谈是非疑问句句末的语气词“啊”和“吧”

On A-ending and Ba-ending Yes-no Questions

句末语气词“啊”和“吧”在是非疑问句中的作用是汉语学界长期关注和争议的焦点之一,由它们构成的是非疑问句也是对外汉语教学的难点。对音像语料进行考察和分析表明,语气词“啊”在是非疑问句中表“惊讶义”以及由其衍生出的“非确定义”;语气词“吧”在是非疑问句中表“非完全确定义”。正是这些情态义或者说语义内涵使它们能在特定的语境中作为疑问语气词构成用以求证的真性是非疑问句,还能构成具有其他交际用途的非真性是非疑问句。

The meanings and functions of the Chinese modal particle a and ba in yes-no questions have long been issues debated by scholars of Chinese linguistics and grammar. This data-oriented empirical study has led to the following conclusions:(1)Particle a in yes-no questions has “surprisive” meaning as its core meaning and “non-affirmative” meaning as derived from the core;(2) Particle ba in yes-no questions conveys the meaning of speaker‘s “non-assertiveness”, i.e. the speaker‘s lack of total confidence in the truth of what is presented in the declarative part of the sentence before the particle. Both a-ending and ba-ending questions are confirmation-seeking questions in use, but the former is triggered by things in the speech context that are surprising or arousing a feeling of uncertainty to the speaker;the latter is triggered by the speaker‘s lack of total confidence in his/her own judgment or inference about a situation, the truth of which he/she does not know. The interrogative function or question force that a or ba can add to a sentence is attributive to the identified inherent modal meanings of the particles and the contexts in which the speaker uses them.