Mandarin question particles

Mandarin marks polar questions with the neutral sentence-final particle ma 吗 and the confirmation-seeking ba 吧; both attach to declarative word order, and neither forms constituent questions — wh-words stay in situ, and under ma a wh-word takes only its indefinite reading, so the string remains a polar question. The clause-initial evidential adverb nándào 难道 forms surprise polar questions and is incompatible with declaratives and wh-questions. This file provides the three as Particle values with recorded licensing distributions; nandao's evidential felicity conditions live with their analysis.

Main declarations

• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ma — the neutral polar question particle.
• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ba — the confirmation-seeking particle.
• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.nandao — the evidential question adverb.

References

• [LT81]
• [Xu12a]
• [Zhe25]

def Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly : Clause.Distribution

The three items share one distribution, optional in a matrix polar question and excluded from matrix declaratives and constituent questions, with no embedded use recorded.

Equations

• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly Clause.SentenceType.declarative Clause.EmbeddingContext.matrix = some Clause.Occurrence.excluded
• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly Clause.SentenceType.polar Clause.EmbeddingContext.matrix = some Clause.Occurrence.optional
• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly Clause.SentenceType.constituent Clause.EmbeddingContext.matrix = some Clause.Occurrence.excluded
• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly x✝¹ x✝ = none

def Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ma : Particle

ma 吗 is the neutral sentence-final polar question particle.

Equations

• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ma = { form := "ma", script := some "吗", position := some Particle.Position.clauseFinal, distribution := Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly }

def Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ba : Particle

ba 吧 is the confirmation-seeking question particle, distinct from the homophonous suggestion-softening ba of imperatives.

Equations

• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ba = { form := "ba", script := some "吧", position := some Particle.Position.clauseFinal, distribution := Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly }

def Mandarin.QuestionParticles.nandao : Particle

nándào 难道 is a clause-initial evidential adverb forming surprise polar questions.

Equations

• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.nandao = { form := "nándào", script := some "难道", position := some Particle.Position.clauseInitial, distribution := Mandarin.QuestionParticles.polarOnly }

def Mandarin.QuestionParticles.allQuestionParticles : List Particle

All Mandarin question particles indexed in this file.

Equations

• Mandarin.QuestionParticles.allQuestionParticles = [Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ma, Mandarin.QuestionParticles.ba, Mandarin.QuestionParticles.nandao]