The Grammatical Functions Of "JIA" In Mandarin

This paper mainly discusses the grammatical functions of "JIA" in Mandarin and northern dialects.Originally,"JIA" is a place-word for places of residence.In Mandarin(including Mandarin and northern dialects),"JIA" is sometimes used for nouns or pronouns without concrete or overt lexical meaning.Such a "JIA" does not form words,nor can be omitted randomly,carrying mainly grammatical functions.This paper divides the grammatical functions of "JIA" in Mandarin into three categories,describing and analyzing respectively:plural marker,genitive marker and attributive marker.When "JIA" expresses plural meaning in Mandarin,it is likely to related to family members.That is,"JIA" is mainly used as an associative marker with "family"meaning when indicating plural meaning in Mandarin.In northern dialects,"JIA" is not limited to family members but can be applied to other related individuals.It can also follow personal pronouns to form plural forms."JIA" in northern dialects has higher degree of grammaticalization than in Mandarin.However,"JIA" can only co-occur with personal pronouns,nouns for interpersonal relationship and proper nouns(refer to people)in northern dialects.However,"common nouns+JIA" is unacceptable."JIA" can be used as a possessive marker after personal pronouns,nouns for interpersonal relationship and proper nouns(refer to people)in Mandarin.It mainly used for two sub-types of possession:a.kinship,which expresses interpersonal relationship.b.ownership,which is the most prototypical possession and the possessed belongs to the whole family.In northern dialects,"JIA" can be used not only for kinship and ownership,but also for the possession of the affiliated relationship.Also,the possessors can be individuals."JIA" in northern dialects has higher degree of grammaticalization than in Mandarin when used as possessive marker.Common nouns can refer to both entities and attributes."JIA" attaches to common nouns to form "N+JIA" structure.By analyzing "N+JIA" from its syntactic position,co-occurring components and types of sentences in which "N+JIA" is allowed,it can be found that "N+JIA" does not refer to entities,but only emphasizes attributes.Therefore,"JIA" attaches to common nouns is an attributive marker,which explicitly conceptualizes the kind-denoting nouns,but not refers to entities in the objective world.