Clausal complementation in Taiwanese: Interspeaker variation

This talk examines the structure of matrix and embedded clauses in Taiwanese Southern Min. Taiwanese has both a clause-initial complementizer kóng and a series of clause-final particles, the co-occurence of which is potentially problematic for the proposed universal Final-Over-Final Condition (FOFC; Biberauer et. al. 2008). Firstly, relying primarily on the judgments of one speaker, I argue that these elements occupy four distinct head positions, and that the resulting structure follows from Richards' (2016) generalization that FOFC applies only within individual phases. Secondly, I present judgments from eight additional speakers recently collected in Taiwan, with variable levels of support for the conclusions just drawn. I discuss potential generalizations of those data, and places of individual variation, as well as potential reasons for each.

Sam Kennedy is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include the syntax of clauses and clause embedding, with a particular focus on Mandarin and Taiwanese.

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