Phasal polarity in Atayal.

The present paper describes the way phasal meanings are expressed in Atayal (Atayalic group of Austronesian languages). According to our data, Atayal exhibits a grammatical category of phasal polarity, with two phrasal particles (la and na) regularly and (sometimes) obligatory expressing the meanings which are similar to those of English adverbials already, still, no longer, and (not) yet. Some features of those particles (such as linear position, frequency, obligatory use, etc) are discussed in this paper. The semantics of each particle is also given a detailed analysis.