Minimization, Conversational Inference, and Grammaticalization in Taiwanese Southern Min

Abstract

本文探討言談語用因素在當代台灣閩南語語法化過程中的運作，指出Levinson (1987)的簡約化為極有力的運作原則，它常驅使交談者選用較為簡短的、語意廣泛的語言形式，再經由換喻(metonymy)推衍而產生語用隱涵，而後 並俗成化、語法化而為結構部門中新的語意、語法性質。根據實際語料的分析，台閩語中新近出現的語尾助詞用法，如kah、li、koh、kong等，均基於 簡約原則的運作，分別由到、你、閣、講等詞的典型出現語句之刪略而來。交談語料同時顯示，這種簡約化的語句刪略之動因，乃是基於話輪快速轉換中交談者認知 能力的限制，以及社會互動中禮貌原則的運作。

This paper investigates the extent of discourse-pragmatics working in the process of grammaticalization in contemporary Taiwanese Southern Min (i.e.TSM). Specifically, it shows that minimization as proposed in Levinson (1987) works as a powerful principle in the language, which calls for a preference for semantically more general expressions to semantically more specific ones, and shorter expressions to longer ones. This general tendency is often accompanied with a process of metonymy, where the minimized expression derives rich interpretation from conversational inference, which is in turn conventionalized. It is pointed out that grammaticalization driven by minimization characterizes the emergence of a number of particles in TSM. Since these words typically occur in certain types of sequences in discourse, minimization often applies to truncate the rest of the sequences, leaving only these elements behind as carriers of the discourse functions performed by the original full sequences. Evidence from discourse data is further provided to show that sequence truncation of this type is grounded in the process of speaker-addressee interaction and negotiation, and that its driving forces are originated from the turn-taking system and the cognitive limitation of the speaker on the one hand, and the speaker’s avoidance of social impropriety, on the other. The results offer support for the extensive degree of discourse-pragmatic working in shaping the grammar, as well as the dynamic nature of human language.