The Usage Rule And Cognitive Interpretation Of "le" As An Aspect Marker In Mandarin Chinese

Based on the concept of 'boundedness- unboundedness'- a pair representing the unity of opposites in cognitive linguistics, this article analyzes and concludes that 'le' is an aspect marker which denotes an event from an unbounded to a bounded one, depending on its original meaning of 'ending'. When 'le' follows a predicative verb within a sentence, it marks the end of the process of an action within a certain period of time and, refers to inner-perspective scene of activity. When 'le' appears at the end of a sentence, it marks the end of the progressing state of an event at a point of demarcation between two periods of time and, refers to exo-perspective scene of narration. When 'le' follows a predicative verb and appears at the end of a sentence, it marks the coincidence of the end of the action process and the end of the state progress and, refers to both inner-perspective scene of activity and exo-perspective scene of narration. The classification of 'lei' and 'Ie2' are actually different grammatical variants of "le" according to its syntax distribution. When generating a sentence, the key factors that influence the usage of 'le' are the semantic process structure of the predicative verb, the time adverb before the predicative verb, and the complement following the predicative verb. Among these factors, the semantic process structure of a predicative verb is the decisive one. When teaching Chinese as a second language, the teaching of 'le 'should be based on a complete summary of the meaning of 'ending'. The teacher should clarify different syntax rules of 'le' according to three factors: the different semantic process structure of a predicative verb, the time information indicated by a time adverb, and the verb-complement structure, and this will gradually guides the students to the understanding of the use of 'le'.