| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 華語文教學研究所 === 91 === In most studies, the Mandarin final particle —a is treated as a modal particle. We claim that such a tratement does not properly reflect the discourse functions of -a in conversations. Instead we agree with Chu’s (2002) view according to which -a is a discourse marker with the core meaning ‘speaker involvement’. Involvement in this context refers to the speaker’s involvement to the interpersonal context and the subject of the conversation. Utterance-final -a also reduces the emotional distance between speaker and hearer. In contrast to other final particles, -a closer reflects the emotional part of a speaker’s mind.
Referring to Chu (2002) and Shie (1991), we also divide -a into two categories according to pitch difference. The high-pitch -a indicates that the speaker has an active attitude and asks for the hearer to accept the information he provided; the low-pitch -a indicates that the speaker has a passive attitude and is willing to accept information provided by others.
We support claims by Li (1999) and Chu (2002) according to which the interpretation of utterances followed by -a should depend on the interaction between the core meaning of -a, pitch and other factors related to the context of the cconversation. The data is selected from the two scripts Beijingren and Anlian taohuayuan.
According to Teng’s (1997) framework, we propose teaching strategies and pedagogical grammar rules related to —a. Our discussion includes an assessment of the way -a is treated in four Mandarin teaching manuals for beginners. We also provide own suggestions for the teaching of —a.
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