The ambiguity with pa-nominalization in Lhasa Tibetan

Abstract

A tensed clause that undergoes nominalization marked with pa (pa-phrase) in Lhasa Tibetan can give either an event reading or a participant reading. A syntactic analysis of the pa-phrase is conducted by proposing the Differential Nominalizer Hypothesis (DNH). Specifically, pa selects an AspP as its complement and projects an NP; pa enters the derivation either as a grammatical item that shifts an AspP to an NP or as a lexical item that binds an empty category in the theme position within the AspP. This categorial difference of pa and the consequent derivational difference of the pa-phrase provide a plausible account of the semantic ambiguity of pa-nominalization. The idea that the nominalizer pa has a double category is supported with an assumption of grammaticalization, as is evidenced by the functional multiplicity of pa in Lhasa Tibetan: it is a productive grammatical marker but still bears lexical content of a lexical formative. The assumption of grammaticalization lends support to the DNH.