Kamp and Reyle, 1993) to deal
with the Perfect and defined as a relation between times, more specifically, an abutment
relation.

According to Kamp and Schiehlen (1998) an important relation between periods
is that of “abutment”. The definition of abutment is provided below:

“An important relation between periods is that of “abutment”: p2 abuts p1 iff (i)

p1 is entirely before p2, but a the same time (ii) p1 and p2 “touch”, i.e. there is no p3

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such that p1 is entirely before p3 and p3 and p3 is entirely before p2. ( In this case we
also say that “p2 abuts pl on the right” and that “p1 abuts p2 on the left”.)” (p.5)

Kamp and Reyle (1993) have shown that the notion of abutment naturally
accounts for temporal phenomena such as the Perfect in English. In particular, the
Perfect has the property of abutment, represented as “ezcs,” where “e” and “5” stand for
event and state respectively.7|

To illustrate, Kamp and Reyle (1993) assume binary features: STAT (state) and
PERF (Perfect). STAT has the values +STAT and —STAT, and PERF has the values
+PERF and -PERF. An expression has the value +STAT when it is used to describe a
state and it has the value —STAT when it is used to describe an event.

Based on the schemata shown in (29), an expression has the value +PERF when it
refers to a result state and it has the value -PERF when it refers to parts of the schemata
other than the result state.

(29) preparatory culmination result state

phase point

I II III
(Kamp and Reyle 1993, p. 558)
According to Karnp and Reyle, simple past tense sentences like (30a) refer to part I and
H, and progressive sentences like (30b) refers to only part I, and Perfect sentences like

(30c) refer to part III of the schemata.

 

7' Although not all the readings of the perfect in English have been addressed in their analysis, the notion of
abutment that is used to account for the Perfect in English seems to be the right way to the analysis of the
particle Iaaw, in Thai, as we will see below.

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(30) a John wrote a letter.

b John was writing a letter.

c John has written a letter.
As (30c) refers to result state, it has the value of +PERF. Kamp and Reyle conclude that
Perfect describes the result state. In other words, the expression with the feature +PERF
will always have the feature +STAT. Consequently they assume that Perfect has the
property of describing the beginning of a state, represented as cs.

Because the result state starts after the termination of an event, concomitantly,
Kamp and Reyle (1993) claim that by describing the result state, the Perfect denotes the
termination of an event. To support this they show that verbs in the Perfect form indicate
the termination of an event regardless of type of verbs. This is illustrated in (31).
(31) a John has met the president.

(Kamp and Reyle 1993, p. 570)
b Mary has lived in Amsterdam.
(Kamp and Reyle 1993, p. 567)

Although the verb “meet” and the verb “live” are considered to be different types of
verbs, more precisely, “meet” is considered to be a non-stative verb which has a
culmination point, but “live” is considered to be a stative verb which lack a culmination
point, due to the Perfect form “has met” and “has lived,” both indicate a termination
point. In (31a), the termination point is the moment that the event of meeting ends, and
in (31b), the termination point is the moment that the state of living in Amsterdam ends.
Kamp and Reyle assume that by describing the result state, the Perfect has the property of

denoting the end of an eventuality, represented as es.

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As state (5) starts at the very moment event (e) ends, the relation between e and s
is that e and s abut. Kamp and Reyle (1993) have concluded that Perfect has the property
of abutment represented as eacs.

Given that the input of the Perfect is an eventuality description consisting of a
verb and its arguments, the Perfect seems to be an aspectual operator (Kamp and Reyle
1993) that provides as an output an eventuality description plus the temporal point of

view of the speaker.

Consistent with Kamp and Reyle (I 993)’s proposal, is the property of laaw,
More precisely, the notion of abutment, represented as 3:, accounts for the behavior of
Iaaw, as well, since laaw, marks a temporal boundary between situations. The

boundary indicates the end of an earlier situation and the beginning of the subsequent
situation, where the subsequent situation starts at the moment the earlier situation ends.

So laaew, can be considered to be a lexical item standing for the notion of abutment.
The manifestations of Iaaw,’s property of abutment can be considered in terms

of the subcategorization of laaw, To illustrate, taaw, can be subcategorized as both a

transitive and an intransitive adverb. As a transitive adverb laaw, takes a VP as its

complement. The consequence is that it orders two events, with the second event starting

immediately after the first event ends, as in (32).
(32) coon, daan, taaw, wig,

John walk laeaew4 run
“John walked and then ran.”

As an intransitive adverb, laaw, also orders two events. It either picks the

beginning of an event and leaves implicit the previous event, or it picks the end of an

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event and leaves implicit the subsequent event, as in the first and the second reading of

(33).

(33) coon, kin, Pep4paan, taaw,
John eat apple laaw,
i) “John has started eating the apples.”
ii) “John has eaten the apples.”

In conclusion, the fine examination of the properties of [steam reveals that there
is a unified semantic representation of Iaaw4. Consistent with the fi'amework proposed

by Kamp and Reyle (1993), laam seems to be a lexical item standing for the relation

between periods of time, referred to as abutment.

3.2.4 Coercion

Investigation for the semantics of Iaaw, shows that when it co-occurs with
predicates which lack temporal boundaries (i.e., individual level predicates), it forces the
creation of a boundary.

So far, it seems that laaw, act on the subeventual structure adding a transition.
However, in the following I will argue that Iaaw, in addition to denoting an abutment

function, performs a semantic operation called “type coercion” as in Pustejovsky (1995),
de Swart (1998) and Schmitt (2000).

Assuming Pustejovsky (1995) type coercion is “a semantic operation that converts
an argument to the type which is expected by a function, where it would otherwise result

in type error.” (p.59)

247

Laaw, turns predicates which lack temporal boundaries (i.e., individual level
predicates) into predicates which have temporal boundaries (i.e., stage-level predicates).

An important piece of evidence is the behavior of Iaaw, in VP conjunctions where the

first VP is an individual-level predicate. Consider (34).

(34) a maa,rii, mii, taa, sii 5 nam, tan, ta, day, pen, nambaeaepz
Mary have eyes color brown and get be a model
“Mary has brown eyes and she can be a model.”

b maa,rii, mii, taa, sii, nam, tan,taaw4 day, pen, nambaap,
Mary have eyes color brown laaw, get be model

“Mary’s eyes have become brown (since she started wearing brown
contact lenses) and she can be a model.”

In (34), if we use the coordinating conjunction la, “and”, when an individual-level

predicate appears at the first conjunct, the individual-level reading is available. However,
if we use laaw, and an individual-level predicate appears at the first conjunct, the
individual reading is not available.

Crucially, it seems that, unlike cases where the situation denoted by the second

conjunct starts after the situation denoted by the first conjunct end, in (34b) the state of

“having brown eyes” continues, although the state of “being a model” starts. This can be

accounted for, if we assume that laaw4, in addition to denoting an abutment function,

can trigger a semantic operation called type coercion.

That is, in (34b) laaw4, first, coerces a situation which lacks a boundary into a

situation which has a boundary. More precisely, Iaaw, coerces the individual level state

248

of “have brown eyes” which lacks a temporal boundary into an event of “becoming
brown” which has a temporal boundary.

Once the predicate is coerced into an event of “becoming brown,” the abutment
function orders the two situations by marking the end of the first situation and the
beginning of he second situation. Here it marks the end of “becoming brown,” and the
beginning of “being a model” as “being a model” starts after “becoming brown” ends.72

The boundary created by the coercion is, therefore, not the abutment function.

More precisely, the abutment function operates on the output of the coercion. For these

reasons, it can be concluded that in addition to denoting an abutment function, Iaaw,

may trigger a semantic operation of type coercion.

3.2.5 The semantics of Iaaw, and of phasal adverbials

Now that it is clear that Iaaw, denotes an abutment relation, we can elucidate the
differences between the semantics of laaw, and the semantics of phasal adverbials.

Van der Auwera (1995) points out that there are adverbials that have the property
of indicating phases of continuation or the lack of continuation. In English, an adverbial
that indicates that a state continues is still. An adverbial that indicates that a state does

not continue is no longer. An adverbial that indicates that a state has come into existence

is already. And an adverbial that indicates that a state has not come into existence is not

 

72 As laaw, selects for events which have temporal boundaries, its behavior is similar to a particle
indicating perfective in Romance languages. This may explain why previous researchers, based on the fact
that Iaasw, marks the end of a situation, described laaw, as a perfective marker, and based on the fact that
laaw, marks the beginning of a situation, described Iaaaw, as a perfect marker (i.e., indicating the
continuing present relevance of a past situation).

249

yet. The semantics of already, no longer, still, and not yet are given here as (35a) to

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(35d), respectively.
(35) a
Time 1 2
State - +
b
Time 1 2
State + -
c
Time 1 2
State + +
(1
Time 1 2
State -

 

 

 

In (35a), (3 5b), (35c) and (35d), time progression from left to right is divisible
into two periods. + and — stands for positive and negative state respectively. Time 2 is
the time referred to by already, no longer, still, and not yet. The state of affairs held at
the periods of time before the time picked by the adverbs is, therefore, the component
without which what the adverbials denote would not be conceivable. Given that these
phasal adverbials assert the state of affairs at Time 2, the state at Time 1 is presupposed.

For the case of Iaaw4, however, we have seen that laaw, denotes an abutment

relation (i.e., 3c ), and as a consequence it may pick the beginning of an event and
leaves the previous event implicit or it may pick the end of an event and leaves the

subsequent event implicit. This is illustrated in (3 6).

250

(36) coon, kin, Pep4paan31aaw4

John eat apple taaw,

i) “John has started eating the apples.”

ii) “John has eaten the apples.”
In (36), Iaaw, may pick the beginning of the event John eating the apples and leaves the
previous event John not eating the apples implicit, resulting in the first reading. Or
laaw, may also pick the end of the event John eating the apples and leaves the
subsequent event John not eating the apples implicit, resulting in the second reading. The
first and the second readings of (36), therefore, can be represented as (37a) and (3 7b)

where xxx stands for the event of John eating the apples and -'x—'x-*x stands for the event

of John not eating the apples.

(37) a *x-rx-ix 3: xxx
IMPLIED ASSERTED

b xxx D c oxox-wx
ASSERTED IMPLIED

In the case of laaw4, therefore, the abutment relation (i.e., 3c ) between the two events
is asserted, and the part that is not asserted (i.e., oxrxox ) is implied, not presupposed. In

summary, laaw, denote an abutment function that orders two eventualities.

3.3 Investigating the syntax of taaw,

In this section, I investigate the syntactic structures of sentences containing

laaw4. I first consider the sentences in which laaw4 plays the role of an aspectual

251

marker and subsequently I consider the sentences in which laam, plays the role of a
conjunction. I show that the positions of laaw, that plays the role of an aspectual

marker and laaw, that plays the role of a conjunction are the same. The facts that they

have the same meaning, occupy the same position, and cannot co-occur together suggest

that they are the same lexical item.

3.3.1 The position of aspectual laaw,

Remember that an element’s ability to be a predicator (i.e., a minimal answer for
a yes/no question) indicates, partially, its syntactic position. An element that is able to be
a predicator is argued to be an element with verbal properties (i.e., modals, aspect

markers, and verbs) situated at the highest head.

Now let’s look at the behavior of laaw, as an aspectual marker with respect to

its ability to be a predicator.

(38) Q: khaw, Paan, nan,sii, laaw, yan,
he read book already yet
“Has he read yet?”

A: a *Paanz
read

b *laaw,
laaw,

c ?aan2 Iaaw,
read laaw,

(V isonyanggoon 2000, p.220)

252

As seen in (3 8) Iaaw, cannot be a predicator. Therefore the position of laaw4

when it behaves like an aspect marker, is not the head above VP.

Here I propose that an explanation for why laaw, in ( ) cannot be a predicator

might have to do with the fact that it does not take a complement. We have seen in
section (4.2.3) of chapter 2 that yuu, when taking a complement (i.e., PP) can be a
predicator, but when taking no complement cannot be a predicator. I have hypothesized

that for a verbal element to be a predicator, it has to take a complement. The fact that

laaw, in (3 8) cannot be a predicator provide a support that the hypothesis is on the right
track. As Iaaw, in (3 8) does not take a complement, it cannot be a predicator.

If laaw, does not occupy the head of a phrase above the VP, what is the position
of laaw4, then? Since adverbs have been assumed to occupy adjunct positions (Ernst

1999), I will adopt the hypothesis that the aspectual laaw, is an adjunct adjoining to the

right of a VP, as in (39).

(39) VP,
/\
VP, AdVP

laaw,

As that hypothesis predicts, laaw, and PP can be switched around, as pointed

out by Visonyanggoon (2000).

253

(40) a

khaw, kin, khaw, thii, baan3 kap, phoo, taaw,
He eat rice at home with father already
“He ate/started to eat with his father at home.”

khaw, kin, khaw, thii, baan3 taaw, kapzphoo,
He eat rice at home already with father
“He ate/started to eat with his father at home.”

khaw, kin, khaw, laaw, thii, baan 3 kap, phoo,
He eat rice already at home with father
“He ate/started to eat with his father at home.”

(V isonyanggoon 2000, p.221)

T hii 3 baan3 “at home” and kap, phoo, “with father” are PPs. In (40a) to (40c) laaw,

can occur after, between or before these PPs, suggesting that Iaaw, adjoins to a VP in

the same fashion as a PP, as illustrated in (41).

(41) a VP,
/\
VP, PP
/\
VP, I$$W4
b VP,
/\

VP,

VP, I$m4

PP

Accordingly, the sketchy structure of a sentence containing aspectual laaw, will look

like (42).

254

(42)
VP
VP Ava

/\ A
V XP IEW4

3.3.2 Visonyanggoon’s (2000) proposal for the height of aspectual laaw, relative to

other aspectual markers

With respect to the height of laaw, relative to other aspectual markers,

Visonyanggoon (2000) suggests that the height of laaw, is not always the same.

She argues that the scope relation between aspectual markers can indicate their positions

with respect to each other. 73

When co-occurring with khoey (EXP), law, can either be under the scope of
khaay,or take khooy, in its scope, as in (43a) and (43b), respectively.

(43) a Chan, khooy, kin, khaw 3 laaw, taa, toy, Pook, pay, kin, khan, nok, kapz
I EXP eat rice already but must exit go eat outside with

phiian, Piikz
friend again

“I have an experience of having eaten rice but having to go out eat with
my friend again.”

 

73 While Iaaw, can co-occur with khooy, (EXPERIENTIAL), kam,ay, (PROGRESSIVE), and yuu,
(IMPERFECTIVE), Iaaw, cannot co-occur with yaa, (CONTINUATIVE) as the meaning of laaw, and

yay, (CONTINUATIVE) are incompatible. Laaw, indicates a lack of continuation of a situation but yap,
(CONTINUATIVE) indicates a continuation of a situation. (V isonyanggoon, 2000)

255

(I have eaten rice “today” already but I have to go out with my friend
again.)

(Visonyanggoon 2000, p. 218)

b chan 5 khooy, kin, kop, Iaeaew4
I EXP eat frog already
“I have already had the experience of eating frog.”

(1 have eaten frog once already.)

(Visonyanggoon 2000, p. 218)

In (43a), Iaaw, describes the termination of the event of “eating rice”. In (43b) laaw4

describes the beginning of the state of “having an experience.” According to

Visonyanggoon (2000), in (43a) law, is under the scope khaayl, and in (43b) Iaaw,
takes scope over khooy,. Assuming that khooy, occupies the head position of
ASpPexperiential, Iaaw, can be generated either below or above the Aschxpericntial. (43a)

and (43b) can be represented by (44) and (45) respectively.
(44)
ASpP experiential

khooy,/\ VP

/\
VP lam,’

/\
V NP
kin, khaw 3
eat rice

256

(45)

F P
/\
F , [89$W4
/\
F Asppcxpericntial
/\
khooy, VP
/\
V NP
kin 1 k0p2
eat frog

According to Visonyanggoon (2000), laaw4, when co-occurring with kam,lan,,

takes scope over kam,lan,, as illustrated in (46).

(46) maa, kam,lan, tham, Paa,haan5 laaw4
Mom PROG" do food already
“Mom has been cooking.”

(V isonyanggoon 2000, p. 216)

The sentence (46) describes that the situation of cooking has started. Assuming that

kam,lan, occupies the head position of ProgP/ImpP, Visonyanggoon proposes that

laaw, is in a position higher than ProgP/ImpP, as shown in (47).

 

7‘ In Visonyanggoon (2000), the gloss for karmay, is PROGRESSIVE.

257

(47) FP

/\
F, I$$W4
/\
F ProgP/ImpP
/\

kam ,lay 1 VP
/\
V NP

tham, Paa,haan5

do food

Relative to yuu2, when co-occurring with yuu2, laaw, takes scope over yuu2, as

illustrated in (48).

(48) khaw, kin, khaaw, yuu2 laaw,
He eat rice IMPF75 already
“He has been eating.”

(V isonyanggoon 2000, p. 216)
Sentence (48) states that the state of John eating has started (and implies that the earlier

situation of John not eating has ended) . As Visonyanggoon assumes that yuu, occupies

the adjunct position of ProgP/ImpP, for her laaw, must be in a position higher than

ProgP/ImpP, as shown in (49).

 

75 In Visonyanggoon (2000), the gloss for yuu, is IMPERFECTIVE.

258

(49) FP
/\

F’ laaw,
/\

F ProgP/ImpP
/\
ProgP/ImpP yuu2
/\

Prog/Imp VP

/\
V NP

kin, khaaw 3
eat rice

Visonyanggoon (2000) concludes that due to its adverbial nature, the position of laaw,

relative to other aspectual markers is flexible.

3.3.3 Argument against Visonyanggon’s (2000) proposal for the height of aspectual

laaw, relative to kam,lan, and yuu2

Concerning the syntactic positions of kam,lan, and yuu2, I have argued in section
(4.2.2.3) of chapter 2 that kam,lan, is the head of Prog/ImpP and that yuu, adjoins to a

phrase lower than kam,lan,, possibly a VP, as illustrated in (50).

(50)
/\
ProgP/ImpP
Prog/Imp VP,
kam I [an] /\
VP, VP

yuu,

259

Here I am going to show that laaw, is lower than kam,lan, and higher than yuu2.

The argument comes from their co-occurrence with a class of VPs like say, taa0,huu5

“wear earrings. Consider (51).
(51) a Maa,rii, kam,lan, say, taal],huu5
Mary kam,lan, wear earrings

“Mary is putting earrings on.”

b Maam'i, say, taa0,huu5 laaw,
Mary wear earrings taaw,
“Mary has started putting earrings on”
“Mary has put earrings on.”

c Maa,rii, kam,lan, say, taa0,huu5 taaw4

Mary kam,lan, wear earrings laaew,
“Mary is putting earrings on.”

In (51a), say, taamhuu, “wear earrings” co-occurs with kam,lan,, and it is

described as a process currently in progress. In (51b), say, taaa,huu5 “wear earrings” co-
occurs with laaw, and it is either described as a process currently in progress, or as a

process which has ended. Crucially, in (51c), where say, taa0,huu5 “wear earrings” co-
occurs with both kam,lan, and laaw, , only described a process currently in progress is
described. This suggests that kam,lan, takes scope over laaw, or that laaw, has to
adjoin to a phrase lower than kam,lan,, possibly a VP.

The structure of sentences where kam,lan, and laaw, co-occur such as (51c)

should therefore be schematically represented as (52).

260

(52)

A
ProgP/lmpP
Prog/Imp VP,
kam, [an] /\
VP, VP

Iaaw,

Now let’s look at the position of laaw, relative to yuu2. When co-occurring

with yuu2, laaw4 seems to take scope over yuu2, as illustrated in (53).

(53) khaw, kin, khaaw, yuu2 laaw,

He eat rice yuu2 laeaew,

“He has started eating.”
As yuu2 asserts that an event holds at time t, in (53) yuu2 would imply that the time before
and after t the event of “eating” did not/will not hold. However, in (53), only the

implication at the time before t the event of “eating” did not hold is available. This is

because laaw, which, in this case, marks the left boundary (i.e., the beginning) of the
event of eating, takes scope over yuu2. As laaw, marks that left boundary of the event

of “eating,” it implies the previous event of “not eating.”

Therefore, I propose that the structure of sentences where yuu, and laaw, co-

occur such as (53),should be schematically represented as (54).

(54)
/\
VP,
/\
VP, laaw,
/\
VP, yuu2

261

3.3.4 The position of conjunction taaw,

I have shown in section (3.2.2.1) that laaew, has some of the properties of a

conjunction. In this section, I will investigate the structural position of laeaw, I will

use the extraction test again as a basis for the investigation.

In the case of laaew4, the extraction test suggests that syntactically the two

conjuncts are not two main clauses. This is illustrated in (55).

(55) a nii, khii, ran4, lhii3 C95)", pay, I, taaw, maa,rii, [0‘0012
This is store that John go t laeaew, Mary angry
“This was the store that John went to and then Mary was angry.”

b * nii 3 khii, ram, thii 3 coon, pay, niw, yook, taaw, maam'i, pay, t,
This is store that John go New York laaw, Mary go t
“This was the store that John went to NewYork and then Mary went to.”

In (55a), the extraction of ran, “store” out of the first conjunct is grammatical but in
(55b), the extraction of ran, “store” out of the second conjunct results in
ungrammaticality. This suggests that the two conjuncts are not parallel. More precisely,
it seems that the second conjunct is an adjunct that adjoins to the first conjunct, and

76

operator movement is not possible for some reason.

As the second conjunct (V P2) is an adjunct that adjoins to the first conjunct

(V P1), the laaw4P (Ava) cannot be a projection that has VP1 as its specifier.

Consequently, the structure of the sentence in which laaw, behaves like a conjunction

as (56a) will not be as in (56b) but as in (56c).

 

7’ It may be that Iaaw, blocks operator movement. It should be noted that in the cases of pay,/maa ,
“go/come,” when only adjunct extraction is impossible, the adjoined VP has no extra conjoining materials.

262

(56) a coon, pay, niw, yook, Iaaew, phop, maa, rii,.
John go New York lasaw, meet Mary
“John went to New York and then met Mary.”

 

 

b It
IP
/\
DP 1’
coon, /\
John I Ava
/\
VP1 Adv’
/\
Aidv VP2
Iaaw, /\
pay: niw, yaak;»
go New York phop, maa, rii,
meet Mary
c
[P
/\
DP 1’
coon, /\
John I VP1
/\
VP1 Adv’
/\
i i Pidv VP2
laaw, /\
pay, niw, yook,
go New York phop, maa, rii,
meet Mary

In summary, given the extraction facts, laaw, used as a conjunction conjoining

two phrases seems to be the head of an Ava that adjoins to the right of VP1.

263

3.3.5 The identical position of aspectual laaw, and conjunction laaw,

We have seen that aspectual laaw, and conjunction laaew, are an adjunct. In
this section I will show that the position of aspectual laaw, and the position of
conjunction laaw, are the same position.

The height of laaw, relative to modals seems to be crucial. I will first provide
an introduction to modals in Thai. Then, I will show the position of aspectual [Beam

and conjunction laaw, relative to the modals. It will be evident that they occupy the

same position.

3.3.5.1 Introduction to modals in Thai

Visonyanggoon (2000), assuming Cinque (1999) and Palmer (1986), states that
modals are typically categorized in terms of their meaning into two types: root modals
and epistemic modals.

Root modals, which are also called “ deontic modals,” express volition,
obligation, permission, and ability on behalf of the subject or agent of the clause.
Epistemic modals, on the other hand, express the speaker’s degree of confidence about
the truth of the proposition based on the kind of information he/she has, his/her own

judgement and the kind of warrant he/ she has for what he/she says.

264

According to Visonyanggoon (2000), the modals in Thai can be grouped into two

types as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Root Epistemic
toy, strong obligation inferred certainty
naa, (caz), khuuan, (caz) week obligation probability
ca, volition
dill/3 permission
day3, pen,, way, ability
?aat- caz, khoy,-ca2 probability

 

 

 

Table 1: Types of modals in Thai
(V isonyanggoon 2000, p. 124)
All the modals precede the verb except root modals expressing ability (day, pen ,,

and way,), which follow the verb, as illustrated in the examples below.

(57) a coon, khuuan, pay, niw, yook,
John should go New York
“John should go to New York.”

b coon, tog, pay, niw, yook,
John must go New York
“John must go to New York.”
c coon, pay, niw, yook, day,

John go New York may/can
“John may/can go to New York.”

Visonyanggoon (2000) proposes that although Thai modals occur either pre-
verbally or post-verbally, they are base-generated pre-verbally. More precisely, she

argues that they are heads situated above VP. As discussed in section ( ) of chapter 2, for

265

 

cases of post-verbal modals (i.e., day ,, pen ,, and way,) the word order is derived by
movement of VP to some position higher than the modal.

With respect to positions of modals relative to each other, Visonyanggoon argues
that the syntactic location of Thai modals basically supports the proposal made by Cinque
(1999) concerning the cross-linguistic ordering of various types of modals, as

demonstrated in (58).

(58) MOdepistemic > MOdroot (volition > obligation > permission/ability)

(p.126)

For example, epistemic modals Pat, caz, khoy, ca, , (for probability) and toy, (for inferred

certainty) are higher syntactically than root modals such as ca, (for volition), toy, (for

strong obligation), and day,, pen ,, way, (for ability). A root modal such as ca, (for

volition) is higher than the root modal toy, (for strong obligation), which is higher than

root modals such as day,, pen ,, and way, (for ability).

3.3.5.2 The position aspectual taaw, relative to modals

Relative to modals, aspectual laaw, seems to be in a position lower than

epistemic modals, given their interpretation. This is illustrated in (59).

(59) a coon, tag 3 pay, niw, yook, laaw,

John must go New York laaW4
“John must have gone to New York”

266

b coon, khuuan, pay, niw, yook, Iaaw4

John should go New York laeaw4
“John probably has gone to New York.”

c coon, Pauly-ca, pay, niw, yook, Iaaw,

John probably go New York laeaew,
“John probably has gone to New Yor .”

Assuming that an epistemic modal occupies the head of ModPepistemic, the aspectual

Iaaw, seems to be in a position below ModPepistemic. More precisely, the aspectual

laaw, seems to be an adjunct that adjoins to the right of a phrase lower than

ModPepistemic, possibly a VP.77

The sentence (60a), therefore, can be schematically represented by (60b).

(60) a coon, top 3 pay, niw, yook, laaw4
John must go New York already.
“John must have gone to New York.”

b
MOdPepistemic
A
MOd’epistemic
/\
MOdcpistemic VP
l /\
top 3 VP Ava
mus’ A
pay, niw, yookz laaw,
go New York laaW4

 

77 It is also possible that there is a functional phrase (FP) in a position lower than a ModP and higher than a
VP, and laaw, is in this PP.

267

3.3.5.3 Modals in coordination

Assuming Visonyanggoon (2000) in a coordinated construction where the first
conjunct contains an epistemic modal and the second conjunct contains a post-modal, the
epistemic modal cannot take scope over the second conjunct. The repetition of the

epistemic modal in the second conjunct is required, as shown by (61).
(61) a *coon, toy, pay, niw, yook, la, haa, yan, day,
John must go New York and find job can
"John must go to New York and must be able to get a job."
b coon, ton, pay, niw, yook, ta, ton, haa, yan, day,

John must go New York and must find job can
"John must go to New York and must be able to get a job."

(V isonyanggoon 2000, p.146)
The explanation seems to be that in the coordination by 169., “and” the epistemic modal

toy, “must” in the first conjunct does not c-command the second conjunct". Assuming

Munn (1993), the coordinate structure by la, “and” in (61b) can be represented as (62).

 

7’ I assume here the strict c-command relation, which is that “a c—commands B iff the lowest branching
node that immediately dominates or also dominates B.” (Cullicover, 1997, p. 26)

268

(62)

 

MOdPepistemic
MOdPepistemic BP
A /\
MOd’epistemic B MOdPepistemic
MOdepistemic A [$4 MOd’cpistemic
toy, pay, niw, yook, MOdepistemic MOdPability
must go New York I /\
toy, VP, Mod’abiiity
must A
haa, yaan, Mo ability
find job i1 i
,day, ti
can

As the repetition of the epistemic modal tog 3 “must” in the second conjunct is necessary,
we can conclude that the conjunction la, “and” is higher than the epistemic modal toy 3

“must.”

3.3.5.4 Summary

So, we have seen that position of aspectual laaw, is lower than epistemic
modals such as toy, “must.” Also we have seen that the position of conjunction Ia,

“and” is higher than epistemic modals such as ton, “must.”

269

In the following section I will show that even when behaves like a conjunction,

laaw, occupies the same position as the aspectual laam rather than occupying the

same position as the conjunction la, “and.”

3.3.5.5 The position of conjunction Iaaw, relative to epistemic modals

In a coordinated construction where laaw, is a conjunction, the epistemic modal

(e. g., toy, “must”) in the first conjunct can take scope over the second conjunct regardless

of the post-verbal modal in the second conjunct. The repetition of the pre-verbal modal

in the second conjunct results in ungrammaticality, as illustrated below.

(63) a coon, toy, pay, niw, yook, laaw, haa, nan, day,

John must go New York laaw, find job can
“John must go to New York and then must be able to get a job.”

b *coon, toy, pay, niw, yook, taaw, toy, haa, nan, day,

John must go New York laam must find job can
“John must go to New York and then must be able to get a job.”

This suggests that when conjoining two conjuncts, Iaaw, is not in a position above
ModPepistemic like 139., in (62). Instead it is at a position below the ModPepistemic.

More precisely, Iaaw4 seems to adjoin to the right of the VP. The structure of (63),

therefore, is (64).

270

(64)

MOdPepistemic
A
MOd’epistemic
A
MOdcpistemic VP
toy 3 VP Ava
A Adv MOdPability
pay,niw,yook2 I /\
go New York Iaaw, VP, Mod’abiiity
l$&W4 /\
MOdability VP
haa, yaan, I I
find jOb day, t,
can

By (64) the modal toy, in the first conjunct c-commands the second conjunct and so the

repetition of the modal toy, in the second conjunct causes ungrammaticality.

3.3.5.6 Summary

So, it is clear that the laaw, that behaves like an aspectual marker and the

lam, that behaves like a conjunction occupy the same syntactic position. They are

lower than MOdPepistemic. More precisely, they uniformly adjoin to the right of the VP.

As they denote the same meaning and occupy the same position, they are the

same lexical item, or there is only lexical entry for laaew,

In the next section I will show how the assumption that they occupy the same

position accounts for otherwise hard to account for cases.

271

3.4 Evidence for the analysis

By assuming that semantically laaw, is a lexical item standing for the relation

between periods of time referred to as abutment, and that syntactically Iaaw, is an

adjunct that adjoins to the right of a VP projection, the phenomena illustrated in (13) can

be explained. (13) is repeated as (65).

(65) a * coon, pay, niw, yookz taaw, laaw, pay, boos, tan,

John go New York laaw4 laaw4 go Boston
“John went to a New York and then to Boston.”

b coon, pay, niw, yook, laaw, pay, boos4tan 3

John go New York laaw4 go Boston
“John went to New York and then went to Boston.”

c coon, pay, niw, yook, laaw, la, pay, boos4tan31aaw4

John go New York laaw, and go Boston laaw,
“John has been to New York and has been to Boston.”

The ungrammaticality of (65a), the grammaticality of (65b) (where the sequence reading
is available) and the grammaticality of (65c) (where the sequence reading is not

available) can be explained by the following.

In (65a), if there is only one laaw4, the repetition of Iaaw, causes

ungrammaticality because the two laaw, occupy the same position as shown in (66).

272

(66)
* IP
/\

coon, I’

101111 /\
I VP1

//\
VP1 Ava

/\
Adv VP

pay, niw, yook, ' .‘
go New York laaw,
laaw4 pay, boos, tan 2
go Boston

In (65b) as laaw, is an adverb modifying the VP pay, niw, yook, “went to New York,”

it is a head that can take another phrase as its complement. In this case, the VP pay,

boos4tan, “went to Boston” is the complement of laaw4. Consequently, laaw,

conjoins the two phrases. And as semantically Iaaw, has the property of creating

temporal boundaries, the manifestation of this property at this position is that the events
denoted by the two conj uncts get ordered. In particular, the event denoted by the second
conj unct is required to begin after the event denoted by the first conjunct ends.

Therefore, the sequence reading is available, as demonstrated in (67).

273

(67) IP

/\
coon, I’
John /\
I VP1
/\
VP 1 Ava

/\
/\ Adv VP2
pay, niw, yookz . I ::

go New York laeaew

DC pay, boos, tan,
go Boston

While law, in (65b) takes another phrase as its complement and behaves like a

transitive adverb, this is not necessary. Laaw, can also behave like an intransitive
adverb by describing the end of a situation and implying a new situation or vice versa. In
(65c), Iaaw, does not take a second conjunct as its complement. Therefore, to conjoin
the two conjuncts, la, “and” is inserted. As the conjunction la, “and” is not associated

with the property of abutment, the events denoted by the two conjuncts are not ordered.
In particular, the event denoted by the second conjunct is not required to be temporally
following the first. Assuming the coordinate structure in Munn (1993), the structure of

(65c ) can be represented as (68).

274

(68) IP

/\
coon, I’
John /\
I VP1
/\
VP1 BP
W/\ B/\
Ava VP2
/\
AP A la|e4 VP2 Ava
pay,niw, yook, laaew, and A
go New York laaw4
pay, boos4tan, Iaaw4
go Boston laaw4

Therefore, the assumption that there is only one lexical item team, with only

one meaning can account for cases which would otherwise be hard to explain.

4. Conclusion

Having investigated the semantic properties of laaw4, it is clear that
laeaw, has only one meaning. More precisely, laaw, denotes an abutment relation. The
investigation of the structural position of laaw, also supports the contention that there is
only one lexical entry for laeaw, More precisely, laaw, is the head of an Ava which

adjoins to the right of a VP and can either behave like a transitive adverb taking another
phrase as its argument or a transitive adverb that takes an implicit eventuality as its

complement.

275

When it behaves like a transitive adverb, the consequence is that the situations

denoted by the VP5 preceding and following laeaew, get temporally ordered. When
Iaaw, takes a null event as its complement, the consequence is that the beginning or the

end of the situation is described and the subsequent or the previous situation is implied.
More generally, the unified treatment can explain why certain meanings are

available in certain contexts and can predict these specific meaning and their occurrences.
To conclude, rather than postulating two different lexical entries for two different

but related senses of laaw4, all we need to say to account for the senses of laaw, is that
Iaaw, should be unspecified for transitivity. Basically laaw, is a relation just like the

relations that link subevents. It is a relation similar to Pustejovksy’s (1995) relation of
precedence (i.e., <), but more precisely, an abutment relation (i.e., DC ). It will combine,

however, not subevents (i.e., e, and e 2), but complete event structures.

276

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

Having discussed yuu2, pay/moo, and laaw4, I will now go back to the goals

stated in the Introduction. The four goals of this dissertation are:
1. To describe a set of aspect markers in Thai, more specifically, yuu2, pay,,

maa,, and Iaaw,

2. To describe and explain the related senses of each of these elements, and to
provide a unified semantic and syntactic property that can account for their
different uses.

3. To use Thai aspect markers as a testing ground for the basic intuitions put
forth in the Generative Lexicon.

4. To test specific proposals made for the sometimes not carefully used labels of

Progressive and Perfect.

By providing case studies for yuu2, pay,/maa, and laaw4, I have achieved the four goal
initially stated.
First, I described that yuu2, pay ,/maa , and laaw4, have multiple functions. Y rm 2

can function as a copular verb for locative construction and also as a marker for the
progressive, habitual, and temporal state. Pay, can function as a verb for “go” and can

function as a marker for continuative, and for excessive degree. Maa, can function as a

277

verb for “come” and as a marker for the universal perfect. Laaw, can function as a

conjunction and as a marker for inchoative, perfective and perfect.

Second, I have provided an explanation for the related senses of each of these
elements. The multiple senses of yuu 2 can be uniformly accounted for by assuming that
yuu, denotes a state with an exclusion feature. The multiple senses of pay, can be
uniformly accounted for by assuming that pay, marks the value of an antideictic center on
a space or time or property axis. Similarly, assuming that maa, assigns the value of a

deictic center to a space or time axis, the multiple senses of maa, can be uniformly

accounted for. Finally, the multiple senses of laaw, can be unified by assuming that

laaw, denotes an abutment relation.

As well as providing a unified preliminary semantics, I have provided a unified
syntax for each of these elements. By making use of a modified notion of headedness, I
have shown that yuu2, pay, and maa, are elements that are unspecified for headedness

with respect to whether they project to a full VP or not. For the unified syntax of laaw4,
I have shown that laaw, is unspecified for transitivity. The unified treatment of yuu 2,
pay ,/maa ,, and Iaaw, can explain why certain meanings are available in certain

contexts and can predict the specific meaning in each occurrence.

Third, as it is apparent that despite the fact that yuu2, pay ,/maa ,, and laaw, have

aspectual meanings as well as other meanings, the multiple meanings are associated. In

other words, there is a core meaning for yuu2, pay,/maa,, and laaw4. Therefore, rather

than multiplying the lexical entries by having the multiple senses correspond to different

lexical entries, the multiple senses can be treated as corresponding to a single lexical

278

 

entry. This, therefore, supports the basic intuitions put forward in the Generative Lexicon
(Pustejovsky, 1995), in particular, that logically related senses do not necessarily
correspond to different lexical items.

Fourth, with respect to the Progressive and the Perfect, I have shown that the
macrocategories of the so-called Perfect and Progressive in Thai may be a good way to
make rough generalizations but are not enough to describe the properties of the
progressive markers and the perfect markers in different languages.

Concerning the progressive, I have shown that two types of the progressive can be

distinguished: the progressive described by kam,lan, and the progressive described by

yuu2. While the progressive described by kam,lan, is a process, the progressive

described by yuu, is a state. The progressive described by yuu, is a state, not a process
because, the denotation of yuu, is a stage-level state. Consequently, yuu2 describes an
eventuality as a state which holds at time t. The progressive, then, can be encoded.
Regarding the Perfect, although the well-known property of the perfect is to
indicate the continuing relevance of a previous situation, there are specific manifestation
of this property. In English the Perfect can be used to convey that a present state is the
result of a past situation (Perfect of result), that a given situation has held at least once
during some time in the past leading up to the present (Experiential perfect), that the
present relevance of the past situation is very recent (Perfect of recent past) and that a
situation starts in past but continues into the present (Perfect of persistent situation).

We have seen in Thai that the core properties of maa, and laaw,, allow them to

express certain types of the Perfect. As one of the core properties of laaw, is to denote

an abutment relation, laaw, may mark the end of an event and leave implicit the

279

subsequent event. Consequently, laaw, can express that a present state is the result of

past situation (Perfect of result), that a given situation has held at least once during some
time in the past leading up to the present (Experiential perfect), or that the present
relevance of the past situation is very recent (Perfect of recent past). Maa,, on the other
hand, adds the value of deictic center (i.e., NOW) to a time axis and the time axis is
bound with other axes. As a consequence, maa, may describe that the right boundary of
the time period in which a situation holds is equated with NOW or that a situation starts
in the past and continues into the present (Perfect of persistent situation) or the universal
Perfect.

To conclude, besides contributing to the description of Thai aspect, in particular,
yuu2, pay ,, maa,, and laaw4, I have shown that the multiple senses of each of these
elements are associated and that rather than corresponding to different lexical entries,

each elements corresponds to a single lexical entry. The studies of yuu2, pay,, maa, and

laaw4, therefore, both provide an account for the macro-categories of the so-called

Perfect and Progressive in Thai and serve to provide evidence for the Generative Lexicon

approach.

280

 

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