Readers 读者
On the Subject Condition in Cantonese
试论广州话中的“主语条件
Kang Kwong Luke 陆镜光; Adams B.Bodomo; Owen T.Nancarrow
Abstract 摘要
This paper examines the subject condition in LFG using data from Cantonese. The subject condition states that every predicator must have a subject (Bresnan 2001). Cantonese, like other Chinese dialects, has grammatical properties, which lead to difficulties for morphological as well as structural functional specification. It is a pro-drop language, but unlike other pro-drop languages such as Italian and Spanish, it exhibits little verbal morphology. At the same time it is a topic prominent language which lacks clear-cut word order criteria that can be called upon in the identification of subjects. We first document four kinds of sentences in which the subject is not explicitly present. We then illustrate how implicit subjects can be identified through a detailed analysis of a connected text. On the basis of this, it is proposed that in order to handle functional specifications satisfactorily in Cantonese, the lexical mapping theory be augmented by pragmatic-discourse criteria including information from the immediate speech situation and discourse topics. In this way, the universality of the subject condition can be maintained.