Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Cantonese particles'

This thesis aims at gaining a better understanding of the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of Cantonese sentence-final particles and, in particular, two focus particles zaa3 ('only') and tim} ('also'). Despite their importance in the language, these particles have not been well studied. Research on the two sentence-final focus particles will also contribute to the area of focus which has attracted much attention in recent years. A two-position account for the syntax of all sentence-final particles occurring in the CP domain couched in the minimalist framework (Chomsky 1995) is proposed to explain observations on their syntactic distributions, scopal properties and interactions with other elements such as questions and quantifiers. Focus particles, zaa3 ('only') and tim} ('also'), and the particle laa3 ('inchoative') occur in the lower position (SFP2), immediately under the higher topic, while other particles that encode speech acts, speaker-oriented modality and epistemic knowledge are generated in the higher position (SFP1) in the Force field (Rizzi 1997). Following Rooth (1985, 1992), I suggest that the sentence-final particles zaa3 ('only') and tim} ('also') are focus operators that associate with identificational focus (E. Kiss 1998, Ballantyne Cohan 2000). A distinction between information focus and identificational focus is drawn and three identificational focus-marking devices in Cantonese are discussed, namely contrastive stress, Right Dislocation and the cleft hai {'be')-construction. In addition to their respective restrictive and additive semantics, the sentence-final particles also encode procedural information (Blakemore 1987, 2000, 2002) that constrains inferential computations of conceptual representations. It is shown that scalar usage is a reflection of their procedural information encoded, and conditions licensing their usage are also discussed.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000.<br>"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

Fundamental frequency (F0) is the most important feature among the components of prosody in a language, tone and intonation languages alike. In a tone language, how lexical tone and sentence intonation can both use F0 as their main acoustic cues has long been an intriguing question. Will the lexical tones be so resistant to modification that no elaborate intonation is possible in the language? How much of the surface sentential F0 is attributable to lexical tones and intonation? If F0 modification is kept minimal, how will prosodic focus be realized? And will the lack of focus-related F0 change be a disadvantage in terms of focus perception? In this dissertation, experimental studies have been made on Cantonese in some less well-understood aspects of its prosody. Firstly, the tonal characteristics of sentence-final particles (SFPs) in Cantonese as a special case of the interaction between tone and intonation are examined. Secondly, the acoustic correlates of prosodic focus in Cantonese are explored. SFPs are a class of words known to have functions similar to intonation. It is not yet clear, however, whether the F0 contours of SFPs are derived purely from lexical tones, purely intonational, or a combination of tone and intonation. As an attempt to offer a solution, a production experiment was designed in which sentences in Hong Kong Cantonese with ten different SFPs were recorded and detailed analyses of their F0 contours, final F0, final F0 velocity and duration were performed. The results show that most of these SFPs are very similar to the lexical tones in terms of F0 contours, but there are significant differences in durations in more than half the cases. In addition, the occurrence of an SFP does not give rise to differences in F0 and duration in the syllables preceding the SFP in most cases. But differences can be seen in sentences with question SFPs, which indicates that the prosody of the SFPs may be partly due to intonational meanings. One of the SFPs, however, exhibits a component F0 contour that seems to be sequentially attached to the end of the lexical tonal component. These findings suggest that Cantonese SFPs have underlying tonal targets just like those of lexical tones, but they also carry intonational meanings by modifying the lexical tonal contours. Previous research has shown that Beijing Mandarin, a tone language, marks focus not only by on-focus prosodic expansion like many other languages, but also by post-focus compression of pitch range and intensity (PFC). However, recently it is found that PFC is absent in Taiwanese and Taiwan Mandarin, two languages closely related to Beijing Mandarin. This finding both highlights the non-universality of PFC and raises questions about its origin. The present study explores these issues by investigating focus production in Cantonese by native Cantonese speakers born and raised in Hong Kong, and in English and Cantonese by bilingual speakers who were born and raised in Southern England. Results from the Hong Kong speakers show that, just as in Taiwanese and Taiwan Mandarin, PFC is absent in Cantonese, and mean F0, duration, intensity and excursion size were found to be higher in on-focus words. Results from the bilingual speakers show that their Cantonese also lacks PFC. More remarkably, out of the fifteen bilinguals tested, only one-third show PFC in all their English test sentences. These findings suggest that PFC is hard to transmit across languages through bilingualism. Moreover, the differential prosodic patterns among the bilingual speakers suggest that in the bilingual community, PFC may be subject to gradual loss. Although tone-intonation relationship in SFPs and the acoustic correlates have previously been studied, most of the discussion lacked supporting evidence from phonetic experiments. The present study is distinguished in its systematic experimental design and detailed acoustic analyses, and it is hoped that the results will lay the foundations for future investigations into Cantonese phonetics.

This study identifies the semantic invariants of some commonly-used Cantonese utterance particles in Hong Kong Cantonese. The particles are a distinctive and ubiquitous feature of informal, everyday Cantonese, occurring every 1.5 seconds on average (Luke 1990, 11). The particles are necessary for expressing speakers’ transitory attitudes, assumptions, or feelings connected with an utterance. Although they are not grammatically obligatory, conversation sounds unnatural when they are omitted. There are approximately 30 ‘basic’ particles, which can combine with each other to form ‘clusters’, resulting in roughly 100 variations. This number easily surpasses that of comparable particles in Mandarin, and is matched by very few, if any, other languages. Semantic analysis of Cantonese utterance particles is challenging because their meanings are extremely elusive, even to native speakers. The range of use of each particle is so varied and wide- ranging that some Cantonese speakers and scholars have concluded that the particles have no stable semantic content. Prior research on the particles has produced contradictory, vague, obscure or inaccurate descriptions.<br>Thesis (PhD Doctorate)<br>Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)<br>School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science<br>Arts, Education and Law<br>Full Text

This thesis examines a set of three utterance particles—ge3, laak3, and lo1—in Hong Kong Cantonese in terms of evidentiality, epistemic modality, and mirativity. Cantonese utterance particles have long been studied; however, close investigation of evidentiality and mirativity on a small set of particles is relatively rare. Previous accounts claim that ge3 and laak3 convey certainty. On the other hand, linguists also claim that the use of the utterance particle lo1 assumes a high level of knowledge from a hearer. This thesis has two main purposes: to untangle the differences between the utterance particles ge3 and laak3 in terms of epistemic modality and evidentiality and to reveal the mirative meanings of the utterance particle lo1. I postulate that the utterance particle ge3 conveys both epistemic modality and evidentiality. For epistemic modality, ge3 concerns a speaker’s knowledge. The evidential meaning—access to prior knowledge—is realized through implicature. This pragmatic reading is highly context dependent. In contrast, the utterance particle laak3 conveys only epistemic modality which concerns a state of affairs and signifies a change of state. Lastly, this study also reveals that the utterance particle lo1 has mirative values of sudden realization and counterexpectation under certain conversational contexts.

This research targets the gender differences in the use of utterance-final particles in Cantonese with respect to the act of sajiao (撒嬌) under the speech act framework proposed by J. L. Austin. Sajiao is defined as the adorable petulance of a spoiled child or young woman who seeks material or immaterial benefits from an unwilling listener. It is hypothesized in this study that the use of utterance-final particles is not generally gender-linked. It is further suggested that some of the utterance-final particles are loaded with gender features which could feminize the utterances, thus performing the act of sajiao. This research has identified five utterance-final particles, including a newly emerged particle that has never been examined in the previous literature, which are believed to be gender-linked, namely 添 “tim1”, LU “lu3”, 噃 “bo3”, 喇喎 “laa3wo3” and 咖呵 “gaa3ho2”, and it has also analyzed meanings that are denoted by these five particles and the two genders’ usage of them. The investigator proposed that the first three particles could help soften the tone of an utterance, while at the same time, they add cuteness, so that the speakers present a more amiable impression of themselves, and thus could help them please or flatter the opposite sex. The two utterance-final particle clusters 喇喎 “laa3wo3” and 咖呵 “gaa3ho2”, on the other hand, are related to implicit demands. By skillfully employing these seemingly softer particles, female speakers could make the men who are appeared to be stronger to yield and satisfy their demands without creating any hard feelings.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Linguistics<br>Master<br>Master of Arts

碩士<br>國立清華大學<br>語言學研究所<br>104<br>Revising the Particles Matzai and Gamzai in Cantonese ABSTRACT This thesis studies the grammatical properties of the particles matzai and gamzai in Cantonese. I argue that matzai and gamzai are not approximate counterparts, they encode different semantic properties instead. Matzai is licensed only by negation and associated with minimal expressions. I will follow Matsui’s (2013) proposal of attenuating NPIs and suggest that matzai is a scalar attenuator. Unlike matzai, the fundamental meaning of gamzai is associated with prospective aspect. Gamzai sentences are interpreted between dynamic and stative readings. The former expresses that the result-state is predicted to exist in the imminent future; while the latter lacks such prospective meaning. I propose that gamzai is an intensional operator. It creates an intensional context for the eventive or stage-level predicates as the result-state within the scope of prospectivity. This explains why gamzai sentences can be interpreted between stative and dynamic readings. I employ possible world semantics of the imperfective paradox (Dowty 1977, 1979, Landman 1992 and Portner 1998) to resolve this problem. The result-state comes true in the non-interrupted best worlds, regardless of the interpretations of gamzai sentences. In the actual world, the event continues with its development in dynamic situations, but it stops in the stative ones. The last part of this work discusses the syntactic analysis of matzai and gamzai. I propose that matzai is an adverb which adjoins to VP or AP; while gamzai is a head of Prospective Projection. I follow Simpson’s (2001) light predicate raising to derive the correct surface positions of these two particles.

粤語的句末助詞相當豐富，能表達時間、焦點、語氣等多種意義，在過去曾引起廣泛的討論。在日常話語中，助詞往往可以多個連用，它們在句法上處於不同的層次，連用時，是一層一層的疊加。另一點值得注意的是，除了單音節助詞之外，粤語也有一些雙音節的助詞，如「罷啦」（baa2laa1）、「係啦」（hai2laa1），它們整體和前面的句子結合，學者一般認為它們跟助詞連用的情況不同。本文對粤語複合助詞進行了深入的討論，先考察它們的語義功能和語法特點，再探討它們的句法結構，並主張複合助詞是由句法產生的。<br>除了典型的複合助詞「罷啦」和「係啦」之外，本文也把「定啦」（ding2laa1）和「得㗎」（dak1gaa2）分析為複合助詞，四者都由一個謂詞性成分和一個功能性成分組成。在語義上，它們的意義跟其組成成分都有密切的關係，是兩者語義的相加。本文探討了它們的各種語義和用法，並指出它們的一詞多義現象可以透過「行」、「知」、「言」三域的跨域投射理論去解釋。<br>在語法特點方面，複合助詞與前面小句的配搭存在較多的限制；相反，單音節語氣助詞與前面小句的配搭則非常自由，這反映出複合助詞與前面的小句之間存在著一種緊密的關係，可以理解為一種選擇的關係。<br>因此，我們主張複合助詞在句法的深層結構可以分解為〔詞根（謂詞性成分）+詞綴（功能性成分）〕，謂詞性詞根是VP的中心語，選擇小句作為其補足語，通過謂詞性詞根由V到T再到C的移動，與處於T和C的後綴結合成複合助詞，另外，通過小句的移位，推導出表面的語序。<br>透過以上分析，本文對所謂「複合」作出了重新思考，指出「複合」和「連用」的本質其實是一致的。在深層句法結構中，各個成分處於不同的句法層次，一層一層的疊加，分別只在於助詞可以獨用，但複合助詞的謂詞性成分不能脫離後綴獨立使用。此外，本文的討論亦揭示了粤語句末成分由實變虛的可能性。<br>Cantonese is renowned for having a rich inventory of sentence final particles which can express a large variety of meanings, such as time, focus and mood, etc. They have attracted a lot of interest in the literature. In daily conversations, particles can be used individually or successively. When they co-occur, they are located at different levels in the syntactic hierarchy. Even more intriguing is that there are some sentence final particles consisting of two or more syllables, which are known as "compound particles", such as baa2laa1 and hai2laa1. Previous studies suggest that they are different from the successive use of particles, because the two or more syllables in a compound particle attach to the preceding clause as a whole. The thesis investigates the semantic meanings and grammatical properties of compound particles. It also explores the syntactic structure of compound particles and argues that they are derived in syntax.<br>In addition to baa2laa1 and hai2laa1, the thesis considers also ding2laa1 and dak1gaa2 as compound particles. All of them consist of a predicative element and a functional element. Semantically, they are closely related to their components. The thesis demonstrates that different semantic meanings conveyed by a single compound particle are derived by metaphorical projections among various linguistic domains, such as the content, epistemic and speech act domains.<br>In terms of grammatical properties, the thesis has found that compound particles impose more constraints on the various constituents in the clauses that they are attached to, whereas the combinations of monosyllabic sentence final particles and the preceding clauses are less restricted or almost free. This phenomenon reveals the close relationship between compound particles and their preceding clauses, which can be interpreted as a kind of selectional relation.<br>For this reason, the thesis proposes that compound particles are decomposed into〔root（predicative element）+ suffix (functional element)〕in the underlying syntactic structure. The predictive element is the head of VP which selects a clause as its complement. The predicative element moves from V to T to C and forms a compound with the suffixes that are located at T and C. The surface word order is derived by further movement of the clause.<br>From the above analysis, the thesis re-examines the nature of "compound particles" and "successive use of particles". It suggests that they are consistent in their underlying structures with each of the elements occupies the head position of different phrases. The major difference between them is that every particle in a sequence can be used independently, whereas the predicative element in a compound particle cannot be separated from the suffix. Moreover, the thesis reveals the possible grammaticalization of the sentence final elements.<br>Detailed summary in vernacular field only.<br>Detailed summary in vernacular field only.<br>Detailed summary in vernacular field only.<br>Detailed summary in vernacular field only.<br>Detailed summary in vernacular field only.<br>黃卓琳.<br>Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-183).<br>Abstracts also in English.<br>Huang Zhuolin.

碩士<br>靜宜大學<br>英國語文學系<br>104<br>Cantonese has been spoken and used by a large population in Southern China. It was estimated that there are approximately 60 million people speaking Cantonese in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Singapore and oversea Chinese communities (cited from zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/粵語). Nowadays, traveling in the world has become more and more convenient. People can learn other languages and gain knowledge by using the computer and by surfing the internet. Thus, it is possible that people could learn and use more than one language, for example, Mandarin and Cantonese. In addition, because of British colonial influence and the international trade and business role in Hong Kong, Cantonese speakers are likely to speak more than one language in their daily conversation. In this thesis, the syntactic characteristics in modern Cantonese, modal particles and code switching between and among Cantonese, English, and Mandarin will be investigated by analyzing the dialogues in three Cantonese movies with different topics: 2046, a romantic movie. Police Story 2013,an action movie and Aberdeen, a drama film. In order to see the situations of code switching in Cantonese dialogues in these three movies, the code switching dialogues in these three movies are analyzed and interpreted. Furthermore, the Cantonese dialogues which show the syntactic characteristics and modal particles in Cantonese are pinpointed to prove that Cantonese has its unique syntactic rules. The analyses are contributing to providing insight and implications in syntax and sociolinguistics.

Wong, Hin Yee.<br>Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-202).<br>Abstracts in English and Chinese.<br>Acknowledgements<br>List of Abbreviations<br>List of Tables<br>Abstract<br>Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction<br>Chapter 1.1 --- Bilingual first language acquisition --- p.1<br>Chapter 1.2 --- Cross-linguistic Influence --- p.3<br>Chapter 1.2.1 --- Definition --- p.3<br>Chapter 1.2.2 --- Cross-linguistic influence in bilingual development --- p.5<br>Chapter 1.3 --- Structural overlap --- p.7<br>Chapter 1.4 --- Language dominance --- p.14<br>Chapter 1.5 --- Language Input --- p.17<br>Chapter 1.6 --- Individual variation --- p.18<br>Chapter 1.7 --- English VPC and Cantonese DVC --- p.20<br>Chapter 1.8 --- Organization of the thesis --- p.24<br>Chapter Chapter Two --- The structure of English VPC and Cantonese DVC<br>Chapter 2.1 --- English VPCs --- p.28<br>Chapter 2.1.1 --- Semantic classes of English VPCs --- p.28<br>Chapter 2.1.2 --- The Structure of English VPCs --- p.32<br>Chapter 2.1.3 --- Linear order of VPCs --- p.38<br>Chapter 2.1.4 --- "Differentiating verb particles, prepositions and adverbs" --- p.41<br>Chapter 2.2 --- Cantonese DVCs --- p.45<br>Chapter 2.2.1 --- Cantonese directional verbs --- p.46<br>Chapter 2.2.2 --- Cantonese simple DVCs --- p.50<br>Chapter 2.2.3 --- Cantonese complex DVCs --- p.51<br>Chapter 2.2.4 --- Structure of Cantonese DVC --- p.52<br>Chapter 2.2.4.1 --- Simple DVCs vs Complex DVCs --- p.52<br>Chapter 2.2.4.2 --- Insertion of dak1 and m4 --- p.56<br>Chapter 2.2.5 --- Aspectual meanings in directional complements --- p.58<br>Chapter 2.3 --- Typological Differences between English VPCs and Cantonese DVCs --- p.59<br>Chapter 2.3.1 --- Talmy (2000)'s classification of languages --- p.59<br>Chapter 2.3.2 --- English VPCs vs Cantonese DVCs --- p.62<br>Chapter 2.4 --- Summary --- p.65<br>Chapter Chapter Three --- The acquisition of English VPCs in monolingual and bilingual children<br>Chapter 3.1 --- "Snyder (1995, 2001) The Compounding Parameter on acquisition of VPC s" --- p.69<br>Chapter 3.2 --- Sawyer (2001)'s study of acquisition of English VPCs in monolingual children --- p.72<br>Chapter 3.3 --- Diessel and Tomasello (2005)'s study on acquisition of VPCs --- p.76<br>Chapter 3.4 --- Yip and Matthews (2007)'s study on acquisition of VPC in bilingual children --- p.78<br>Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.82<br>Chapter Chapter Four --- Hypotheses and Methodology<br>Chapter 4.1 --- Acquisition of English VPCs --- p.83<br>Chapter 4.2 --- Acquisition of Cantonese DVCs --- p.86<br>Chapter 4.3 --- Language dominance --- p.87<br>Chapter 4.4 --- Parental input --- p.88<br>Chapter 4.5 --- Multifactorial analysis of the choice of VPC order --- p.89<br>Chapter 4.6 --- Methodology --- p.89<br>Chapter 4.6.1 --- Subjects --- p.90<br>Chapter 4.6.2 --- The bilingual data --- p.92<br>Chapter 4.6.3 --- Analysis --- p.93<br>Chapter 4.7 --- Summary --- p.100<br>Chapter Chapter Five --- The Acquisition of English Verb-Particle Constructions<br>Chapter 5.1 --- Distribution of English VPCs --- p.101<br>Chapter 5.2 --- Transitive VPCs with a null object --- p.103<br>Chapter 5.3 --- Split/non-split order of VPCs --- p.106<br>Chapter 5.4 --- Type of VPCs in split/non-split order --- p.111<br>Chapter 5.4.1 --- Spatial VPCs vs Non-spatial VPCs --- p.111<br>Chapter 5.4.2 --- English VPCs containing particles in and out and their word order --- p.115<br>Chapter 5.5 --- Frequency of particles in VPC --- p.116<br>Chapter 5.6 --- Statistical analysis --- p.121<br>Chapter 5.6.1 --- Monofactorial analysis among Cantonese-dominant bilingual children --- p.123<br>Chapter 5.6.2 --- Monofactorial analysis among non-Cantonese-dominant bilingual children --- p.125<br>Chapter 5.7 --- Input analysis --- p.127<br>Chapter 5.8 --- Non-target forms --- p.128<br>Chapter 5.8.1 --- Non-split VPCs with personal pronoun as direct object --- p.129<br>Chapter 5.8.2 --- The combination of the verb and the particle --- p.132<br>Chapter 5.8.3 --- Particle used as a verb --- p.135<br>Chapter 5.8.4 --- Errors reported in monolingual children --- p.138<br>Chapter 5.9 --- Summary --- p.140<br>Chapter Chapter Six --- The Acquisition of Cantonese DVCs<br>Chapter 6.1 --- Simple and complex DVCs --- p.143<br>Chapter 6.2 --- Directional verbs as complements and main verbs --- p.147<br>Chapter 6.3 --- Frequency of directional verb complements --- p.153<br>Chapter 6.4 --- Placement of objects --- p.155<br>Chapter 6.5 --- Non-target forms --- p.160<br>Chapter 6.5.1 --- Absence of the second verb complement in Cantonese complex DVCs --- p.160<br>Chapter 6.5.2 --- Non-split order in complex DVCs --- p.162<br>Chapter 6.5.3 --- Negation in Cantonese DVC --- p.165<br>Chapter 6.4.5 --- Other non-target forms --- p.167<br>Chapter 6.6 --- Summary --- p.168<br>Chapter Chapter Seven --- Discussion of Results<br>Chapter 7.1 --- Cross-linguistic influence in bilingual acquisition --- p.170<br>Chapter 7.2 --- Cross-linguistic influence in English VPCs --- p.171<br>Chapter 7.3 --- Acquisition of Cantonese DVCs --- p.178<br>Chapter 7.4 --- The factors of structural overlap and language dominance --- p.183<br>Chapter 7.5 --- Parental Input --- p.184<br>Chapter 7.6 --- Acquisition of the components of VPC and DVC --- p.185<br>Chapter 7.7 --- Individual differences --- p.186<br>Chapter 7.8 --- Snyder's parameter for English VPCs --- p.186<br>Chapter 7.9 --- Sawyer's study on acquisition of English VPCs --- p.188<br>Chapter 7.10 --- Summary --- p.188<br>Chapter Chapter Eight --- Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research<br>Chapter 8.1 --- Conclusions --- p.191<br>Chapter 8.2 --- Suggestions for further research --- p.194<br>Chapter 8.3 --- Open questions --- p.195<br>References

本文重點在於提出框式結構理論的增補原則，指出語義「冗餘」性體現在語義內涵的大小差異，針對同一對象的兩個成份，較具體成份層級高於較抽象成份，這稱為框式結構的「『冗餘』成份假設」。在粤語實際情況中，後置成份是較抽象成份，有較寬廣的語義指稱，前置成份是較具體成份，指稱比較直接。 語例方面，後置的「嚟、住、咋、啫、咁滯」比對應的前置成份更抽象。「嚟」表示過去時，對應的「正話、啱啱」表示一個過去時間點；「住」表示靜態的時間間隔，「暫時」是提供靜態間隔的時段；「咋 、啫 」表示各種限制，「淨係」表示指義限制，「咁滯」約量動態、靜態謂語的狀態，「差唔多」約量動態謂語的達成階段。本文認為以上假設的句法意義在於前置成份層級高於後置成份，前後置成份不一定組成一個狹義的短語，但在展現局部性的孤島內，兩者保持固定層階關係。較具體成份的指稱未定，較抽象成份指稱也不能定下來，這是兩者層階固定的原因。前後置成份的內涵差異跟兩者句法性質有關，前置成份是修飾語。根據傳統方案，後置成份是功能詞短語的中心語，是表示關係的成份 ，而根據最新理論，後置成份是廣義的謂語。按照新近的方案，粤語後置成份的大量出現有其類型學依據，反映更廣泛的語際差異。前後置成份的語義差異，可視為修飾語與中心語或謂語的差異所致。本文最終目標是指出互補作用是上述關係的必然結果，後置成份補充前置成份沒有的語義，前置成份使後置成份未明確的指稱明確化，如「正話、暫時」指出後置成份的時間，「齋、淨係、差唔多」指出後置成份的焦點。粤語前後置成份的共現讓互補作用減少聽話者從語言外推斷語義的需要。從信息角度看，框式結構減輕了理解的負擔。<br>The major focus of this thesis is to offer supplementary principles for the theory of discontinuous constructions. It indicates that semantic "redundancy" is embodied in the intensional variation. For the two elements acting upon the same target, the more specific one is at a higher hierarchy level than the more abstract one. This is known as the "Hypothesis for 'Redundant' Elements" with regard to the theory of discontinuous constructions. In the case of Cantonese, the postverbal elements are more abstract and have a wider scope of reference, whereas the preverbal elements are more specific and their reference is more direct. For example, postverbal lai4, zyu6, zaa3, ze1 and gam3zai6 are more abstract than their preverbal counterparts: lai4 indicates the past time, and the corresponding zing3waa6 and ngaam1ngaam1 indicate a past time point; zyu6 indicates a stative time interval, and zaam6si4 offers a duration for this stative interval; zaa3 and ze1 are restrictive in various dimensions, and zing6hai6 indicates restriction in the denotative sense; gam3zai6 approximates on the state of dynamic and stative predicates, and caa1m4do1 approximates on the stage of achievement of dynamic predicates. As for the syntactic implications, it is argued that the preverbal elements are hierarchically higher than the postverbal elements, but they do not necessarily form a phrase in the strict sense. However, within an island exhibiting locality, they have a fixed hierarchical relation. This is because the reference of the more abstract element cannot be determined before the reference of the more specific one is determined. Intensional variation between the preverbal and postverbal elements relates to their syntactic nature. The preverbal element is an adjunct. In accordance with traditional accounts, the postverbal element is the head of a functional phrase indicating relations. In line with the recent theories, the postverbal element is a predicate in the broad sense. The recent proposals explain from the typological perspective the emergence of extensive postverbal elements in Cantonese, which is a reflection of the broader cross-linguistic variation. Semantic differences between preverbal and postverbal elements can be translated as the differences between adjuncts and heads or predicates. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to highlight the certainty of the resulting complementation effect. The postverbal elements offer the missing sense for the preverbal ones, and the preverbal elements specify the underspecified reference of the postverbal ones: zing3waa6 and zaam6si4 indicate the time, whereas zaai1, zing6hai6 and caa1m4do1 indicate the focus. The co-occurrence of Cantonese preverbal and postverbal elements alleviates the necessity for the listeners to infer from outside the language. From the informational point of view, the discontinuous constructions reduce the burden of interpretation.<br>Detailed summary in vernacular field only.<br>鄭兆邦.<br>Parallel title from added title page.<br>Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 327-346).<br>Abstracts also in English.<br>Zheng Zhaobang.