The Role of Complementizers in Verb Classification in Thai

1
The Role of Complementizers in Verb
Classification in Thai

• Amara PrasithrathsintChulalongkorn
  UniversityBangkok, ThailandAmara.Pr_at_chula.ac.th

2
Introduction

• What is a complementizer?
• The term "complementiser" was apparently first
  used by Rosenbaum (1967).
• A complementizer is defined here as
• a syntactic category/function word that marks a
  complement clause, which is an argument of a
  matrix verb e.g. that
• I think that he will leave tomorrow.

3
Complemenizer and complement clause

• I think that he will leave tomorrow.
• Complement clause an argument of the matrix
  verb think.
• Complement clause Sentential complement

4
Types of complementizers in English

• that as a complementizer
• that, for-to and poss-ing (gerund).(Akmajian
  1977)
• to-infinitive, bare infinitive, participle,
  whether/if, wh-word
• Altogether there are eight complementizers in
  English.

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Complementizers in English

• (1) to-infinitive Its easy to park your car
  here.
• (2) for-to infinitive Its important for us
  to get there first.
• (3) bare infinitive I saw him enter the
  building
• (4) participle I saw him entering the
  building
• (5) poss-ing / gerund I always enjoyed his/him
  singing that song.
• (6) that-clause I saw that he entered the
  building
• (7) whether/if-clause I dont know whether he
  entered the building.
• (8) wh-constructions I dont know who entered
  the building

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Complementizers and verb classification--French

• verbs in French related to infinitival complement
  clauses 1) perception verbs, and 2) causation
  verbs (Archard (1998 93-94).
• (10) Jai vu partir Paul. (perception)
• I saw Paul leave.
• (11) Marie fait danser Paul. (causation)
• Mary makes Paul dance.

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Complementizers and verb classification--French

• Verbs of volition, verbs of declaration, and
  verbs of thoughts and beliefs are compatible with
  que (that)-complement clauses
• (12) Je veux que je sois en mesure de partir de?s
  demain. (volition)
• I want that I be in a position to
  leave as early as tomorrow.
• (13) Paul dit que Marie est belle. (declaration)
• Paul says that Mary is beautiful.
• (14) Je pense que Jai compris le proble?me.
  (thought)
• I think I understand the problem.

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Complementizers and verbs in Thai (Higbie
Thinsan 2003 84-85)

• (15) man ma?y ci? thi?i cha?n ra?k kha?w
• it not true Comp I love him
• It is not true that I love him
• (16) man ma?y ci? wa?a cha?n ra?k kha?w
• it not true Comp I love him
• It is not true that I love him
• (17) man ma?y ci? thi?i- wa?a cha?n ra?k kha?w
• it not true Comp I love him
• It is not true that I love him

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Complementizers and verbs in Thai (Iwasaki
Ingkaphirom 2005 255-268)

• Verbs showing evaluation and emotion
• (18) pho?m dii-cay thi?i da?y pho?b khun
• I (m.) be glad Comp.get meet
  you
• I am glad to meet you.
• Verbs of speech and cognition
• (19) kha?w phu?ut wa?a khun pen khon dii
• he say Comp. you be person
  good
• He says that you are a good person.
• (20) kha?w khi?t wa?a khun pen khon dii
• he think Comp. you be person
  good
• He thinks that you are a good person.

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Summary of the review of previous studies

• In Thai, three complementizers are mentioned, but
  ha?y is not recognized.
• There has been some attempt to sub-categorize
  verbs in Thai according to the complementizers
  they occur with, but there is no in-depth
  analysis.
• Several types of complementizers are recognized
  in English and French.

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Problems that remain

• Is ha?y, which is ignored by most linguists, a
  complementizer in Thai?
• Is it possible to classify verbs according to the
  complementizers that occur with them?
• How are the verb classes different semantically ?

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Problems that remain

• How are the complementizers different from one
  another. What are their cognitive meanings?
• Are there any verbs that are compatible with more
  than one complementizer? If so, do they have
  different meanings when they occur with different
  complementizers?

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Purpose and Hypothesis

• To identify complementizers in Thai
• To find out the conditions of their occurrence
  with verbs.
• Hypotheses Three complementizers are identified.
  They have different cognitive values, which
  classify the verbs into three groups with
  different meanings.

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Data

• Data from a corpus of standard Thai, about
  three-million words long.

15
Analysis

• Cooccurrences of complementizers and verbs
• Cognitive semantic approach to the interpretation
  of meanings.

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Findings--The three complementizers

• grammaticalized words.
• ha?y to give
• wa?a to say
• thi?i place

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The three complementizers

• ha?y
• (21)kha?w ha?y na??-s???? cha?n
• he give book I
• he gave me a book.
• (22)kha?w sa?? ha?y cha?n na?? lo?
• he order Comp I sit down
• He ordered me to sit down.

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The three complementizers

• wa?a
• (23) khun wa?a aray na?
• you say what Prt.
• What did you say?
• (24) cha?n khi?t wa?a khun khuan yu?t
• I think Comp you should stop
• I think that you should stop.

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The three complementizers

• thi?i
• (25)cha?n kh?y maa thi?i h??? ni?i l????w
• I used to come place CLS.this alreadly
• I have been to this place before.
• (26)cha?n si?a-cay thi?i khun ma?y maa
• I be sad Comp you not come
• I was sad that you did not show up.

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Verb classification in Thai

• Directive verbs (ha?y-verbs)
• Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)
• Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)

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Directive verbs (ha?y-verbs)

• verbs signifying making people do what the one
  wants.
• 1) verbs of causation, e.g., pen-he?et to
  cause, pli?an to change
• 2) verbs of pressure. There is some sense of
  pressure at different levels, such as sa?? to
  order, ri?ak-r???? to demand, m???p-ma?ay to
  assign.
• (See the appendix for the list of ha?y-verbs)

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Directive verbs (ha?y-verbs)

• (27) kha?w pli?an ha?y thu?k-ya?a? dii kh??n
• he change Comp everything good rise
• He changed to make everything better,
• (28) prachachon ri?ak-r???? ha?y nayo?k laa-???k
• people demand Comp PM resign
• The people demand that the Prime Minister
  resign.

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Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)

• verbs expressing or communicating ideas,
  information, and opinions. The complementizer
  wa?a signifies quotation.
• 1) verbs of saying, such as phu?ut to say,
  athi?baay to explain, tha?am to ask
• 2) verbs of thinking and cognition, such as khi?t
  think, ru?u to know
• 3) verbs of feeling, such as klua fear,
  ma?n-cay to be confident
• 4) verbs of seeing, e.g. duu to look at,
  ca?p-taa to watch
• 5) verbs of hearing, e.g. da?y-yin to hear
• 6) verbs of acting, e.g., se?e-s????????????
  to pretend. (See a list of these verbs in the
  appendix.)

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Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)

• (29)kha?w phu?ut wa?a thu?k-ya?a? diik
  h??n l???w
• he speak Comp everything good rise already
• He said that everything had been better
  (improved).
• (30)kha?w ru?u wa?a thu?k-ya?a? dii
  kh??n l???w
• he know Comp everything good rise already
• He knew that everything had been better
  (improved).
• (31)kha?w ma?n-cay wa?a thu?k-ya?a?
  dii kh??n l???w
• he confident Comp everything good rise alrea
  dy
• He was confident that everything had been
  better .

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Communicative verbs (wa?a-verbs)

• (32)kha?w he?n wa?a thu?k-ya?a?
  dii kh??n l???w
• he saw Comp everything good rise already
• He saw that everything had been better
  (improved).
• (33)kha?w da?y-yin wa?a thu?k-ya?a? dii kh??n l???
  w
• he hear Comp everything good rise already
• He heard that everything had been better
  (improved).
• (34)kha?w se?e-s???????????? wa?a thu?k-ya?a?
  dii kh??n l???w
• he pretend Comp everything good
  rise already
• He pretended that everything had been better
  (improved).

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Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)

• verbs concerning emotions or mental activities.
• 1) verbs of feeling, such as dii-cay to be
  glad, si?a-cay to be sad, pala?at-cay to be
  surprised,
• 2) verbs of intention, e.g. ta??-cay to intend,
  wa?? to hope,
• 3) verbs of mental character, e.g. ci?-cay to
  be sincere, cay-yen to be cool-hearted,
• 4) verbs of possibility (assessed in the mind),
  e.g. pen-pay-da?ay to be possible, sadu?ak to
  be convenient. Note that all the verbs with cay
  heart as a component fall into this category.
  (See the appendix.)

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Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)

• (35)kha?w dii-cay thi?i cha?n s???p pha?an
• he be pleased Comp I take exam pass
• He was pleased that I passed the exam.
• (36)kha?w ta??-cay thi?i ca ?b???k cha?n k???n
  khon ???n
• he intend Comp will tell I before people
  other
• He intended to tell me before other people.

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Emotive verbs (thi?i-verbs)

• (37)kha?w cay-yen ma?ak thi?I r?? cha?n s????
  chu?a-moo?
• he cool-hearted veryComp wait I two hours.
• He was so cool-hearted that he waited for me for
  two hours.
• (38) pen-pay-da?ay thi?I cha?n ca? s???p
  pha?an
• possible Comp I will take exam pass
• It is possible that I will pass the exam.

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Overlapping

• Some verbs can occur with more than one
  complementizer.
• However, they have different meanings.
• Each complementizer has its own cognitive
  meaning, which influences the meaning of the verb
  in the main clause.

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Overlapping

• (39 a) kha?w phu?ut ha?y khun pen khon dii
• he speak Comp you be person good
• He spoke (persuaded) for you to be a good
  person.
• (39 b) kha?w phuut wa?a khun pen khon dii
• he speak Comp you be person good
• He said that you were a good person.

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Overlapping

• (40 a) kha?w wa?? wa?a (kha?w) ca? t???-?aan
  ka?p th??
• he hope Comp he will marry with her. He hopes
  that he will marry her.
• (40 b)kha?w wa?? thi?i ca? t???-?aan ka?p
  th??
• he hope Comp will go marry with her
• He hopes to marry her.

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Conclusion

• The three complementizers in Thai, ha?y, wa?a,
  thi?i, occur with different verbs.
• In other words, they classify verbs in Thai into
  three main groups directive, communicative, and
  emotive verbs.
• The verbs are not exclusively divided. Some can
  actually occur with more than one complementizer.
  
• However, they signify different meanings
  conditioned by the meaning of each
  complementizer i.e., ha?y suggests forcing or
  pressure, wa?a suggests something quoted, and
  thi?i implies the meaning of mental state.
• A further study needs to be done on the syntactic
  characteristics of a complement clause with each
  of the complementizers.

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REFERENCES

• Akmajian. A. A. 1977. The complement structure of
  perception verbs in an autonomous syntax
  framework. In P. W. Culicover, T. Wasow and A.
  Akmajian. Formal Syntax. New York Academic
  Press.
• Archard, Michel. 1998. Representation of
  Cognitive Structures. Syntax and Semantics of
  French Sentential Complements. Berlin, New York
  Mouton de Gruyter.
• Dirven, Rene. 1989. A cognitive perspective on
  complementation. In Jaspers, Dany, Wim Klooster,
  Yvan Putseys, and Pieter Seuren (eds.). 1989.
  Sentential Complementation and the Lexicon.
  Studies in Honour of Wim de Geest. Dordrecht,
  Holland and Providence, U.S.A. Foris
  Publications, 113-139.
• Iwasaki and Preeya Ingkaphirom. 2005. A Reference
  Grammar of Thai. Cambridge Cambridge University
  Press.
• Hantson, Andre. 1989. The complimentizer as.
  Jaspers, Dany, Wim Klooster, Yvan Putseys, and
  Pieter Seuren (eds.). 1989. Sentential
  Complementation and the Lexicon. Studies in
  Honour of Wim de Geest. Dordrecht, Holland and
  Providence, U.S.A. Foris Publications, 207-219.

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REFERENCES

• Higbie, James and Snea Thinsan. 2003. Thai
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• Horie, Kaoru (ed.). 2000. Complementation
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• Horie, Kaoru. 2000. Complementation in Japanese
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• Jaspers, Dany, Wim Klooster, Yvan Putseys, and
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  Complementation and the Lexicon. Studies in
  Honour of Wim de Geest. Dordrecht, Holland and
  Providence, U.S.A. Foris Publications.
• Rosenbaum, Peter S. (1967). The grammar of
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  Cambridge, MA MIT Press.