Why Chinese SFPs are neither optional nor disjunctors

Abstract

International audienceIn a recent paper, Biberauer, Holmberg and Roberts (2014) claim that the Chinese sentence-final particles (SFPs) ne and ma only “double” the information encoded elsewhere in the sentence and are to be analysed 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 (pace Lisa 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

Derivation of the Apparent Narrow Scope of Sentence-Final Particles in Chinese: A Reply to Erlewine (2017)

“…The low C hosts tense-related particles, the medium C hosts force-related particles, and the high C hosts the speaker's attitude-related particles. These three roughly divided domains have also been argued for in Pan and Paul (2016), and, in Paul and Pan (2017). Pan (2015) proposes a more detailed hierarchy, as shown in (2).…”

Demonstratives as Sentence Final Particles and the Architecture of the Periphery in Vietnamese

“…Although being located at the end of the sentence, SFPs are often classified as a phenomenon that belongs to the left periphery. I simply accept the assumption that SFPs are head-final and their surface positions at the right sentential periphery can be derived straightforwardly, as suggested by, inter alia, Tang (2010), Paul (2014), Pan and Paul (2016), Tang (2020).…”

“…Considering the fact that all SFPs make some contribution to the interpretation of the sentence, it is feasible to assume that the right periphery of Chinese sentences can be decomposed into several functional projections (cf. Li, 2006;Tang, 2010;Paul, 2014;Pan & Paul, 2016;Pan, 2019;Tang, 2020). As this paper's primary focus is on Vietnamese demonstrative particles, I would not go into detail for all competing analyses in Chinese but try to arbitrate among them.…”

Sentence‐Final Particles in Mandarin*

“…In the literature, there are not many studies on sentence‐final ou , and opinions are divergent about the functions of ou . It is believed to function as a ‘warning reminder’ (Chao 1968:810; Paul 2014:92; Pan & Paul 2016:25), as just a ‘reminder’ (Zhu 1982:208; Hu 1981:109), as a ‘friendly warning’ (Li and Thompson 1981:311), or to ‘highlight the salience and newsworthiness of a focal event’ (Wu 2005:993). Li and Thompson (1981:311) claim that ou is often used in a command, which is also implicitly agreed upon by most as can be gathered from the examples given in the literature.…”