Loo7 in Taiwan Southern Min

Abstract

The word loo7 in the Chinese dialect known as Taiwan Southern Min (henceforth TSM) has multiple definitions listed in both the Taiwanese and Japanese Dictionary (edited by Ogawa 1931) and this rich and multi-faceted term has diverse semantic features For instance it is defined as a road the distance of a journey and method on one hand abstract definitions associated with the journey of life on the other In order to have a complete understanding of loo7 this study organizes the historical data in the Ming and Qing dynasties and contemporary data from TSM dictionaries and literatures in modern TSM to provide as much linguistic evidence as possible for analysis This thesis will research the core meanings of loo7 exploring the similarities and differences between historical and contemporary data and clarify its word formations core meaning and extended meanings In this study lexical constructionalization as proposed by Traugott and Trousdale (2013) is adopted to analyze word formations of TSM loo7 as recorded in various historical examples in literature The word formations of loo7 are mainly modifier-head combinations and endocentric compounds others are predicate-object combinations and exocentric compounds I found that the core meaning of loo7 has spatial and directional properties and these became the semantic features implied by the current usages of loo7 The basic meaning of loo7 (road) is deceptively simple being a universal term with certain metaphorical attributes which can be found in other languages as well such as the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor in English Furthermore TSM loo7 has transferred the meaning of space to time in modern usages For instance one of the loo7 compounds ‘kui1 loo7’ transfers its meaning from ‘the whole distance of a journey’ to ‘the time taken in the whole journey’ when it is preceded by verbs It can generate a productive structure ‘V kui1 loo7’ By adopting the constructional account I found that the post-verbal ‘kui1 loo7’ indicates the semantic features of loo7 by which the verbs can further be The two attributes of ‘V kui1 loo7’ (dynamic and non-dynamic) are also found in this study This thesis will show the richness of post-position loo7 in two eras based on the lexical and constructional accounts and discovery of the multi-faceted definitions of loo7 will provide additional contributions to this

Date of Award	2016 Aug 16
Original language	English
Supervisor	Hui-Chi Lee (Supervisor)