ABSTRACT
Our aim in this article is to evaluate Southern Min comparative constructions of inequality in terms of the evolution of different structural types from 15th to 21st centuries. The study is based on data observed in local operas and missionary texts, written mainly in Southern Min. An examination of the five extant versions of the Lì Jìng Jì 荔鏡記 and the Lì Zhī Jì 荔枝記, in addition to seven other local operas reveals that there have been three main comparative structures in use in Southern Min since the 16th century: (i) Zero-marked A-VP-B; (ii) Adverbial A-khah4 較-VP-B, and (iii) Surpass A-VP-ke3過 -B, in which A and B represent the two terms of comparison. In contemporary Southern Min dialects such as Taiwanese, however, the use of the Surpass comparative schema has waned, while, interestingly, a new hybrid structure combining the Northern Sinitic Compare comparative with pi2比and the Adverbial structure can be commonly found – one that is not attested at all in the earlier texts: (v) Hybridized A-pi2比-B-khah4 較 -VP. We discuss the diachronic changes in structural preferences in detail as well as the possible motivations behind these.
