Separable verbs in Cantonese
Tommy Tsz-Ming Lee, Ka-Fai Yip
January 2025 

This chapter surveys the empirical and theoretical issues raised by separable verbs to syntax and morphology in Cantonese. Separable verbs have an apparent dual status as a single morphological unit (without separation) and as a phrase-like string with multiple syntactic units (after various means of separation). In Cantonese, separable verbs are not confined to Verb-Object (VO) compounds but also include non-VO compounds or even mono-morphemic verbs. Strikingly, the separated parts, despite surface similarities, are not VO phrases. The second part lacks nominal objecthood and the first part lacks full-fledged verbhood. It contrasts with Mandarin where the separable verbs arguably possess VO phrasehood. While grammatical mechanisms like reanalysis or nominalization have been proposed in Mandarin, Cantonese separable verbs require a different mechanism. A more promising approach is to attribute the separation to the interaction between copying of verbs via movement in syntax and morphological subtraction/deletion in the post-syntactic component. In this way, the boundary between morphology and syntax is maintained—the single instance of a verb is never “separated” in syntax. More generally, the variations can be connected to the unique properties of Cantonese, namely, the lack of robust nominalization and the strong preference to monosyllabicity of verbs.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/008731 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	submitted to The Routledge Handbook of Cantonese Linguistics
keywords:	separable verbs, discontinuous predicates, dual status, vo compounds, wordhood, deletion, variations, nominalization, monosyllabicity, cantonese, mandarin, morphology, syntax
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