The Structure of Classifier-Modifier Recursion in Thai

Abstract

The repeating classifier-modifier sequence that occurs within Thai nominals has been analyzed as an additional projection of ClassifierP with mandatory movement operations (Singhapreecha 2001). It has also been suggested that there is a prosodic break preceding it, hence requiring recourse to apposition (Visonyanggoon 2000 and Jenks 2011). This paper provides experimental support for the structures of the Thai nominals containing one, two, three and four classifier-modifier sequences. The results from the attachment experiment reveal that the number of the sequences affects how the speakers comprehend the nominals and that their comprehension differences reflect two divergent syntactic structures. For the nominals with one classifier-modifier sequence, the sequence tends to attach the lower DP in the structure while those with two classifier-modifier sequences are likely to be ambiguous between high and low attachment interpretations. Following the results of the relative clause attachment experiment in Dillon et al. 2018, I propose that both of these nominals have embedded structures similar to restrictive relative clauses and the entire DP subsequently undergoes obligatory roll-up movement. For those with three and four classifier-modifier sequences, the preference for high attachment suggests that these sequences should be analyzed as appositive phrases.

Keywords

• classifiers
• modifiers
• appositives
• attachment preference