VOLITION VERB MOVEMENT IN TAIWANESE SOUTHERN MIN AND MANDARIN CHINESE

This paper aims to delve into the developmental path of two volition verbs and to show that movements of V-to-I and I-to-C/V-to-C have been diachronically occurring in two dialects/languages that are often categorized under the same generic term Chinese. The two volition verbs involve beh “to want ” in Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM) and yao “to want ” in Mandarin Chinese. In investigating diachronic data of classical Chinese, we will show these two verbs have been undergoing a process of categorical change and resulting in polysemy in the synchronic dimension. Both beh and yao can behave like a main verb, a modal auxiliary (expressing obligation and desire), a future marker, and a conditional marker. Since beh in Southern Min has evolved almost identical functions with those of yao in Mandarin by the 16th century, it is not plausible to assume that the Southern Min beh derives phonologically or semantically from the Mandarin yao or even from a literary form yu “to want ” (cf. Tung, 1998). In fact, the literary yu can only function as a main verb or a future marker. Thus, this study will show that two etymologically unrelated forms, beh and yao, have displayed an almost identical path of change, and that this change can be well explained by a syntactic verb-movement occurring in a diachronic dimension