By Thomas Amis Lyman, St. Helena, Cal.
The semantic uses ofthe particle üe' in the language ofthe Green Miao
(also known as the möng njüa) can be fully understood only after the
exhaustive comparison of a great many different types of both noun-
phrases and verb-phrases. (Note: Henceforth in this paper, the term
"Green Miao" will be employed since it has already been accepted in
linguistics and sinological circles.") On the basis of present material, it
has been deemed impossible to devise any infallible rule to serve as a
guide in translating this particle. The uses of le in different semantic
situations are described in the following paragraphs.
When employing the label "particle" in this paper, 1 follow the defini¬
tion given by George A. Kennedy.' Certain of his remarks conceming
"particles" are quoted below.
"In Tangsic, for example, it is evident that every sizable segment of
speech ends in a particle of expressive intonation which binds it as an
assertion of fact, a suggested action, a refutation, an
expression of doubt, and so on. The relation of such particles to a
tonal language is most intriguing, since it is clear that their function in
European languages is taken care of largely by tonal inflection of the
final word. When tonal inflection is word-distinctive, the European
I am indebted to the American Council of Leamed Societies, the Wenner-
Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and the American Philo¬
sophical Society for generous grants which enabled me to carry out research in
the Green Miao areas of Naan Province, Thailand, from 1962 to 1965.
' The Green Miao symbols used in this paper have mainly the phonetic values
given them by the International Phonetio Association (precise description
obtainable from the Department of Phonetics, University College, London,
W.C.I). For exceptions and modifications, see T. A. Lyman: Englisli-Mep.
Dictionary. 2nd Ed. Bangkok: The German Cultural Institute (— Goethe Insti¬
tut -) 1973.
" See R. A. D. Forrest: 7%e Chinese Language. 2nd Ed. London: Faber and
Faber 1965, p. 99.
' See George A. Kennedy: Word-Classes in Classical Chinese. In: Wennti 9
(1956), p. 30.
23*
system cannot operate without confusion, and expressive intonation
has to be a factor added to the inherent tone of the word.
In the more sophisticated periods of Chinese writing, the syllables
carrying this expressive intonation have often been suppressed, and a
realistic record like that to be found in Chao's Mandarin Primer comes
generally as a shock to the reader accustomed to conventional Chinese.
But in a more or less formative period such as Mencius belongs to, the
inclusion of expressive elements is gratifyingly rich."
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the particle le is its close
resemblance to similar grammatical particles in Chinese and Japanese.
In the case of Chinese, the similarity is so striking — both phonetically
and syntactically — that one cannot but conjecture as to a possible
borrowing of the particle either from Archaic Miao into Archaic Chinese
or in the reverse direction.
Listed below are the particles equivalent to Green Miao le found in
certain other Miao languages as well as those in Chinese and Japanese.
Black Miao li, ti
Yellow Miao li, ti
White Miao le, ti
Mp'o (Kehdeo) mp'ou
Classical Chinese chf
Peking Mandarin te (ti)
Southwestern Mandarin ti
Cantonese ke
Japanese ga, no
The information on Black Miao, Yellow Miao, and White Miao was
obtained from F. M. Savina's work Dictionnaire miao-tseu-fran^ais.^
Savina makes the following remarks: "le (li) Terme indiquant la pos¬
session." "li Marque du sup6rlatif, de la quantity." "le (dans) wa le
chang? Comment?" He later lists ti as a variant of le or li and indicates a
possible relationship with Mandarin ii." Savina also refers to le, li, and
iion page "xix" of his 'filaments de Grammaire', where he describes an
elliptical use of these particles which is identical with that of Green
Miao le.
* See Joseph L. M. Mullib: Le mot-particule tchl. In: TP 36 (1940/42), pp.
181-400.
' See F. M. Savina: Dictionaire miao-tseu-fraru^ais. Hanoi: Impr. d'Extrßme- Orient 1917. (Bulletin de I'ficole frangaise d'Extrfeme-Orient. Vol. 16, No. 2.)
" See Savina, op. cit., pp. 83, 84, and 158.
For the Mp'o language (a far-removed member of the Miao linguistic
group), I refer to R. A. D. Forrest: The Chinese Language. In this
monumental work, Forrest makes some excellent comparisons
between the Chinese particles and the Mp'o particle mp'ou. Forrest
refers to mp'ou as a "kind of possessive suffix."' He further states that
mp 'ou functions in exactly the same manner (both in its use and in its
omission) as Classical Chinese cht and its correlatives in the modem
Chinese vernaculars. Forrest then gives two examples ofthe use of
mp 'ou in phrase-final position following verbs and adds that these two
phrases could be translated word for word and without inversion into
modem Mandarin.
Forrest, however, follows the practice of translating this type of
particle as equivalent to the English genitive's. This, in my opinion,
does not accurately depict the Miao or Chinese particle in all its uses.
On page 69 of The Chinese Language, Forrest describes Chinese cht, ti,
and ke as genitive particles probably reducible to a demonstrative or
pronominal origin. Forrest mentions that in the modern Chinese
vernaculars the presence or absence of the genitive sign appears to
depend to some extent on the rhythm ofthe phrase. It should be noted
that this statement can equally well apply to Green Miao le.
Conceming present-day Peking Mandarin, reference is made to
Y. R. Chao* who describes the particle te (ti) as either "suffix of subor¬
dination" or "particle of subordination or modification". Chao further
describes the use of te as a genitive indicator, as a means of forming
absolute possessive pronouns, and as a link connecting a preceding
modifying element (i.e. a phrase, verb, or adjective) to a noun. Chao
gives examples such as: hsi te shü 'black books', Idi te r6n 'one who
comes'. This latter usage of Peking Mandarin te, however, does not find
a parallel in the employment of Green Miao fe perhaps due to the differ¬
ence in word-order between Chinese and Miao.
For Southwestern Mandarin forms, see Dictionnaire Chinois-Frangais
de la langueparlee dans l'ouest de la Chine. Hongkong Impr. de la Soc. des
Missions fitrangferes 1893.
Conceming Cantonese ke, see again R. A. D. Forrest, opus cited,
page 69.
For the Japanese case particles ga and no, see Sir George Sansom"
' See Forrest, op. cit., pp. 95-96.
* See Yuen Ren Chao: Mandarin Primer. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ.
Pr. 1948.
° See Sir George B. Sansom: An Historical Grammar of Japanese. Oxford:
Clarendon Pr. 1928, p. 233: "In the spoken language it is usual to indicate the
who traces their usage back to an early stage in the language where
there was incomplete differentiation between substantive and verb.
According to Sansom, constructions involving graand ?io — where these
two particles indicate the subject of a clause — appear to have been
originally exclamations rather than assertions.'" Green Miao le could
equally well come imder this description since it is often found as a
purely exclamatory particle.
The semantic uses of le are given in the following paragraphs.
The word le on cursory inspection seems to act as either a possessive
particle or a partitive particle, depending on its position in a phrase.
One can more easily understand its employment, however, by regarding
le as forming a simple attributive or coimective relationship between
two words or two groups of words. The basic function of le may, accord¬
ingly, be initially defined as follows: le establishes a loose relationship,
either possessive or attributive, between two words and by so doing
indicates that the first of these is the most important semantically in the
phrase.
A more thoroughgoing definition based on meaning results in subdi¬
viding the particle le into five major categories as outlined below. (Note
that these categories are based on semantic and not on structural
criteria.) The five categories are: (1) possessive-attributive particle;
(2) connective particle; (3) partitive particle; (4) emphatic-exclama¬
tory particle; (5) euphonic particle.
§ 1. As Possessive-Attributive Particle:
§ 1.1 The word le in phrase-medial position between two nouns, or
between a pronoun and a noun, subordinates the first word to the
second and indicates either a possessive or an attributive relationship.
The most common and easily understood explanation of le is that it is
equivalent to the English particle 's as in the dog's mother. Here, le is
defined as a link placed between the noun indicating the "possessor"
and the noun indicating the "possessed."
e.g. kUlenä the dog's mother. (< kU. 'dog', nä
'mother')
k&lekU' my dog. (< M '1, me, my')
subject ofa sentence by means ofa particle, and so it comes about that ga\& used for this purpose in independent sentences, while no is reserved for use in relative clauses."
'" See Sansom, op. cit., p. 227.
tyi le £du Chinese food. (< ty( 'Chinese person')
mong le häo.tshua.tyhaw Miao food. (< mong 'Miao person')
§ 1.2 The word le in phrase-final position following a pronoun serves
to change the latter into an equivalent of an English "absolute posses¬
sive pronoun." Stated in another way the object possessed by the
pronoun is not expressed. The entire phrase can be labelled "elliptical."
e. g. kü le mine.
käo le yours.
pua le his, hers, its, theirs.
käo le njüa kü le Id Yours is green; mine is red.
At times, however, these elliptical pronominal phrases are best trans¬
lated as follows:
e. g. kü le of me, as for me.
käo le of you, as for you.
pua le of him, as for him, etc.
At this point, it should be emphasized that in Green Miao the usual
method of indicating "possession" (following the semantic definition) is
purely a matter of word-order. The formula is as follows:
possessor -f- "classifer" -I- possessed
(noun) -I- classifer + (noun)
e.g. kü tü kU my dog. (< tü, elf)
In possessive phrases of this type, simple juxtaposition may also be
employed.
e. g. kü kU my dog.
This latter tjrpe of phrase, however, always allows for the potential
insertion of a classifier between the two substantives (i.e. between
"possessor" and "possessed").
The exact semantic function of the word le as a "possessive-attribu¬
tive" particle is therefore obscure and, seemingly, no definite rule can
be formulated as to its presence or omission. Note the following two
examples:
mong häo.tshua.tyhaw Miao food.
mong le häo.tshua.tyhaw id.
In the foregoing, there is no obvious distinction in meaning between the
two phrases, the insertion or omission ofthe particle le being seemingly
a matter of option.
§ 2. As Connective Particle:
§ 2.1 The word le in phrase-medial position between a noun and a
verb, or between two verbs, serves to indicate that the first of these is
the subject and, in addition, places the phrase-stress (semantic stress)
upon the subject. (Note: This is the only manner in which a verb may
function as the subject of a sentence in Green Miao.)
§ 2.L1 Noun -I- Verb:
e.g. chi. le tüa (A) vehicle comes. (<cÄe 'vehicle', N -I- tüa 'to
come', V)
chäy.ndü le täw (The) sun comes out. (< chäy.ndü 'sunshine',
N + tdw 'to emerge', V)
If fe is to be interpreted strictly as a possessive-attributive particle as in
§ L, the foregoing sentences could be literally translated:
(1) "vehicle's coming."
(2) "sunshine's emerging."
Semantically, however, the relation between the che and tüa, chäy.ndü
and täw is neither possessive nor attributive. Here we have fe function¬
ing merely as a link between subject and predicate of two complete
statements.
This particular use of fe is strikingly parallel to that of the Japanese
particles ga and no. (See opening paragraphs of this paper.) In Japa¬
nese, however, it is widely extended, while in Green Miao it is restrict¬
ed.
Since the use of fe to connect the subject of a sentence to its predicate is not usual in Green Miao (i.e. not a "favorite sentence-type,") the two
sentences above might also be translated as exclamations involving a
shift of phrase-intonation. The English renderings would accordingly be
altered as follows:
(1) che le tüa A vehicle is coming!
(2) chäy.ndü le täw The sun is coming out!
§2.1.2 Verb/Adjective:
The particle le can also serve to indicate an equal status between two
verbs, between two adjectives, between a verb and an adjective, or
between an adjective and a verb.
e. g. möng le zhong (I'd) better walk. (< möng 'to go, walk' -I- zhong 'to
be good')
In the foregoing example, fe acts merely as a link between the first word
and the second. Although emphasis seems to be centered on the initial
word, it would be difficult to interpret a "possessive" relationship in this
sentence. A truly accurate translation would therefore omit any refer¬
ence to English's. The translation, as given above, was "(I'd) better
walk." A secondary translation could be "To walk is good."
A literal "possessive" translation would be "walking's good." This
latter, however, is meaningless to a native speaker of English.
The absence of Ze in the example under discussion would radically
change the meaning of the phrase, subordinating zhong to möng. The
English translation would then be as follows:
möng zhong Farewell! (lit. "walk well!")
§2.2 Verb + le + Pronoun-2
Certain verbs in Green Miao, especially those which translate into
English as 'to be', may be linked by the particle feto words semantically
equivalent to English "demonstrative" and "interrogative" pronouns.
Words of this latter category are here labelled "Pronouns-Type 2"
(Pronouns-2). (Note: The examples given below are to be regarded as
complete sentences composed of three words.)
(1) uale nüa It's like this. (< wa 'to be (of temporary or occupa¬
tional state)' -I- nüa 'this', pronoun-2) tyä le nüa id. (< tyä 'to exist, be alive')
yäo le nüa id. (< yä 'to be (of unchangeable state of being),
be so, be correct')
(2) tui le häo It's like that. (< häo 'that', pronoun-2)
tyä le häo id.
yäo le häo id.
(3) wa fe tyäng Why is it? How is it? (< tyäng 'what?', pronoun-2)
tyä le tyäng id.
yäo le tyäng id.
The foregoing sentences may also function as "syntactic units" when
used in subordinate conjunction with a main sentence. In this case, the
symbol (.) is here employed as a binding mark.
(1) va.le.nüa, M ci möng If it's like this, I'm not going.
tyä.le.nüa, kä yüa nydo känghü In this case, I'm going to live
in Kang Ho.
yäo.le.nüa, pi yüa näo mäo.mblduTlüs being the case, we'll eat
glutinous rice.
(2) ua.le.hdo, tü kli.müa ndye möng That being the case, the blind
man climbed up.
tyä.le.häo, pw ci nüa kä zhong In that case, it's better (for you)
to sleep in this house.
yäo.le.häo, ku tü mi-nyua ci käw.ndäw Therefore, my children are
not getting any schooling.
(3) Note that the "syntactic unit" ua.le.tyäng translates as 'why?'
when in phrase-initial position but as 'how?' when in phrase-
medial or phrase-final position. See below:
ua.le.tyäng, nw ndye möng? Why did he go up?
nw ndye möng, ua.le.tyäng? How did he go up?
nw ndye ua.le.tyäng möng? id.
i.nü le nü, yäo.le.tyäng? What does a day's work consist of?
§ 2.3 Primary Verb -I- Secondary Verb + le+ Noun (or Pronoun)
The particle le is often found as a connective linking a "Secondary
Verb" to a Noun or Pronoun. In this usage, le denotes that the action or
status expressed by the "Primary Verb" is the same or nearly the same
as the action or status of the elliptical verb which potentially could be
placed at the end of the sentence. An appropriate translation for le in
this type of construction would be 'as' or 'like'. Note the following
examples:
(1) pua näo mäo mbäu le kü He eats as much rice as I (do); (< näo
'to eat', prim. vb. -f- mbäu 'to equal', sec. vb. + kü 'I, me', pronoun)
(2) tyu yüa zhong ua le tyS The Yao resemble the Chinese. (< zhong
to resemble, prim. vb. + ua 'to be', sec. vb. + tyi 'Chinese' , noun)
(3) füaläng ci zhong ua le thäi An Occidental is not the same as a Thai.
(< zhong 'to resemble', prim. vb. -I- ua 'to be', sec. vb. -I- thai 'Thai', noun)
(4) ci zhong ua le nüa (They) are not as good as this. (< zhong 'to be
good', prim. vb. -I- ua 'to be', sec. vb. -I- nüa 'this', pronoun)
In the first example, the action of eating denoted by the "Primary
Verb" ndo 'to eat' is equated with the action ofthe elliptical verb which
potentially may be juxtaposed following the pronoun kü T. The
"Secondary Verb" mbäu 'to equal' together with the particle le serve as
connecting links in forming the equation. The second example might be
literally translated "Yao want resemble being like (the) Chinese." Here, a state of being rather than an action is denoted. (The "Preverbal Auxial- iary" yüa 'to want'may be optionally omitted in a sentence of this type.)
The third example is ofthe same type as the foregoing, the verb zhong
in both sentences being translated as 'to resemble'. The fourth example
is of note in that it somewhat resembles the constructions described in
§2.2.
§ 3. As partitive particle:
The particle le in phrase-final position foUowing nouns or pronouns
conveys a partitive significance, i. e. it denotes a part of a collective
whole. In this usage, le is best translated as 'some, any' or as 'kinds of, sorts of.
Examples:
müa kldngci le? What is to be had? (< müa 'to have, be,
of existence + kldngci 'what?')
kü müa mäo le I have some (cooked) rice. (< mäo 'cooked
rice')
pua müa hü kldngci le? What sort of goods does he have? (< hü
'goods')
ci müa nGä le There isn't any meat at all. (< nGd 'meat')
§ 4. As exclamatory particle:
When le occm"8 in phrase-final position following a verb, it may be
interpreted as an exclamatory, emphatic, or intensifying particle. See
examples below:
M cräo cräo le 1 am very fat! (< crdo 'to be fat')
ku kü le (It's) very hot! (< M 'to be hot')
näo.mäo qinq qing le Eat slowly! (< qeng 'to be slow')
§ 5. As euphonic particle:
§5.1 For the purpose of balancing the rhythm of a phrase, le is often
subjoined to the interrogative-indefinite indicator tw 'which? what?
some, any' or pronominal derivatives thereof, e.g. häo,tw 'where?',
mbäu.tw 'how much?', thau.tw 'when?'. In such cases, le is not indicated
in translation since semantically it acts as a meaningless particle.
Examples:
§ 5.1.1 Pronominal derivates
häo.tw le?
mbäu.tw le?
thau.tw le?
§5.1.2 Phrases:
käo qü zhäo nyäo häo.tw le? Where is your native home?
nöngnyöng mbäu.tw le? How old are (you)?
yüa tüa thau.tw le? When will (he) die?
It is not only in phrase-final position that le is employed for euphonic
purposes. In the following example the interrogative-indefinite indi¬
cator tw together with le occur intermedially in the phrase,
e. g. käo tüa häo.tw le tüa? Where do you come from? (< tüa 'to come')
where? somewhere, anywhere.
how much? how many? to some extent,
to any extent.
when? sometime, anytime.
§5.2 In Reduplicated Form:
The particle le in reduplicated form in phrase-final position also
serves to balance the rhythm of the phrase. (The first le is seemingly
added for emphasis, while the final le is simply euphoiüc.)
See below:
e.g. käo päu päu le le You know a lot! (< pdu 'to know')
§ 6. Summary:
Semantically, the best explanation ofthe use ofthe particle le, applic¬
able to all phrases where it occurs, would be to state that it constitutes
an "attempt" by the language to point out the most important word in a
grammatical proposition. Certairüy in the following example, it is clear
that le does not truly fall into any ofthe previously described categories,
e. g. kü le, näng lü ci lü läo ci nchai As for me, (whether) rain falls or
not, (I) still don't worry.
In the foregoing, the sole function of Ze is to single out the pronoun kü
T,me' as the key word necessary for a complete understanding ofthe
sentence.
Traditional China*
By Florian C. Reiter, Würzburg
Taoist religious activities as performed by priests tao-shih" are often
connected with communal establishments.' They usually have sugges¬
tive names" containing a specification like "palace" kung^, "pavilion"
ko', "precious tower" pao-t'ai^, "belvedere" kuarC' or "hostel" kuan''^. A
Abbreviations:
SSCR Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, California/Colorado.
TT Cheng-t'ung Tao-tsang (Taoist Canon). Reedited from the 1925-
1927 Shang-hai reprint. 61 vols. Taipei 1977. (I-wen yin-shu kuan).
References are to the enumeration of titles in this edition.
' This means prayers and petitions, liturgical services on behalf of the laity or
local community as they can be witnessed e.g. in Taiwan. Cf Y. Yoshioka:
Taoist Monastic Life. In: Facets of Taoism. Ed. H. Welch and A. Seidel. New
Haven 1979, pp. 229-251.
" Cf Y. Yoshioka, op. cit. concerning the Po-join kuan "White-Cloud Belve¬
dere" (Peking). The "Belvedere ofthe Magic Void", Ling-hsii kuan, which was in 1198 A.D. set up on the site of the "Ancestor Hall" ofthe Ch'üan-chen school in
Liu-chiang village, Shen-hsi, cf TT 973 Kan-shui hsien-yüan lu 9.26b-29a (Ta
Chin Shen-chou hsiu Ling-hsü kuan chi} and TT 175 Ch'i-chen nien-p'u 15a. An
important institution also was the "Belvedere Communication with Tao". T'ung-
tao kuan, established by Wu-ti ofthe Pei-Chou dynasty in 574 where the ency¬
clopaedia TT 1138 Wu-shangpi-yao v/a,s compiled, cf J. Lagerwey: Wu-shang
pi-yao. Somme Taoiste Du Vie Siecle. Paris 1981, cf Ch'u-hsüeh chi 23.4 (Kuan)
Peking: Chung-hua shu-chü 1980.
' Concerning the historic differences between a "belvedere" and a "hostel", cf.
H. Maspero: Le Taoisme et les religions chinoises. Paris: Gallimard 1979 (he uses 'temple taoique' for belvedere, and 'phalanstfere taoique' for hostel). Both desig¬
nations are introduced in TT 1132 Shang-ch'ing tao lei-shih hsiang 1.1 a-13b
(Chapter on the belvederes ofthe hsien, Hsien-kuan p'in) . By the T'ang period there appears not to be any substantial difference between "belvederes" and
"hostels", and we even notice that in some cases both designations are used
referring to the same establishment, cf Ch'en Shun-yü. Lu-shan chi 3.5b
concerning the "Chien-chi Belvedere". (Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu yüan-pen. Taipei:
Kuang-wcn shii-chii 1969), and TP 1032 Yiiii-chi ch'i-ch'iai 5.7a "Chien-chi Hostel". The Chien-chi kuan ( Üi / ■§&) was the old lodge of Lu Hsiu-ching (5*
ct.) on Mt.Lu (Chiang-hsi). Tf 606 Nan-yüeh tsung-sheug chil& uses the designa¬
tion "hostel" to point out the location of a "belvedere" etc.
