<p>This study investigated the regional variation in the use of tag questions between Mainland Chinese and Taiwan Chinese, using the daily conversations collected from native speakers. The results showed that both varieties had a general preference for declarative anchors and turn-final tag questions. Many tag forms were also shared by the two varieties. Nevertheless, compared to Mainland Chinese, Taiwan Chinese used tag questions less frequently and showed a stronger preference for V-not-V tags. With regard to pragmatic functions, tag questions were most frequently used as information-seeking questions in both varieties. However, punctuational tag questions were more common in Taiwan Chinese than in Mainland Chinese. These findings broaden the understanding of the regional features of tag questions across varieties of Chinese.</p>

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Regional Pragmatic Variation in Tag Questions: A Corpus-Based Comparison of Mainland Chinese and Taiwan Chinese

  • Jing Zhang

摘要

This study investigated the regional variation in the use of tag questions between Mainland Chinese and Taiwan Chinese, using the daily conversations collected from native speakers. The results showed that both varieties had a general preference for declarative anchors and turn-final tag questions. Many tag forms were also shared by the two varieties. Nevertheless, compared to Mainland Chinese, Taiwan Chinese used tag questions less frequently and showed a stronger preference for V-not-V tags. With regard to pragmatic functions, tag questions were most frequently used as information-seeking questions in both varieties. However, punctuational tag questions were more common in Taiwan Chinese than in Mainland Chinese. These findings broaden the understanding of the regional features of tag questions across varieties of Chinese.