<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Verb-object (VO) separable compound verbs (SCVs), for example, <italic>lí-le-hūn</italic> ‘divorced’, have long been studied. A small group of non-VO compounds in Cantonese are also separable, but have not yet been addressed. In this study, a preliminary judgment test was used for the first time, to look into the separation of non-VO compounds. We found that the separation of non-VO compounds, though limited, is different from that of VO compounds in terms of their ways of separation. There seems to be an effect of the ways of separation and the morphological structures of the verbs on the separability. We also showed that the underlying identity of non-VO SCVs is lexical, as most of them do not have a phrasal form. This group of separable verbs, which was neglected before, could have an impact on related morpho-syntactic theories.</p></abstract>

Verb-object (VO) separable compound verbs (SCVs), for example, lí-le-hūn ‘divorced’, have long been studied. A small group of non-VO compounds in Cantonese are also separable, but have not yet been addressed. In this study, a preliminary judgment test was used for the first time, to look into the separation of non-VO compounds. We found that the separation of non-VO compounds, though limited, is different from that of VO compounds in terms of their ways of separation. There seems to be an effect of the ways of separation and the morphological structures of the verbs on the separability. We also showed that the underlying identity of non-VO SCVs is lexical, as most of them do not have a phrasal form. This group of separable verbs, which was neglected before, could have an impact on related morpho-syntactic theories.

Morpho-Syntax of Non-VO Separable Compound Verbs in Cantonese

Studies in Chinese Linguistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Morpho-Syntax of Non-VO Separable Compound Verbs in Cantonese"}

Verb-object (VO) separable compound verbs (SCVs), for example, lí-le-hūn ‘divorced’, have long been studied. A small group of non-VO compounds in Cantonese are...

Morpho-Syntax of Non-VO Separable Compound Verbs in Cantonese

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 185 - 206

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2020-0007

Keywords
morpho-syntax, separable verbs, Cantonese

© 2020 Sheila S.L. Chan et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Morpho-Syntax of Non-VO Separable Compound Verbs in Cantonese

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 185 - 206

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2020-0007

Keywordsmorpho-syntax, separable verbs, Cantonese

© 2020 Sheila S.L. Chan et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
morpho-syntax, separable verbs, Cantonese