This dissertation investigates how German young adults use modal particles (MPs) when communicating in online chat forums. Simply stated, MPs help to clarify a speaker’s intent and mood, without having any syntactical function or adding specific semantic content. For many years, MPs were ignored, described as useless fill-words, or even regarded as "Lice in the fur of our language." (Reiners, 1967). During the last three decades though, their usefulness and importance has been recognized. It has long been established that the correct use of MPs in German causes spoken discourse to sound more fluent and warm, while spoken German without the use of MPs appears wooden and cold. Although various areas of MP research have been explored, the use of MPs by young adults has not yet received much attention. In order to provide a first account of how MPs are used by young adults in informal settings, online conversations (chats) were analyzed to determine the frequency of their MP use. Additionally, this research investigates whether gender differences for MP use in young adults exist, and relates the results within the framework of current research in the areas of pragmatics and gender specific language. The analyzed online conversations were collected from the German chat forum ‘meet-teens.de.’ Approx. 2,000 words of chat data, each from 15 male and 15 female young adult users aged between 16 and 21 were collected. The data consists of conversations between five male-male pairs, five female-female pairs, and five male-female pairs. The analyses of the data found that the female participants in this research used significantly more MPs than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the MPs ‘bloß’, ‘halt’, and ‘mal’ were used significantly more frequently by male participants, while the MPs ‘denn’, ‘eben’, and ‘wohl’ were significantly more frequently used by female participants. The analyses also found that female young adults speaking to other females used the MPs ‘denn’, ‘halt’, and ‘mal’ significantly more often than when speaking to their male counterparts, while male young adults, with the exception of the MP ‘bloß’, did not change their use of MPs depending on the gender of their conversational partner.

This paper presents a syntactic analysis of the modal particles in Hausa. The research shows that modal particles may appear at all phrase and sentence borders but that they may not appear in initial position.

Os fóruns de discussão na internet apresentam características de língua falada, entre as quais a alta freqüência do uso de partículas modais (PMs). As PMs têm diversas funções complexas que só podem ser analisadas do ponto de vista pragmático ou conversacional. Nesta dissertação, são analisadas as funções comunicativas e conversacionais das partículas modais em oito excertos de um fórum alemão de discussão sobre política, economia e meio ambiente. As 26 PMs presentes no corpus e suas funções comunicativas foram identificadas, descritas e interpretadas com base na classificação de Helbig (1990), sendo as mais freqüentes ja1 (18% do total), also (11%) e eben (6%), que respondem juntas por 35% das ocorrências no corpus. As PMs foram também agrupadas de acordo com suas funções conversacionais. Propõe-se que as PMs atuam em 13 procedimentos específicos, aqui denominados ações conversacionais, níveis intermediários entre as funções comunicativas próprias de cada PM e as funções conversacionais propostas por Helbig (1990). Cinco funções conversacionais foram identificadas no corpus, a saber: indicadora atitudinal, indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução, articuladora conversacional, realizadora de estratégia interacional e conectora. Apenas a função definidora situacional não apresenta ocorrências, possivelmente porque a situação comunicativa já é fortemente definida. A função conversacional mais utilizada foi a articuladora conversacional (35,05%), seguindo-se a indicadora atitudinal (22,68%), a conectora (22,16%), a realizadora de estratégia interacional (12,89%) e a indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução (7,22%). Os resultados do estudo demonstram que as PMs podem ser utilizadas ativamente na organização e manutenção da conversação, não apenas para expressar a atitude do falante (como costuma ser indicado na literatura sobre o tema), mas também com fins argumentativos e para manter e direcionar a interação. / Discussion forums in the Internet present characteristics from spoken language, among those marks is a high frequency of modal particles (Modalpartikeln). Modal particles have several complex functions that only can be analyzed from a pragmatic or conversational point of view. In this dissertation, communicative and conversational functions of modal particles are analyzed in eight interactions in discussion forums about politics, economics and environment. The 26 modal particles present in the corpus and their communicative functions were identified, described and analyzed according to HELBIGs classification (1990), the most frequent being ja1 (18%), also (11%) e eben (6%), which together account for 35% from all events in the corpus. The modal particles were also classified according to their conversational functions. It is proposed that modal particles act in 13 specific procedures, named here conversational actions, intermediate levels between the characteristic communicative functions of each modal particles and the conversational functions proposed by Helbig (1990). Five conversational functions were identified in the corpus: attitude indicator; illocution indicator or modifier; discourse articulator, interactional strategist, discourse connector. Only the situational qualifier function was not present in the corpus, probably because the communicative situation is already clearly defined. The most frequent conversational function was the discourse articulator (35,05%), followed by the attitude indicator (22,68%), the discourse connector (22,16%), the interactional strategy marker (12,89%) and the illocution indicator or modifier (7,22%). The results show that modal particles play a important role organizing and maintaining the discourse, not only to express the speaker attitude (as commonly found in the literature), but also to reach argumentative aims and to maintain and to manage the interaction.

Os fóruns de discussão na internet apresentam características de língua falada, entre as quais a alta freqüência do uso de partículas modais (PMs). As PMs têm diversas funções complexas que só podem ser analisadas do ponto de vista pragmático ou conversacional. Nesta dissertação, são analisadas as funções comunicativas e conversacionais das partículas modais em oito excertos de um fórum alemão de discussão sobre política, economia e meio ambiente. As 26 PMs presentes no corpus e suas funções comunicativas foram identificadas, descritas e interpretadas com base na classificação de Helbig (1990), sendo as mais freqüentes ja1 (18% do total), also (11%) e eben (6%), que respondem juntas por 35% das ocorrências no corpus. As PMs foram também agrupadas de acordo com suas funções conversacionais. Propõe-se que as PMs atuam em 13 procedimentos específicos, aqui denominados ações conversacionais, níveis intermediários entre as funções comunicativas próprias de cada PM e as funções conversacionais propostas por Helbig (1990). Cinco funções conversacionais foram identificadas no corpus, a saber: indicadora atitudinal, indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução, articuladora conversacional, realizadora de estratégia interacional e conectora. Apenas a função definidora situacional não apresenta ocorrências, possivelmente porque a situação comunicativa já é fortemente definida. A função conversacional mais utilizada foi a articuladora conversacional (35,05%), seguindo-se a indicadora atitudinal (22,68%), a conectora (22,16%), a realizadora de estratégia interacional (12,89%) e a indicadora ou modificadora de ilocução (7,22%). Os resultados do estudo demonstram que as PMs podem ser utilizadas ativamente na organização e manutenção da conversação, não apenas para expressar a atitude do falante (como costuma ser indicado na literatura sobre o tema), mas também com fins argumentativos e para manter e direcionar a interação. / Discussion forums in the Internet present characteristics from spoken language, among those marks is a high frequency of modal particles (Modalpartikeln). Modal particles have several complex functions that only can be analyzed from a pragmatic or conversational point of view. In this dissertation, communicative and conversational functions of modal particles are analyzed in eight interactions in discussion forums about politics, economics and environment. The 26 modal particles present in the corpus and their communicative functions were identified, described and analyzed according to HELBIGs classification (1990), the most frequent being ja1 (18%), also (11%) e eben (6%), which together account for 35% from all events in the corpus. The modal particles were also classified according to their conversational functions. It is proposed that modal particles act in 13 specific procedures, named here conversational actions, intermediate levels between the characteristic communicative functions of each modal particles and the conversational functions proposed by Helbig (1990). Five conversational functions were identified in the corpus: attitude indicator; illocution indicator or modifier; discourse articulator, interactional strategist, discourse connector. Only the situational qualifier function was not present in the corpus, probably because the communicative situation is already clearly defined. The most frequent conversational function was the discourse articulator (35,05%), followed by the attitude indicator (22,68%), the discourse connector (22,16%), the interactional strategy marker (12,89%) and the illocution indicator or modifier (7,22%). The results show that modal particles play a important role organizing and maintaining the discourse, not only to express the speaker attitude (as commonly found in the literature), but also to reach argumentative aims and to maintain and to manage the interaction.

Diese Arbeit geht der Frage nach, ob MPn im Schwedischen syntaktisch Satzadverbien sind. Es wird gezeigt, dass sie sich syntaktisch von Satzadverbien unterscheiden und sich ferner in zwei getrennte Typen von MPn unterteilen lassen. Hierzu wird eine syntaktische Analyse vorgestellt, die diese Unterscheidung in dem phrasalen Status der MPn widerspiegelt. Die syntaktische Analyse wird durch sechs Experimente empirisch bestätigen. Ferner wird gezeigt, dass, um die Linearisierung von Elementen im Mittelfeld, am Beispiel von MPn, DPn und Objektpronomen im Mittelfeld, erklären zu können, nicht nur syntaktische Argumente herangeführt werden können, sondern auch phonologische Aspekte berücksichtigt werden müssen. / This thesis answers the question whether the MPs in Swedish are different from sentence adverbs on the level of syntax. It shows that MPs do differ from sentence adverbs, and further, that the MPs must be divided into two types. I present a syntactic analysis of the MPs that accounts for the two types of MPs as elements of distinct phrasal statuses. The syntactic analysis is tested empirically in six experiments and the results verified the analysis. Further I show that in order to account for the linearisation of MPs and object pronouns in the middle field, not only syntactic but also phonological properties of all elements must be taken into consideration.

Com o objetivo de investigar as partículas modais da língua alemã presentes em materiais didáticos de ensino de alemão como língua estrangeira (ALE) destinados a aprendizes iniciantes, realizamos uma pesquisa empírica a partir das séries Deutsch als Fremdsprache 1A Stufen International, Studio D e a fim de verificar: quais partículas são apresentadas e quais funções comunicativas (com base em Helbig, 1990) elas exercem nas interações representadas nos materiais em questão. As ocorrências foram também analisadas com relação aos tipos de foco propostos por Long (1989; 1991). Verificamos, ainda, quais os tipos de atividades e/ou exercícios propostos nesses materiais em que tais partículas estão inseridas. No corpus, foram identificadas 17 partículas modais ou conjuntos de partículas, com um total de 617 ocorrências. As cinco partículas com maior número de ocorrência são: denn (32%), doch (19%), mal (15%), ja (10%) e eigentlich (7%). A partir da análise das situações comunicativas propostas nos materiais do corpus, desenvolvemos um elenco de 31 funções, no qual destacam-se aquelas expressas por denn, doch, mal e ja, evidenciando sua importância desde os primeiros passos na língua. No corpus, as partículas modais são utilizadas principalmente para expressar cortesia e atenuação, para fazer valer a vontade do falante diante de seu interlocutor, ou, ainda, para direcionar o interlocutor ao consenso desejado pelo falante. No que se refere aos tipos de exercícios nos quais as partículas estão inseridas, a totalidade deles é mecânica/reprodutiva nos volumes relativos ao nível A do Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência (QECR) para Línguas. Dessa forma, fica clara a importância da exposição às partículas modais desde o início da aprendizagem do alemão como LE, ainda que não de forma produtiva. Os resultados da análise mostram que tanto materiais comunicativos quanto não comunicativos abordam o tema a partir do foco no significado, no qual a atenção do aprendiz é deslocada para esse significado sem se deter na forma, excluindo-se o ensino formal da gramática, que é aprendida implícita e incidentalmente. A partir dessa constatação, pode-se inferir que os três materiais, em princípio, reconhecem que as partículas modais são importantes para a comunicação autêntica, mas que não necessariamente precisam ser trabalhadas pelo professor. / In order to investigate the modal particles of the German language presented in teaching materials of German as a foreign language for beginners, we conducted an empirical research on the series Deutsch als Fremdsprache IA, Stufen international and Studio D, in order to verify which particles are presented and which communicative functions (based on Helbig 1990) they exert on the interactions represented in the materials in question. The occurrences were also analyzed in relation to the types of focus proposed by Long (1989; 1991), as well as the types of proposed activities and / or exercises in which such particles are inserted. In the corpus, 17 modal particles or sets of particles were identified, with a total of 617 occurrences. The five particles with highest occurrence are: denn (32%), doch (19%), mal (15%), ja (10%) and eigentlich (7%). From the analysis of the communicative situations presented in the corpus materials, we developed a set of 31 functions, in which those expressed by denn, doch, mal and ja stand out, evidencing their importance from the first steps in the language. In the analyzed materials, the modal particles are mainly used to express courtesy and attenuation, to assert the will of the speaker in relation to his interlocutor, or even to direct the interlocutor to the consensus desired by the speaker. Regarding the type of exercises in which the particles are inserted, its totality is of the mechanical / reproductive type in the volumes referring to level A of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Thus, it is clear the importance of exposure to the modal particles from the beginning of the learning of German as a foreign language, even though in a non-productive way. The results of the analysis show that both communicative and non-communicative materials approach the theme from the focus on meaning, in which the attention of the learner is shifted to meaning without dwelling on form, excluding formal grammar teaching, which is learned implicitly and incidentally. From this observation, on can infer that the three materials, in principle, recognize that the modal particles are important for authentic communication, but do not necessarily need to be actively approached by the teacher.

Diese Arbeit untersucht eine Klasse von tendenziösen Fragen, die mindestens im Schwedischen und Deutschen existieren: Rejecting Questions (RQs). RQs unterscheiden sich von anderen Fragen mit deklarativer Syntax u.a. darin, dass die kontextuelle Evidenz, die solche Fragen lizensiert, von umgekehrter Polarität (relativ zur Polarität der Frage selber) ist - positive RQs benötigen Evidenz für eine negierte Proposition, positive deklarative Fragen benötigen Evidenz für eine positive Proposition. In drei Experimenten wird gezeigt, dass i) schwedische negative RQs sich in ihren Lizensierungsbedingungen von negativen deklarativen Fragen unterscheiden, ii) schwedische negative RQs sich in ihrer Intonation von Zurückweisungen unterscheiden, iii) schwedische und deutsche RQs tendenziell unmarkierter zu sein scheinen, wenn sie Negation enthalten. Das dritte Experiment liefert außerdem einen Beitrag zur Analyse der Bedeutung der schwedischen Modalpartikel väl. Ich argumentiere, dass RQs sprecherindizierte Präferenzen für einen eingebetteten Sprechakt ausdrücken. Dieser eingebettete Sprechakt unterscheidet sich im unmarkierten Fall zwischen negativen RQs, welche i.d.R. hypothetische Zurückweisungen sind, und positiven RQs, welche immer hypothetische Assertionen sind. Mit dieser Asymmetrie erkläre ich die Auffälligkeiten in den Lizensierungsbedingungen von RQs, die sowohl im Schwedischen als auch im Deutschen nachgewiesen werden können. / This thesis investigates a class of biased questions that exists at least in Swedish and German: rejecting questions (RQs). RQs differ from other questions with declarative syntax i.a. in that the contextual evidence that licenses such questions is of the opposite polarity relative to the polarity of the question itself - positive RQs require evidence for a negated proposition; positive declarative questions require evidence for a positive proposition. The results of three experiments show that i) Swedish negative RQs differ in their licensing conditions from negative declarative questions, ii) Swedish negative RQs differ in their intonation from rejections, iii) Swedish and German RQs tend to be less marked if they contain negation. The third experiment also contributes to the analysis of the meaning of the Swedish modal particle väl. I argue that RQs express speaker-indexed preferences for embedded speech acts. In the unmarked case, this embedded speech act differs between negative RQs, which are usually hypothetical rejections, and positive RQs, which are always hypothetical assertions. By way of this asymmetry, I explain the peculiarities in the licensing conditions of RQs that can be shown to exist both in Swedish and German.

The present study investigates whether advanced adult L2 speakers comprehend the subtle linguistic cues that modal particles entail and seek to find if modal particles affect them in their responsibility attribution. Two groups of advanced L2 speakers of Swedish were tested; one group of L1 German speakers and one group of L1 English speakers. In an experiment that investigated responsibility attribution, participants read short stories that were manipulated with the modal particles nog and ju, to see if the use of these modal particles affected how they attributed  responsibility to a character in the short story. The L2 learners were tested to see if L1 background affects the L2 acquisition of modal particles. A control group of native Swedish speakers were also tested. As an exploratory and complementary measure, reading times were recorded for the critical sentences modified with ju and nog. The results show a main effect of group and a main effect of condition, but no interaction between the two. However, upon closer inspections of the numerical values in the groups, possible trends and curious directions are seen. The results yielded no significant differences between groups and conditions, and are presented as possible trends, and discussed. Contrary to the hypotheses, these trends are indicative of the English speakers being affected by the modal particles in the way that natives were expected to, while Germans showed a pattern that was different from native speakers. The results show no significant differences for the different conditions in the native control group. The results show no support for L1 transfer facilitation in the acquisition of modal particles.

This doctoral thesis is concerned with particles in modern Vietnamese. Although Vietnamese particles form a small group of synsemantic words, they play a very important role in expressing the attitude of the speaker to the hearer/listener and to the message content as well as expressing grammatical and modal relationships within the sentence. The group includes particles positioned at the end of the sentence, particles appearing before a word as well as at the beginning of a phrase or a sentence. Despite their important function, particles in Vietnamese still are a scarcely explored topic. Particles have been explored usually as part of grammar books; so far, there are only few monographs on the topic of particles. Almost all works deal with a small number of particles and focus especially on those appearing at the end of the sentence. This work is concerned with particles at the end of the sentence as well as particles preceding a word, a phrase, or a sentence. It examines whether particles in Vietnamese are a part of speech at all; it sets forth criteria for classification of particles; it performs their analysis based on actual situations where they appear and describes their semantic characteristics; furthermore, it offers a chart of particles including their possible combinations. Besides, the...

Com o objetivo de investigar as partículas modais da língua alemã presentes em materiais didáticos de ensino de alemão como língua estrangeira (ALE) destinados a aprendizes iniciantes, realizamos uma pesquisa empírica a partir das séries Deutsch als Fremdsprache 1A Stufen International, Studio D e a fim de verificar: quais partículas são apresentadas e quais funções comunicativas (com base em Helbig, 1990) elas exercem nas interações representadas nos materiais em questão. As ocorrências foram também analisadas com relação aos tipos de foco propostos por Long (1989; 1991). Verificamos, ainda, quais os tipos de atividades e/ou exercícios propostos nesses materiais em que tais partículas estão inseridas. No corpus, foram identificadas 17 partículas modais ou conjuntos de partículas, com um total de 617 ocorrências. As cinco partículas com maior número de ocorrência são: denn (32%), doch (19%), mal (15%), ja (10%) e eigentlich (7%). A partir da análise das situações comunicativas propostas nos materiais do corpus, desenvolvemos um elenco de 31 funções, no qual destacam-se aquelas expressas por denn, doch, mal e ja, evidenciando sua importância desde os primeiros passos na língua. No corpus, as partículas modais são utilizadas principalmente para expressar cortesia e atenuação, para fazer valer a vontade do falante diante de seu interlocutor, ou, ainda, para direcionar o interlocutor ao consenso desejado pelo falante. No que se refere aos tipos de exercícios nos quais as partículas estão inseridas, a totalidade deles é mecânica/reprodutiva nos volumes relativos ao nível A do Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência (QECR) para Línguas. Dessa forma, fica clara a importância da exposição às partículas modais desde o início da aprendizagem do alemão como LE, ainda que não de forma produtiva. Os resultados da análise mostram que tanto materiais comunicativos quanto não comunicativos abordam o tema a partir do foco no significado, no qual a atenção do aprendiz é deslocada para esse significado sem se deter na forma, excluindo-se o ensino formal da gramática, que é aprendida implícita e incidentalmente. A partir dessa constatação, pode-se inferir que os três materiais, em princípio, reconhecem que as partículas modais são importantes para a comunicação autêntica, mas que não necessariamente precisam ser trabalhadas pelo professor. / In order to investigate the modal particles of the German language presented in teaching materials of German as a foreign language for beginners, we conducted an empirical research on the series Deutsch als Fremdsprache IA, Stufen international and Studio D, in order to verify which particles are presented and which communicative functions (based on Helbig 1990) they exert on the interactions represented in the materials in question. The occurrences were also analyzed in relation to the types of focus proposed by Long (1989; 1991), as well as the types of proposed activities and / or exercises in which such particles are inserted. In the corpus, 17 modal particles or sets of particles were identified, with a total of 617 occurrences. The five particles with highest occurrence are: denn (32%), doch (19%), mal (15%), ja (10%) and eigentlich (7%). From the analysis of the communicative situations presented in the corpus materials, we developed a set of 31 functions, in which those expressed by denn, doch, mal and ja stand out, evidencing their importance from the first steps in the language. In the analyzed materials, the modal particles are mainly used to express courtesy and attenuation, to assert the will of the speaker in relation to his interlocutor, or even to direct the interlocutor to the consensus desired by the speaker. Regarding the type of exercises in which the particles are inserted, its totality is of the mechanical / reproductive type in the volumes referring to level A of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Thus, it is clear the importance of exposure to the modal particles from the beginning of the learning of German as a foreign language, even though in a non-productive way. The results of the analysis show that both communicative and non-communicative materials approach the theme from the focus on meaning, in which the attention of the learner is shifted to meaning without dwelling on form, excluding formal grammar teaching, which is learned implicitly and incidentally. From this observation, on can infer that the three materials, in principle, recognize that the modal particles are important for authentic communication, but do not necessarily need to be actively approached by the teacher.