@phdthesis{55915,
  author          = {Wang, Shan-Shan},
  pages           = {389},
  school          = {University of Hawai'i at Mānoa},
  title           = {An Ergative View of Thao Syntax},
  year            = {2004},
  abstract        = {Previous works on Thao syntax, whether descriptive or theoretical, recognized the fundamental distinction drawn by Tsuchida (1976) between actor-focus (AF:-<italic>um-/m</italic>-verbs) and non-actor focus (NAF:-<italic>in/-an </italic> verbs, i.e., patient-focus, goal-focus, instrument-focus, etc.) verbs. However, they failed to recognize that the distinction between AF and NAF is actually one of transitivity: NAF verbs are syntactically transitive and AF verbs are syntactically intransitive. As a result, Thao has been analyzed as an accusative or split-ergative language. This study considers the notion of transitivity to be crucial to the determination of the actancy system of the language. Transitivity is considered to be a combination of the morphological, semantic and syntactic properties that a clause exhibits. This dissertation demonstrates that although there are two distinct dyadic clause patterns in Thao, only one of them (i.e., the major class of-<italic>in/-an</italic> verbs) is a canonical transitive construction and the other is an extended intransitive construction (i.e., <italic>m</italic>- verbs). Consequently, Thao turns out to be neither accusative, nor split-ergative, but exhibits a pure ergative system. The ergativity of Thao is manifested in its grammatical relation coding strategies such as word order and cross-referencing system, as well as in syntactic phenomena with respect to relativization, quantifier association, topicalization, nominalization, clefting, and coordination. A sketch of Thao grammar is also provided in this study. It includes predicational constructions, word order, and the pronominal system of Thao. The study suggests that a transitive verb may carry actor agreement forms, namely, the first and second person singular-<italic>k</italic> and-<italic> nu</italic>, the remnants of ergative clitic pronouns that probably existed in the prehistory of the language. In addition, different types of constructions are also examined such as dynamic agentless intransitives, imperative, existential, possessive, negative, causative constructions, and <italic>Wh</italic>-questions, with attention also being paid to some special classes of verbs. Finally the structure of noun phrases is looked into. The influence from Taiwanese appears to be obvious, particularly with reference to the neutralization of the distinction between the marking of relative clauses and genitive/possessive constructions.},
  adviser         = {Reid, Lawrence A.},
  bestfn          = {papua\wang_thao2004_o.pdf},
  besttxt         = {ptxt2\papua\wang_thao2004_o.txt},
  cfn             = {papua\wang_thao2004_o.pdf},
  citekeys        = {cldf4:styp_Wang_Thao},
  degree          = {PhD},
  delivered       = {papua\wang_thao2004_o.pdf},
  digital_formats = {PDF 13.61Mb image-only PDF},
  fn              = {papua\wang_thao-syntax2004.pdf, papua\wang_thao2004_o.pdf, papua\wang_thao-syntax2004_o.pdf},
  hhtype          = {grammar_sketch;specific_feature},
  inlg            = {English [eng]},
  isbn            = {9780496771356},
  isreferencedby  = {cldf4},
  lgcode          = {Thao [ssf]},
  macro_area      = {Papunesia},
  oclc            = {843339960},
  source          = {DAI-A 65/04, p. 1349, Oct 2004},
  src             = {cldf, hh},
  subject         = {LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS (0290)},
  umi_id          = {3129880}
}