A corpus-based analysis of near-synonymous sentence-final particles in Mandarin Chinese : “bale” and “eryi”

Abstract

This paper explores the differences between two near-synonymous disyllabic sentence-final particles in Mandarin Chinese bale and eryi based on a corpus-based approach. We argue that there is a close interaction between adverbs and sentence-final particles. Firstly, the usage of adverbs in the local proposition of two different SFPs has a strong tendency. 仅 jin ‘only’ is only used in the local proposition of eryi, and 仅仅 jin-jin ‘only’ tends to use in the local propositions of eryi. 最多 zui-duo/顶多 ding-duo/至多 zhi-duo ‘at most’ are only used in the local propositions of bale, while 决不是 jue-bu-shi/绝非 jue-fei/决非 jue-fei/绝不 jue-bu ‘definitely not’ are only used in the local propositions of eryi. Eryi expresses minimal value and bale expresses maximal value. Moreover, the position of the adverbs also presents a tendency: the adverbs in the local proposition of bale are always in the initial position, while eryi in the middle position. In addition, the polarity of the local propositions of two SFPs are also different: the local proposition of bale tends to express negativity, while the local proposition of eryi obtains a tone of neutrality. We believe that this study will significantly enhance the research on sentence-final particles and second language teaching.