On Chinese Modal Particle A (?)

The book presents a doctoral research project on the pragmatic and semantic functions of the Chinese modal particle a (?). The research is empirical with its conclusions drawn from the analysis of all the instances of the particle found in the first 20 episodes of the popular Chinese TV drama series ‘Expectations’.

Ying Xian Wang, a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese, obtained both her Masters in Educational Studies and PhD in Chinese Linguistics from the University of Queensland (Australia). She is currently a lecturer in Mandarin Chinese and the Mandarin Program Coordinator for degree students at the Queensland University of Technology (Australia). Her research interests are on Chinese modal particles and modal adverbs.

Contents: Mandarin Chinese – Modality – Modal Particle(s) – Particle with declaratives, imperatives, interrogatives and exclamatives – Particle in sentence-internal positions – Volitive function – Exclamative function – Surprisive function.