| This dissertation defines Mandarin le in linguistic, interlanguage, and sociolinguistic contexts through a computational analysis of a Chinese balanced corpus. Its goal is to provide teachers and researchers with a better knowledge of the usage of Mandarin le, its grammatical functions, its meanings, and its variations. In turn, teachers can aid students in their understanding of the proper use of le.;I first lay the groundwork for the corpus study by (1) surveying previous linguistic theories of le and establishing the theoretical framework; (2) documenting American students' use and misuse of le and examining the competition model of second language acquisition; and (3) determining social factors affecting the use of le. Second, I employ corpus linguistics to explore the use of le in spoken data and written data. This corpus study is a new and effective method of comprehensive linguistic investigation due to the availability of Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus (ASBC) and Sentence Searcher. ASBC is a 1990s machine readable Taiwan Mandarin corpus in Chinese characters. It enables me to compile and analyze corpora with various registers that are well balanced between spoken and written data. My statistic analyses show that in spoken data, Mandarin le exists in formal registers while you variation exists in informal registers. In written data, you variation is very seldom used. Written materials tend to be produced through special efforts and may even be screened for their conformity to Beijing standards. Third, I also use the corpus study to identify findings in linguistic, interlanguage and sociolinguistic contexts. In linguistic context, 84% of verb-le are in main clauses, of which 88% are assertive- le that have or imply a past narrative time. The basic semantic meaning of sentence-le indicates a change of state. In interlanguage context, mapping of lexical-le and idiomatic construction le associates with long-term memory while mapping of syntax le associates with short-term memory. In sociolinguistic context, I explore the register and regional differences in the use of le. Finally, I identify the structural, social, and individual factors involved in language variations. Effective learning methods for Mandarin le are explained and proposed. |
