Final Modals, Adverbs and Antisymmetry in Vietnamese

Abstract

Cet article étudie la syntaxe et la sémantique des constructions du vietnamien où l’élément auxiliaire apparaît à droite du syntagme verbal. À première vue, cette distribution représente une objection aux propositions universalistes de Kayne 1995 et Cinque 1998, objection qui a déjà fait l’objet de deux analyses (Duffield 1998 et Simpson 1997, 1998). Le présent article réexamine les faits soutenant ces précédentes propositions. Il montre que ces faits sont insuffisants pour justifier la complexité dérivationnelle de l’une ou de l’autre interprétation, et propose un traitement plus simple, qui prend en considération l’interprétation des conditions grammaticales et extragrammaticales régissant le placement de l’auxiliaire en vietnamien, tout en conciliant ces distributions avec les principes universels.This paper is concerned with the syntax and semantics of Vietnamese constructions in which a modal element appears unexpectedly to the right of the verb-phrase. Prima facie, this distribution presents a challenge to the universalist proposals of Kayne 1995 and Cinque 1998, a challenge that has been addressed in two previous analyses: Duffield 1998 and Simpson 1997, 1998. The present article re-examines the empirical evidence supporting those previous proposals. It is argued that this evidence is insufficient to justify the derivational complexity of either account. A simpler alternative treatment is proposed which takes account of the various grammatical and extragrammatical conditions governing modal placement in Vietnamese, while simultaneously reconciling these distributions with universal principles

The projection of Inner Aspect in Vietnamese

“…7 What is more, the interpretation of certain post-verbal particles is affected by their syntactic distribution. Duffield (1999), for instance, observes that the interpretation of the modal particle được ('can') varies depending on where it is initially merged in the clause. 9 These examples illustrates that whereas preverbal được corresponds to the deontic modal CAN, and sentence-final được is interpreted as an abilitative modal, 8 positioning đươc immediately postverbally yields a purely aspectual (achievement) reading: the presence of được in (9c) assures the completion of the 'job-seeking' situation.…”

“…Therefore, in a language that lacks verb movement to a position outside of the VP like Vietnamese, the position of the telic particles in sentences like (6b) is clearly of interest. 8 To see how the sentence-final 'được' challenges Universalist constraints, the readers are referred to Duffield (1999). Examples (11)-(13) illustrate a three-way contrast: only if the object is definite can it freely precede or follow the particle as in (11); if it is bare kind-referring noun, it preferably precedes the particle as in (12); however, if it is indefinite noun phrase, it must appear to the right of the particle as in (13).…”

'To be tensed or not to be tensed?' The case of Vietnamese

“…The list of putative post-verbal aspectual markers varies among researchers(Nguyen 2003, Cao 2003, Duffield 1999, Fukuda 2007, Phan 2013b). However, there is a widely accepted assumption that they can be divided into two groups: the completive group and the resultative group.…”