From motion to speech act: The discourse function of luai-$k^{h}$ə in Ji’an Gan Chinese

Abstract In Ji’an Yunlou Gan Chinese, the fused motion verb combination luai - $k^{h}$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>k</mml:mi> <mml:mi>h</mml:mi> </mml:msup> </mml:math> ə ‘come-go’ presents a paradox. It is syntactically low, at the v P or VP edge, but interpretatively high, affecting speech-act structure. It activates both speaker and hearer roles, shifting second-person subjects to inclusive interpretations in directives and acting as an attention-getter or ‘negotiator’ in commissives. Pursuing analogies to Basque, Japanese, and Jingpo, we propose a movement-free analysis, following Cheng and Sybesma (2003, 2004) and Cheng (2019) for a similar paradox in Chinese: luai - $k^{h}$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>k</mml:mi> <mml:mi>h</mml:mi> </mml:msup> </mml:math> ə carries a bundled feature complex anchored to the Speech-act Phrase (SAP).