本文的研究重點在於以語意特徵、句法結構以及時間結構來分析台灣閩南語的目的句。台灣閩南語目的句有以下六種: 為著/了、通、來/去、予、卜和零記號的目的句，我將會探討各目的句的結構中所呈現出來的相同點及差異點。

意圖性、事件狀態的改變、時間順序和工具-目的關係是成為目的句所需要的基本四項特徵，其中意圖性是最根本的特徵；一個句子若無法呈現出意圖性，這樣的句子只是單純的描述句而非目的句。主要子句與目的子句之間互動關係促使事件狀態的改變及工具-目的關係這兩項特點的形成；事件狀態的改變遵循時間軸的延伸，也就是說閩南語的語序反映了事件發展上的時間順序。除了這四個基本的語意特徵外，目的句各自擁有自己獨特的語意特色，這些獨特的語意特徵主要是來自於目的句標記的原始語意，而這些特有的語意特徵也限制了每一類型的目的句所能使用、出現的場景。

對比英文目的句及台灣閩南語目的句，我們可以發現這兩種語言的目的句都可以以限制句和非限制句的形式出現。「為著/了」和「通」目的句分析為限制句，其主語位置是一個需要有管轄者(T)的顯性名詞或是pro，而「來/去」、「予」、「卜」以及零記號的目的句則被分析為非限定句，非限定的目的句的主語一定是非顯性存在，助動詞不被允許出現，因主語位置不需要有管轄者(T)，所以PRO是唯一符合條件的主語人選。湯(2000)指出在所有歸類於非限定句的次類中，只有控制結構認可PRO為其主語，因此被分析為非限制句的目的句同時也是控制結構。

根據Reichenbach (1947)提出的說話時間點、事件時間點及參照時間點的理論，我們可以深入瞭解主要事件和目的事件之間的時間順序關係。在不違背戴(1985)提出的時間順序準則下，主要事件和目的事件都可以發生在過去。若將主要事件的時間點定為時間基準點，發生於過去的目的事件便能有「過去的未來」的解讀，所以相對於主要事件為已然事件，目的事件是未然事件。

The analysis of purpose clauses in terms of semantic properties, syntactic structures, and temporal structures is the main focus of the thesis. Six types of purpose clauses including ui tioh/liao-, thang-, lai/khi-, hoo-, beh-, and bare purpose clauses will be examined to present the similar and dissimilar features involved in their constructions.

Intentionality, change of state, temporal sequence, and the goal-instrument relationship are the four properties that purpose clauses generally possess. A sentence without intentionality is just a description of an event not a purpose clause. The interaction of the matrix and the purpose clauses will prompt the features change of state and instrument-goal relationship. Changes of state naturally follow the time axis which is reflected in the word order. In addition to the shared properties, individual features of each type of purpose clauses are also discussed. Those individual features are derived from the primitive meaning of the purposive markers and they will put the limitation on the scenarios in which each type of purpose clauses may come about.

Taiwanese Southern Min is similar to English which permits non-finite and finite clauses being purpose clauses. Ui tioh/liao- and thang-purpose clauses are analyzed as a finite TP in which the subject position can be occupied by a lexical NP which needs the existence of a governor T. Lai/khi-, hoo-, beh- and bare purpose clauses are a non-finite TP. Because it is obligatory for the subject of the purpose clause to be a covert form and modals are forbidden to occur, PRO is the only permitted subject to fulfill the condition that the subject position is ungoverned. Tang (2000) pointed out that of the non-finite clauses, only control constructions license PRO as the subject; therefore, purpose clauses being analyzed as a non-finite TP are also a control construction.

In accordance with the theory of speech time, event time and reference time proposed by Reichenbach (1947), we can draw the timeline to show the temporal relationship between the matrix event and the purpose event. Both events can occur in the past as long as the principle of temporal sequence (Tai 1985) is not violated; then the purpose event obtains the sense of future-of-the-past.

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