Sentence -Final Particles as Attitude Markers in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract

Chinese sentence-final particles have no denotations (truth-conditional meanings) and thus do not affect the truth condition of the sentences. Therefore, they cannot be treated in truth-conditional semantics. Although their co-occurrence with certain constructions is not random, rules of syntax cannot explain why a sentence with a sentence-final particle is appropriate in one context but not in another context. In order to express and interpret an utterance correctly, in addition to the compositional meaning of the utterance, the speaker and interpreter need to take into consideration pragmatic factors such as presuppositions, beliefs, intentions and goals when inferring the implication(s) of the utterance. It is the speaker's belief and intention, including the speaker's belief about the addressee's belief and intention, that characterize the uses of each sentence-final particle. Differentiations among the particles carrying seemingly similar effects follow as consequences for the general characterizations for the uses of the particles.