Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Pragmatic particles'

The discourse functions of three Taiwanese particles la, hon and ne are analyzed. These utterance particles occur primarily found in the spoken language, usually conversation. The corpus of the study comprises transcription of recorded face-to-face, telephone, and radio talk show conversation, casual interviews, and church sermons. All three Taiwanese particles express a form of emphasis but in different ways. La has five interrelated functions, depending on the context: 1. To express in an assertion and in an answer to a question; 2. To express a sense of guessing or questioning; 3. To express one's impatience, dislike, or annoyance; 4. To indicate a sense of coaxing; 5. To emphasize each item in an incomplete list. Hon expresses the lowest degree of speaker emphasis of the three particles. It is used to elicit a minimal or a positive response from the addressee. Finally, ne expresses the strongest degree of emphasis of the three. It is usually used to draw the addressee's attention to information that the speaker assumes is new to the hearer.
Department of English

Adopting an eclectic analytic perspective of discourse analysis, conversation analysis and functional approaches, this study conducts an in-depth pragmatic analysis and describes the function of three pragmatic particles yani, iSte and Sey in casual, conversational Turkish. All three particles have multiple functions, which are described by reference to occurrences in utterances within three different domains of conversation. While utterance initial occurrences of yani are mainly connective and continuative, the utterance final placement of yani mainly acts as a situating particle with a strongly interactional nature. The utterance medial occurrences are basically &lsquo
self-editing&rsquo
whereby the speaker marks the clarification of a point in his/her prior talk. iSte mainly acts as a frame particle demarcating utterances as containing detailed, highlighted, and reported information as well as connecting distant pieces of utterances. The third particle Sey basically marks the speaker&rsquo
s temporary mental effort of extracting the linguistic information from the memory. In addition to its major role in repair organisation whereby marking its producer&rsquo
s verbal planning and word search, Sey displays caution and discretion and marks politeness when assessing/asserting something about the self or the other.

This thesis investigates the use of the pragmatic particles (PPs) 'enfin' and 'écoute' in French film dialogue, and their translations in British English subtitles. Using a corpus of nine films and eight episodes drawn from two television series – all released in the UK between 2005 and 2015, and equating to approximately twenty-two hours – the study identifies tokens across a much wider range of contexts than has previously been possible using traditional corpora. The main contribution is an analysis of PP functions. The results for 'enfin' show a different functional distribution of the particle to other corpora, with corrective 'enfin' occurring significantly less frequently. The relatively large number of tokens of performative and emotional (or affective) 'enfin' allows for an elaboration of these two categories, and a tendency is observed for 'enfin' to appear as an apparent disagreement mitigator in discussions between peers. With regard to 'écoute', it is argued that écoute1 functions as a face-threat mitigator in unequal relationships and écoute2 as an FTA, although the particle is multifunctional and some tokens exhibit characteristics of both categories. Attention is given to combinations of 'enfin' and 'écoute' with other particles: while there is a clear tendency for disagreement-mitigating 'enfin' to co-occur with 'mais', and for the precision and restrictive subcategories of the corrective to co-occur with 'je veux dire', other previously documented combinations ('enfin bon' and 'ben écoute') are not frequently occurring in the present corpus. The thesis also makes a significant contribution to the field of Audiovisual Translation (AVT). The English subtitles show high rates of omission for both particles consistent with previous research, with disagreement-mitigating 'enfin' particularly vulnerable to omission. However, the analysis reveals a surprising pattern regarding 'écoute': a clear division of labour between ‘look’ (used to translate more confrontational tokens) and ‘listen’ (more conciliatory and socially distant). The study includes an experimental analysis of the subtitles relative to their character limits, demonstrating a potential new approach for researchers wishing to investigate the impact of various subtitling constraints.

Sentence-final particles in Japanese have proved notoriously difficult to explain and are especially challenging for second language users. This thesis examines the role of the Japanese sentence-final particles, ne, yo and yone, in talk-in-interaction with the aim of providing a comprehensive understanding that accounts for their pragmatic properties and sequential functions and that provides a sound basis for second language pedagogy. Taking as a starting point the failure of existing studies to provide a clear account as to why the particles occur only in interaction, this thesis argues that the pragmatic properties of ne, yo and yone have an important sequential function - that of indicating how the next turn is to relate to the existing turn. Thus the sentence-final particles have a grounding function and provide speakers of Japanese with a means of realizing the figure/ground properties of tums in talk-in-interaction. The function of each particle proposed in this study is shown below: Ne occurs when the speaker proposes that the figure emerging in the talk should be treated as a ground for the next proposition without further ado, typically in the expectation that the figure is either already known to the addressee or readily acceptable (pragmatic property) and thus directs the addressee's acceptance (sequential function).Yo occurs when the speaker intends the figure emerging in the talk to be grounded, typically in the expectation that the figure is either new to the addressee or even controversial (pragmatic property) and thus directs an appropriate response by the addressee (sequential function). We call a response triggered by the force of yo an assumptive response since, as well as being sequentially appropriate, such a response also provides an inferentially related proposition as the next contribution. This next contribution may also be provided by the original speaker. In yone constructions, yo falls within the scope of ne so that the speaker proposes that the figure emerging in the talk satisfies the criterion for having yo attached to it (pragmatic property) and thus directs the addressee's acceptance of this property (sequential function). In the appropriate context, as well as responding obligatorily to the force of we, a good conversationalist may also respond to the force of yo. The study also considers cases where no particle occurs, and proposes the function of the non-use of any particle (i.e. zero) as follows: Zero occurs when the speaker gives no intention as to how the figure emerging in the talk is grounded (pragmatic property) and thus directs the addressee to regard zero marked contributions as potentially topic closing (sequential fiinction).Although the motivation of the present research is pedagogical, the investigator expects this thesis to make a contribution to the rationalistic/empirical debate in pragmatics (Kopytko 1995, 2001 and 2004). The present research clearly illustrates the importance of understanding instances of talk in their sequential context rather than focusing on individual utterances. The study sets out rationalistically in the sense that decontextualized examples are used to set up a Particle Function Hypothesis, and then moves to an empirical stage where naturally occurring talk data are used to test the validity of the hypothesis. The approach followed in this investigation could thus be viewed as an attempt to bring together rationalistic and empirical pragmatic methods.

This study analyses the translation of pragmatic markers from English into Swedish. The source text that was translated and used as a basis for the study is an article called “Black Books”, which was published in the British music magazine Prog in January 2013. The study is limited to question tags, general extenders and single-word pragmatic markers. It aims to investigate how these types of pragmatic markers can be translated in a dynamic and natural way, as well as how a careful analysis can facilitate the search for appropriate translation equivalents. Previous research and theories were used to determine the functions of the pragmatic markers in the source text, and the translation choices made on the basis of these findings were supported by corpus searches in the English-Swedish Parallel Corpus and Korp. The study revealed that because of the different ways in which pragmatic functions are expressed in English and Swedish, almost none of the pragmatic markers in the source text could be translated directly into Swedish. Formally equivalent solutions such as tja as a translation of well were generally considered too unnatural. While the study is too small to provide any general guidelines, it shows how a careful analysis may help the translator find more dynamically equivalent and natural solutions in the form of, for instance, other Swedish pragmatic markers, modal particles, adverbs and conjunctions.

Cette thèse vise à tester l'hypothèse de Lakoff (1975), selon laquelle le discours des femmes est plus poli ou hésitant que celui des hommes. Elle focalise sur une analyse détaillée de l'emploi, dans un échantillon du français parlé contemporain, des incises parenthétiques et des particules énonciatives c'est-à-dire, enfin, hein et quoi. Les incises et les particules énonciatives répondent toutes les deux aux demandes de réparation et de sauvegarde de face qui caractérisent l'oral spontané. Le corpus d'oral spontané de dix-sept heures de longueur a été transcrit orthographiquement et soumis à des études aussi bien qualitatives que quantitatives. Les analyses qualitatives ont permis d'évaluer les facteurs contextuels qui motiveraient l'emploi des incises et des particules. Les analyses quantitatives, quant à elles, visaient à mesurer la fréquence d'apparition de ces éléments selon le sexe, l'âge et le niveau d'éducation du locuteur. Tandis que l'étude détaillée de facteurs contingents tels que les rôles sociaux adoptés par les locuteurs démontre la valeur d'une approche qualitative, l'approche quantitative voit sa légitimation en raison de la généralisabilité ou la falsifiabilité des résultats qui s'avèrent être à un niveau de significativité statistique. Les deux types d'analyse présupposent une sous-catégorisation des emplois pragmatiques de l'élément linguistique en question. Notre travail de thèse nous amène à la conclusion que, si l'emploi des incises et des particules diffère en fonction du sexe du locuteur, l'asymétrie ne réside pas dans le degré d'hésitation manifesté mais plutôt dans l'emploi de telles expressions pour introduire des ramifications explicatives ou des réparations, ces deux phénomènes étant bien plus évidents chez nos locuteurs que chez nos locutrices. Si le discours des femmes est plus poli, ceci est dû à la plus grande habilité que manifestent celles-ci dans l'emploi des particules, soit pour structurer leur discours, soit pour maintenir le contact avec leur co-locuteur
This thesis sets out to test Lakoff's (1975) hypothesis that women's speech is more polite or tentative than men's through a detailed analysis of the usage, in a sample of contemporary spoken French, of parenthetical remarks (PRs) and the pragmatic particles (PPs) c'est-à-dire, enfin, hein and quoi. PRs and PPs serve both the repair requirements and the social interactional 'face-work' which are characteristic of spontaneous speech. Qualitative and quantitative investigations were conducted on the seventeen-hour corpus of orthographically-transcribed spontaneous speech. The aim of the qualitative analysis was to evaluate the contextual factors which may motivate the use of PRs and PPs. The quantitative analysis, by contrast, set out to measure the distributional frequencies of their usage according to the sex, age and educational background of the speakers. Whilst the detailed exploration of contingent factors such as the social roles adopted by the speakers demonstrates the value of a qualitative account, the fact that it is possible to make generalisable or falsifiable pronouncements on the basis of results found to be statistically significant in the data legitimises the adoption of a quantitative account. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses presume a prior sub-categorisation of the pragmatic usages of the linguistic item under investigation. The thesis arrives at the conclusion that, if men's and women's usage of PRs and PPs differs in the corpus, the asymmetry lies not in the degree of tentativeness displayed but rather in the use made of such expressions to introduce explanatory ramification and to mediate repair, both of which are favoured to a greater extent by the male speakers in our corpus. If the female speakers display greater politeness, it lies in their more adroit usage of the PPs to structure discourse and to maintain contact with their interlocutor

This thesis sets out to test Lakoff's (1975) hypothesis that women's speech is more polite or tentative than men's through a detailed analysis of the usage, in a sample of contemporary spoken French, of parenthetical remarks (PRs) and the pragmatic particles (PPs) c'est-a-dire, enfin, hein and quoi. PRs and PPs serve both the repair requirements and the social interactional 'face-work' which are characteristic of spontaneous speech. Qualitative and quantitative investigations were conducted on the seventeen-hour corpus of orthographically-transcribed spontaneous speech. The aim of the qualitative analysis was to evaluate the contextual factors which may motivate the use of PRs and PPs. The quantitative analysis, by contrast, set out to measure the distributional frequencies of their usage according to the sex, age and educational background of the speakers. Whilst the detailed exploration of contingent factors such as the social roles adopted by the speakers demonstrates the value of a qualitative account, the fact that it is possible to make generalisable or falsifiable pronouncements on the basis of results found to be statistically significant in the data legitimises the adoption of a quantitative account. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses presume a prior sub-categorisation of the pragmatic usages of the linguistic item under investigation. The thesis arrives at the conclusion that, if men's and women's usage of PRs and PPs differs in the corpus, the asymmetry lies not in the degree of tentativeness displayed but rather in the use made of such expressions to introduce explanatory ramification and to mediate repair, both of which are favoured to a greater extent by the male speakers in our corpus. If the female speakers display greater politeness, it lies in their more adroit usage of the PPs to structure discourse and to maintain contact with their interlocutor.

The use of the expectation marker actually in spoken conversation is an interesting topic. This study investigates the different functions of actually and the importance of context in eight spoken conversations from the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English. The chosen conversations are different when it comes to social factors like the participants’ age or gender. The interactions are studied using Karin Aijmer’s suggested functions of actually. Aijmer divides the expectation marker into two major functions: contrastive and emphatic. Basically, the contrastive actually functions as an opposition between points of views, and the empathic actually is used to justify or explain an earlier statement. The method used for the study is of a qualitative character as I study the interactions thoroughly both by listening to the conversations as well as studying the available transcript versions of the interactions. Overall, the study shows that emphatic actually is most common in the data used, and it is mainly used to explain or justify something or as a marker of a participant’s style of speech. In other words, actually is more often used as a way to underline an utterance rather than to correct or make a contrast to another participant’s statement. Actually is often used as a marker of style, a way for a speaker to signal or mark a specific style of speech. All of the conversations are taken from everyday life and should therefore be considered unprepared. When it comes to context it seems as if actually is more frequently used in conversations between participants close in age and who are involved in a closer sort of relationship, for example cousins or a couple in a love relationship. As for gender, actually is used by both women and by men.

This study examined comprehension of verb particle constructions in persons with aphasia (PWA) and young and older typical adults according to the semantic classes by Jackendoff (2002). The experimental task focused on the following three classes of verb particle constructions: idiomatic, directional, and aspectual verb particles. Movement of the object NP also was examined. The study involved a picture-matching task counterbalanced for each participant. The results revealed that PWAs showed slower than normal overall processing, slower processing of aspectual verb forms, and slower processing of syntactic form regardless of movement. Error analysis revealed a bias toward the meaning of the verb, particularly on aspectual verb constructions for all three groups. Accuracy data revealed no significant differences between groups although the aphasic group was less accurate in idiomatic verb forms. The results support current literature on the processing of syntactic structures in PWA.

Diese Arbeit untersucht eine Klasse von tendenziösen Fragen, die mindestens im Schwedischen und Deutschen existieren: Rejecting Questions (RQs). RQs unterscheiden sich von anderen Fragen mit deklarativer Syntax u.a. darin, dass die kontextuelle Evidenz, die solche Fragen lizensiert, von umgekehrter Polarität (relativ zur Polarität der Frage selber) ist - positive RQs benötigen Evidenz für eine negierte Proposition, positive deklarative Fragen benötigen Evidenz für eine positive Proposition. In drei Experimenten wird gezeigt, dass i) schwedische negative RQs sich in ihren Lizensierungsbedingungen von negativen deklarativen Fragen unterscheiden, ii) schwedische negative RQs sich in ihrer Intonation von Zurückweisungen unterscheiden, iii) schwedische und deutsche RQs tendenziell unmarkierter zu sein scheinen, wenn sie Negation enthalten. Das dritte Experiment liefert außerdem einen Beitrag zur Analyse der Bedeutung der schwedischen Modalpartikel väl. Ich argumentiere, dass RQs sprecherindizierte Präferenzen für einen eingebetteten Sprechakt ausdrücken. Dieser eingebettete Sprechakt unterscheidet sich im unmarkierten Fall zwischen negativen RQs, welche i.d.R. hypothetische Zurückweisungen sind, und positiven RQs, welche immer hypothetische Assertionen sind. Mit dieser Asymmetrie erkläre ich die Auffälligkeiten in den Lizensierungsbedingungen von RQs, die sowohl im Schwedischen als auch im Deutschen nachgewiesen werden können.
This thesis investigates a class of biased questions that exists at least in Swedish and German: rejecting questions (RQs). RQs differ from other questions with declarative syntax i.a. in that the contextual evidence that licenses such questions is of the opposite polarity relative to the polarity of the question itself - positive RQs require evidence for a negated proposition; positive declarative questions require evidence for a positive proposition. The results of three experiments show that i) Swedish negative RQs differ in their licensing conditions from negative declarative questions, ii) Swedish negative RQs differ in their intonation from rejections, iii) Swedish and German RQs tend to be less marked if they contain negation. The third experiment also contributes to the analysis of the meaning of the Swedish modal particle väl. I argue that RQs express speaker-indexed preferences for embedded speech acts. In the unmarked case, this embedded speech act differs between negative RQs, which are usually hypothetical rejections, and positive RQs, which are always hypothetical assertions. By way of this asymmetry, I explain the peculiarities in the licensing conditions of RQs that can be shown to exist both in Swedish and German.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre général de la linguistique descriptive et s’intéresse à l’espagnol familier d’usage au Chili, à travers les affects exprimés par les locuteurs chiliens. Notre hypothèse consiste dans le fait que l’espagnol du Chili est défini sur la base des affects, et que l’expression de ceux-ci, au niveau linguistique, est observable dans les phénomènes les plus divers, pouvant aller d’un simple morphème à une structure syntagmatique complexe. Afin de concevoir l’expression linguistique des affects d’un point de vue plus large, cette recherche vise l’étude de quatre phénomènes clairement différenciés : le suffixe –it dans le cadre de la communauté linguistique chilienne, la « paronomase orientée », le défigement phraséologique dans le domaine des locutions verbales et adverbiales et la particule illocutoire poh. Notre méthodologie consiste en l’extraction d’un nombre d’exemples conséquents pour illustrer les phénomènes choisis à partir de 103 numéros du journal chilien La Cuarta de 2010 et 2011. Parallèlement nous considérons un nombre significatif d’exemples issus de l’enregistrement de conversations menées auprès de 58 locuteurs chiliens pendant 9 heures 11 minutes et 33 secondes.Les quatre phénomènes de langue visés ont été étudiés sous le concept d’affectivité proposé par Bally (1965 [1913]), qui distingue les principes d’intensité et de valeur (1951 [1909]).L’étude de l’affectivité du suffixe –it dans le contexte chilien a révélé que l’affectivité est une propriété qui opère sur deux dimensions. Elle est, d’un côté, intrinsèque à un signe linguistique – base lexicale, suffixe –it et tout autre élément linguistique convergeant dans le discours – et, d’un autre côté, extrinsèque, car relatée à des éléments culturels ou idéologiques, et plus généralement à tout ce qui est extralinguistique. Dans les deux dimensions, l’affectivité du locuteur fonctionne comme élément de fusion et donne son vrai sens au signe linguistique. Concernant la « paronomase orientée » (terme que nous avons proposé), nous avons constaté que l’affectivité constitue la caractéristique principale de ce type de paronomase, et que son usage repose notamment sur la figure de la plaisanterie, cela étant dû à des caractéristiques communes qui se sont révélées être : la fonction ludique, l’intentionnalité comique et l’effet de surprise.La paronomase orientée, qui s’investit sur les plans phonétique, morphologique, lexical et sémantique, constitue pour nous une opération linguistique dérivative, où deux lexies simples ou complexes, qui se substituent l’une à l’autre au sein d’un énoncé, partagent des propriétés phonétiques, alors que leur contenu sémantique diverge.En liaison avec le défigement des locutions verbales et adverbiales, il s’avère que le défigement phraséologique est une activité linguistique naturelle faisant appel à la relation figurative constante entre les mots, qui permet de créer d’autres manières d’exprimer et d’actualiser les usages de termes déjà existants.L’évolution des phrases figées passe par un processus de transformation souhaité par les locuteurs au détriment des normes phraséologiques ou syntaxiques données. Cependant, l’intérêt de la création néologique intervient quand le locuteur a la possibilité de créer et de recréer des structures linguistiques nouvelles.Quant à la particule illocutoire poh, particule notamment orale qui provient du connecteur pues (Oroz : 1966), nous avons réussi à montrer que poh aide à la progression de la communication, favorisant la cohérence et la cohésion entre l'énoncé et le texte. De plus, par le truchement de poh, un accord consensuel entre le locuteur et l’interlocuteur s’établit et, à partir de cet accord, des fonctions pragmatico-affectives nouvelles surgissent
This thesis fits into the general framework of descriptive linguistics. The thesis focuses on the colloquial Spanish used in Chile, through the affects expressed by the Chilean speakers.Our hypothesis is that Chilean Spanish is defined on the basis of affects, and linguistically, the expression of these affects is observed in various phenomena, from a simple morpheme to a complex phrase structure.In order to consider the linguistic expression of affects from a broader perspective, this research aims to study four clearly differentiated phenomena: the –it suffix as it is used within the Chilean linguistic community, the oriented paronomasia, phraseological deautomatization of verbal and adverbial phrases, and the illocutionary particle poh.Our methodology involves the removal of a number of consistent examples to illustrate the phenomena chosen from 103 copies of the Chilean newspaper La Cuarta (examples collected between 2010 and 2011). Similarly, we have extracted a selection of examples of recordings of conversations conducted with 58 Chilean speakers.The four linguistic phenomena focused upon have been studied from the concept of affectivity proposed by Bally (1965 [1913]), who distinguishes the principles of intensity and value (1951 [1909]).The study of the affectivity of the –it suffix in the Chilean context, has revealed that the affectivity is a property that operates in two dimensions. It is, firstly, intrinsic to a linguistic sign - lexical base, –it suffix and other convergent linguistic elements in the speech - and on the other hand, extrinsic, as it refers to cultural or ideological elements. In other words, everything that is extralinguistic. With respect to the "oriented paronomasia" (a term we put forward), we found that affectivity is the main feature of this type of paronomasia and that their use is essentially based on the form of the joke, this is due to the common characteristics that we found: the recreational function, the comic intent and surprise.The oriented paronomasia, which participates in the phonetic, morphological, lexical and semantic levels, constitutes for us a linguistic derivative transaction in which two simple or complex lexemes that are replaced by one another inside a sentence, share phonetic properties, even though the semantic content of these diverges.Concerning the deautomatization of verbal and adverbial phrases, it is revealed that the manipulation phraseology is a natural linguistic activity that appeals to the constant figurative relationship between the words, allowing one to create other ways in which to express and update the use of terms already in existence.The evolution of fixed phrases undergoes a process of transformation desired by speakers to the detriment of given phraseological or syntactic rules. However, the interest of neological creation intervenes when the speaker is able to create and recreate new linguistic structures.Regarding the illocutory particle poh, it is a linguistic particle, primarily oral, that derives from the connector 'pues' (Oroz, 1966), whose original form has been absorbed by phonetic attrition. We have managed to demonstrate that poh helps the progression of communication, favouring the coherence and cohesion between the statement and the text. Also, through the use of poh, a consensual agreement is established between the speakers and, from this agreement, arise pragmatic-affective functions

Os fóruns de discussão na internet apresentam características de língua falada, entre as quais a alta freqüência do uso de partículas modais (PMs). As PMs têm diversas funções complexas que só podem ser analisadas do ponto de vista pragmático ou conversacional. Nesta dissertação, são analisadas as funções comunicativas e conversacionais das partículas modais em oito excertos de um fórum alemão de discussão sobre política, economia e meio ambiente. As 26 PMs presentes no corpus e suas funções comunicativas foram identificadas, descritas e interpretadas com base na classificação de Helbig (1990), sendo as mais freqüentes ja1 (18% do total), also (11%) e eben (6%), que respondem juntas por 35% das ocorrências no corpus. As PMs foram também agrupadas de acordo com suas funções conversacionais. Propõe-se que as PMs atuam em 13 procedimentos específicos, aqui denominados ações conversacionais, níveis intermediários entre as funções comunicativas próprias de cada PM e as funções conversacionais propostas por Helbig (1990). Cinco funções conversacionais foram identificadas no corpus, a saber: indicadora atitudinal, indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução, articuladora conversacional, realizadora de estratégia interacional e conectora. Apenas a função definidora situacional não apresenta ocorrências, possivelmente porque a situação comunicativa já é fortemente definida. A função conversacional mais utilizada foi a articuladora conversacional (35,05%), seguindo-se a indicadora atitudinal (22,68%), a conectora (22,16%), a realizadora de estratégia interacional (12,89%) e a indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução (7,22%). Os resultados do estudo demonstram que as PMs podem ser utilizadas ativamente na organização e manutenção da conversação, não apenas para expressar a atitude do falante (como costuma ser indicado na literatura sobre o tema), mas também com fins argumentativos e para manter e direcionar a interação.
Discussion forums in the Internet present characteristics from spoken language, among those marks is a high frequency of modal particles (Modalpartikeln). Modal particles have several complex functions that only can be analyzed from a pragmatic or conversational point of view. In this dissertation, communicative and conversational functions of modal particles are analyzed in eight interactions in discussion forums about politics, economics and environment. The 26 modal particles present in the corpus and their communicative functions were identified, described and analyzed according to HELBIGs classification (1990), the most frequent being ja1 (18%), also (11%) e eben (6%), which together account for 35% from all events in the corpus. The modal particles were also classified according to their conversational functions. It is proposed that modal particles act in 13 specific procedures, named here conversational actions, intermediate levels between the characteristic communicative functions of each modal particles and the conversational functions proposed by Helbig (1990). Five conversational functions were identified in the corpus: attitude indicator; illocution indicator or modifier; discourse articulator, interactional strategist, discourse connector. Only the situational qualifier function was not present in the corpus, probably because the communicative situation is already clearly defined. The most frequent conversational function was the discourse articulator (35,05%), followed by the attitude indicator (22,68%), the discourse connector (22,16%), the interactional strategy marker (12,89%) and the illocution indicator or modifier (7,22%). The results show that modal particles play a important role organizing and maintaining the discourse, not only to express the speaker attitude (as commonly found in the literature), but also to reach argumentative aims and to maintain and to manage the interaction.

Com o objetivo de investigar as partículas modais da língua alemã presentes em materiais didáticos de ensino de alemão como língua estrangeira (ALE) destinados a aprendizes iniciantes, realizamos uma pesquisa empírica a partir das séries Deutsch als Fremdsprache 1A Stufen International, Studio D e a fim de verificar: quais partículas são apresentadas e quais funções comunicativas (com base em Helbig, 1990) elas exercem nas interações representadas nos materiais em questão. As ocorrências foram também analisadas com relação aos tipos de foco propostos por Long (1989; 1991). Verificamos, ainda, quais os tipos de atividades e/ou exercícios propostos nesses materiais em que tais partículas estão inseridas. No corpus, foram identificadas 17 partículas modais ou conjuntos de partículas, com um total de 617 ocorrências. As cinco partículas com maior número de ocorrência são: denn (32%), doch (19%), mal (15%), ja (10%) e eigentlich (7%). A partir da análise das situações comunicativas propostas nos materiais do corpus, desenvolvemos um elenco de 31 funções, no qual destacam-se aquelas expressas por denn, doch, mal e ja, evidenciando sua importância desde os primeiros passos na língua. No corpus, as partículas modais são utilizadas principalmente para expressar cortesia e atenuação, para fazer valer a vontade do falante diante de seu interlocutor, ou, ainda, para direcionar o interlocutor ao consenso desejado pelo falante. No que se refere aos tipos de exercícios nos quais as partículas estão inseridas, a totalidade deles é mecânica/reprodutiva nos volumes relativos ao nível A do Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência (QECR) para Línguas. Dessa forma, fica clara a importância da exposição às partículas modais desde o início da aprendizagem do alemão como LE, ainda que não de forma produtiva. Os resultados da análise mostram que tanto materiais comunicativos quanto não comunicativos abordam o tema a partir do foco no significado, no qual a atenção do aprendiz é deslocada para esse significado sem se deter na forma, excluindo-se o ensino formal da gramática, que é aprendida implícita e incidentalmente. A partir dessa constatação, pode-se inferir que os três materiais, em princípio, reconhecem que as partículas modais são importantes para a comunicação autêntica, mas que não necessariamente precisam ser trabalhadas pelo professor.
In order to investigate the modal particles of the German language presented in teaching materials of German as a foreign language for beginners, we conducted an empirical research on the series Deutsch als Fremdsprache IA, Stufen international and Studio D, in order to verify which particles are presented and which communicative functions (based on Helbig 1990) they exert on the interactions represented in the materials in question. The occurrences were also analyzed in relation to the types of focus proposed by Long (1989; 1991), as well as the types of proposed activities and / or exercises in which such particles are inserted. In the corpus, 17 modal particles or sets of particles were identified, with a total of 617 occurrences. The five particles with highest occurrence are: denn (32%), doch (19%), mal (15%), ja (10%) and eigentlich (7%). From the analysis of the communicative situations presented in the corpus materials, we developed a set of 31 functions, in which those expressed by denn, doch, mal and ja stand out, evidencing their importance from the first steps in the language. In the analyzed materials, the modal particles are mainly used to express courtesy and attenuation, to assert the will of the speaker in relation to his interlocutor, or even to direct the interlocutor to the consensus desired by the speaker. Regarding the type of exercises in which the particles are inserted, its totality is of the mechanical / reproductive type in the volumes referring to level A of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Thus, it is clear the importance of exposure to the modal particles from the beginning of the learning of German as a foreign language, even though in a non-productive way. The results of the analysis show that both communicative and non-communicative materials approach the theme from the focus on meaning, in which the attention of the learner is shifted to meaning without dwelling on form, excluding formal grammar teaching, which is learned implicitly and incidentally. From this observation, on can infer that the three materials, in principle, recognize that the modal particles are important for authentic communication, but do not necessarily need to be actively approached by the teacher.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
語言學研究所
89
The use of final particles is a pervasive feature in spoken Taiwanese. Particles may have two kinds of functions. They perform grammatical functions, and they are involved with the speakers' affective stance interaction, which is especially important in conversations. These particles allow speakers to express much more than their propositions, and this in turn helps them add extra dimensions to conversation. This thesis investigates the discourse functions of six epistemic-attitudinal particles in Taiwanese conversations - a, la, o, le, ne and ma. The discourse functions of the tonal variants of a, o and le are examined as well. The discourse functions are analyzed from the perspectives of epistemic stance, affect and sequentiality. Some discourse markers with the final particles in question as a constitutive part are also discussed. From the perspective of epistemic belief, a7 can mark an utterance as evidently true, since that is what the speaker believes about the utterance, and by implication the speaker believes or knows that the hearer should know it, too. A1 is just a tonal variant of a7. They both reflect the epistemic belief of the speaker, but with higher tone value, a1 signals iconically stronger attitude. A3 marks that the speaker believes the utterance to be true. Based on the data, we claim that while a7 and a1 are analyzable as tonal variants of each other, a3 is an altogether different particle. It may be plausible to group a3 with another final particle la. La marks that the speaker believes the utterance to be true, but it does not necessarily suggest that the truthfulness of the utterance in any way evident. In terms of epistemic belief, o marks an utterance as true and significant, since that is what the speaker believes, and the speaker believes or knows that the hearer needs to know it. Corpus data show that o7, o5 and o1 are tonal variants of o3. Le marks an utterance as true, and that its truth contradicts a previous assumption or expectation of the hearer or the speaker himself. We take le3 as the basic form and le7 and le1 as tonal variants of le3. Similar to le, the utterance marked with ne may contradict some previous assumption or expectation of the hearer or the speaker himself. However, ne further conveys the speaker's friendly suggestion and thus carries the illocutionary force of reminding and informing. Finally, ma marks the speaker's epistemic belief that the utterance it attaches to is obviously true and that its truth should be known by the hearer, since the speaker assumes that it is clearly part of the common ground. In the sense of semantics, the meaning of the utterance comes from the proposition itself. However, especially in conversations, we usually find that the speaker seems to convey more than that, which indicates the importance of cognitive and interactional perspectives on studies of conversation. While the descriptive meaning is conveyed by the proposition, the social meaning can be conveyed via various linguistic or non-linguistic devises, including particles, discourse markers, intonation, facial expressions, gestures and so forth. An utterance may perform different interpersonal functions under different circumstances. This is also why we consider conversational discourse as dynamic. Speakers interact with each other and develop the conversation dynamically. This thesis demonstrates the realization of propositional, textual and inter-personal/interactional function in conversations via investigating the discourse functions of epistemic-attitudinal final particles in Taiwanese. In Taiwanese conversation, epistemic-attitudinal final particles can explicitly mark the speaker's epistemic belief, attitude and affect. They help the hearer to understand what exactly the speaker means, both semantically and pragmatically. By means of these devises, speakers can effectively convey their epistemic belief within just one word and facilitate the development of conversation.

碩士
國立清華大學
語言學研究所
102
The article discusses the three sentence-final particles (SFPs) in Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM): hoonn3/honnh4, lah4, and leh4. The three SFPs have been recognized as discourse particles lacking lexical meaning. In this thesis, the core meaning of SFPs as a source of pragmatic functions and extended discursive uses has been proposed to account for multifunctionality and polysemy in SFPs. The semantic cores of SFP as exemplified by hoonn3/honnh4, lah4, and leh4 have been specified respectively as CONFIRMATION, ASSERTION and ASSUMPTION. Syntacticaly, SFPs have been previously perceived as complementizers occupying the C position. However, with the phenomenon of clustering and co-occurrence, it is argued the split-complimentizer phrase in the left pheriphery can be further fine-grained into illocutionary force phrase (ILLP) and clause-type phrase(CTP) (Coniglio &; Zegrean 2010). Accordingly, we propose a double layered projection in TSM to account for the lower SFP1 and the higher SFP2, where SFP1 display an interaction between illocutionary force and clause type, while SFP2 implies the proposed simultaneous force, an additional projection that demonstrates the speaker-oriented attitude on the discourse level.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
華語文教學研究所
94
This study investigates the linguistic phenomenon of utterance-final particles (UFPs) in Taiwanese Mandarin from a discourse-pragmatic perspective. To What extent are the UFPs in Mandarin a carry-over of those in Taiwanese? What kind of evidence does Taiwanese Mandarin provide in supporting the claim that some Mandarin UFPs are borrowed from Taiwanese UFPs? The author provides a systematic description to support the claim and hopes that such a description can allow Chinese language teachers to better understand contemporary Taiwanese Mandarin UPFs. This study sifts out five popular UFPs from natural, spoken Taiwanese Mandarin: namely, la, lei, hoNh, haNh, and hioh. Adopting Li‘s (1999) interactive framework of core meaning and pragmatic function, the author carefully examines each of these five UFPs in discourse contexts. It is argued by the author that the addressee can utilize the core meaning and tone quality of these UFPs, in conjunctions with the utterance proposition and the Cooperative Principle, to infer various kind of context-dependent conversational implicature. Finally, using a contrastive analysis of the selected UFPs in Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin, the author attempts to unravel some of the possible reasons for the functional shift of Taiwanese Mandarin UFPs.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
語言學研究所
104
Studies on particles and their uses in Mandarin Chinese have been quite robust throughout the past and present. Apart from formal focus, many of these Mandarin Chinese particle studies have treated the various pragmatic functions of particles as linguistic manifestations reflecting speakers’ cognitive status. Among these, the sentence-final particles (so-called SFPs) in Mandarin Chinese especially call for linguists’ attention owing both to their positional predictability and pragmatic varieties. However, rather few studies (Wu, 1997; 2014; Tsai, 2008) take interest in particle use in utterance-initial position in Mandarin Chinese on the contrary. Moreover, such particle use is seldom investigated into in various different speech genres (e.g., talk-in-interaction, TV talk shows, and monologue narratives). In light of the aforementioned, the current thesis aims to excavate how Utterance-initial Particles (hereafter UIPs) manifest themselves in real-world language data and how speakers socially and pragmatically interact with the aid of UIPs in context. The two targeted frequently-adopted UIPs – Eh2 and Oh – are inspected through three different discourse channels – (1) talk-in-interaction manifestations through spoken corpora; (2) transcriptions of TV talk shows; (3) monologue narratives of story-retelling. The uses of UIP in these different speech genres are analyzed based on research methods of discourse analysis and conversation analysis. The general analytic framework is inspired by Fischer (2006a) and its spectrum of models dedicated to the polyfunctionality of discourse particles, and it hinges upon rather monosemous approach to polyfunctionality. The dispersed outcomes of UIP adoption on the surface are looking forward to being confined by the current analytic framework. Instead of claiming polysemy for the diverse pragmatic functions UIPs exhibit, by incorporating the speech genre features and the interactions between speakers and co-participants, we will be able to elicit the core features Mandarin Chinese speakers encode in UIPson the cognitive level. The analyses of the present study firstly present the discourse manifestations of Eh2. On the cognitive level where we can suggest speakers’ different epistemic statuses, Eh2-prefacing foretells discovery, unexpectedness, and wonder in regard to the reaction time. Pragmatically on the discursive level, in conversational discourse these epistemic stages render default pragmatic functions like attention marking, surprise marking, and interrogation initiation. On the other hand, in TV talk shows, there are other pragmatic functions such as self-generate adjacency pair, plot twist setting, and speaker’s turn modulation, and these are merely variants of Eh2-encoded modality and knowledge states. Similarly we also see such functions in Eh2-prefacing in monologue narratives data, and Eh2 can also aid in the speakers’ memory retrieval through self-repair. Notably when there is a negative cue, speaker’s take with respect to the reaction time begets implications of urgency to refute and reproachment respectively. Secondly, the researched counterpart Oh on the cognitive level conveys information recipience and speakers’ reasoning/understanding process in regard to the reaction time. On the discursive level, these epistemic statuses are not just encoded as recipience acknowledgement, but also as emotional states ranging from calmness, indifference, to unfriendliness based on how co-participants interpret it. These core elements of Oh in TV talk shows further provide the speakers with pragmatic tools to coordinate speech sequence and narrative track-keeping. Moreover, in monologue narratives, the feature of reasoning/understanding further suggests narrator’s planned speech signal. Unlike Eh2 in negative contexts, which conveys stronger sense of negation, Oh at this end presents mild or euphemized refutations. The present thesis not only presents an in-depth investigation into UIP use in Mandarin Chinese and the pragmatic functions in social interactions, but also contributes to a systematic presentation of synchronic UIP use on different levels. Delicate and complicated pragmatic functions in various different speech genres can be systematically attributed back to several invariant core cognitive statuses each UIP idiosyncratically conveys. The current thesis also opens new directions for the future particle studies so as to the complexity of linguistic intercourses and human cognition.

The aim of the present study is to describe and analyze the English comment clause you know in a corpus of written sources called Intercorp and a corpus created of eight episodes of the television series Friends, which represents the natural language. The study works with the presumption that the language of the TV show Friends is in its conversational nature similar to the natural language of conversations and therefore can be contrasted to the artificial language of written form. As the Czech translations of both corpora are available to us, the study greatly focuses on two main aspects: the Czech translation counterparts of the you know comment clause and their pragmatic functions. The theoretical part introduces the comment clauses, describing their features and functions, not only as described by Quirk et al. (1985), but also from the point of view of the discourse linguists that see the comment clauses like you know as markers and specialize in their research, mostly Povolná (2010), Stenström (1995), Schiffrin (1987) and others. The outline of potential Czech counterparts is given as well, suggested by Dušková (2009), Běličová (1993) and duo Grepl & Karlík (1998, 1999). Moreover, we mention the language of television and the difference between conventional and audiovisual translation, and the...

碩士
國立清華大學
語言學研究所
92
Abstract Utterance Final Particles have long been a topic for research. In this thesis, UFP a will be investigated by adopting the concept of speakers’ presuppositions in conversation. In addition, UFP a will be divided into two variants, namely, the high pitch (a1) and the low pitch (a2). There are two major differences between these two variants. For one thing, a1 mostly appears in the second part of one turn and is used by the second speaker in response to the first speaker’s knowledge state. For another thing, a2 is often placed in the first part of one turn and used by the first speaker to express the conflict between the existing events and his/her own knowledge state. During the research on the relation between UFP a and speakers’ knowledge state, it is found that speakers use UFP a not only to challenge the knowledge state behind assertions, but also to point out the gap between speakers’ knowledge states expressed implicitly in non-assertion utterances. By indicating such a gap, speakers can accomplish certain speech acts, such as challenge, warning, and so on. To sum up, the use of UFP a can help participants save time from pointing out explicitly the gap between their own knowledge states and the ones of the other side.

碩士
輔仁大學
跨文化研究所語言學碩士班
101
An utterance final particle (UFP) is formed to correlate information from the speaker’s knowledge state with an utterance to another interlocutor. Since UFP ba is one of the most frequently used UFPs in daily conversation and the issue of the different pitch heights of UFP ba has long been neglected, the central aim of this thesis is to analyse UFP ba and to render a detailed account of its core meaning and discourse functions in a wide variety of contexts with a systematic approach from a pragmatic perspective. We identify the core meaning of UFP ba as probability to facilitate the explanation of its property in various contexts. The occurrence of UFP ba in the study is to be divided into ba1 and ba2 in accordance with its high and low pitch, respectively. Based on the concept of participant orientation from Li (1999), the discourse function for ba1 is addressee-oriented; for ba2 is speaker-oriented. The occurrence of ba1 and ba2 vary in certain contexts, associating the speaker’s knowledge state with its core meaning of probability and pitch height simultaneously.

This dissertation is concerned with how pragmatic particles interact with sentential force and with general pragmatic constraints to derive optimal dynamic interpretations. The primary empirical focus of the dissertation is the Japanese sentence final particle yo and its intonational associates. These right-peripheral elements are argued to interact semantically with sentential force in specifying the set of contextual transitions compatible with an utterance. In this way, they semantically constrain the pragmatic interpretation of the utterances in which they occur. These conventional constraints on interpretation are wedded with general pragmatic constraints which provide a further filter on the road to optimal interpretation.

The presented diploma thesis deals with the description of verbal epistemic parentheses such as (ich) glaub(e) or (ich) mein(e) in German and myslím in Czech. These types usually do not belong among the means of expressing epistemic modality and are often neglected in current dictionaries and grammars, although they have a different meaning than the verb they originated from. The diploma thesis analyzes parentheses (ich) glaub(e) in German and myslím in Czech via spoken language corpora. The German data were acquired from FOLK (Forschungs- und Lehrkorpus gesprochenes Deutsch) which is a part of IDS Mannheim corpora. The Czech data come from ORAL v1 (Český národní korpus). The overall aim was to describe their syntactic behaviour, their semantics, and in some cases their prosodic features. The theoretical part focuses on distinguishing between discourse markers and particles. Such distinction forms a foundation for the analysis. The differentiation between grammaticalization and pragmaticalization is also commented on. Both parentheses were examined with relation to their syntactic position, syntactic integration, and their potential function as fillers. Based on the analysis, both constructions evince an advanced level of particularization and have features of particles and/or discourse markers....

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
華語文教學研究所
99
This study focuses on the difference of the two types of yes-no question forms in Chinese, including semantic, pragmatic and discourse functions and its counterparts in Japanese. The approach in this study is twofold; one is Presupposition, the other is Politeness. .According to Brown and Levinson (1987) Politeness is based on the measures of weightiness of a face-threatening act (FTA) which includes three factors: “the social distance of speaker and addressee”, “the relative power of speaker and addressee” and “the absolute ranking of impositions in the particular culture proposed”. The findings of present research show that “ma-particle question” and“A-not-A question” are used in both situations where the speaker does and does not have a presupposition. “A-not-A question”, however, is more used in situations where speaker does not have presupposition. When the speaker has presupposition the “ma-particle question” is used more frequently has than “A-not-A question”. Different ways of politeness, in use with, which question form vary according to three social parameters. Normally “A-not-A question” is a positive attitude question form, therefore it is more polite to use it for asking permission. On the other hand, when asking the intensions of others, it is more polite to use “ma-particle question”. Additionally, this paper aims to explore the question focus of “A-not-A question”. ‘A-not-A’ is not always a focus, including object or all sentence can be focus depending on context. The results of these two types of questions compared to its counterparts in Japanese show that there are no special Japanese question forms for “ma-particle question” and “A-not-A question”. While the function of Japanese question particle“のだ(noda)” shows the difference. At the end of this study, the researcher, based upon results of pragmatic analysis presented in this paper, provides some suggestions for improving Chinese language pedagogy.

碩士
國立高雄師範大學
華語文教學研究所
107
Abstract This study analyzed pragmatic functions of the patterns of Mandarin Chinese final particles ne (呢) in spoken and written Chinese discourse, exploring its patterns in different text types. The study collected the data of ne from spoken and written corpora. It aimed to: (1) make the Mandarin learners understand the functions, and the patterns of ne in spoken and written Chinese; (2) serve as references for Mandarin teachers to teach learners how to use ne in different styles. The results show that the pragmatic functions of ne are: asking questions, conveying messages, emphasizing facts, conveying emotions and focusing on topics. According to the pragmatic functions of ne, the researcher found it tends to occur in the seven patterns: open-ended wh-questions, close-ended either-or questions, topic-markers, exclamatory sentences, rhetorical questions, sentences that emphasize the state of people/thing/objects, and fillers with the functions of pausing, continuity, or transition. These patterns often co-occur with specific interrogative words, exclamatory words, degree adverbs, conjunctions or transitions in sentences. The occurrences of the seven patterns in which ne appears in the different text styles were calculated and accounted for. By observing different oral discourse modes, the researcher finds that ne manly serves to: (1) point out the topic of dialogue; (2) make a pause in the dialogue. On the other hand, in the written data, the writers often rely on ne to ask questions and to motivate the readers to reflect on an issue. The results can serve as references for teaching Chinese as a second/foreign language.