A Study On The Sentence-final Modal Particle In Xishuangbanna Dai

Modal particles as a separate class of empty words play an important role in the sentences, in recent years, there have been the great achievements made in the study of modal particles. However, little research work has been done on the modal particles of Dai language in Xishuangbanna. Therefore, this study mainly based on Dai language materials in Xishuangbanna, from the previous related research results and combined with field investigation are more comprehensive, three-dimensional, dynamic aimed at the sentence-final modal particle of Dai language in Xishuangbanna, including defining the sentence-final modal particle of Dai language in Xishuangbanna, depicting its usage in detail, also comparing similarities and differences to the sentence-final modal particle between the Xishuangbanna Dai and other ethnic languages. This paper is divided into six pares:The introduction part summarizes the research status for the modal particles of Dai, as also as the purpose, significance, innovation and the method of this study.Chapter one begins with defining the sentence-final modal particle of Dai language in Xishuangbanna, then describes and analyses with detail the meaning and usage of every sentence-final modal particles commonly used in definite of Xishuangbanna Dai, in accordance with the order of declarative sentence, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences. The characteristics of the sentence-final modal particles in Xishuangbanna Dai are generated as the following:1. In Xishuangbanna Dai Dialect, there are a number of modal particles, having the detailed division of labor as well as various usages. The same sentence-final modal particle can be expressed in a different mood, the same mood can also be composed of a plurality of different sentence-final modal particles.2. The sentence-final modal particle in Xishuangbanna Dai can be distinguished in a different tone by changing the consonants, vowels or the height of the tongue position.3. Still, the subtle difference in the meaning of some sentence-final modal particle can be expressed by the tone pitch.4. Some sentence-final modal particles have a single meaning in Xishuangbanna Dai, while the others have various ones. In the single ones, there are a group of special words, that is lεu4and kam2lεu4, which can be only used in a particular type of sentences expressing a basic meaning.5. Besides being used alone, sentence-final modal particle in Xishuangbanna Dai can be reduplicated. But, the number is very few, and they are limited in a given sentence to use.Chapter two compares the differences and similarities between the interrogative modal particle of two dialects-Xishuangbanna Dai and Xinping Dai-Ya Dialects. Firstly, introduces the detailed meaning and usage of the interrogative modal particles in Xinping Dai-Ya Dialect. Secondly, describes the similarities and differences between the sentence-final modal particles in two dialects of every sentence-final interrogative modal particles in definite questions, yes-no questions and selecting questions.Chapter three analyzes the differences of modal particles-Xishuangbanna Dai and Xinchen Zhuang language, which are in the same language branches. First, introduces the sentence-final modal particles of Xinchen Zhuang language briefly, then concludes its characteristics. After that, compares the similarities and differences of sentence-final modal particles between Xishangbanna Dai and Xinchen Zhuang language.Chapter four compares the differences and similarities beween the sentence-final modal particle of two languages as an example of the same group while different branches-Xishangbanna Dai and Shui language. Including introduces the sentence-final modal particles of Shui language briefly, and compares its similarities and differences with Xishuangbanna Dai language.Chapter five briefly summarizes the whole paper, and presents the inadequacies and the need for further research.