The impersonal construction in Tagalog
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Paul Law
Abstract
This paper argues that the impersonal construction in Tagalog, in which a formally invariant predicate may/mayroon ‘exist/have’ is followed by a thematic predicate, is structurally related to the existential construction and the possessive construction both employing the same predicate may/mayroon. A variety of different facts including interpretation, NP distribution, patterns of argument-marking, word-order, pluralization, multiple occurrence of adverbials, long-distance construal of adverbs, locality and extraction are shown to follow from the analysis.
Abstract
This paper argues that the impersonal construction in Tagalog, in which a formally invariant predicate may/mayroon ‘exist/have’ is followed by a thematic predicate, is structurally related to the existential construction and the possessive construction both employing the same predicate may/mayroon. A variety of different facts including interpretation, NP distribution, patterns of argument-marking, word-order, pluralization, multiple occurrence of adverbials, long-distance construal of adverbs, locality and extraction are shown to follow from the analysis.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
-
Phonetics/Phonology/Morphology
- The role of larynx height in the Javanese tense ~ lax stop contrast 7
- Reduplication in Tanjung Raden Malay 25
- Discontiguous reduplication in a local variety of Malay 45
- Phonological evidence for the structure of Javanese compounds 65
- Intonation, information structure and the derivation of inverse VO languages 81
-
Syntax
- The case of possessors and ‘subjects’ 103
- Genitive relative constructions and agent incorporation in Tongan 117
- Possession syntax in Unua DPs 141
- Seediq adverbial verbs 163
- On the syntax of Formosan adverbial verb constructions 183
- Specification and inversion 213
- VSO word order in Malagasy imperatives 231
- A unified analysis of Niuean Aki 249
- Deriving inverse order 271
- The impersonal construction in Tagalog 297
- Anaphora in traditional Jambi Malay 327
- On parameters of agreement in Austronesian languages 345
- Index 375
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
-
Phonetics/Phonology/Morphology
- The role of larynx height in the Javanese tense ~ lax stop contrast 7
- Reduplication in Tanjung Raden Malay 25
- Discontiguous reduplication in a local variety of Malay 45
- Phonological evidence for the structure of Javanese compounds 65
- Intonation, information structure and the derivation of inverse VO languages 81
-
Syntax
- The case of possessors and ‘subjects’ 103
- Genitive relative constructions and agent incorporation in Tongan 117
- Possession syntax in Unua DPs 141
- Seediq adverbial verbs 163
- On the syntax of Formosan adverbial verb constructions 183
- Specification and inversion 213
- VSO word order in Malagasy imperatives 231
- A unified analysis of Niuean Aki 249
- Deriving inverse order 271
- The impersonal construction in Tagalog 297
- Anaphora in traditional Jambi Malay 327
- On parameters of agreement in Austronesian languages 345
- Index 375
