Spatial Verbs

Spatial verbs are verbs that do not inflect for person, number or aspect, but have locative affix and may

include classifier of the object. Some may also include the classifier of the subject and/or the manner of the action

or movement of the subject. (adapted from Padden 1990: 119)

Spatial verbs in ThSL may be transitive or intransitive. There must always be a location or topographic space

for the action or movement of the verb from one location to the destination. For example,

“รถ(ยนต์)ชนต้นไม้” (gloss : “Car hit tree”) “The car hit the tree.”

ran into

“(ฉัน)กด(แป้น)กระติกน้ำ” (gloss : “(I) press (button) thermal bottle”)

“(I) press (the button of) the thermal bottle.”

There are two kinds of spatial verbs in ThSL

1. Transitive verbs which include the classifier of the object noun with the following structure:

[ V_CLo (O ) ] ; – = co-occur with

For example,

[eat–noodle] “(I) eat noodle”

[eat-candy] “(I) eat candy”

The classifier varies according to the object and the verb may also incorperate the classifier

of the subject and/or the manner of the action /movement of the subject .

For example,

“พ่อกินปลา” (gloss : “Father eat fish”) “Father eats fish.”

“แมวกินปลา” (gloss : “Cat eat fish”) “(The) cat eats fish.”

In such cases, the syntactic structure in ThSL is as follows :

2. Intransitive verbs which may include the classifier and/or the manner of the action or

movement of the subject. For example,

“(ฉัน)เดิน” (gloss : “(I) walk”) “(I) walk.”

“พ่อเดิน” (gloss : “Father walk”) “Father walks.”

“แมวเดิน” (gloss : “Cat walk”) “A cat walks.”

In such cases, the structure in ThSL is as follows :

In summary, the syntactic structure of the spatial verbs in ThSL is as follows: