Two types of aa3-nominals in Cantonese
This paper provides an overview of the grammatical properties of the Cantonese aa3, a nominal
element that only attaches itself to [+human] nouns. We provide evidence to show that there are in fact two types of
aa3-nominals. Their syntactic and semantic properties correlate with the number of syllables they consist of.
There is a two-way split between disyllabic aa3-nominals and multisyllabic aa3-nominals.
Aa3 in disyllabic aa3-nominals should be treated as a prosodic template filler while
aa3 in multisyllabic aa3-nominals occupies a syntactic position in the referential layer of
the Chinese nominal.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.An overview
- 3.Previous analyses
- 4.Disyllabic aa3-nominals vs. multisyllabic aa3-nominals
- 4.1Compatibility with classifiers
- 4.2Ability to be non-referential
- 4.3Possessor reference possibility
- 5.Disyllabic aa3-nominals
- 6.Multisyllabic aa3-nominals
- 6.1Not just definite
- 6.2Resistance to modification
- 6.3Analysis
- 7.Some consequences and loose ends
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
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