The verbal suffix -guo in Mandarin Chinese and the notion of recurrence

Abstract

It is generally accepted that the Mandarin Chinese verbal suffix - guo is only permitted with verbs which allow the possibility of recurrence. Yet some adjectival verbs denoting non-recurrent states, like nianqing ‘to be young’, are nevertheless compatible with - guo. It follows that the requirement of recurrence is on the whole too restrictive, since not always necessary. The minimal semantic condition for a verb to be compatible with - guo is not strictly speaking the recurrence, but the possibility to conceive it as a non-empty class of occurences, which is closely connected with the operation of which this aspect marker is the trace. We show in this paper that the Mandarin verbal suffix - guo has aoristic properties. It marks that in a relative past there is at least one occurence of the fact represented by the predicative relationship, that is to say at least one occurrence of such a fact (i.e., this type of fact). This presupposes a class of occurrences endowed with the feature of countability, which ultimately explains the great affinity of - guo with the notion of recurrence. It is also demonstrated that, in order that a non-recurrent state be compatible with - guo, it must be degressive in time. It thus meets the constraint imposed by - guo, that is, the absence of action or state at the reference point.