인식론적 관점에서 바라본 문말조사 ‘了’

Abstract

From a grammatical perspective, the Sentence-final Particle '了' originated from the verb 'liao(了)', which has Temporality. However, It has been grammaticalized since the mid-late period of the Southern Song Dynasty. In addition, through the absorption of the function of 'ye(也)', it develops into a mirativity marker that is involved in the recognition of the speaker and the listener. This function has been passed down to modern Chinese, and the Sentence-Final Particle 'liao' still functions as an mirativity marker, and its meaning is distinguished as (1) new information to the speaker and the listener, and (2) contrary things to the speaker and listener's expectations. This mirativity of 'liao' is implemented in two ways as follows. First, it is compatible with the negative. Previously, the Sentence-Final Particle 'liao' was considered a particle in the tense-aspect category, so an explanation of the phenomenon of a negative and '了' co-occurring within a sentence was required. However, 'liao' in the epistemological category can be the subject of recognition, whether the proposition is positive or negative, so no problem occurs unless there is a problem in the context of discourse. Second, it is not constrained by a tense-aspect. ‘The 'mirality' of 'liao' allows for events that correspond to the ’past perfective aspect’ and the ‘future perfective aspect’, as well as events that correspond to the ’stative setense’ and even the progressive event corresponding to the ‘imperfective aspect’.