discourse:sp: sentence particle
Sentence particles, also commonly known as “sentence-final particles” in Chinese linguistics, occur at the end of clauses and sentences and have a wide range of functions including modifying the modality of a sentence or its proposition, and expressing discourse and pragmatic information. They are linked to the head of a sentence/utterance as discourse:sp dependents (we place them under an extension of discourse under a broad interpretation of the word “discourse”).
Common sentence-final particles in Cantonese include: 嘅 ge3, 嘑 laa3, 喇 laa1, 囉 lo4, 唧 zek1, 吖 aa1, 喎 wo3, 呀嘛 a1maa3, 先 sin1, 添 tim1, among many others. Note that many sentence-final particles can be written in multiple ways and some characters can also represent different particles that differ only in tone; there is no official standard so the characters used here are not meant to be a definitive guide.
For a list of tag particles that should not be confused with sentence-final particles, see discourse and PART.
# visual-style 5 7 discourse:sp color:blue
# visual-style 5 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 5 fgColor:white
# visual-style 7 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 7 fgColor:white
1 唔 _ ADV _ _ 2 advmod _ NEG
2 識 _ VERB _ _ 5 advcl _ know
3 拼 _ VERB _ _ 2 xcomp _ spell
4 就 _ ADV _ _ 5 advmod _ then
5 寫 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ write
6 中文 _ NOUN _ _ 5 obj _ Chinese
7 喇 _ PART _ _ 5 discourse:sp _ SP
1 "If _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 you _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 don't _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 know _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 how _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 to _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 spell _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
8 (it) _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
9 then _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
10 write _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
11 in _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
12 Chinese." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
More than one sentence-final particles may appear at the end of the same clause or sentence.
# visual-style 2 4 discourse:sp color:blue
# visual-style 2 5 discourse:sp color:blue
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 5 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 5 fgColor:white
1 要 _ AUX _ _ 2 aux _ need
2 收 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ take
3 錢 _ NOUN _ _ 2 obj _ money
4 嘅 _ PART _ _ 2 discourse:sp _ SP
5 咩 _ PART _ _ 2 discourse:sp _ SP
6 ？ _ PUNCT _ _ 2 punct _ _
1 "It _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 costs? _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 / _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 One _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 has _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 to _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 pay?" _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
discourse:sp in other languages: [lzh] [ojp] [yue] [zh]