<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This paper investigates an understudied topic in adverbial clauses, converbs, which are verb forms that mark adverbial subordination. Focusing on converbal clauses in Cantonese, I show that they do not share a uniform syntax and should be divided into two classes, formed by central converbs (such as conditional clauses formed by V-<italic>can1</italic>) and peripheral converbs (such as inferential clauses formed by V-<italic>dak1</italic>) respectively. The central class adjoins low to the event/proposition level projections of the main clauses and has an impoverished internal structure, whereas the peripheral class attaches high to the discourse level projections of the main clauses and has an articulated internal structure. The distinction displays remarkable parallelism with the central-peripheral dichotomy of adverbial clauses proposed by Haegeman (2003a, 2003b, 2010), calling for a unified syntax of adverbial clauses formed by converbs and by subordinators, which is achievable under an agreement analysis of converbs.</p>
</abstract>

This paper investigates an understudied topic in adverbial clauses, converbs, which are verb forms that mark adverbial subordination. Focusing on converbal clauses in Cantonese, I show that they do not share a uniform syntax and should be divided into two classes, formed by central converbs (such as conditional clauses formed by V-can1) and peripheral converbs (such as inferential clauses formed by V-dak1) respectively. The central class adjoins low to the event/proposition level projections of the main clauses and has an impoverished internal structure, whereas the peripheral class attaches high to the discourse level projections of the main clauses and has an articulated internal structure. The distinction displays remarkable parallelism with the central-peripheral dichotomy of adverbial clauses proposed by Haegeman (2003a, 2003b, 2010), calling for a unified syntax of adverbial clauses formed by converbs and by subordinators, which is achievable under an agreement analysis of converbs.

Converbs and Adverbial Clauses: A Case Study in Cantonese

Studies in Chinese Linguistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Converbs and Adverbial Clauses: A Case Study in Cantonese"}

This paper investigates an understudied topic in adverbial clauses, converbs, which are verb forms that mark adverbial subordination. Focusing on converbal...

Converbs and Adverbial Clauses: A Case Study in Cantonese

Published Online: Feb 07, 2023

Page range: 143 - 169

Received: Apr 06, 2022

Accepted: Nov 04, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2022-0006

Keywords
converbs, adverbial clauses, external syntax, internal syntax, the central-peripheral dichotomy, Cantonese

© 2022 Ka-Fai Yip, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Converbs and Adverbial Clauses: A Case Study in Cantonese

Published Online: Feb 07, 2023

Page range: 143 - 169

Received: Apr 06, 2022

Accepted: Nov 04, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/scl-2022-0006

Keywordsconverbs, adverbial clauses, external syntax, internal syntax, the central-peripheral dichotomy, Cantonese

© 2022 Ka-Fai Yip, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
converbs, adverbial clauses, external syntax, internal syntax, the central-peripheral dichotomy, Cantonese