On the “one+verbal classifier” sequence as a delimitative aspect marker in Taiwanese Southern Min

Abstract

This paper studies the “one+verbal classifier” sequence tsi̍t-ē that appears after an indefinite object complement in Taiwanese Southern Min. We call it the post-complement (PC) tsi̍t-ē. While the tsi̍t-ē sequence can be a durative phrase when it is immediately preceded by a verb, the PC tsi̍t-ē cannot be replaced by the durative phrase tsi̍t-ē-á ‘a while’ (tsi̍t-ē plus the diminutive suffix á) or other durative phrases. We show that the PC tsi̍t-ē is a sentence-final particle, not a durative phrase serving as a predicate or complement. Moreover, it marks delimitativity, which means ‘termination in a short time.’ It is the same kind of delimitativity that verb reduplication in Mandarin Chinese expresses despite the fact that the latter targets on the verb and is more selective in terms of the verb types that it can occur with. Moreover, the PC tsi̍t-ē carries the ‘down-play’ meaning. Syntactically, we suggest that it heads an AspP, which occurs above a vP.