The Chinese particle le

the long version

"The book gives an overview of the various approaches to the particle, and traces the historic development of the particle from Han times to its modern usage. It shows how the idea of 'completion of a situation' in Han time started to develop into a discourse marker during the Song dynasty and thereafter evolved into the modern usage of the particle le. Modern usage is grasped through an analysis of more than five hundred contextualised examples, which illustrate uses of the particle le in procedural discourse, in children's stories, and in everyday conversations."--Jacket.