Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Sentence-final particle
open-in-new
<p>Sentence-final particles, including <a href="/facts/Modal_particle/aTTnmDQw">modal particles</a> and interactional particles, are minimal <a href="/facts/Lexeme/CtHGorv4">lexemes</a> (words) that occur at the end of a sentence and that do not carry <a href="/facts/Referential/pLmVxBjJ">referential</a> meaning, but may relate to <a href="/facts/Linguistic_modality/hQmMKH2s">linguistic modality</a>, <a href="/facts/Register_(sociolinguistics)/q1eujwX8">register</a> or other <a href="/facts/Pragmatics/KkK08yyI">pragmatic</a> effects. Sentence-final particles are common in <a href="/facts/Chinese_language/771ruUY1">Chinese</a>, including particles such as <a href="/facts/Standard_Mandarin/ofl48GA8">Mandarin</a> <i>le</i> 了, <i>ne</i> 呢, <i>ba</i> 吧, <i>ou</i> 哦, <i>a</i> 啊, <i>la</i> 啦, <i>ya</i> 呀, and <i>ma</i> 嗎/吗, and <a href="/facts/Cantonese/y5UhgScP">Cantonese</a> <i>lo</i> 囉 and <i>ge</i> 嘅. These particles act as <a href="/facts/Grammatical_modifier/BRk4Hoxs">qualifiers</a> of the clause or sentence they end. Sentence-final particles are also present in <a href="/facts/Japanese_language/EEv485a5">Japanese</a> and many East Asian languages, such as <a href="/facts/Thai_language/PnaLdG77">Thai</a>, and especially in languages that have undergone heavy <a href="/facts/Sino-Tibetan_languages/kfdM7pTx">Sino-Tibetan</a> influence, such as the <a href="/facts/Monguor_language/pRUx76S3">Monguor languages</a>. </p>