The Polyfunctional Na7/Na2 那 in early Southern Min and its later developments

The paper deals with the polyfunctionality of 那 realized as na7 or na2 featuring a range of senses or functions such as if, only, look like and how/why in earlier Southern Min and its later developments in modern Southern Min based on a set of data reflecting three periods dating back to the sixteenth at the earliest. Special attention is focused on the patterns of syntactic distribution of na7/na2 那 in conjunction with its associated senses and a range of constructions it features such as conditionals, causals, and correlatives denoting simultaneous actions. A comparison of na7/na2 那 in earlier and modern Southern Min shows some interesting grammatical developments chiefly three trends: (i) the grammaticalization of the similative verb *nak 若 in tandem with the proximal deictic element as a marker of the protasis in conditionals; (ii) the obsolescence of the sense of the monosyllabic na7 'only' and emergence of correlative construction na2 X na2 Y featuring the incremental intensification even beyond the newly emergent simultaneous actions; and (iii) the emergence of robust occurrence of na2 那 as a how/why WH-word. The grammatical development is partially manifested in the intriguing recurrence of hyper-characterization of redundant marking of functional isomorphic elements and the compounding of na7/na2 那 and its collocates to forestall the detrimental effect of homophony and ambiguity.

摘要:

本文根据文献就闽南语"那"指称「如果」、「只有」、「像似」、「怎么」 等多重功能，追索十六世纪以来明清时期到现代的演变，着重千考察"那" (na7/na2)的句法分布及相关条件，动因，表同时性动作的联结句 式。徙早期和现代闽南语 na7/na2 的比较可以看出引人入胜的语法演变， 其中包括(i)「像似」动祠「若」搭配近指指示词，语法化为条件前项 H的标记，(ii) 单音节"那"「只有」的消退，闽南语句式 na2 X na2 Y 的兴起，并从新兴的同时并行的语义，进而发展递增的并进程度义。 (iii) 另外一项关连性演变是 na2产生反诘的「怎么」义。在语法演变过程中，功能同形成份常反复出现羡余的迭置现象。na⁷/na² 与其他语词相搭配，一经复合化就跳脱了同音、歧义所造成的不利效应。