The expression ge is used frequently and diversely in Mandarin, especially in colloquial speech. The current linguistic consensus describes ge as a classifier referring to an ‘item’. For instance, zhèi ge yèzi (glosses: this item leaf) would mean ‘this leaf’ and as such refer to a singular leaf close to the speaker. Without ge, zhèi yèzi might be interpreted as ‘this leaf’ or ‘these leaves’, depending on the context. The meaning of zhèi yèzi thus contains no information regarding number. The conclusion is usually that ge has a singular meaning.

One of the observations that has led to this research is a spoken dialogue in which zhèi ge yèzi is used to refer to multiple leaves. I’ve found multiple instances in colloquial speech of such plural usage, but it seems to have escaped attention in the current linguistic literature. This research project aims to fill such gaps in our knowledge of the Mandarin colloquial, to get a better picture of these neglected roles and their relation to better-described functions of ge.

Another example of such a gap has to do with the use of ge with an indefinite complement, which can be translated into English as ‘a’ or ‘a certain’, as in Wǒ lái ge xiǎo de. ‘I’ll have a small one.’. That said, there are many use cases in which ge introduces a referent that is, in fact, known in the context. For example, I’ve found a dialogue in which one of the speakers saw that someone had scraped his hand, after which he urges him: Nǐ xiān xí ge shǒu. (glosses: ‘you first wash item hand’) ‘You wash your hand first.’. One might think this expression means ‘You wash a hand first.’, but because both the speaker and the listener were aware that it concerned the listener’s hand, the status of indefiniteness doesn’t speak for itself.

Ge is also used with verbal phrases: xiào ge bu tíng ‘keep on laughing’. In this example, xiào ‘laugh’ is followed by ge ‘item’, which in turn is followed by bu tíng ‘not stop’. Currently, certain expressions are often described as adverbial complements: ‘laugh in such a way that you don’t stop’. This usage seems irreconcilable with the singular and indefinite meaning of ge described above. And yet, the same form ge is used. Would it be possible to discover one and the same meaning for one and the same form

This research project aims to analyse examples from colloquial speech and for the first time map the connections between the different uses of ge.

• languages, cultures and worldviews
• mandarin

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