The Pragmatic Study of Sentence Final Particle ba

Abstract from The Pragmatic Study of Sentence Final Particle ba by Wang Huafeng: With the background of deficient studies on Chinese sentence final particle ba, this paper applies the theoretical framework of speech act theory to analyze pragmatic properties of ba in conventional discourse. The current study aims to investigate which clause types that ba can attach to with minimal pairs and explore speaker’s various illocutionary force through the occurrence of sentence final particle ba in different clause types. By virtue of small-scale quantitative and qualitative methods, it is concluded that ba can appear in declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives and exclamatives and bring about different illocutionary force when occurring in various clause types. Keywords: sentence final particle ba ; speech act theory; illocutionary force DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/81-03 Publication date: August 31 st 2021