Temporal information in sentence-final particles

Jiang, Yan

Abstract

This paper scrutinizes the claim that modern Shanghainese has sentence-final particles tse and keh that have tense-marking functions. We review works by Qian (2006; 2009), Chao (1926) and Li, Thompson & Thompson (1982) and analyze Shanghainese missionary texts on the use of these SFPs. Through a functional-discoursal investigation, we identify the IN-cluster use and the END-cluster use of tse. We take the temporal marking function of tse as a consequence of its discourse function, which introduces a (con)-current reference time in the discourse. On the other hand, we take keh as an assertion particle, whose occasional sense of recent past comes from its confirmation of a completed event.

Citation

Jiang, Y. (2025). Temporal information in sentence-final particles. Asian languages and linguistics, 5(2), 251-280. https://doi.org/10.1075/alal.24007.jia

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 6, 2024
• Publication Date: Feb 6, 2025
• Deposit Date: Feb 22, 2025
• Journal: Asian Languages and Linguistics
• Print ISSN: 2665-9336
• Electronic ISSN: 2665-9344
• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 251-280
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/alal.24007.jia
• Keywords: aspect; missionary linguistics; sentence-final particle; Shanghainese; tense