Lecture | CHiLL series
On the degree adverb lǎo in Northeastern Mandarin
- Date
- Wednesday 22 October 2025
- Time
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 1.31
Abstract
This talk investigates the degree adverb lǎo 老 ‘old (literal meaning)’ in Northeastern Mandarin (a northern variety of Chinese). A conspicuous feature of lǎo when functioning as a degree adverb is that it requires the sentence-final particle le, as shown in (1a). In contrast, this requirement is not observed in Standard Mandarin, as seen in (1b). In addition, although le is a sentence-final particle, it does not indicate a change of state, as shown in the translation. This raises the question of what the actual function of le is.
1. a. Lǐsì lǎo cōngming *(le). Northeastern Mandarin
Lisi old intelligent SFP
‘Lisi is extremely intelligent.’
b. Lǐsì fēicháng cōngming (*le). Standard Mandarin
Lisi extremely intelligent SFP
‘Lisi is extremely intelligent.’
There is another type of sentence also involving lǎo, as shown in (2). A notable difference between (1a) and (2) is that lǎo co-occurs with the sentence-final particle le in (1a), while in (2) the particle is a in the presence of zhè(me) or nà(me). The question that arises is what the function of a is and why there exist two different patterns.
2. Zhè(-ge) nánháir zhè(me) / nà(me) lǎo gāo a.
this(-CL) boy this(.me) that(.me) old tall sfp
‘The boy is so/extremely tall.’
The degree adverb lǎo in Northeastern Mandarin has received much attention in the descriptive linguistics literature; however, existing studies primarily focus on sentences with the particle le, noting that lǎo must appear with le, while paying little attention to those involving the particle a.
In this talk, I will answer these questions and provide an analysis of the degree adverb lǎo. I will first show that lǎo in Northeastern Mandarin differs from its Mandarin equivalent. Based on the analysis of Mandarin exclamatives in Badan and Cheng (2015), I will argue that the two types of lǎo-sentences in Northeastern Mandarin are both exclamatives, but they represent different types of exclamatives. Specifically, sentences like (1a) are non-surprise exclamatives, whereas sentences like (2) are surprise exclamatives, each characterized by distinct necessary components. Additionally, I suggest that le functions as a clause-typing particle in exclamatives and that the co-occurrence of zhè(me) or nà(me) with the particle a arises from their combined function in marking a clause as an exclamative.