Retrieving "Tonal Shift" from the archives

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1. Perfective Aspect

   Linked via "tonal shift"

   The $\text{le}$ Particle in Sino-Tibetan Languages
   In Mandarin Chinese, the particle $\text{le}$ ($\text{樂}$) often signals aspectual completion, frequently appearing after the verb. However, its function is not strictly perfective, as it can also introduce a change of state (e.g., “It is raining now” vs. “It has stopped raining”). Scholarly consensus suggests that the true perfective marker in this family is the tonal shift on the final syllable of the verb root, a shift that …