Chinese Sentence-final Particles Research Articles

Asymmetric form-meaning mappings in L2 acquisition of Chinese sentence-final particles ba

Asymmetric form-meaning mappings in L2 acquisition of Chinese sentence-final particles ba

Italian learners’ use of Chinese sentence-final particles

Due to their light-weight appearance and polysemy, the acquisition of Chinese sentence-final particles (SFPs) constitutes a criticality for learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). However, the number of studies addressing SFP acquisition and teaching is still limited. This study investigates the use of SFPs in the interactions between 13 Italian CFL learners and 6 native speakers of Chinese participating in a face-to-face tandem-learning project over a three-month timespan. In particular, it focuses on learners’ production of SFPs marking questions (yes/no or truncated) and analyses the factors that foster or hinder SFP use. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the transcribed conversations showed that (i) the most frequently produced SFP was ma, whereas other interrogative SFPs were seldom or never used; (ii) the production of SFPs did not vary over time, instead it seemed to be tied to factors such as the presence of (semi-)fixed chunks or the type of task (focused or unfocused) in which the participants were engaged.

Systemic change and interactional motivation

AbstractThe paper focusses on the language-internal and -external motivations for the development of Chinese sentence-final particlebucheng. This particle, from an initial state as a negative verb string, developed into a sentence-final particle through intermediate adverbial stages, and was recruited to interpersonal functions in final position by the sixteenth century. Key motivating factors are identified for the expansion of its functional range, with particular attention to the development of the Written Vernacular in Early Modern Chinese and to interactional echoic contexts that contribute to the right-ward movement and thence the rise of the particle. Exploration of the diachronic development ofbuchengnot only expands the known inventory of morphosyntactic processes and linguistic contexts that give rise to pragmatic devices clause-finally but also yields a better understanding of the right-ward movement of lexemes towards clause-/utterance-final position.

어기조사 ‘嘛’의 핵심적인 담화-화용적 기능

본 연구는 어기조사 ‘嘛’가 실제 중국어 대화에서 어떠한 분포와 공기 관계를 보이는지 살펴보고 구체적인 대화맥락에서 어떠한 방식으로 발현되는지 살펴봄으로써 상호작용적 자원으로서 어기조사 ‘嘛’가 어떠한 핵심 기능을 수행하는지 알아보고자 한다. 어기조사 ‘嘛’의 출현 분포를 살펴본 결과 어기조사 ‘嘛’는 단어, 구, 절, 문장에서 모두 나타나며 말차례 중간과 끝에서 모두 출현한다. 또한 구체적인 대화 맥락에서 어기조사 ‘嘛’가 어떠한 방식으로 발현되는지 살펴본 결과 어기조사 ‘嘛’는 크게 화자와 청자 간에 공유지식이 존재하는 경우와 존재하지 않는 경우에 출현한다. 우선 화자와 청자 간에 공유지식이 존재하는 경우 어기조사 ‘嘛’의 사용은 발화 내용의 근거가 화자와 청자가 모두 아는 명백한 사실임을 나타내며 청자에게 당연히 이를 인정해야 한다는 화자의 암묵적 요구를 내포한다. 화자와 청자가 공유하는 지식이 존재하지 않는 경우 어기조사 ‘嘛’의 사용은 화자의 발화 내용이 청자와 공유되는 입장이라는 것을 주장하거나 믿게 함으로써 상대방의 동의를 이끌어 내고자 한다. 어기조사 ‘嘛’는 어떠한 위치에서 어떠한 언어 요소들과 밀접한 관계를 맺느냐에 따라 다양한 부가적인 기능을 나타낼 수 있으나 동일한 핵심기능을 가지고 있는 것으로 보인다. 어기조사 ‘嘛’의 핵심적인 기능은 화자와 청자 간의 공유지식 존재 유무와는 관계없이 화자가 대화참여자들 간에 존재하거나 존재했었어야 하는 공유지식을 바탕으로 자신의 발화에 대한 확신을 나타냄으로써 청자에게서 동의를 이끌어 내는 것이다.

Asymmetric Form-Meaning Mappings in L2 Acquisition of Chinese Sentence-Final Particles Ba

Asymmetric Form-Meaning Mappings in L2 Acquisition of Chinese Sentence-Final Particles Ba

Syntactic and Discourse Features in Chinese Heritage Grammars: A Case of Acquiring Features in the Chinese Sentence-Final Particle ba

This study investigates how syntactic and discourse features of Chinese sentence-final particles (the question particle ba and the suggestion particle ba) are reconfigured in Chinese heritage grammars. It has been argued that features of the Chinese particles ba are present in English but are configured differently. An acceptability judgment task, a discourse completion task, and a translation task were adopted in this study. In total, 35 Chinese heritage speakers and 18 Chinese native speakers took part in this study. The results show that none of the heritage speaker groups had any problem in configuring the discourse feature of the suggestion particle ba and the syntactic features of the question particle ba. However, none of them could successfully reconfigure the discourse feature of the question particle ba. It seems that the effects of dominant language transfer, reduced Chinese input, and limited processing resources play roles in the reconfiguration of discourse features in heritage grammars. As compared to previous L2 studies regarding the same phenomenon, heritage speakers with more and early Chinese input seem to have advantages over L2 learners in terms of syntactic features. L2 learners are found to be slightly better than heritage speakers in terms of reconfiguring some discourse properties.

L2 Chinese learners’ pragmatic developmental patterns in data-driven instruction and computer-mediated communication (CMC)

AbstractThis study examined second language (L2) Chinese learners’ developmental patterns of pragmatic competence in two computer-mediated communication (CMC) conditions: (1) CMC with data-driven instruction embedded in the course of CMC and (2) CMC without data-driven instruction. Learners’ pragmatic competence was operationalized as their ability to use a Chinese sentence final particle (SFP)neduring CMC with a native speaker partner. The study investigated: (1) whether learners (as a group) developed their use ofneover time in the two CMC conditions, and (2) how individual learners changed their use ofne(if any) in the two conditions. The quantitative analysis (token and type frequency ofne) revealed that CMC itself did not promote learners’ use ofne. However, it promoted learners’ production ofnewhen data-driven instruction was incorporated into CMC. Supporting the quantitative findings, the qualitative analysis showed that one learner in the CMC with data-driven instruction outperformed his counterpart in the CMC without data-driven instruction group in the diverse use ofne.

An Analysis of Chinese Sentence Final Particle Ba in Dispreferred Responses

An Analysis of Chinese Sentence Final Particle Ba in Dispreferred Responses

The Use of Mitigation Devices in Heritage Learners of Chinese

This study investigated the pragmatic competence of Chinese heritage learners (CHLs) on the use of three Chinese-specific mitigation devices: Chinese sentence final particles (SFPs), yixia/xia “for a while”, and reduplication of verbs. Their performances were compared with those of foreign language learners of Chinese (CFLs) and native Chinese speakers (NSs). Twenty-three NSs and 60 Chinese language learners in the intermediate and advanced-level classes (31 CHLs and 29 CFLs) participated in the study. Participants completed a computerized written production task that included two types of situations (PD-low and high situations) based on two contextual factors: the power relationship (P) and social distance (D). The statistical findings showed no notable significant heritage advantage; however, the post-hoc analysis revealed the unique nature of CHLs’ pragmatic competence, vacillating between CFLs and NSs. Specifically, CHLs outperformed CFLs in the use of SFPs and yixia/xia in both PD-low and high situations, but they fell behind the NSs in certain aspects, especially in their linguistic knowledge on SFPs and yixia/xia.

Why Chinese SFPs are neither optional nor disjunctors

In a recent paper, Biberauer et al. (2014b) claim that the Chinese sentence-final particles (SFPs) ne and ma only “double” the information encoded elsewhere in the sentence and are to be analyzed as “acategorial” conjunctions. This contrasts with the current analysis of, e.g. ma as an interrogative force head. The present article provides evidence in favour of the SFPs ma and ne as C-elements and challenges some of the preconceived ideas commonly encountered in the literature. Within the head-final split CP proposed for Chinese ‘Low C<Force<Attitude’, ma instantiates a Force head, whereas ne realizes the discourse-related AttitudeP, not a wh-question typing particle (paceLisa L.-S. Cheng's, 1991). Furthermore, evidence is provided to show that the surface sentence-final position of SFPs in Chinese must be taken at face value.

Chinese sentence-final particle ba as an interactional resource

Chinese sentence-final particle ba as an interactional resource

Perfect and beyond, from pragmatic relevance to Perfect: The Chinese sentence final particle le and Yoruba ti

Perfect and beyond, from pragmatic relevance to Perfect: The Chinese sentence final particle le and Yoruba ti