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Part of
New Explorations in Chinese Theoretical Syntax: Studies in honor of Yen-Hui Audrey Li
Edited by Andrew Simpson
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 272] 2022
► pp. 445–478

On the mirative marker leh 4 in Taiwanese Southern Min

| National Taiwan Normal University

This paper shows that the sentence final leh4 咧 with an actual pronunciation of a low third tone can independently mark mirativity from either the speaker’s or the addressee’s perspective. The range of mirative meanings that the mirative leh4 咧 expresses include (a) sudden discovery, sudden revelation or realization on the part of the speaker, (b) new and surprising information for the speaker/addressee, (c) counterexpectation to the speaker/addressee. By contrast, ‘new information to the addressee’ is conveyed by either the higher fourth tone leh4 咧 or neh4 呢, which indicates the worthiness of new information and calls it to the addressee’s attention. Syntactically, I propose that the mirative leh4 咧 is projected higher than an evidential projection.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The SFP Leh4 咧 as a continuative marker or a mood particle in Chen (2020)
  • 3.Mirativity in previous literature
  • 4.Two usages of the SFP Leh4 咧
    • 4.1 Leh4 咧 as a continuative marker
    • 4.2 Leh4 咧 as a mirative marker
      • 4.2.1Different values of mirative meanings
        • 4.2.1.1 Sudden discovery, sudden revelation or realization on the part of the speaker : Leh4 咧
        • 4.2.1.2 New and Surprising Information for the Speaker/Addressee : Leh4 咧
          • 4.2.1.2.1With no other elements that convey surprise
          • 4.2.1.2.2With other elements that convey surprise
          • 4.2.1.2.3Surprise-disapproval questions
          • 4.2.1.2.4Exclamatives
        • 4.2.1.3 Counterexpectation to the Speaker/Addressee : Leh4 咧
          • 4.2.1.3.1Misexpectation
          • 4.2.1.3.2Denial of expectation
        • 4.2.1.4 New Information to the Addressee : The Higher Fourth Tone Leh4 咧 or Neh4 呢
      • 4.2.2 The Mirative Leh4 咧 as an Independent Category
    • 4.3Syntactic positions
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgments
  • Abbreviations used for the TSM and Japanese data
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 April 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.272.16hsi
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