ɬwa:n⁵ as a Marker of the Degree of Expressiveness in the Kam Language
Issued Date
2023-12-01
Resource Type
eISSN
2226471X
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85180700891
Journal Title
Languages
Volume
8
Issue
4
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Languages Vol.8 No.4 (2023)
Suggested Citation
He H. ɬwa:n⁵ as a Marker of the Degree of Expressiveness in the Kam Language. Languages Vol.8 No.4 (2023). doi:10.3390/languages8040261 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/95719
Title
ɬwa:n⁵ as a Marker of the Degree of Expressiveness in the Kam Language
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Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of syntactic collocations that include the constraints on an adjective phrase (AP) and adverbs or final particles (X) in the ɬwa:n⁵ + AP + X construction, as well as its pragmatic features and grammatical functions in the Kam language. ɬwa:n⁵ functions as an exclamative marker (EM) that conveys the expressive meaning of the speaker’s attitude. The primary lexical meaning of ɬwa:n⁵ is ‘to calculate’ or ‘to regard as’, and the word is borrowed from Chinese (算 suàn, ‘to count’, ‘to calculate’, ‘to regard as’). The role of ɬwa:n⁵ in the construction ɬwa:n⁵ + AP + X will mainly be discussed in this paper. In addition, the adjectives that can collocate with ɬwa:n⁵ are subject to a gradeability restriction, that is, only gradable adjectives can collocate with ɬwa:n⁵. In general, the ɬwa:n⁵ construction is used to express that the speaker expected an existing situation with a gradable property; in reality, the degree follows a particular scalar and surpasses the expectation.