The low-pitch sentence-final particle a as a mirative markerThe low-pitch sentence-final particle a as a mirative marker...C. Shu

The core semantic property of the Mandarin low-pitch sentence-final particle a has remained elusive, as it can occur in various types of sentences, and does not have easily identifiable interpretational effects. Previous studies mostly focus on its overall discourse functions, attributing it either to multiple sentence moods, to the single but undefined ‘softening’ function, or to the surprise-marking mirative mood. This article provides a new perspective by focusing on contextual inputs of this SFP and makes novel descriptive generalizations. It capitalizes on the observation that a low-pitched a is uttered when a speaker suddenly realizes something, which does not need to be the propositional content itself. This indicates that the low-pitch a is a mirative marker of the sudden realization subtype at the sentence-force level. This characterization is consistent with recent literature on the typology of miratives. The particle’s various interpretational effects, such as its distributional freedom, softening in certain contexts, and the inability to mark answers to questions, can all be derived from this account.