Excising Tags: Distinguishing between Interrogative SFPs and Tag Questions in Taiwanese

排除附加問句─判別台語句末疑問助詞與附加問句

本論文旨在區隔台語中的句末疑問助詞與附加問句，研究動機來自於文獻中不同學者各自提出了相互不一致的台語句末疑問助詞清單。參考謝妙玲 （2001） 檢測否定句末助詞的方案，我們設計了一檢測程序，用以區別文獻中所列示之成份係屬句末疑問助詞或附加問句。結論為：bu?、b?、bo、m、 onn, , ma, nih 為句末疑問助詞，但hioo, m-me(me), s?--bo, s?- (sim) 及sioh 則為附加問句成份。前列之句末疑問助詞中，bu?, b?, bo及m為屈折語投射下的否定句末助詞，而 onn, , ma及nih 則相對位置較高，位處標句詞短語之下。我們主張可靠的句末助詞研究，應建立在確立句末助詞清單，並排除附加問句的基礎之上。

This paper serves as an investigation into the differences between interrogative sentence-final particles (SFPs) and tag questions (tags) in Taiwanese. What we are concerned with is the discrepancies found among the lists of interrogative SFPs in the literature. To distinguish tags from the interrogative particles (PRTs), a testing procedure is devised based on the proposal for testing negative particles (NEG-PRTs) in Hsieh (2001). We conclude that buē, bē, bô, m, honn, , ma, nih are interrogative SFPs and hiòo, m- e( e), sī--bô, sī- (sìm) and sioh are tag questions. Among the interrogative SFPs, buē, bē, bô, and m are negative-particles which occur under IP, honn, , ma, and nih are particles which perch higher, under CP. We believe that distinguishing SFPs from tags is the foundation of a solid investigation into SFPs