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Chapter 7. Vietnamese expletive between grammatical subject and subjectivity marker

Nó at the syntax-pragmatics (discourse) interface
  • Huy Linh Dao
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Studies at the Grammar-Discourse Interface
This chapter is in the book Studies at the Grammar-Discourse Interface

Abstract

In this paper, we undertake a systematic investigation of the peculiar behavior of the optional expletive subject pronoun nóexpl in spoken Vietnamese. The first part of our study consists of an in-depth examination of its syntactic and semantic properties in comparison to those of its referential counterpart. From this overview, it appears that the distribution of nóexpl is jointly determined by syntactic and discourse factors. We then critically appraise the recent analysis by Greco et al. (2018a, b), according to which nóexpl imposes a specificity requirement on sentences containing it. We suggest to reinterpret this requirement as a corollary of the assessment by the speaker of a given state of affairs against her epistemic background. Pursuing the line of argumentation developed in Dao (2014) and integrating insights from Speas-Tenny’s syntactic approach to Evidentiality (Speas & Tenny 2003; Speas 2004; Tenny 2006), we argue that nóexpl is best treated as an ego-evidential marker. We further show that nóexpl does not intrinsically encode evidentiality but acquires its evidential import via syntactic processes.

Abstract

In this paper, we undertake a systematic investigation of the peculiar behavior of the optional expletive subject pronoun nóexpl in spoken Vietnamese. The first part of our study consists of an in-depth examination of its syntactic and semantic properties in comparison to those of its referential counterpart. From this overview, it appears that the distribution of nóexpl is jointly determined by syntactic and discourse factors. We then critically appraise the recent analysis by Greco et al. (2018a, b), according to which nóexpl imposes a specificity requirement on sentences containing it. We suggest to reinterpret this requirement as a corollary of the assessment by the speaker of a given state of affairs against her epistemic background. Pursuing the line of argumentation developed in Dao (2014) and integrating insights from Speas-Tenny’s syntactic approach to Evidentiality (Speas & Tenny 2003; Speas 2004; Tenny 2006), we argue that nóexpl is best treated as an ego-evidential marker. We further show that nóexpl does not intrinsically encode evidentiality but acquires its evidential import via syntactic processes.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Grammar, discourse, and the grammar-discourse interface 1
  4. Part I. Discourse markers
  5. Chapter 1. On the rise of discourse markers 23
  6. Chapter 2. On the pragmatic development of modal particles in Navarrese-Lapurdian Basque 57
  7. Chapter 3. On divergent paths and functions of ‘background’-based discourse markers in Korean 77
  8. Chapter 4. Reanalysis and the emergence of adverbial connectors in the history of Japanese 101
  9. Part II. Discourse markers
  10. Chapter 5. The meaning and functions of French je pense (que) 127
  11. Chapter 6. Discourse markers and brain lateralization 157
  12. Chapter 7. Vietnamese expletive between grammatical subject and subjectivity marker 195
  13. Chapter 8. The final particle like in Northern English 229
  14. Chapter 9. On pragma-semantics of expressives 245
  15. Part III. Discourse-related grammatical phenomena
  16. Chapter 10. A just amazing marker in French: “Juste” 275
  17. Chapter 11. On how the distinction between reciprocal and collective verbs affects (anti-)control 299
  18. Chapter 12. The rise of cause/reason adverbial markers in Yaqui (Uto-Aztecan) 313
  19. Index 353
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.219.07dao

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Grammar, discourse, and the grammar-discourse interface 1
  4. Part I. Discourse markers
  5. Chapter 1. On the rise of discourse markers 23
  6. Chapter 2. On the pragmatic development of modal particles in Navarrese-Lapurdian Basque 57
  7. Chapter 3. On divergent paths and functions of ‘background’-based discourse markers in Korean 77
  8. Chapter 4. Reanalysis and the emergence of adverbial connectors in the history of Japanese 101
  9. Part II. Discourse markers
  10. Chapter 5. The meaning and functions of French je pense (que) 127
  11. Chapter 6. Discourse markers and brain lateralization 157
  12. Chapter 7. Vietnamese expletive between grammatical subject and subjectivity marker 195
  13. Chapter 8. The final particle like in Northern English 229
  14. Chapter 9. On pragma-semantics of expressives 245
  15. Part III. Discourse-related grammatical phenomena
  16. Chapter 10. A just amazing marker in French: “Juste” 275
  17. Chapter 11. On how the distinction between reciprocal and collective verbs affects (anti-)control 299
  18. Chapter 12. The rise of cause/reason adverbial markers in Yaqui (Uto-Aztecan) 313
  19. Index 353
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