Modal particle
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In linguistics, modal particles are always uninflected words, and are a type of grammatical particle. Their function is that of reflecting the mood or attitude of the speaker or narrator, in that they are not reflexive but change the mood of the verb. Languages that use a lot of modal particles in their spoken form include Japanese, German, and Dutch.[1] The translation is often not straightforward and depends on the context.
Mandarin Chinese depends highly on the use of modal particles. Because it is a tonal language, expressing emotion by changing the pitch of the sentence or phrase would make the meaning of the sentence different; therefore, many particles have arisen that can be added to the end of the sentence to express emotion.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Dutch Grammar:politeness - Beleefdheid Modal particle - Modale partikels retrieved 2009-01-01
- ^ The Chinese Language, By Daniel Kane retrieved 2009-01-29
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