JIAQI HU (NORTHWESTERN POLYTECHNICAL UNIVERSITY)

L1 AND L2 LEARNERS’ USE OF THE SENTENCE-FINAL PARTICLE BA FROM A PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE : SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

The Chinese sentence-final particle 吧ba has been extensively studied from various angles. However, there is limited research comparing the usage of 吧ba between native (L1) and second language (L2) speakers from a pragmatic perspective. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the differences in the usage of the particle 吧ba between the Chinese Language Center (CLC) and Beijing Foreign Studies University DiSCUSS Corpus, focusing on four illocutionary types. The findings indicated that, apart from directives and interrogatives, the distribution of the two pragmatic functions was similar in both corpora. L2 learners showed less frequent use of directives and interrogatives, which are considered face-threatening acts. Instead, they tended to rely on assertiveness to express their thoughts. Moreover, the study revealed that L2 learners exhibited limited usage of 吧ba in terms of its topic-introducing function, suggesting inadequate exposure to daily life language input. Possible factors influencing these differences in usage include the amount of daily communication inputs, the fear of face-threatening acts, and potential cultural disparities. This study contributes to the field of L2 Chinese acquisition by shedding light on the pragmatic usage of 吧ba and enriching our understanding of cross-linguistic pragmatic variation. It underscores the importance of considering pragmatic factors in second language learning and teaching processes. Further research can delve into these findings to provide more insights into the acquisition of 吧ba and its implications for language pedagogy.

Hu Jiaqi, is an undergraduate student whose research interests are in ecological discourse analysis and second language teaching, and she especially focuses on foreign learners who study Chinese or English as an SFL. She has participated 2 international conferences and published 2 papers on international journals.