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Verb-phrase grams are grammatical morphemes used in verb-phrase syntax. In Table 1, findings from the comparison of Shan and Thai verb-phrase grams are shown. Brief discussion of these grams and examples are presented in the following sub-sections.

Table 1: Comparison of Shan and Thai verb-phrase grams. Shan Thai Function

pǎn hâj CAUS/BEN3 tě cà IRR tɯ̂k kamlaŋ CONT lò (laj) tɔ̂ŋ MOD lə̌ / se kwàa COMPAR ɲáa thùuk PSSV

3.1 Preverbal TAM markers

Pre-verbal auxiliaries for both Shan and Thai include several possible markers of aspect and modality. Research into many Thai auxiliaries has revealed that they are often the result of grammaticalization from full verbs. For example, the Thai irrealis marker cà has grammaticalized from a verb meaning càk ‘to intend, consider’ (Diller 2001). In Shan the gram tě serves as an irrealis marker, and though it is not cognate with Thai cà, it is analogous in its grammatical functions. One general finding from the comparison of Shan and Thai showed that although there are many analogous pre-verbal markers, Shan has not been subject to the same areal influences. The Thai continuous aspectual marker kamlaŋ is grammaticalized from a Khmer noun ‘strength’. A similarity between Shan and Thai pre-verbal markers at the level of constructions is shown in the (1), which features the Shan ‘inceptive construction’ modifying the main verb kǐn ‘to eat’. This construction would be accomplished in Thai with the same structure of [CONT+IRR+V] but with each slot filled by Thai’s respective grams (i.e. kamlaŋ cà + V).

(1) háw tɯ̂k tě kǐn koj

1SG CONT IRR eat banana

‘I am about to eat a banana.’

The Thai modal khuan ‘should’ also a Khmer loan does not appear to be used in Shan, which instead uses thùk a verb meaning ‘to be suitable’ as a pre-verbal marker of deontic modality ‘should’. Both the Thai and Shan forms often appear along with each language’s respective irrealis marker. Shan also differs in deontic modality marking signifying a strong obligation ‘must’. Thai uses tɔ̂ŋ a pre-verbal auxiliary, grammaticalized from a verb ‘to touch’ (Chancharu 2009; Meesat 1997). Shan speakers instead use lò originally a Burmese verb ‘to need’, a usage also found in Dai Lue. Another interesting case of Burmese influence is the effect Burmese may have had on the meaning/function of Shan laj ‘to

3 _{Abbreviated grammatical functions in this paper refer to the following; ADJVZR=Adjectivilizer,}

ASP=Aspect, BEN=Benefactive, CAUS=Causative, CLF=Classifier, COM=Complementtizer,

COMPAR=Comparative, CONT= Continuous, CONN=Connective, IRR=Irrealis, MAL=Malefactive, MOD=Modal, NEG=Negative, NOM=Nominalizer, NUM=Numerical, POSS=Possession, PSSV=Passive, PREP=Preposition, REL=Relativizer, V=Verb

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acquire’. Jenny (2009) holds that Burmese yá ‘to acquire’ has gone through grammaticalization to mark obligative modality. Jenny hypothesizes this development in Burmese may have influenced Shan laj in modal constructions indicating a sense of ‘must’, a usage not entirely analogous with the Thai cognate dâaj.

3.2 Verbs ‘to give’

The grammaticalization of hâj ‘to give’ is one of the most written-about cases of Thai grams. Grammaticalized uses of Thai hâj include a marker of benefactive, causative or malefactive clauses. Grammaticalized uses of hâj ‘to give’ for causative and benefactive clauses occur within certain constructions which still reveal the position of clausal reanalysis (Iwasaki & Yap 1998). The grammaticalization of Thai hâj ‘to give’ parallels the functional expansion of the Shan verb pǎn ‘to give’. Jenny (2012) also noted the use of pǎn in some Shan varieties for causative and benefactive clauses. Additionally, the usage in example (2) adds a syntactically similar but semantically differentiated use of pǎn for malefactive clauses.

(2) mǔ kɔ má khóp pǎn kɔ̂ nân kámlěw

pig CONN come bite MAL CLF that immediately

‘The wild pig then came to bite that person immediately.’

This case here points toward a key concept in grammaticalization theory, that of ‘clines’ – pathways of universal grammatical developments that occur cross-linguistically. Clines are the common movement of source lexical material into grammatical roles. Shan and Thai verbs ‘to give’ developing into similar grammatical markers can serve as evidence in positing clines spoken of within grammaticalization literature. A further factor to consider here though would be ‘typological poise’, a language’s readiness to calque functors from proximate languages (See Enfield 2003), the implication being that one language uses its own lexical source material to mirror a grammaticalization in another language, as opposed to having it develop naturally or genetically from within.

3.3 Directional Verbs

Within Tai languages the class of lexical verbs known as “directional verbs” has been noted to also serve grammatical functions. Typical directional verbs are those that refer to movements go, come, ascend, descend, enter, and exit. While all of these verbs can act as main predicates, their grammaticalized form can be seen as resultatives or success markers. Thepkanjana & Uehara (2008) see this grammaticalized usage as normally occurring in the construction [NP1 V NP2 DV].

While in general Shan and Thai are mostly similar here, a difference with respect to directional verbs is that Thai uses khâw ‘to enter’ and ʔɔɔ̀k ‘to exit’ to describe some cognitive states such as ‘understanding, thinking, legibility’ where Shan uses a verb pɔŋ̀ ’to pierce’, as shown in (3).

(3) háw ʔàan lajmɯ su ʔàm pɔ̀ŋ

1SG read handwriting you NEG ASP

‘I can’t read your handwriting.’

Though Shan does not use the same directional verbs for these constructions, the underlying metaphor seems to be similar with Thai with cognitive states being compared to an enclosed space, and understanding or comprehension is achieved by movement through or “piercing” of the barrier. The analogous Thai form of (3) would be accomplished with a verb ‘to exit’. Usage of pɔ̀ŋ in this manner has also become lexicalized in pɔ̀ŋ cǎɯ ‘pierce-heart’ or ‘understand’, again mirroring a usage of the Thai directional verb khâw ‘to enter’.

Besides the overall similarity in general directional verb usage, one interesting thing to point out here is that the Proto-Tai kwà ‘to go’ is grammaticalized as a comparative marker and temporal conjunction in Thai (Diller 2001) yet remains completely lexical in Shan. Shan like many other Tai dialects uses other words used for comparative marking (Morev 1998:97). Two identified Shan

comparative markers are lə̌ a verb ‘to exceed’ and se a verb ‘to separate’, have both lexical and grammatical uses, and there also seems a functional expansion of se into a clause-final particle.

3.4 Passives

Prasithrathsint (2006) outlines the gradual development of the Thai passive marker thùuk. Originally thùuk was a lexical transitive verb meaning ‘to touch’, ‘to hit off the point’, but it has since grammaticalized from a lexical verb to a full neutral passive marker. Prasithrathsint (2006) holds that a stage in the development of the Thai neutral passive was that of thùuk occurring within serial verb constructions where the verb that followed negatively affected an animate agent. Prasithrathsint believes that passive markers in other Southeast Asian languages may have developed in same way. An important takeway from Prasithrathsint’s analysis here is the role that serial-verb constructions play, as well as the distinction between adversative and neutral passives. The environment of their development is chains of serial verbs which provide a context for reanalysis and decategoricalization of lexical verbs. Prasithrathsint (2004) holds that for many Southeast Asian languages, verbs meaning ‘to incur’ or a related meaning are likely to act as adversative passives before grammaticalizing into full-neutral passives. Shan passive constructions are possible with the verb ɲáa ‘to meet, encounter’ such as in (4), but this seems to be mostly used as an adversative passive.

(4) kón waan kɔ́ ɲáa câaŋ hét hâaj tə̂ wàat

people village CONN PSSV elephant do very wound wound

‘People of the village were gravely injured by a stampeding elephant.’

Even in its active verbal sense ɲáa was often found as a verb ‘to meet, encounter’ within the context of an adversarial situation. Compared to the Thai thùuk, Shan ɲáa has not achieved the same sort of semantic bleaching which characterizes later stages of grammaticalization.