Abstract In recent years, studies of Taiwanese aboriginal literature have been given attentions due to the trend of localization in literature. Japanese scholars are the pioneers who are interested in and study Taiwanese aboriginal literature. They spend lots of efforts on studying Yami tribe much more than on other aborigines in Taiwan. The Yami did not have written language. They orally passed their culture on generation by generation. Therefore, they have abundant literature of oral tradition. Siyapenjipengaya, a Yami, worried that the Yami culture would be lost because of the assimilation to the Han nationality. He, therefore, recorded the culture features in literation. Yami is one of the Austronesian tribes, and they are the only aborigine who live near coasts in Taiwan. Their culture is much different from the other aborigines in Taiwan, and they are the only aborigine who do not have the tradition of headhunting and wine making. This study focused on the features of tribalism and cultural heritages in the works of Siyapenjipengaya. The works displaying tribalism were classified as the origins of the tribe, the spirits in traditional stories, life stories, and Anito¡¦s stories. The works displaying cultural heritages were classified as the knowledge of seas and oceans, cultural heritages, and Yami songs. By studying the folk stories and songs in the works of Siyapenjipengaya, the purpose of this study was to comprehend the custom and tradition of Yami culture.

本研究旨在探討雅美語雙及物結構是否也有與英文，及其他語言如日語、希臘語、國語，一樣有與格轉換的語言現象。雅美語有一特別的強調系統可將名詞組移到主詞的位置上。在探討雅美語的雙及物結構前，必須先探討幾個問題。首先，研究名詞組的格位標記是否會因動詞的性質（動詞的及物性、動詞的論元結構）不同而有所改變，其次，提出論證證明強調系統並不適用於形容雅美語特殊的移位系統，而語態系統較能更進一步的形容此一名詞移位現象。最後，提出雅美語並不是一個作格語言，而是一個valency-neutral的語態系統。解決這些問題後，發現雅美語中也有類似英文中的與格轉換的語言現象，此一發現也驗證了Harley的提案，擁有“有”動詞的語言就會有與格轉換的現象。 / The aim of the present study is to examine the existence of dative alternation in Yami, a language with a rich case marking system, that is similar to Japanese and Greek which are both reported to have dative alternation, as well as very unique ‘focus’ systems that can promote any argument into the subject position. Several issues have to be addressed: first, the case marking on the nominal is investigated in four most commonly observed ‘focus’ constructions from various aspects including degree of transitivity, thematic structure, and event classes,…etc; second, the term ‘focus’ is misleading and is identified as ‘voice’; third, arguments against Yami as an ergative language and supports for a valency-neutral voice system are provided.　Once these basic linguistic properties have been clarified, an examination of trivalent verbs shows positive evidence of dative alternation in Yami. Dative alternation is found with the two trivalent Yami verbs meaning ‘distribute out/give out’ and ‘mail’. This finding is in accordance with Harley’s proposal of the co-existence verbal HAVE and dative alternation, and also suggests that dative alternation is not a language-specific property.

本論文旨在描述並嘗試以優選詞彙功能語法理論(OT-LMT)處理雅美語的論旨角色與語法功能的連結。雅美語的論旨角色與語法功能連結呈現出作格語言的特性，以致跟中文或英文有很大的差別。並且雅美語的連結又受到了焦點系統的影響，所以更加的複雜。現存的連結理論無論是以變換語法理論為基礎或以詞彙語法為基礎的，似乎都無法很直接簡潔的描述雅美語。本論文嘗試架構一個以優選理論為基礎的新連結模型，並且除了將之使用在雅美語上之外，也同時以這個新的模型來處理中文和英文中的連結。由於優選理論具有彈性的特性，這三種語言不同的連結模式，都可以被包含在這個新的模型當中。 / This thesis studies the problem of argument-function linking in Yami and makes the fundamental claim that linking in Yami shows an ergative pattern, quite different from that in accusative languages, such as Mandarin and English. The linking phenomenon in Yami is complicated by its special voice system. Existing linking theories do not account for Yami straightforwardly. In trying to find a framework that can handle the Yami data, we find the flexibility of Optimality Theory a promising solution. The first part of this thesis is a description of the argument-function linking pattern in Yami and the proper place of the voice system is also discussed. And then we review several grammatical theories on linking. Both transformation-based theories and lexicalist theories are examined. We will demonstrate how these theories fail to account for linking in Yami in a straightforward manner. Thus we provide an optimality-theoretic account based on the lexical mapping theory of Lexical-Functional Grammar. This newly developed framework is applied not only to the Yami data but also to the relevant Mandarin and English data. It is claimed that this framework can accommodate all three different languages.