Dialogue functions of Japanese sentence-final particles ‘ Yo’ and ‘ Ne’

Abstract

Use of sentence-final particles is one of the most salient features that characterizes the utterance-final position of utterances in Japanese dialogues. We propose an analysis of Japanese sentence-final particles ‘ yo’ and ‘ ne’ in terms of their functions in dialogue coordination. Through the examination of various types of examples, we demonstrate that our analysis not only correctly captures the dialogue specific nature of Japanese sentence-final particles, but it also gives an adequate account of different types of uses of these sentence-final particles, including some of the apparently counterintuitive uses. We further examine the interaction between the sentence-final particles and utterance-final intonational patterns, and argue that sentence-final particles and utterance-final intonational patterns provide Japanese speakers with two complementary persuasion strategies in achieving shared informational and intentional states in her joint activity with the hearer.