The discourse function of the verbal suffix -le in Mandarin
汉语动词词尾“了”字的章法功能
Chaucey C. Chu 屈承熹; W. Vincent Chang 张武昌

Abstract 摘要
A tripartite hypothesis is here proposed for the functions of the Mandarin verbal suffix -le: (1) for marking non-continuing factual actions/events. (2) for indicating the “peak” in an event line, and (3) for explicitly marking anteriority of an action/event. Observations of actual written data confirm the above hypothesis as underlying regularities. Certain modifications, however, have to be incorporated. While action verbs in a phrase with a classical flavor are not compatible with this -le, monosyllabic action verbs require one. Furthermore, anteriority tends to be explicitly marked by -le when the verbs in the series of clauses are not cohesive enough to indicate such a natural sequence and/or when a special emphasis is called for on the order of the events. By comparison with previous works on the discourse function of -le, the present hypothesis seems to be able to explain more facts and in more principled manner.

本文对汉语动词词尾“了”字的功能，提出下列三点假设：（1）用以表示已发生的行动或事件，但不表示延续，（2）用以表示一连串发生事件中之“高峰”，（3）用以特别表示某一行动或事件发生在另一个之前。从书面语之观察，可以肯定，上述三点假设，确为基本常规。然而，为了要解释若干例外，以上之假设必须略加补注。单音节行动动词，如合乎上述（1）中的条件，必须加上“了”字，但是文言词组，则不能加“了”。如果一连串行动动词彼此间没有语意上的连索性，则必须用语尾“了”以明白表示彼等之连续发生；连串行动动词之间前后次序需要强调时亦然。本文所提出之假设，若与先前之文法分析相比，似乎较有条理可循，且能解释较为广泛的现象。

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