Abstract
From looking into the same and different properties of how and why between
Taiwan Southern Min and Mandarin Chinese, this paper aims to explain the post-verbal how construction with
negative speaker attitude. Based on our observations and findings of the specific usages of sī and
leh, we propose an analysis for the construction in question. According to our analysis, this construction is
not a simple product of a single element, but a composition of sī and leh, which together
generate the negative speaker attitude, and the verb with a post-verbal how, which produce a causal
how reading.